Pray Thru the Bible

God Speaks

9 So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everything he had planned to do. ² Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had done before at Gibeon. ³ The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy—this place you have built where my name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to my heart.

⁴ “As for you, if you will follow me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commands, decrees, and regulations, ⁵ then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made this promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.’

⁶ “But if you or your descendants abandon me and disobey the commands and decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, ⁷ then I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor my name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. ⁸ And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will gasp in horror. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?’

⁹ “And the answer will be, ‘Because his people abandoned the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to them. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.’”

¹⁰ It took Solomon twenty years to build the Lord’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time, ¹¹ he gave twenty towns in the land of Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre. (Hiram had previously provided all the cedar and cypress timber and gold that Solomon had requested.) ¹² But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the towns Solomon had given him, he was not at all pleased with them. ¹³ “What kind of towns are these, my brother?” he asked. So Hiram called that area Cabul (which means “worthless”), as it is still known today. ¹⁴ Nevertheless, Hiram paid Solomon 9,000 pounds of gold.

¹⁵ This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. ¹⁶ (Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a wedding gift when she married Solomon. ¹⁷ So Solomon rebuilt the city of Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower Beth-horon, ¹⁸ Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness within his land. ¹⁹ He built towns as supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.

²⁰ There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ²¹ These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. ²² But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, government officials, officers and captains in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. ²³ Solomon appointed 550 of them to supervise the people working on his various projects.

²⁴ Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. Then he constructed the supporting terraces.

²⁵ Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished the work of building the Temple.

²⁶ King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, a port near Elath in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea. ²⁷ Hiram sent experienced crews of sailors to sail the ships with Solomon’s men. ²⁸ They sailed to Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons of gold.

8 It took Solomon twenty years to build the Lord’s Temple and his own royal palace. At the end of that time, ² Solomon turned his attention to rebuilding the towns that King Hiram had given him, and he settled Israelites in them.

³ Solomon also fought against the town of Hamath-zobah and conquered it. ⁴ He rebuilt Tadmor in the wilderness and built towns in the region of Hamath as supply centers. ⁵ He fortified the towns of Upper Beth-horon and Lower Beth-horon, rebuilding their walls and installing barred gates. ⁶ He also rebuilt Baalath and other supply centers and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed. He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout his entire realm.

⁷ There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites, including the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ⁸ These were descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them for his labor force, and they serve as forced laborers to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not conscript any of the Israelites for his labor force. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men, officers in his army, commanders of his chariots, and charioteers. ¹⁰ King Solomon appointed 250 of them to supervise the people.

¹¹ Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to the new palace he had built for her. He said, “My wife must not live in King David’s palace, for the Ark of the Lord has been there, and it is holy ground.”

¹² Then Solomon presented burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar he had built for him in front of the entry room of the Temple. ¹³ He offered the sacrifices for the Sabbaths, the new moon festivals, and the three annual festivals—the Passover celebration, the Festival of Harvest, and the Festival of Shelters—as Moses had commanded.

¹⁴ In assigning the priests to their duties, Solomon followed the regulations of his father, David. He also assigned the Levites to lead the people in praise and to assist the priests in their daily duties. And he assigned the gatekeepers to their gates by their divisions, following the commands of David, the man of God. ¹⁵ Solomon did not deviate in any way from David’s commands concerning the priests and Levites and the treasuries.

¹⁶ So Solomon made sure that all the work related to building the Temple of the Lord was carried out, from the day its foundation was laid to the day of its completion.

¹⁷ Later Solomon went to Ezion-geber and Elath, ports along the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. ¹⁸ Hiram sent him ships commanded by his own officers and manned by experienced crews of sailors. These ships sailed to Ophir with Solomon’s men and brought back to Solomon almost seventeen tons of gold.

Source: New Living Translation: BibleGateway.com

We Respond

[TBR-167: I Kings 9 and II Chronicles 8]

Reflection: Consider the following questions regarding I Kings 9 and II Chronicles 8:

1. What does this chapter tell me about God?

2. What does this chapter tell me about the human beings He created?    

Here is one possible answer to each of these questions. Ask the Holy Spirit if there are any others for you personally to ponder.  

I Kings 9 and II Chronicles 8 [Since these are two reports of the same events with different emphases, they with be responded to as a unit.]

1. The LORD God sometimes appears to His people, especially to leaders such as Solomon.

2. The LORD God’s people are to follow Him in integrity and godliness, obeying all of His commands, decrees, and regulations. 

Prayer:

3. How might I pray regarding I Kings 9 and II Chronicles 8?

O Sovereign Father God, please help me to hear Your voice through Your Word, Your Spirit, Your people or through an in-person interaction with You.  Then help me to humble myself and follow You in integrity and godliness, obeying all of Your commands, decrees, and regulations. In my humanness, I know will fail as I have in the past, but when I unite with Jesus my Savior, I will eventually succeed in all that You are calling me to do. I accept without grumbling or complaining any discipline it will take to achieve that success. Help me not to separate my relationship with You from all the other areas of my life. May my interaction with You be integrated and displayed in my family life–with my parents and/or my spouse and my children. May it be seen in my work or business dealings or my interactions at school or with my friends, acquaintances, or strangers. May You be reflected in how I manage the money, time, abilities, and resources You choose to give me. May I be grateful to You in everything. In all things and at all times, may I bring You glory, LORD. AMEN   

Action: (Ask God, the Holy Spirit, if He wants you to work on one of the suggestions below or something else more personal that He points out.)

4. What action does the LORD want me to take in response to I Kings 9 and II Chronicles 8?

With the help of God’s Holy Spirit:

• I will ask God’s Holy Spirit to forgive and remove any impurities in my life that would keep me from hearing His voice and obeying what He says.
• I will accept (without grumbling or complaining) whatever discipline the LORD may deem necessary to make me more like Jesus.
• I will work to develop any administrative (or other) skills the LORD may choose to give me.
• I will read the Bible and pray every morning so that I can know and/or be prepared for what God has in mind for that day.

Share: I plan to share what I’ve learned with __________.