1 Kings 4-6
Today we get:
- Solomon's provision
- Solomon starts building
- He keeps building
1 Kings 4
1 So king Solomon was king over all Israel.
That's just a reminder that nobody was trying to usurp Solomon's kingdom.
20 Judah and Israel were many, as the sand which is by the sea in multitude, eating and drinking, and making merry.
Solomon is apparently wise enough to not number them; as he learned from his father that numbering the people really pisses off God.
21 And Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the river unto the land of the Philistines, and unto the border of Egypt: they brought presents, and served Solomon all the days of his life.
What a glorious job to be the wisest king known to mankind. Everyday, from all around the world people would show up and bring him stuff.
22 And Solomon's provision for one day was thirty measures of fine flour, and threescore measures of meal,
23 Ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, beside harts, and roebucks, and fallowdeer, and fatted fowl.
Each day, he would go through that shopping list. 30 measures of flower, 60 of meal; 30 total oxen; 100 sheep; and unlimited deer and clean birds.
25 And Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
When Solomon was king, nobody attacked. Everyone was living in peace with each other. There were no suicide bombers; no roving rape gangs; no heavy metal music.
26 And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
This was the standing army, people just waiting to fight, every other man was draftable.
29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore.
He had the wisdom about the same size as the amount of Israelites.
30 And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt.
He was modest too.
31 For he was wiser than all men; than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about.
Ethan the Ezrahite may have been a cymbal player in David's court, he was the (supposed) author of Pslam 89.
Heman wrote Psalm 88.
Chalcol, we don't know anything about him.
Darda, we also don't know much about him.
Well, this is interesting, according to some Jews, they claim that Ethan represents Abraham; Heman is Moses; Chalcol is Joseph; and Darda is the entirety of knowledge in the wilderness. Thus saying that Solomon is wiser than ALL the major biblical people before him.
32 And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five.
That's a vast catalog of both wisdom and sonnets.
34 And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.
If you heard about his wisdom, you went to see him.
1 Kings 5
1 And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.
Not THAT kind of lover!
David replied back.
3 Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the LORD his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the LORD put them under the soles of his feet.
Solomon claims that the reason David couldn't build the temple was because David was always at war.
4 But now the LORD my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.
5 And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name.
So, Solomon is going to start building.
6 Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.
That's a smart man, knowing that his people can't cut wood.
So, Hiram agrees to help Solomon with the project.
10 So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.
To pay for it, Solomon sent 20,000 measures of wheat, and 20 measures of oil, each year.
13 And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.
Solomon instituted a draft.
14 And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.
They were on a rotating schedule, for one month they were guarding Lebanon, then spent two months at home.
18 And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.
The house of the LORD is about to be built.
1 Kings 6
1 And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the LORD.
This was approximately the year 1000 BC.
2 And the house which king Solomon built for the LORD, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.
It had a lovely master suite, walk in closets and a great room.
7 And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.
This is the first example of a "prefab home" or "modular house".
God then talks to Solomon, saying keep His statutes and commandments, and He won't depart the people.
14 So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
Finished as in decorated, not as in; he was done with it.
21 So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.
Doesn't get "finished" much better than being covered in gold.
23 And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.
There's gonna be lots of cherubims in there, with the two covering the mercy seat.
29 And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.
Even more cherubims.
Palm trees DEFINITELY did not represent penises. Open flowers DID NOT represent vaginas!
This was the house of the LORD, not a friggin Georgia O'keeffe painting!
38 And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.
It took four years for the foundation to settle, and seven more years to end construction on the rest.
So what have we learned today?
1. Solomon was wiser than Adam, Abraham, Joseph and Moses, and YOU TOO!
2. People would come from all over the world just to give Solomon more stuff.
3. You might be able to find the little man in the boat on the walls of the temple.
YIC
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