After Solomon builds the temple and his palace he keeps building, and building, “and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion”, well, he builds! “Now when the queen of Sheba heard the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.” “So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.” When she saw his wealth and wisdom with her own eyes she professes “Blessed be the Lord your God!”

Later in the Story Jesus will rebuke religious leaders with this story of the queen of Sheba when they ask Him to do a sign to prove Himself. In response, Jesus will say “An evil and adulterous generation asks for a sign… The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here”. (Matthew 12:38-42) We read about Solomon’s greatness today. “So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.” But Jesus is declaring to be even greater than Solomon because He is! He is God! The religious leaders do not believe this even after Jesus has already performed numerous miracles. Their request for a sign was just another attempt to pin something on Jesus to bring Him down and He knew this. The story of the queen of Sheba points out the fact that a pagan queen traveled from far away to see what all the Lord has done and she believed and proclaimed the Lord’s Name. Jesus, the Son of God in the flesh, is standing right in front of these religious leaders’ faces and yet they do not believe and they will be condemned for it.

Soon we will read the wise teachings of Solomon and hear his wisdom for ourselves like the Queen of Sheba. We also have a choice, believe like the Queen of Sheba or refuse like the proud religious leaders. So keep reading.

(2 Chronicles 8:1-18, 1 Kings 9:15-10:13, 2 Chronicles 9:1-12, 1 Kings 10:14-29, 2 Chronicles 9:13-28, 2 Chronicles 1:14-17)

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Solomon dedicates the temple 11 months after its completion and at the time of the Feast of Booths (also called the Feast of Tabernacles). During this annual feast the Israelites live in shelters or booths for 7 days as the Lord instructed the people in Leviticus 23:33-43. This is a great celebration for the Israelites where they give thanks to the Lord for his current provision and remember His deliverance from Egypt and His provisions during the 40 years wilderness journey. In the wilderness, the Lord told Moses to tell the people that the reason for the Feast of Booths was “that your generation may know that I made the people of Israel dwell in booths when I brought them out of the land of Egypt”. (Lev 23:43) The Lord wants His people to remember that He is the One who provides for them. He provided their salvation from Egypt, He will provide their daily needs, and He is providing a way for their eternal salvation through the coming Messiah.

Solomon says “Blessed be the Lord, who has given rest to His people Israel, according to all that He promised. There has not failed one word of all His good promise, which He promised through His servant Moses”. God never breaks a promise; starting with that promise He made back in the garden with Adam and Eve when He promised to send a Savior who would crush the head of Satan. (Gen 3:15) Then God promised Abraham that through his seed all the families of the earth would be blessed. (Gen 12:3) And He told the children of Israel that He would be sending a prophet like Moses. (Deut 18:18) This prophet is going to be the perfect Prophet who will provide our ultimate rest. He made a covenant with King David that this perfect Prophet, this greater King was coming through his bloodline. (2 Samuel 7)

So here we are with David’s son Solomon. Nothing is going to stop God’s plan of sending the Savior but the Israelites will make this a difficult journey for themselves by constantly slipping into sin and idolatry and turning from the Lord. The Lord warns Solomon that when the people turn from Him, He will cut them off. But God doesn’t leave them without hope. He goes on to say “if My people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sin and heal their land”. Our hope is always found in the Lord and His promises. Tomorrow Solomon gets a visit from the Queen of Sheba. Keep reading.

(1 Kings 8:54-66, 2 Chronicles 7:1-10, 1 Kings 9:1-9, 2 Chronicles 7:11-22, 1 Kings 9:10-14)

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Today the priests bring the ark of the covenant of the Lord, which contains the 2 stone tablets Moses placed in there at Horeb, to the inner sanctuary of the temple, the Most Holy Place. Then a cloud fills the house of the Lord; “for the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord”. Solomon says in his prayer “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You. How much less this temple which I have built!” Solomon knows that God can not be limited by a place. His presence fills the heavens and the earth. The Lord is working His plan to bring the Savior that He promised back in the garden. He chose to work His plan through the Israelites and this temple is built for His name.

Solomon prays to God “that Your eyes may be open toward this temple night and day, toward the place of which You said, ‘My name shall be there,” that You may hear the prayer which Your servant makes toward this place. And may you hear the supplication of Your servant and of Your people, Israel, when they pray toward this place. Hear in heaven Your dwelling place; and when You hear, forgive”. Later in the Story, when the Iraelites are taken into captivity by the Babylonians, Daniel will risk his life believing this is true. King Darius approves an ordinance that anyone who worships any god or man besides him for 30 days would be thrown into the den of lions. “When Daniel knew that the document had been signed, he went to his house where he had windows in his upper chamber open toward Jerusalem. He got down on his knees three times a day and prayed and gave thanks before his God, as he had done previously.” (Daniel 6:11) Daniel believes that the Lord will hear the prayers of those who pray toward His temple and that He will deliver them and Daniel is correct! When he is thrown into the lions den “…no kind of harm was found on him, because he had trusted in God”. (Daniel 6:23) And God receives all the glory bc King Darius then writes a new decree “that in all my royal dominion people are to tremble and fear before the God of Daniel, for He is the living God, enduring forever.” (Daniel 6:26) And even later in the Story, the Lord will pour the Holy Spirit onto His people making their bodies the temple, but before we get to all that, tomorrow there is a dedication to the temple so keep reading.

(1 Kings 8:1-11, 2 Chronicles 5:1-14, 1 Kings 8:12-21, 2 Chronicles 6:1-11, 1 Kings 8:22-53, 2 Chronicles 6:12-42)

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Solomon really loves to build! Today we read about how he takes 13 years to build an elaborate palace for himself. He also builds all new furniture for the temple. He hires a bronze expert, Huram (or Hiram but this is not the same person as King Hiram). Huram makes 2 bronze pillars named Jachin and Boaz at the entrance of the temple. There are differing views on why the pillars are named but here is some info I gathered. 1) Boaz means “in him is strength”. Boaz is also the name of one of Solomon’s sons and the name of King David’s great grandfather who married Ruth. So the name could represent the bloodline of the tribe of Judah. 2) Jachin means “He will establish”. This name is also in the bloodline of Judah. He is a son of Simeon and a grandson of Jacob who was with the 70 Israelites that went to Egypt during a famine. The name was also mentioned as one of the priests that returned from exile. Ok, that’s all I’ve got on that.

Huram also builds the Sea of cast bronze which is a massive and decorative basin for the priest to wash before entering the sanctuary. So Huram makes the pieces in the tabernacle that are bronze and then Solomon makes the rest out of gold. “Thus Solomon had all the furnishings made for the house of the Lord: the altar of gold, and the table of gold on which was the showbread; the lampstands of pure gold….” Once the work of the temple is complete, Solomon brings in all the things his father, King David, dedicated to the house of the Lord. Tomorrow the glory of the Lord enters His new home so keep reading.

(1 Kings 7:1-51, 2 Chronicles 3:15-4:22)

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Solomon’s wisdom shines today when two harlots come to him with a dispute. One harlot rolled over her baby during the night killing the baby. Then she switched the baby with the other harlot’s baby. Both are claiming to be the mother of the alive baby. Solomon has an idea! He says cut the baby in half and give each woman half of the baby. 😱 Wise Solomon knew this idea would flush out the liar. So the real mom was identified bc she was the one that pleaded for her baby’s life. Solomon returned the child to her “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.” So God uses a dispute between two harlots to bring all of Israel together in agreement over their new king. The Lord wastes nothing and uses the unlikely to accomplish His purposes! 🙌

Solomon then builds a relationship with Hiram, king of Tyre, as his father, King David, had done. He arranges a business deal w Hiram for cedar and cypress logs from Lebanon and then Solomon gets to building. In seven years the temple will be complete! 🎉 Solomon continues building tomorrow so keep reading.

(1 Kings 3:16-28, 1 Kings 5:1-18, 2 Chronicles 2:1-18, 1 Kings 6:1-13, 2 Chronicles 3:1-14, 1 Kings 6:14-38)

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Solomon is now on the throne and his brother Adonijah has a request. We read about Adonijah on May 5th when he tried to take the throne for himself and David quickly gave it to Solomon. Adonijah then feared Solomon but Solomon said nothing would happen to him if he proved to be a worthy man. Well, today Adonijah proves not to be a worthy man as he asks to marry Abishag, the lovely woman who cared for King David in his old age. This was another shot at the kingdom bc back then men would make claims to the throne by sleeping with the king’s concubines like Absalom did in 2 Samuel 16. Solomon sees right through to Adonijah’s true motives and has him killed.

Then Solomon punishes Abiathar because of his support of Adonijah by removing Abiathar as priest. Solomon also has Joab and Shimei killed per David’s final instructions in 1 Kings 2. Solomon places Benaiah over the army in place of Joab and Zadok as the priest in place of Abiathar.

After Solomon cleans house, he makes a treaty with the king of Egypt and marries his daughter. “And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statues of his father David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high places.” Several things are wrong here:
1) making a treaty with Egypt (Deut 17:16)
2) marrying foreign women who worship false gods (Deut 7:3-4)
3) worshipping at high places where nations around them worship false gods (Deut 12, Num 33:52, Lev 26:30).
Solomon seems to be slipping from some of the Lord’s commandments. Commingling with foreign nations will have consequences but his first huge corporate worship was pleasing to the Lord. Although it was on a high place at Gideon, it is where the tabernacle of the Lord was located. King David also worshiped the Lord in this same location. (1 Chronicles 16:39) After the temple is built and Solomon moves the tabernacle and the ark of the covenant to the temple, the worship at Gideon will not be acceptable. The temple will become the one place that the Lord chooses for His people to worship Him. But today there is a huge celebration of the Lord at Gideon with 1,000 burnt offerings made.

The Lord then appears to Solomon in a dream and asks him, “What shall I give you?” Solomon knew the job of king was too much for him to handle on his own so he asks for wisdom from the Lord. This request pleases the Lord so much that He not only gives Solomon wisdom but also riches and honor. Tomorrow Solomon puts his wisdom into action so keep reading. 🤓

(Psalm 83, 1 Chronicles 29:23-25, 2 Chronicles 1:1, 1 Kings 2:13-3:4, 2 Chronilces 1:2-6, 1 Kings 3:5-15, 2 Chronicles 1:7-13)

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Asaph says over and over again in Psalm 80 “Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved!”. Moses said something similar in Numbers 6:24-26 “The Lord bless you and keep you; the Lord make his face to shine upon you and be gracious to you; the Lord lift up his countenance upon you and give you peace.” So the Lord shining upon us has 2 huge results 1) our salvation and 2) so we can shine! 💡 The moment you put your faith and trust in the Lord your salvation is secure. “In him you also, when you heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation, and believed in him, were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit, who is the guarantee of our inheritance until we acquire possession of it, to the praise of his glory.” (Ephesians 1:13-14)

Now being sealed in relationship with the Lord, the Holy Spirit works in us conforming us into the image of Christ so that we can shine His presence. “You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:14-16) Tomorrow Solomon takes the throne. 👑 Keep reading.

(Psalms 79-82)

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Asaph, like David, has a high view of God. What gives him such a big view of the Lord? He remembers! “And I said, This is my anguish; But I will remember the years of the right hand of the Most High. I will remember the works of the Lord; Surely I will remember Your wonders of old.” Remembering what God has done in the past allows us to trust him in the present and with our future. In order to remember, we have to know the Story. Asaph goes on to tell the Story of the Bible in Psalm 78 starting with the law in the Exodus Era and ending with David being appointed as king in the Kingdom Era. He reminds the people to teach the Story to their children “…which we have heard and known, and our fathers have told us, we will not hide them from their children, telling to the generation to come the praises of the Lord, and His strength and His wonderful works that He has done”.

Asaph points out that Israel failed bc they did not remember. “They did not keep the covenant of God; They refused to walk in His law, And forgot His works and His wonders that He had shown them…They did not remember His power: The day when He redeemed them from the enemy.” We just saw this played out in the Judges Era. Before then, during the Conquest Era, Joshua kept the people Bible literate but just one generation after he died “…there arose another generation after them who did not know the Lord or the work that he had done for Israel”. (Judges 2:10) The people did not remember and as a result they became extremely corrupt.

We have an awesome God with an awesome Story of how He sent His Son to save us! So let’s keep reading so we can know His Story, remember it, and pass it to the next generation!

(Psalms 75-78)

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“If I were hungry, I would not tell you; For the world is Mine, and all its fullness. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats? Offer to God thanksgiving, and pay your vows to the Most High.” This is a rebuke to the people who were just going through the motions of offering sacrifices to the Lord without a heart surrendered to Him. God is not impressed with someone performing public religious displays but ignoring all His commandments in their personal life. “What right have you to declare My Statues, or take My covenant in your mouth, seeing you hate instruction and cast My words behind you?” So the people were performing the religious duty of the animal sacrifice yet living lives consenting with thieves, partaking in adultery, lying and slandering others. This blatant neglect of God’s law exposes a heart issue. A heart that loves the Lord will desire obedience and will delight in praising Him. “Whoever offers praise glorifies Me; and to him who orders his conduct aright I will show the Salvation of God.”

The idea of your heart being exposed through your obedience to the Word of God is not just an Old Testament concept. Later in the Story, after Jesus arrives on the scene, John will say, “Whoever believes in the Son has eternal life; whoever does not obey the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God remains on him”. (John 3:36) Did you notice that the verse did not end after “whoever believes in the son has eternal life”? It’s not about going through the religious motions and its not about performing works to earn His favor. It’s about a heart that loves the Lord which leads to a desire to be obedient to His Word. We can’t fool God with our religious activity because He sees the heart. Jesus will come and call out these fake well-polished religious leaders who are all about power and position. “What sorrow awaits you teachers of religious law and you Pharisees. Hypocrites! For you are like whitewashed tombs—beautiful on the outside but filled on the inside with dead people’s bones and all sorts of impurity. Outwardly you look like righteous people, but inwardly your hearts are filled with hypocrisy and lawlessness.” (Matthew 23:27-28)

Keep reading to meet Jesus who rebukes the high and mighty religious crowd but is a friend to those who know they are desperate sinners in need of a Savior. That’s the heart of our God!

(Psalm 50, Psalms 73-74)

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