May
23rd 2
Chronicles 7
The glory in the Temple
1: Now when Solomon
had made an end of praying, the fire came down from heaven, and
consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the
LORD filled the house. 2: And the priests could not enter into the
house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD had filled the
LORD's house. 3: And when all the children of Israel saw how the fire
came down, and the glory of the LORD upon the house, they bowed
themselves with their faces to the ground upon the pavement, and
worshipped, and praised the LORD, saying, For he is good; for his
mercy endureth for ever.
Sacrifices
& celebrations
4: Then the king
and all the people offered sacrifices before the LORD. 5: And king
Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty and two thousand oxen, and an
hundred and twenty thousand sheep: so the king and all the people
dedicated the house of God. 6: And the priests waited on their
offices: the Levites also with instruments of musick of the LORD,
which David the king had made to praise the LORD, because his mercy
endureth for ever, when David praised by their ministry; and the
priests sounded trumpets before them, and all Israel stood. 7:
Moreover Solomon hallowed the middle of the court that was before the
house of the LORD: for there he offered burnt offerings, and the fat
of the peace offerings, because the brasen altar which Solomon had
made was not able to receive the burnt offerings, and the meat
offerings, and the fat. 8: Also at the same time Solomon kept the
feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation,
from the entering in of Hamath unto the river of Egypt. 9: And in the
eighth day they made a solemn assembly: for they kept the dedication
of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10: And on the
three and twentieth day of the seventh month he sent the people away
into their tents, glad and merry in heart for the goodness that the
LORD had shewed unto David, and to Solomon, and to Israel his people.
God
speaks to Solomon
11: Thus Solomon
finished the house of the LORD, and the king's house: and all that
came into Solomon's heart to make in the house of the LORD, and in
his own house, he prosperously effected. 12: And the LORD appeared to
Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard thy prayer, and
have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 13: If I
shut up heaven that there be no rain, or if I command the locusts to
devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people; 14: If my
people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and
pray, and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways; then will I
hear from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their
land. 15: Now mine eyes shall be open, and mine ears attent unto the
prayer that is made in this place. 16: For now have I chosen and
sanctified this house, that my name may be there for ever: and mine
eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually. 17: And as for thee,
if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, and do
according to all that I have commanded thee, and shalt observe my
statues and my judgments; 18: Then will I stablish the throne of thy
kingdom, according as I have covenanted with David thy father,
saying, There shall not fail thee a man to be ruler in Israel. 19:
But if ye turn away, and forsake my statutes and my commandments,
which I have set before you, and shall go and serve other gods, and
worship them; 20: Then will I pluck them up by the roots out of my
land which I have given them; and this house, which I have sanctified
for my name, will I cast out of my sight, and will make it to be a
proverb and a byword among all nations. 21: And this house, which is
high, shall be an astonishment to every one that passeth by it; so
that he shall say, Why hath the LORD done thus unto this land, and
unto this house? 22: And it shall be answered, Because they forsook
the LORD God of their fathers, which brought them forth out of the
land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and
served them: therefore hath he brought all this evil upon them.
2
Chronicles 8 Solomon’s other projects
1: And it came to
pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house
of the LORD, and his own house, 2: That the cities which Huram had
restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of
Israel to dwell there. 3: And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah, and
prevailed against it. 4: And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and
all the store cities, which he built in Hamath. 5: Also he built
Beth-horon the upper, and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities, with
walls, gates, and bars; 6: And Baalath, and all the store cities that
Solomon had, and all the chariot cities, and the cities of the
horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in
Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. 7: As for all
the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the
Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of
Israel, 8: But of their children, who were left after them in the
land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, them did Solomon make
to pay tribute until this day. 9: But of the children of Israel did
Solomon make no servants for his work; but they were men of war, and
chief of his captains, and captains of his chariots and horsemen. 10:
And these were the chief of king Solomon's officers, even two hundred
and fifty, that bare rule over the people. 11: And Solomon brought up
the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David unto the house that
he had built for her: for he said, My wife shall not dwell in the
house of David king of Israel, because the places are holy, whereunto
the ark of the LORD hath come. 12: Then Solomon offered burnt
offerings unto the LORD on the altar of the LORD, which he had built
before the porch, 13: Even after a certain rate every day, offering
according to the commandment of Moses, on the sabbaths, and on the
new moons, and on the solemn feasts, three times in the year, even in
the feast of unleavened bread, and in the feast of weeks, and in the
feast of tabernacles. 14: And he appointed, according to the order of
David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and
the Levites to their charges, to praise and minister before the
priests, as the duty of every day required: the porters also by their
courses at every gate: for so had David the man of God commanded. 15:
And they departed not from the commandment of the king unto the
priests and Levites concerning any matter, or concerning the
treasures. 16: Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day
of the foundation of the house of the LORD, and until it was
finished. So the house of the LORD was perfected. 17: Then went
Solomon to Ezion-geber, and to Eloth, at the sea side in the land of
Edom. 18: And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and
servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the
servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty
talents of gold, and brought them to king Solomon.
2
Chronicles 9 The Queen of Sheba
1: And when the
queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to prove
Solomon with hard questions at Jerusalem, with a very great company,
and camels that bare spices, and gold in abundance, and precious
stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of
all that was in her heart. 2: And Solomon told her all her questions:
and there was nothing hid from Solomon which he told her not. 3: And
when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house
that he had built, 4: And the meat of his table, and the sitting of
his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel;
his cupbearers also, and their apparel; and his ascent by which he
went up into the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.
5: And she said to the king, It was a true report which I heard in
mine own land of thine acts, and of thy wisdom: 6: Howbeit I believed
not their words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and,
behold, the one half of the greatness of thy wisdom was not told me:
for thou exceedest the fame that I heard. 7: Happy are thy men, and
happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee,
and hear thy wisdom. 8: Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighted
in thee to set thee on his throne, to be king for the LORD thy God:
because thy God loved Israel, to establish them for ever, therefore
made he thee king over them, to do judgment and justice. 9: And she
gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices
great abundance, and precious stones: neither was there any such
spice as the queen of Sheba gave king Solomon. 10: And the servants
also of Huram, and the servants of Solomon, which brought gold from
Ophir, brought algum trees and precious stones. 11: And the king made
of the algum trees terraces to the house of the LORD, and to the
king's palace, and harps and psalteries for singers: and there were
none such seen before in the land of Judah. 12: And king Solomon gave
to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside
that which she had brought unto the king. So she turned, and went
away to her own land, she and her servants.
Solomon’s
fame and wealth
13: Now the weight
of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and
threescore and six talents of gold; 14: Beside that which chapmen and
merchants brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the
country brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15: And king Solomon made
two hundred targets of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of beaten
gold went to one target. 16: And three hundred shields made he of
beaten gold: three hundred shekels of gold went to one shield. And
the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. 17: Moreover
the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure
gold. 18: And there were six steps to the throne, with a footstool of
gold, which were fastened to the throne, and stays on each side of
the sitting place, and two lions standing by the stays: 19: And
twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the
six steps. There was not the like made in any kingdom. 20: And all
the drinking vessels of king Solomon were of gold, and all the
vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none
were of silver; it was not any thing accounted of in the days of
Solomon. 21: For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants
of Huram: every three years once came the ships of Tarshish bringing
gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. 22: And king Solomon
passed all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 23: And all
the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his
wisdom, that God had put in his heart. 24: And they brought every man
his present, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment,
harness, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate year by year. 25: And
Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve
thousand horsemen; whom he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with
the king at Jerusalem. 26: And he reigned over all the kings from the
river even unto the land of the Philistines, and to the border of
Egypt. 27: And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar
trees made he as the sycomore trees that are in the low plains in
abundance. 28: And they brought unto Solomon horses out of Egypt, and
out of all lands.
Solomon’s
death
29: Now the rest of
the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written in the book
of Nathan the prophet, and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite,
and in the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of
Nebat? 30: And Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty
years. 31: And Solomon slept with his fathers, and he was buried in
the city of David his father: and Rehoboam his son reigned in his
stead.
In today’s
passages we read of the glory of the Lord filling the temple that
Solomon has built. And we read of the sacrifices and celebrations of
Israel at the dedication of the Temple. Then we read that the Lord
spoke to Solomon. Next the recorder writes of Solomon’s other
building projects and of the famous visit of the Queen of Sheba. Then
finally we have the wealth and fame of Solomon and of his death.
Never before or since had there been a more wealthy king of Israel
than Solomon and never before a more Godly man than David. All the
Kings of Israel are measured against the David who was a man who had
the very mind of God. From this we see that wealth and blessing are
not the same as godliness. Often we think that it was Elijah that
called on the Lord to send down fire from heaven but David and
Solomon experienced this first. The glory of the Lord filled the
house thus making the temple an unbearable place to be for men. The
people were amazed and bowed before the Lord worshipping the LORD.
Then Solomon offered 2,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. The organisation
of the service of the Lord swung into action that David had set up
and there was great worship and celebration. The altar of the Lord
was unable to contain all the offerings to the Lord. The feasting
went on for seven days, but on the eighth day they had a very solemn
assembly because they had kept the dedication of the altar for seven
days and the feast for seven days. On the 23rd
day of the seventh month the people went away glad and merry in heart
because of the goodness of the LORD that he had shown to David and
Solomon and to all the people. Then the LORD spoke to Solomon in the
night confirming his covenant with him and explaining how the people
are to return to the LORD their God if he disciplines them with
drought, locusts or pestilence. This famous passage is classic Old
Covenant Theology. It is based on the Mosaic covenant and the
provisions of the law. The Lord says If my people (Israel) who are
called by my name will humble themselves and pray and search after me
and repent of their wicked ways – THEN l will hear from heaven and
forgive them (of their backslidings) and I WILL HEAL THEIR LAND. (Now
this cannot be said of any NT believer today. Firstly because this is
squarely based on the blessings and curses of the Mosaic Covenant and
this is a covenant of Law. Secondly, NT Believers are not under Law
and most certainly not under the Mosaic Covenant. These threats of
judgments and promises of blessing are based on the righteousness of
those living under law. The Christian is dealt with in a totally
different manner. He is living under Grace. God is forever gracious
towards him because his sins and iniquities are remembered no more.
They are forever forgiven and he has no land here on earth - his
inheritance is heavenly where he has received already all spiritual
blessings in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus.) Then the Lord
promised that his eyes and ears would forever be open to this temple.
Then the LORD entered in a personal covenant of human responsibility
with Solomon. He said IF you live righteously before me (according to
the Mosaic Law) then l will establish your throne like l did with
your father David. But if you forsake me then l will pluck you up out
of the ground like a thistle and l will throw you out of my sight.
And you will be a lesson to all men of what happens to a man who
forsakes me. And this temple will be so destroyed that those who walk
by will be astonished at it. They will ask why God has done this. And
every man will know the answer – It is because they have forsaken
the LORD their God and gone and served idols. Solomon went on to
build huge buildings. He built a house for himself and he built huge
cites throughout the land. Solomon supervised the Levites to bring
sacrifices to the Lord in huge quantities three times a year and
every day. Then Solomon took men who have knowledge of the sea to
bring back huge quantise of gold. Many monarchs came to visit Solomon
and the most famous was the Queen of Sheba. She came with the hardest
unsolvable questions of men but Solomon easily answered all that she
asked. After she had seen everything she was completely amazed saying
that she had only heard half of what she had seen with her eyes. She
blessed the God of Israel giving to Solomon all that she had and he
gave her all that she asked for. The wealth of Solomon was fabulous
beyond belief. There was so much gold that he had to think of things
to make with it all. He built an ivory throne and overlaid it with
gold. All of the cups in his palace were pure gold. His navy went far
and wide bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. God made
him the wealthiest and wisest man on earth. All the kings of the
earth came to hear his wisdom and they brought great wealth to him.
All of his great acts are written in the book of Nathan the prophet
and in the prophecy of Ahijah and in the visions of Iddo the prophet.
Solomon reigned as did David and Saul for 40 years. He was buried in
Jerusalem. When he died Rehoboam took his throne.
- How did Solomon know that his sacrifice had been accepted?
- What happened after the sacrifice was accepted?
- How does this passage describe Israels relation to the Lord under the OldCovenant?
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