1 Kings 9-10

1 Kings 9 – Solomon’s Choice

The Lord first appeared to Solomon in 1 Kings 3 at the beginning of Solomon’s reign when he prayed for wisdom.  Solomon finished the temple and prayed and dedicated the temple to the Lord in 1 Kings 8.  When he finished the temple and his palace and achieved all he had desired to do, the Lord appeared to him a second time.  He told Solomon that He had heard his prayers and had consecrated the temple.  The Lord told him that His eyes and heart would always be there, but the Lord gave him a warning.  If Solomon walked with integrity of heart and uprightness as David did and did all the Lord commanded and observed the Lord’s laws, the Lord would establish his royal throne over Israel just as He promised David.  If Solomon did not observe the laws and commands and walk with integrity, the Lord would cut off Israel from the land and reject the temple.  Then Israel would become an object of ridicule among all peoples.  When this happens, the people would know it was because they had forsaken the Lord and served other gods.

What is keeping you from listening to God’s warnings?

What other gods are you serving?

God provided Solomon with all he needed and He provides us with all we need.  He provides us with the gift of salvation, but we have choices to make.  We can choose to serve Him or serve ourselves, but we can’t serve both.  “No one can serve two masters.” – Matt. 6:24.

Principle:  God wants our whole hearts.

It took 20 years for Solomon to build the temple and his palace.  Afterwards Solomon gave Hiram of Tyre 20 towns.  Hiram was not pleased, because he thought these towns were not important towns.  He called them “good for nothing towns”. 

Was Solomon taking advantage of him?  Is he beginning to abuse his power?  What’s going on in Solomon’s heart?  Is he getting stingy?  We can’t know what is in Solomon’s heart, but it looks like it’s shifting in the wrong direction.

Does your success come before your faithfulness to God?

How are you taking advantage of others to get what you want?

Solomon continues to build up his empower and cities to store his chariots and horses.  He built whatever he desired in Jerusalem, Lebanon and throughout the territory.  He did this by using forced labor.  The laborers were all the people left from the descendants of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites – all who were not Israelites.  The Israelites were not slaves, but supervisors.  They were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and his commanders.  There were 550 officials who supervised the working men.

Pharaoh’s daughter who was now Solomon’s wife was brought from Jerusalem to the palace that he had built for her.  Solomon offered burnt sacrifices and fellowship offerings to the Lord 3 times a year.

Solomon build ships and Hiram sent his sailors to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men.  They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold to King Solomon.

1 Kings 10 – Solomon’s Witness

Solomon’s wisdom was the topic of conversations all over the world.  Queen Sheba heard of Solomon’s wisdom, prosperity of his kingdom, and his faith of the Lord so she decided to go see for herself.  She asked Solomon many questions and was very impressed with him and his answers.  She realized it was far greater than she had heard.  She saw how happy his servants and officials were in serving Solomon.  She saw the temple, the palace, all the fine food that was provided, and all his achievements.  She gave praises to God and knew it was Him who placed Solomon on the throne to maintain justice and righteousness.  She gave Solomon 120 talents of gold, spices, and precious stones increasing his wealth even more.  Hiram’s ships brought gold and cargos of almugwood and precious stone to Solomon.  He used the wood to make supports for the temple, the palace and to make harps and lyres for the musicians.  He gave the queen more than she desired.

Where do you seek wisdom?

What impresses you about other Christians?

What impresses you about God?

Are you joyful in serving Jesus?

Sheba came a great distance to seek Solomon.  She came with gifts.  She took her questions to an imperfect king.  She saw the riches of the king.  She told what was in her heart.  If she sought Solomon so diligently, shouldn’t we seek Jesus and the glory of His Kingdom even more?  The perfect King invites your questions.  His perfect Word can stand up to your doubts and questions.

Do you take your questions and concerns to King Jesus?

Principle:  God’s wants us to seek Him.

Solomon had gold of 666 talents, which is the same as $281,318,400.  He received much more gold yearly.  He made shields of gold and gathered chariots and horsemen.  He did all this which was a direct contradiction to God’s instructions.  In Deuteronomy 17:14-20 God gave warnings to kings of Israel – they must not acquire a great number of horses, not take many wives, and not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold.  God blessed Solomon with riches, but Solomon allowed it to turn into a danger.  He disobediently multiplies gold and horses for himself.

He made silver as common as stones and cedar as plentiful as sycamore-fig trees.  He imported horses and chariots from Egypt.  He also exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and of the Arameans.

All of Solomon’s wealth reminds us of our human desires and sins.  God’s law contained rules for kings of Israel.  Solomon didn’t obey these rules.  He was still serving God, but had begun to care more about his own wealth than he cared about God’s law.  Partial obedience is disobedience.

How are you tempted by wealth and possessions?

Are you partially obedient?  We may not see anything wrong, but if it’s against God’s rules it’s wrong.  Do you do what’s right by the world’s standards? 

Do you tell yourself that it’s okay to:  have sex outside marriage, have a live-in boyfriend, not tithe because you have too many bills this month, tell a little lie, gossip, tell off-color jokes because it’s all in good fun, or call it prayer when it’s really gossip?

Principle:  Obedience results from a heart surrendered to God.

Next time we will continue with our last study of 1 Kings.  We will end with the death of Solomon.  Hope to see you here.

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The Death and Resurrection of Jesus

At the age of 33, Jesus was condemned to the death penalty.  At the time crucifixion was the "worst" death.  Only the worst criminals condemned to be crucified.  Yet it was even more dreadful for Jesus, for unlike other criminals condemned to death by crucifixion, Jesus was nailed to the cross by His hands and feet, rather than tied...

Each nail was 6 to 8 inches long.  The nails were driven into His wrist.  not into His palms as is commonly portrayed.  There's a tendon in the wrist that extends to the shoulder.

The Roman guards knew that when the nails were being hammered into the wrist, that tendon would tear and break, forcing Jesus to use His back muscles to support himself, so that He could breathe.

Both of His feet were nailed together.  Thus He was forced to support Himself on the single nail that

impaled His feet to the cross.

Jesus could not support himself with His legs for long because of the pain, so He was forced to alternate between arching His back and using his legs just to continue to breath.

Imagine the struggle, the pain, the suffering, and the courage.  Jesus endured this reality for over 3 hours.

Yes, over 3 hours!

Can you imagine this kind of suffering?  A few minutes before He died, Jesus stopped bleeding.

 He was simply pouring water from his wounds.  From common images we see wounds to His hands

and feet and even the spear wound to His side...

But do we remember the many wounds made to his body.  A hammer driving large nails through the wrists, the feet overlapped and a nail hammered through the arches, then a Roman guard piercing His side with a spear.  And... before the nails and the spear, Jesus was whipped and beaten. The whipping was so severe that it tore the Flesh from His body. The beating was so horrific that His Face was torn and his beard ripped from His face.

The Crown of thorns (two to three inch thorns) cut deeply into His scalp.  Most men would not have survived this torture.  He had no more blood to bleed out, only water poured from His Wounds.

The human adult body contains about 3.5 liters (just less than a gallon) of blood.  Jesus poured all 3.5 liters of his blood; He had three nails hammered into His members; a crown of thorns on His head and, beyond that, a Roman soldier who stabbed a spear into His Chest.

All these without mentioning the humiliation He passed after carrying His own Cross for almost 2 kilometers, while the crowd spat in his Face and threw stones (the cross beam was almost 30 kg of weight, to which His hands were nailed).

Jesus had to endure this experience, so that you may have free access to God and that your sins can be "washed" away.

All of them, with no exception!

BUT WAIT!  There is Good News!  On the 3^rd day just as He predicted, Jesus arose from the dead.  We celebrate His resurrection by calling it Easter.  Jesus walked on the earth which was witnessed by skeptics, the disciples and more than 500 people over a period of 40 days.  Then He ascended into heaven, but He sent His Spirit to live in us and empower us to live an abundant life.  For Him to be your Savior, you must believe in Him and ask Him into your life to be your Lord and Savior.

Accept the reality, the truth, that JESUS IS THE ONLY SALVATION FOR THE WORLD.  

God has special plans for YOU !

Hope to see you here for our next study.

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1 Kings 7-8

It took Solomon 7 years to build the temple, but 13 years to build his own house.  The temple was glorious, but it seems that Solomon may have wanted his house to be more glorious.  The Bible never finds fault with him doing this.  It may have taken longer because he had none of the materials provided or prepared like that of the temple.  Plus perhaps there was more of an eagerness to build the Temple of the Lord than his palace.

Huram was half Israeli and half Gentile and was the best bronze craftsman around so Solomon brought him from Tyre to cast the temple furnishings in bronze.  When he and Solomon finished, Solomon had them brought to the temple.  Solomon then had the Ark of the Covenant brought to the temple by the priests where they set the ark in the Holy of Holies.  There was nothing in the ark except the 2 stone tablets that Moses had placed in it at Horeb, where the Lord made a covenant with the Israelites after they came out of Egypt.  When the priests left the Holy Place, the cloud which was the glory of the Lord filled the temple.  When the presence of God’s glory filled the temple, the priests couldn’t perform their services.  God is holy and the holiness of God made the priests feel they could no longer stand in His presence because of their sinfulness.

Solomon praised the Lord and offered a prayer of dedication.  He recognized the temple was the fulfillment of God’s plan and not his or his father.  He recognized that God was completely unique and no other gods could compare to Him.  He knew God as Maker and Promise Keeper.  The workers were only human instruments, but the work was God’s.  In his prayer he recognized the nature and character of God.   He asked God to dwell in this place and honor those who seek Him there.

Then Solomon blessed the people.  He prayed on his knees.  Ezra prayed on his knees (Ezra 9:5), the Psalmist called us to keel (Ps. 95:6), Daniel prayed on his knees (Dan. 6:10), people came to Jesus kneeling (Matt. 17:14; 20:20; Mark 1:40), Stephen prayed on his knees (Acts 7:60), Peter, Paul and also other early Christians prayed on their knees.  Jesus prayed on His knees (Luke 22:41).  The Bible doesn’t require us to pray on our knees.  There were many other times when prayer was offered when there was no kneeling.  There are many positions for prayer.  Some danced and sang their prayers (Ex. 15:20), bowing heads (Ex. 12:270), falling to the ground (Job 1:20), dancing and playing tambourine and harp (Ps. 149:3), lifting of hands (1 Tim. 2:8), etc.  All these actions are acceptable and appropriate in the worship of God, but it’s important to come to Him in humbleness and with a sincere heart.

When you pray and worship God, are you humble and have a sincere heart?

Solomon asked God to listen to the people’s prayers.  He prayed about many different types of trouble.  He prayed that God would be their judge.  He prayed God would forgive people.  He prayed that God would accept the prayers of foreigners.  He understood that God’s good news was for all people.  He asked the Israel be successful in wars.  He prayed that the people would turn towards Jerusalem to pray. 

Do you often pray for others, even those who have hurt you?

Do you praise God for what He has done for you?

Do you recognize Him for His character and who He is?

Do you know God as Maker and Promise Keeper?

Solomon blessed the people and told them to be completely loyal to God.  He reminded them how   God had helped them in the past and that they must obey.  He asked God to help them in their troubles.

Solomon dedicated the temple.  He offered sacrifices and burnt offerings to the Lord.  He held a feast and they celebrated before the Lord for 14 days.  This is called the Feast of Tabernacles.  This was the beginning of the daily sacrifices for sin at the temple.  Because of Jesus’ death as our sacrifice, there is no need for more sacrifices.  He was the one perfect sacrifice which was enough for all our sin for all time. (Heb. 7:27; 10:10-12).

Principle:  Jesus was our perfect sacrifice, once and for all.

Next time we will continue our study of 1 Kings.  Hope to see you here.

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