1 Kings 9 – 10 part 6
Last week we talked about more of King Solomon’s building accomplishments and the dedication of the new temple and his prayer to God. Tonight we will begin our study in 1 Kings 9.
1 Kings 9:1 And it
came to pass, when Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the
king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he wanted to do, 2 that the LORD appeared to
Solomon the second time, as He had appeared to him at Gibeon.
The first time God spoke to Solomon he asked him what he wanted and of course we know that Solomon asked for wisdom. Now God is speaking to Solomon a second time around 20 years later. Notice what God tells him.
1 Kings 9:3 And the
LORD said to him: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you
have made before Me; I have consecrated this house which you have built to put
My name there forever, and My eyes and My heart will be there perpetually. 4 "Now if you walk before Me
as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do
according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes
and My judgments, 5
"then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as
I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man on the
throne of Israel.' 6 "But
if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My
commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and
serve other gods and worship them, 7
"then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and
this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight.
Again this is the recurring theme that you see throughout God’s Word. God always keep His promises and does what he says he will do. Notice there would always be one of David’s descendants on the thrown and the temple would remain forever if they continued in His statues. God even points out that people will know that if their kingdom is taken from them and their city destroyed that it was because they had forsaken God. I don’t know if any of you knew Johnny Ramsey but he passed away on Oct 5 and it he was quoted as saying one of his biggest concerns for the church today was that so few people know their Bible’s. Now the reason I point this out is because if more people read and study their Bibles they would see the seriousness of obey God commands and how fatal it is when we as humans start making up our own worship to God.
There are a lot of religious organizations that are united in the same thought but the problem is that their unity based up on their own tradition. This should not be the case instead our unity should be based solely upon the authority of the NT and nothing else. That is the kind of unity that God is looking for. I hope each and everyone of us in this room will take this thought seriously and always strive to know your Bible’s and to realize that we will be judged by how we kept God’s Word and we certainly will not receive extra credit for doing things our way.
1 Kings 9:10 Now it
happened at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the
house of the LORD and the king's house 11
(Hiram the king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress and gold,
as much as he desired), that King Solomon then gave Hiram twenty cities
in the land of Galilee. 12
Then Hiram went from
Now it is not know for sure what is meant by Solomon giving 20 cities to Hiram. They are not for sure if this meant actually giving them to him or giving the produce from them. If these cities were apart of the promise land most of the scholars I looked at said that they couldn’t see how Solomon would have the right to give away that which God gave to the people. We also don’t know why Hiram wasn’t pleased with these cities for sure but these cities apparently were not for good and it believed that they were fool of Pagans. The word “Cabul” has been given the meaning of worth nothing or pawned off.
1 Kings 9:15 And
this is the reason for the labor force which King Solomon raised: to
build the house of the LORD, his own house, the Millo, the wall of Jerusalem,
Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 16
(Pharaoh king of
Solomon used slave labor
to make his vision come to life. Now he did not make the children of
1 Kings 9:24 But
Pharaoh's daughter came up from the City of
We learn why Solomon made
a separate house for the Pharaoh’s daughter in,
2 Chronicles 8:11 Now
Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to the house
he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the house
of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the LORD
has come are holy."
Based on what this says
this tells me that Solomon knew that it wrong for his to marry a foreigner and
if he brought her into David house that it would in someway defile the place
especial because of the pagan ways of her people. So, I guess in Solomon’s mind
it was ok if built her her own house.
25
Now three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on
the altar which he had built for the LORD, and he burned incense with them on
the altar that was before the LORD. So he finished the temple. 26 King Solomon also built a fleet
of ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red
Sea, in the land of Edom. 27
Then Hiram sent his servants with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work
with the servants of Solomon. 28
And they went to Ophir, (oh-fur) and acquired four hundred and twenty
talents of gold from there, and brought it to King Solomon.
This shows us that
Solomon also took advantage of the Sea to prosper as well.
1 Kings 10:1 Now
when the queen of
The queen of
1 Kings 10:6 Then
she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own land
about your words and your wisdom. 7
"However I did not believe the words until I came and saw with my own
eyes; and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity exceed
the fame of which I heard. 8
"Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who
stand continually before you and hear your wisdom! 9 "Blessed be the LORD your
God, who delighted in you, setting you on the throne of
As we can see the queen of
1 Kings 10:14 The
weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and sixty-six
talents of gold, 15 besides that
from the traveling merchants, from the income of traders, from all the
kings of Arabia, and from the governors of the country.
It is believed that this money he received from his people every year was a tax and this became a heavy burden upon the people. He also received money from his trade with those outside his kingdom.
1 Kings 10:16 And
King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six
hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. 17 He also made three
hundred shields of hammered gold; three minas of gold went into each
shield. The king put them in the House of the
It seems to me that King
Solomon was really into material possession and being known for the beauty that
surrounded him. Here had all the shields made with hammered Gold just for looks.
1 Kings 10:18
Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure
gold. 19 The throne had six
steps, and the top of the throne was round at the back; there were armrests
on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the
armrests. 20 Twelve lions
stood there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had
been made for any other kingdom.
Here is picture of artist
rendition of what this may have looked like. Solomon wasn’t trying to keep up
with Jones he was the Jones. Everything around him had to be a one of a kind
and it had stupendous.
1 Kings 10:21 All
King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the
House of the
Can you imagine everyone
of your cups being made out of pure gold as if Gold were just a common
thing. Now I also find interesting that
Solomon had monkeys brought in. What would he do with monkeys? Well, I guess
you’re the wisest and richest king around you might as well have everything
including monkeys.
1 Kings 10:24 Now all
the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put
in his heart. 25 Each man
brought his present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices,
horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.
26 And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen; he had one
thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he stationed
in the chariot cities and with the king in
Solomon was so famous at this time that everyone wanted to talk to him so they could hear his wisdom but the only reason had such great wisdom was because of God. It’s real shame that Solomon allowed all of this to go to his head because the richer he became the more wives he obtained the further he moved away from God. Which tells us that all the wisdom in the world will be pointless if you do not stay right with God.