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. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.  8 "And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'  9 "Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the LORD their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the LORD has brought all this calamity on them.' "

 

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 Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, but they did not please him.  13 So he said, "What kind of cities are these which you have given me, my brother?" And he called them the land of Cabul, as they are to this day.  14 Then Hiram sent the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.   

 

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 Egypt had gone up and taken Gezer and burned it with fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the city, and had given it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife.)  17 And Solomon built Gezer, Lower Beth Horon,  18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,  19 all the storage cities that Solomon had, cities for his chariots and cities for his cavalry, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.  20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel --  21 that is, their descendants who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel had not been able to destroy completely -- from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day.  22 But of the children of Israel Solomon made no forced laborers, because they were men of war and his servants: his officers, his captains, commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.  23 Others were chiefs of the officials who were over Solomon's work: five hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people who did the work.

 

Solomon used slave labor to make his vision come to life. Now he did not make the children of Israel become slaves but instead they overlooked the work of the slaves. This is the same method the Egyptians employed in make their great structures and there have even been inscriptions found on their structures which state that this was not built by native Egyptians. 

 

1 Kings 9:24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up from the City of David to her house which Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.

 

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 Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to test him with hard questions.  2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels that bore spices, very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart.  3 So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for the king that he could not explain it to her.  4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,  5 the food on his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers, and his entryway by which he went up to the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.

 

The queen of Sheba is a historical figure who confirmed by Jesus in Mat. 12:42. She came up from South probably from Arabia. The people that lived there were fascinated by riddle and parables which is what the Queen of Sheba was putting before King Solomon and none of her question were to hard for Solomon to answer. As she began to look around and realize how wise King Solomon was she was beside herself and some suggest that she fainted because of this phrase there was no more spirit in her.

 

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 Israel! Because the LORD has loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness."  10 Then she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in great quantity, and precious stones. There never again came such abundance of spices as the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. 11 Also, the ships of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, (o-fur) brought great quantities of almug wood and precious stones from Ophir.  12 And the king made steps of the almug wood for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers. There never again came such almug wood, nor has the like been seen to this day.  13 Now King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had given her according to the royal generosity. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

 

As we can see the queen of Sheba was taken by Solomon and she gave him huge amount of Gold, spices and precious stones. Now Jewish tradition says that Queen of Sheba had a son by Solomon but the Bible doesn’t say anything about this so we cannot know for sure what happened between these 2. Others have said that she may have converted to the God of Israel and that certainly is plausible considered Jesus talks about how she would rise up at the judgment day and condemn that generation he was speaking to. We can also see from out text the Solomon gave her the royal treatment and then as some points she leaves and goes back to her country. There are two different view on where the queen of Sheba was from. Some say she was from Africa and that she was an Ethiopian. Others claim she was from Arabia and the Arabians them believe that she was from there. Based on their history I would lean more toward her being from Arabia than Africa but I can’t say for sure either way.

 

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 Forest of Lebanon.

 

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 Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon.  22 For the king had merchant ships at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.  23 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 

 

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 Jerusalem.  27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the sycamores which are in the lowland.  28 Also Solomon had horses imported from Egypt and Keveh; the king's merchants bought them in Keveh at the current price.  29 Now a chariot that was imported from Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty; and thus, through their agents, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.

 

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.