PSA Bible Reading Challenge 2023-2024

It doesn’t take long for a turn in administration to bring about very different feelings among the people of Israel.  Solomon’s son, Rehoboam, is now king and the tribe of Jeroboam which was in hiding and exile in Egypt came to Rehoboam and asked to be excused.  What had happened with Solomon was that Jeroboam had tried to lead the northern tribes away from Solomon and make them unhappy with the eccentricities of Solomon.  Well, the king found that out and Jeroboam fled and was protected by the Pharaoh.  

Now that Solomon is out of the picture Jeroboam asks the new king if he might be able to return.  Those who were older and who used to be Solomon’s advisers tell him to let bygones be bygones.  But those with whom this young king grew up said no, make them continue to pay for their crimes, because who knows, maybe they might try to turn against you as well.  

He doesn’t go with those who were filled with wisdom while Solomon was around, but rather with those who were with him while he was growing up in school.  They didn’t seem to have a real world perspective like the other advisors.  As a result the new king says that he will come down even harder than he did on them before.  They tell the Israelites to go back to their own individual tents and not heed the dictates of the family of David.  As a result Rehoboam is made to flee from northern Israel and return to Jerusalem where he would be safer.  You know that things are only going to get worse from here on out.

We find ourselves at the end of the reign of Solomon.  The entire chapter is a description of the amassing of wealth that takes place as a direct result of the wisdom of Solomon.  It being with the queen of Sheba being overwhelmed not only by his wisdom but by the way he treats his servants and those who wait on him.  They were dressed as nicely as any other person.  Solomon treated his subjects with the type of respect that was normally reserved for royalty.  This is a key to understanding our approach to life as believers in Jesus Christ.  We are to treat everyone as if they are children of God, simply because they are.  This means not just those who have means, but even those on the very bottom of the totem pole in our society.  What an approach to live by!

As a result of Solomon’s wisdom all of the surrounding rulers came to his presence and sought out advice.  They would bring gifts with them and so as a result his wealth would increase.  For 40 years Solomon ruled and during all of this time the borders of Israel increased as did the wealth of the ruler and of the nation.  We find Rehoboam succeeds him.  We can’t expect the loyalty to God to last forever, unlike the everlasting love of God.

Now that the work is accomplished in both the building of Solomon’s house and the building of the house of the Lord Solomon is able to sit back and reflect a bit on his work, and maybe even put his feet up.  We find that in vs.12 he does offer up the burnt offerings that were required, and this was a daily task.  He lined up all the Levites and all those who were commissioned to work in the temple so that the normal operations would happen in a way that was systematic.  

We see in vs.16 that the work of Solomon was accomplished and that he then went to a place near the sea so that he could hang out there for a bit of time.  He does sound like a bit of a normal person.  Once the task is accomplished then rest is required and is desired by the Lord.  

After the dedication of the temple and the words of Solomon God then appears.  Fire comes down from heaven in the same way that it came down with Elijah when he was dueling it out with the prophets of Baal.  The glory of the Lord that filled the temple was so powerful that it prevented any others from entering the temple.  For seven days a celebration was held to dedicate the temple.  This brings to a conclusion the dedication of the temple, and the Lord takes his place as he had promised.

After this God appears to Solomon a second time.  The first time it was to give Solomon a single wish.  This second time is to confirm the promise that God had made to Solomon’s dad, David.  The promise was that God would reside in Jerusalem in the temple that Solomon had made.  He tells Solomon that as long as the people of God obey him, as long as the people of Israel follow the commandments that God had given then he would dwell in his place.  

There is a bit of foreshadowing as God warns the people of Israel that if they do not follow his commandments and if they pursue other gods then he would abandon them and they would be carried off into exile, which indeed happens in the future.  But here is a song that I think reflects God’s love endures forever.

This entire chapter, all 42 verses is a prayer of Solomon to God as he basically inaugurates the temple and asks God to be present not only in the temple but with all the people who might ask for God’s blessing by turning to the temple.  There are a number of things that I really like, but the first that I wanted to highlight is how there is no differentiation between the people of Israel and the strangers who come to the temple to bless the Lord.  Solomon asks for God to bless each equally, to hear each of their prayers, equally.  He doesn’t ask to only listen to the prayers of the people of Israel, but rather even if a stranger were to come and ask for prayers, God, please answer their prayers.

In this time in which we find ourselves I love the reference in vs.28 where Solomon prays that if there be “plague” (in 2021 read Covid-19), then: “may you hear from heaven, your dwelling place, forgive, and render to all whose heart you know, according to all their ways, for only you know the human heart.”  The appeal is that where there is plague when the people come to ask for deliverance, that God would respond.  Notice, all of this is in the context of this happening, plague, famine, drought etc., as a result of sin that the people of God committed.

This prayer of dedication from Solomon covers all of the bases in regards to recognizing that the Lord promised to Israel that the house of David would be the one to rule over Israel and that Solomon would build the temple which would be the central place of worship for all the people of Israel.  

Solomon then invites God to take residence in his dwelling place.  From there on we find that God is considered as taking His place in the temple and it is from the temple that all religious life would emanate, and all life in general, for that matter, would find its meaning and purpose through the lens of the temple.

We find for the first time in this book of the Bible the actual physical and tangible presence of the Lord.  Once the temple is finished Solomon brought into the temple all of the things that belonged in the temple which were kept elsewhere.  He began by putting those things that his father David has placed elsewhere waiting for the day when the temple would be built.  Once the stored silver, the gold and the vessels were brought in then it was time to bring in the ark of the covenant.  

He directs the priests, which would be the Levites, to prepare themselves to bring in the ark of the covenant.  They bring it in and Solomon makes so many sacrifices that they lose track of how many they have done.  Somewhat similar to the bronze that they used so much that they lost track of how much.  We find in vs.6: “Sacrificing so many sheep and oxen that they could not be numbered or counted.”  Once the ark takes its place the singers and the musicians begin to sing and play.  They do it all in unison in praise to the Lord.  We even have the words that they sing in vs. 13: “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”

Once they sang that then the Lord appears, shows up, and his presence is so overwhelming that the people who were present had to stop what they were doing because the glory of the Lord filled the house of God.  Can you imagine being involved in worship in such a way that you just have to stop your worship because the presence of God is so overwhelming?  Now that is what I’m talking about.

So if earlier the primary element used was gold, this chapter bronze is seen throughout the description of the building of the temple.  At one point the description reaches a point that so much bronze is used that the author states in vs.18: “Solomon made all these things in great quantities, so that the weight of the bronze was not determined.”  They basically gave up trying to figure out how much weight and how much value they were placing into the temple.  

This chapter pretty much brings to the end of the building of the temple with all of its descriptions.  I love how it describes where all of this was being made.  We find in vs.17 that the vast majority of what is described in this chapter was made in the valley of the Jordan.  Remember, when we are talking about the valley of the Jordan, it would be the Jordan river which runs from all the way up north starting in the Sea of Galilee and all the way down to the Dead Sea.  Keep in mind that the northernmost portion of the Dead Sea is pretty much parallel to Jerusalem.  Look at the map below and then we can see that the Jordan Valley was not a very long distance from Jerusalem.  It is less than 20 miles.

In the construction of the temple in this chapter you see the primary ingredient, the primary item that was used was gold.  I had never realized how valuable a temple of these dimensions and with this much gold would really be.  Below you will find the dimensions of the temple in relationship to what something that we might we familiar with might look like.

Notice the dimensions of the temple which was 150 feet long and 75 feet wide.  This is not a small structure.  Think of a church that might be that size.  St. Peter’s in Rome is actually 720 feet by 490 feet.  Okay, so that is a bit larger than the temple.  But we are talking about a structure which was built 2000 years earlier.  The pyramids, which were built right around 2000 years before that was actually bigger than St. Peter’s, so it is 756 feet by 756 feet.  Yeah, when we went to Egypt  we realized how crazy big they are.

But this structure which Solomon is building was considered the absolutely gem of its day.  This was not the case because of its size but as we read through the following chapter consider all that was included in this temple.  It is pretty impressive.

Solomon begins his work in building the temple.  The first step he takes is to reach out to an ally who had helped his father earlier in building David’s house.  King Huram of Tyre is asked for skilled craftsmen with wood.  He gathers them and then that expands until he finds himself a thousands of people who are put in the right place at the right time in order to build the temple.  This is going to be a community affair.  

Do you notice who plays a leading role in the blue collar work of the temple?  Those who were foreigners in the land.  Solomon puts 70,000 of them to work on the temple.  He doesn’t shun them or evict them from the country but rather he uses them in order to build an even more impressive residence for his God.  

Did you notice the long list of skills that Huram-abi had?  He was very good at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, wood, all types of different fabrics.  Now that is a renaissance man if you ever saw one!

We begin our next to last book of the Bible as we make our way through Scripture.  II Chronicles is a continuation of I Chronicles.  It covers the life of Solomon in the first 9 chapters and then it looks at the kingdom as it is divided and splintered into pieces that ultimately make it weak.  But Solomon reigns over a united kingdom and his reign is one that was never seen before and never seen after.  His success is found not only in the wealth that he is able to accumulate, but also in his building of the temple and being able to provide a final resting place for the ark of the covenant, the presence of God.

This first chapter we see the transition of power to Solomon and God having a heart to heart with Solomon and telling him: ask for anything that you want and I will give it to you.  So, just take a moment to think about this question.  What would you ask?  If God said ask for anything at all and I will give it to you, what would you ask for God to provide to you?  Look at Solomon’s answer, he sets it up in light of the responsibilities that he now has been given by God.  He is put in charge of a so many people that they are not to be counted.  As a result he asks God for wisdom on how to rule over these people.

God is so pleased.  What a great request.  He didn’t ask for money or anything at all that would simply benefit Solomon.  Rather, he asks for something that would ultimately benefit the nation of Israel.  If they have a wise ruler then the kingdom could only expand and become stronger.  God not only gives him wisdom, more wisdom than anyone has ever had, but also the riches that he did not ask for.  What a great answer Solomon, way to go!