tempted to compromise

Posted on September 19, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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tempted to compromise

1 Kings 13:1-34 (JDV)

1 Kings 13:1 A man of God came, however, from Judah to Bethel by the word of Yahveh while Jeroboam was standing beside the altar to burn incense.
1 Kings 13:2 The man of God cried out against the altar by the word of the Lord: “Altar, altar, this is what Yahveh says, ‘A son will be born to the house of David, named Josiah, and he will sacrifice on you the priests of the high places who are burning incense on you. Human bones will be burned on you.'”
1 Kings 13:3 He gave a sign that day. He said, “This is the sign that Yahveh has spoken: ‘The altar will now be ripped apart, and the ashes that are on it will be poured out.'”
1 Kings 13:4 When the king heard the message that the man of God had cried out against the altar at Bethel, Jeroboam stretched out his hand from the altar and said, “Arrest him!” But the hand he stretched out against him withered, and he could not pull it back to himself.
1 Kings 13:5 The altar was ripped apart, and the ashes poured from the altar, according to the sign that the man of God had given by the word of the Lord.
1 Kings 13:6 Then the king responded to the man of God, “Plead for the favor of Yahveh your God and pray for me so that my hand may be restored to me.” So, the man of God pleaded for the favor of the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored to him and became as it had been at first.
1 Kings 13:7 Then the king declared to the man of God, “Come home with me, refresh yourself, and I’ll give you a reward.”
1 Kings 13:8 But the man of God replied, “If you were to give me half your house, I still wouldn’t go with you, and I wouldn’t eat food or drink water in this place,
1 Kings 13:9 because this is what I was commanded by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat food or drink water or go back the way you came.'”
1 Kings 13:10 So he went another way; he did not go back by the way he had come to Bethel.
1 Kings 13:11 Now a certain old prophet was living in Bethel. His son came and told him all the deeds that the man of God had done that day in Bethel. His sons also told their father the words that he had spoken to the king.
1 Kings 13:12 Then their father asked them, “Which way did he go?” His sons had seen the way taken by the man of God who had come from Judah.
1 Kings 13:13 Then he said to his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” So they saddled the donkey for him, and he got on it.
1 Kings 13:14 He followed the man of God and found him sitting under an oak tree. He asked him, “Are you the man of God who came from Judah?” “I am,” he said.
1 Kings 13:15 Then he said to him, “Come home with me and eat some food.”
1 Kings 13:16 But he answered, “I cannot go back with you or accompany you; I will not eat food or drink water with you in this place.
1 Kings 13:17 For a message came to me by the word of the Lord: ‘You must not eat food or drink water there or go back by the way you came.'”
1 Kings 13:18 He said to him, “I am also a prophet like you. An angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord: ‘Bring him back with you to your house so that he may eat food and drink water.'” The old prophet deceived him,
1 Kings 13:19 and the man of God went back with him, ate food in his house, and drank water.
1 Kings 13:20 While they were sitting at the table, the word of Yahveh came to the prophet who had brought him back,
1 Kings 13:21 and the prophet cried out to the man of God who had come from Judah, “This is what Yahveh says: ‘Because you rebelled against Yahveh’s command and did not keep the command that Yahveh your God commanded you —
1 Kings 13:22 but you went back and ate food and drank water in the place that he said to you, “Do not eat food and do not drink water”– your corpse will never reach the grave of your fathers.'”
1 Kings 13:23 So after he had eaten food and after he had drunk, the old prophet saddled the donkey for the prophet he had brought back.
1 Kings 13:24 When he left, a lion attacked him along the way and killed him. His corpse was thrown on the road, and the donkey was standing beside it; the lion was standing beside the corpse too.
1 Kings 13:25 There were men passing by who saw the corpse thrown on the road and the lion standing beside it, and they went and spoke about it in the city where the old prophet lived.
1 Kings 13:26 When the prophet who had brought him back from his way heard about it, he said, “He is the man of God who disobeyed Yahveh’s command. Yahveh has given him to the lion, and it has mauled and killed him, according to the word of Yahveh that he spoke to him.”
1 Kings 13:27 Then the old prophet instructed his sons, “Saddle the donkey for me.” They saddled it,
1 Kings 13:28 and he went and found the corpse thrown on the road with the donkey and the lion standing beside the corpse. The lion had not eaten the corpse or mauled the donkey.
1 Kings 13:29 So the prophet lifted the corpse of the man of God and laid it on the donkey and brought it back. The old prophet came into the city to mourn and to bury him.
1 Kings 13:30 Then he laid the corpse in his own grave, and they mourned over him: “Oh, my brother!”
1 Kings 13:31 After he had buried him, he said to his sons, “When I die, bury me in the grave where the man of God is buried; lay my bones beside his bones,
1 Kings 13:32 for the message that he cried out by the word of Yahveh against the altar in Bethel and against all the shrines of the high places in the cities of Samaria is certain to happen.”
1 Kings 13:33 Even after this, Jeroboam did not repent of his evil way but again made priests for the high places from the ranks of the people. He ordained whoever so desired it, and they became priests of the high places.
1 Kings 13:34 This was the sin that caused the house of Jeroboam to be made to disappear and be exterminated from the face of the land.

tempted to compromise

The prophet’s instructions from the LORD were designed to keep him from being corrupted by the inhabitants of Bethel and to reverse his prediction. So, the LORD commands him not to eat anything, and to return to Judah using a different route, not to retrace his steps. The prophet had no trouble standing up to Jeroboam, refusing to take his bribe. But his integrity failed him when lured by the prospect of fellowship with another prophet. In the end, he disobeys. In fact, the only creatures who remain obedient in this narrative are the lion and the loyal donkey. God’s specific commands are not gray areas.

LORD, help us to avoid putting ourselves in situations where we would be tempted to compromise.

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from rebellion to apostasy

Posted on September 18, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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from rebellion to apostasy

1 Kings 12:16-33 (JDV)

1 Kings 12:16 When all Israel saw that the king had not listened to them, the people answered him: What future do we have in David? We have no inheritance in the son of Jesse. Israel, return to your tents; David, now look after your own house! So, Israel went to their tents,
1 Kings 12:17 but Rehoboam reigned over the Israelites living in the cities of Judah.
1 Kings 12:18 Then King Rehoboam sent Adoram, who oversaw forced labor, but all Israel stoned him to death. King Rehoboam managed to get into the chariot and flee to Jerusalem.
1 Kings 12:19 Israel is still in rebellion against the house of David today.
1 Kings 12:20 When all Israel heard that Jeroboam had come back, they summoned him to the assembly and made him king over all Israel. No one followed the house of David except the tribe of Judah alone.
1 Kings 12:21 When Rehoboam arrived in Jerusalem, he mobilized one hundred eighty thousand fit young soldiers from the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin to fight against the house of Israel to restore the kingdom to Rehoboam son of Solomon.
1 Kings 12:22 But the word of God came to Shemaiah, the man of God:
1 Kings 12:23 “Say to Rehoboam son of Solomon, king of Judah, to the whole house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people,
1 Kings 12:24 ‘This is what Yahveh says: You are not to march up and fight against your brothers, the Israelites. Each of you return home because this thing is from me.'” So they listened to the word of Yahveh and went back according to the word of the Lord.
1 Kings 12:25 Jeroboam built Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim and lived there. From there he went out and built Penuel.
1 Kings 12:26 Jeroboam said to himself, “The kingdom might now return to the house of David.
1 Kings 12:27 If these people regularly go to offer sacrifices in Yahveh ‘s temple in Jerusalem, the heart of these people will return to their lord, King Rehoboam of Judah. They will kill me and go back to the king of Judah.”
1 Kings 12:28 So the king sought advice. Then he made two golden calves, and he said to the people, “Going to Jerusalem is too difficult for you. Israel, here are your gods who brought you up from the land of Egypt.”
1 Kings 12:29 He set up one in Bethel, and put the other in Dan.
1 Kings 12:30 This led to sin; the people walked in procession before one of the calves all the way to Dan.
1 Kings 12:31 Jeroboam also made shrines on the high places and made priests from the ranks of the people who were not Levites.
1 Kings 12:32 Jeroboam made a festival in the eighth month on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival in Judah. He offered sacrifices on the altar; he made this offering in Bethel to sacrifice to the calves he had made. He also stationed the priests in Bethel for the high places he had made.
1 Kings 12:33 He offered sacrifices on the altar he had set up in Bethel on the fifteenth day of the eighth month. He chose this month on his own. He made a festival for the Israelites, offered sacrifices on the altar, and burned incense.

from rebellion to apostasy

As soon as the ten northern tribes separated themselves from Rehoboam, their new king Jeroboam instituted a new religious culture for them. He knew that their allegiance to the LORD would incline their hearts toward Jerusalem. It is amazing how quickly a nation can turn against its God. It is always practical issues that serve as catalysts. Political rebellion led to religious apostasy.

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bad call

Posted on September 17, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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Photo by Alex Azabache on Pexels.com

bad call

1 Kings 12:1-15 (JDV)

1 Kings 12:1 Then Rehoboam went to Shechem because all Israel had gone to Shechem to make him king.
1 Kings 12:2 When Jeroboam son of Nebat heard about it, he stayed in Egypt, where he had fled from King Solomon’s presence. Jeroboam stayed in Egypt.
1 Kings 12:3 But they summoned him, and Jeroboam and the whole assembly of Israel came and spoke to Rehoboam:
1 Kings 12:4 “Your father made our yoke heavy. You, therefore, lighten your father’s harsh service and the heavy yoke he put on us, and we will serve you.”
1 Kings 12:5 Rehoboam replied, “Go away for three days and then return to me.” So, the people left.
1 Kings 12:6 Then King Rehoboam consulted with the elders who had served his father Solomon when he was alive, asking, “How do you advise me to respond to this people?”
1 Kings 12:7 They replied, “Today if you will be a servant to this people and serve them, and if you respond to them by speaking kind words to them, they will be your servants forever.”
1 Kings 12:8 But he rejected the advice of the elders who had advised him and consulted with the young men who had grown up with him and attended him.
1 Kings 12:9 He asked them, “What message do you advise that we send back to this people who said to me, ‘Lighten the yoke your father put on us’?”
1 Kings 12:10 Then the young men who had grown up with him told him, “This is what you should say to these people who said to you, ‘Your father made our yoke heavy, but you, make it lighter on us! ‘ This is what you should tell them: ‘My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist!
1 Kings 12:11 Although my father burdened you with a heavy yoke, I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.'”
1 Kings 12:12 So Jeroboam and all the people came to Rehoboam on the third day, as the king had ordered: “Return to me on the third day.”
1 Kings 12:13 Then the king answered the people harshly. He rejected the advice the elders had given him
1 Kings 12:14 and spoke to them according to the young men’s advice: “My father made your yoke heavy, but I will add to your yoke; my father disciplined you with whips, but I will discipline you with barbed whips.”
1 Kings 12:15 The king did not listen to the people because this turn of events came from Yahveh to carry out his word, which Yahveh had spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam son of Nebat.

bad call

We are not told what Rehoboam’s motive was for refusing to follow the advice of the old men. We might assume that he wanted to be popular with the younger generation, and show strength. Bad call. But God was in it because he had determined to judge Solomon’s house. Sometimes popularity comes at too great a price.

LORD, give us wisdom to serve those we lead.

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not wholeheartedly devoted

Posted on September 16, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240916

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not wholeheartedly devoted

1 Kings 11:1-43 (JDV)

1 Kings 11:1 King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women
1 Kings 11:2 from the nations about which Yahveh had told the Israelites, “You must not marry them, and they must not marry you, because they will turn your heart away to follow their gods.” To these women, Solomon was deeply attached in love.
1 Kings 11:3 He had seven hundred wives who were princesses and three hundred who were concubines, and they turned his heart away.
1 Kings 11:4 When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart away to follow other gods. He was not wholeheartedly devoted to Yahveh his God, as his father David had been.
1 Kings 11:5 Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites.
1 Kings 11:6 Solomon did what was evil in Yahveh’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not remain loyal to the Lord.
1 Kings 11:7 At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the abhorrent idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the abhorrent idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem.
1 Kings 11:8 He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.
1 Kings 11:9 Yahveh was angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from Yahveh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice.
1 Kings 11:10 He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what Yahveh had commanded.
1 Kings 11:11 Then Yahveh said to Solomon, “Since you have done this and did not keep my covenant and my statutes, which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.
1 Kings 11:12 However, I will not do it during your lifetime for the sake of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand.
1 Kings 11:13 Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem that I chose.”
1 Kings 11:14 So Yahveh raised up Hadad the Edomite as an enemy against Solomon. He was of the royal family in Edom.
1 Kings 11:15 Earlier, when David was in Edom, Joab, the commander of the army, had gone to bury the dead and had struck down every male in Edom.
1 Kings 11:16 For Joab and all Israel had remained there six months until he had killed every male in Edom.
1 Kings 11:17 Hadad fled to Egypt, along with some Edomites from his father’s servants. At the time Hadad was a small boy.
1 Kings 11:18 Hadad and his men set out from Midian and went to Paran. They took men with them from Paran and went to Egypt, to Pharaoh King of Egypt, who gave Hadad a house, ordered that he be given food, and gave him land.
1 Kings 11:19 Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave him a wife, the sister of his own wife, Queen Tahpenes.
1 Kings 11:20 Tahpenes’s sister gave birth to Hadad’s son Genubath. Tahpenes herself weaned him in Pharaoh’s palace, and Genubath lived there along with Pharaoh’s sons.
1 Kings 11:21 When Hadad heard in Egypt that David rested with his fathers and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, “Let me leave, so I may go to my own country.”
1 Kings 11:22 But Pharaoh asked him, “What do you lack here with me for you to want to go back to your own country?” “Nothing,” he replied, “but please let me leave.”
1 Kings 11:23 God raised up Rezon son of Eliada as an enemy against Solomon. Rezon had fled from his master King Hadadezer of Zobah
1 Kings 11:24 and gathered men to himself. He became the leader of a raiding party when David killed the Zobaites. He went to Damascus, lived there, and became king in Damascus.
1 Kings 11:25 Rezon was Israel’s enemy throughout Solomon’s reign, adding to the trouble Hadad had caused. He reigned over Aram and loathed Israel.
1 Kings 11:26 Now Solomon’s servant, Jeroboam son of Nebat, was an Ephraimite from Zeredah. His widowed mother’s name was Zeruah. Jeroboam rebelled against Solomon,
1 Kings 11:27 and this is the reason he rebelled against the king: Solomon had built the supporting terraces and repaired the opening in the wall of the city of his father David.
1 Kings 11:28 Now the man Jeroboam was capable, and Solomon noticed the young man because he was getting things done. So he appointed him over the entire labor force of the house of Joseph.
1 Kings 11:29 During that time, the prophet Ahijah the Shilonite met Jeroboam on the road as Jeroboam came out of Jerusalem. Now Ahijah had wrapped himself with a new cloak, and the two of them were alone in the open field.
1 Kings 11:30 Then Ahijah took hold of the new cloak he had on, tore it into twelve pieces,
1 Kings 11:31 and said to Jeroboam, “Take ten pieces for yourself, for this is what Yahveh God of Israel says: ‘I am about to tear the kingdom out of Solomon’s hand. I will give you ten tribes,
1 Kings 11:32 but one tribe will remain his for the sake of my servant David and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city I chose out of all the tribes of Israel.
1 Kings 11:33 For they have abandoned me; they have bowed down to Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, to Chemosh, the god of Moab, and to Milcom, the god of the Ammonites. They have not walked in my way to do what is right in my sight and to carry out my statutes and my judgments as his father David did.
1 Kings 11:34 ” ‘However, I will not take the whole kingdom from him but will let him be ruler all the days of his life for the sake of my servant David, whom I chose and who kept my commands and my statutes.
1 Kings 11:35 I will take ten tribes of the kingdom from his son and give them to you.
1 Kings 11:36 I will give one tribe to his son so that my servant David will always have a lamp before me in Jerusalem, the city I chose for myself to put my name there.
1 Kings 11:37 I will appoint you, and you will reign as king over all you want, and you will be king over Israel.
1 Kings 11:38 ” ‘After that, if you obey all I command you, walk in my ways, and do what is right in my sight in order to keep my statutes and my commands as my servant David did, I will be with you. I will build you a lasting dynasty just as I built for David, and I will give you Israel.
1 Kings 11:39 I will humble David’s descendants, because of their unfaithfulness, but not forever.'”
1 Kings 11:40 Therefore, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam, but he fled to Egypt, to King Shishak of Egypt, where he remained until Solomon’s death.
1 Kings 11:41 The rest of the events of Solomon’s reign, along with all his accomplishments and his wisdom, are written in the Book of Solomon’s Events.
1 Kings 11:42 The length of Solomon’s reign in Jerusalem over all Israel totaled forty years.
1 Kings 11:43 Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam became king in his place.

not wholeheartedly devoted

In spite of his great wisdom and riches, Solomon did not stay true to the Davidic covenant. He brought in foreign wives, and capitulated to their idolatry, building places of worship for such despicable deities as Chemosh and Molech. The LORD punished Solomon, but he did not take away his prosperity, his wisdom, or his life. Instead, the LORD provided adversaries who were a constant reminder to Solomon that things were not right. Three are mentioned in this chapter: Hadad, Rezon, and Jeroboam.

LORD, give us true wisdom to listen to you, and turn before your judgment comes upon us.

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truly blessed

Posted on September 15, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240915

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truly blessed

1 Kings 10:1-29 (JDV)

1 Kings 10:1 The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame connected with the name of Yahveh and came to test him with riddles.
1 Kings 10:2 She came to Jerusalem with a very large show of wealth, with camels bearing spices, gold in great abundance, and precious stones. She came to Solomon and spoke to him about everything that was on her mind.
1 Kings 10:3 So Solomon answered all her questions; nothing was too difficult for the king to explain to her.
1 Kings 10:4 When the queen of Sheba observed all of Solomon’s wisdom, the palace he had built,
1 Kings 10:5 the food at his table, his servants’ residence, his attendants’ service and their attire, his cupbearers, and the burnt offerings he offered at Yahveh’s temple, it took her breath away.
1 Kings 10:6 She said to the king, “The report I heard in my own country about your words and about your wisdom is true.
1 Kings 10:7 But I didn’t believe the reports until I came and saw with my own eyes. Indeed, I was not even told half. Your wisdom and prosperity far exceed the report I heard.
1 Kings 10:8 How happy are your men. How happy are these servants of yours, who always stand in your presence hearing your wisdom?
1 Kings 10:9 Blessed be Yahveh your God! He delighted in you and put you on the throne of Israel, because of Yahveh’s eternal love for Israel. He has made you king to carry out justice and righteousness.”
1 Kings 10:10 Then she gave the king four and a half tons of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones. Never again did such a quantity of spices arrive as those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
1 Kings 10:11 In addition, Hiram’s fleet that carried gold from Ophir brought from Ophir a large quantity of almug wood and precious stones.
1 Kings 10:12 The king made the almug wood into steps for Yahveh’s temple and the king’s palace and into lyres and harps for the singers. Never before did such almug wood arrive, and the like has not been seen again.
1 Kings 10:13 King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba her every desire– whatever she asked– besides what he had given her out of his royal bounty. Then she, along with her servants, returned to her own country.
1 Kings 10:14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon annually was twenty-five tons,
1 Kings 10:15 besides what came from merchants, traders’ merchandise, and all the Arabian kings and governors of the land.
1 Kings 10:16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; fifteen pounds of gold went into each shield.
1 Kings 10:17 He made three hundred small shields of hammered gold; nearly four pounds of gold went into each shield. The king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
1 Kings 10:18 The king also made a large ivory throne and overlaid it with fine gold.
1 Kings 10:19 The throne had six steps; there was a rounded top at the back of the throne, armrests on either side of the seat, and two lions standing beside the armrests.
1 Kings 10:20 Twelve lions were standing there on the six steps, one at each end. Nothing like it had ever been made in any other kingdom.
1 Kings 10:21 All of King Solomon’s drinking cups were gold, and all the utensils of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. There was no silver since it was considered nothing in Solomon’s time,
1 Kings 10:22 for the king had ships of Tarshish at sea with Hiram’s fleet, and once every three years the ships of Tarshish would arrive bearing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
1 Kings 10:23 King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the world in riches and in wisdom.
1 Kings 10:24 The whole world wanted an audience with Solomon to hear the wisdom that God had put in his heart.
1 Kings 10:25 Every man would bring his annual tribute: items of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, and horses and mules.
1 Kings 10:26 Solomon accumulated 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen and stationed them in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
1 Kings 10:27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar as abundant as sycamore in the Judean foothills.
1 Kings 10:28 Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and Kue. The king’s traders bought them from Kue at the going price.
1 Kings 10:29 A chariot was imported from Egypt for fifteen pounds of silver, and a horse for nearly four pounds. In the same way, they exported them to all the kings of the Hittites and to the kings of Aram through their agents.

truly blessed

What did it take to make the Queen of Sheba breathless? She had seen prosperity and fame before. But she saw in Solomon some things that impressed her. He had a wisdom that was more than just window dressing. He could answer all her test questions. He was the real deal. Also, she looked at his servants and officials. They were genuinely happy. It was not a show. Israel had truly been blessed, and their joy reflected well on the reputation of their LORD.

LORD, may our joy show the watching world that you are good.

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his standard of integrity

Posted on September 14, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240913

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his standard of integrity

1 Kings 9:1-28 (JDV)

1 Kings 9:1 When Solomon finished building the temple of Yahveh, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do,
1 Kings 9:2 Yahveh appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
1 Kings 9:3 Yahveh said to him: I have heard your prayer and petition you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple you have built, to put my name there forever; my eyes and my heart will be always there.
1 Kings 9:4 As for you, if you walk before me as your father David walked, with a heart of integrity and in what is right, doing everything I have commanded you, and if you keep my statutes and ordinances,
1 Kings 9:5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised your father David: You will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.
1 Kings 9:6 If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands — the statutes that I have set before you — and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them,
1 Kings 9:7 I will cut off Israel from the land I gave them, and I will reject the temple I have sanctified for my name. Israel will become an object of scorn and ridicule among all the peoples.
1 Kings 9:8 Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff. They will say: Why did Yahveh do this to this land and this temple?
1 Kings 9:9 Then they will say: Because they abandoned Yahveh their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held strongly to other gods, bowed in worship to them, and served them. Because of this, Yahveh brought all this ruin to them.
1 Kings 9:10 At the end of twenty years during which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahveh’s temple and the royal palace —
1 Kings 9:11 King Hiram of Tyre having supplied him with cedar and cypress logs and gold for his every wish — King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the land of Galilee.
1 Kings 9:12 So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them.
1 Kings 9:13 So he said, “What are these towns you’ve given me, my brother?” So, he called them the Land of Cabul, as they are still called today.
1 Kings 9:14 Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds of gold.
1 Kings 9:15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build Yahveh’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
1 Kings 9:16 Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He then burned it, killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.
1 Kings 9:17 Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon,
1 Kings 9:18 Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah,
1 Kings 9:19 all the storage cities that belonged to Solomon, the chariot cities, the cavalry cities, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, Lebanon, or anywhere else in the land of his dominion.
1 Kings 9:20 As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites —
1 Kings 9:21 their descendants who remained in the land after them, those whom the Israelites were unable to destroy completely — Solomon imposed forced labor on them; it is still this way today.
1 Kings 9:22 But Solomon did not consign the Israelites to slavery; they were soldiers, his servants, his commanders, his captains, and commanders of his chariots and his cavalry.
1 Kings 9:23 These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.
1 Kings 9:24 Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces.
1 Kings 9:25 Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in Yahveh’s presence. So, he completed the temple.
1 Kings 9:26 King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom.
1 Kings 9:27 With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants.
1 Kings 9:28 They went to Ophir and acquired gold there — sixteen tons — and delivered it to Solomon.

his standard of integrity

The LORD decided to honor Solomon’s prayer dedicating the newly built temple. It is always the sovereign LORD’s prerogative to do so. Yet Solomon did not have carte blanche to do as he pleased. He had to live up to the standard of integrity that the LORD accepted, and so did the nation. If ever Solomon or Israel turned away from God and served idols, this blessing and this temple would fall. The Babylonian captivity and the destruction of Solomon’s temple by Nebuchadnezzar would be signs of God’s faithfulness to himself.

LORD, help us to live up to your standard of integrity, and stay away from other gods.

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fortnight festival

Posted on September 13, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

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Photo by Matt Hardy on Pexels.com

fortnight festival

1 Kings 8:62-66 (JDV)

1 Kings 8:62 The king and all Israel with him were offering sacrifices in Yahveh ‘s presence.
1 Kings 8:63 Solomon offered a sacrifice of fellowship offerings to the Lord: twenty-two thousand cattle and one hundred twenty thousand sheep and goats. In this manner the king and all the Israelites dedicated Yahveh’s temple.
1 Kings 8:64 On the same day, the king consecrated the middle of the courtyard that was in front of Yahveh’s temple because that was where he offered the burnt offering, the grain offering, and the fat of the fellowship offerings since the bronze altar before Yahveh was too small to accommodate the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat of the fellowship offerings.
1 Kings 8:65 Solomon and all Israel with him — a great assembly, from the entrance of Hamath to the Brook of Egypt — observed the festival at that time in the presence of Yahveh our God, seven days, and seven more days — fourteen days.
1 Kings 8:66 On the fifteenth day he sent the people away. So, they blessed the king and went to their homes rejoicing and with happy hearts for all the goodness that Yahveh had done for his servant David and for his people Israel.

fortnight festival

The normal week-long festival of booths was extended to twice this time this once because of the celebration of the the finishing of the temple. People lingered and worshipped and celebrated. What a blessing that time must have been. Imagine the joy we will all experience when our Lord returns to set up his kingdom on earth.

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more than justice

Posted on September 12, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240912

Photo by Andres Victorero on Pexels.com

more than justice

1 Kings 8:22-61 (JDV)

1 Kings 8:22 Then Solomon stood before the altar of Yahveh in front of the entire congregation of Israel and spread out his hands toward heaven.
1 Kings 8:23 He said: Lord God of Israel, there is no God like you in heaven above or on land below, who keeps the gracious covenant with your servants who walk before you with all their heart.
1 Kings 8:24 You have kept what you promised to your servant, my father David. You spoke directly to him and you fulfilled your promise by your power as it is today.
1 Kings 8:25 Therefore, Lord God of Israel, keep what you promised to your servant, my father David: You will never fail to have a man to sit before me on the throne of Israel, if only your sons take care to walk before me as you have walked before me.
1 Kings 8:26 Now Lord God of Israel, please confirm what you promised to your servant, my father David.
1 Kings 8:27 But will God indeed live in the land? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain you, much less this temple I have built.
1 Kings 8:28 Listen to your servant’s prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that you may hear the cry and the prayer that your servant prays before you today,
1 Kings 8:29 so that your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where you said, “My name will be there,” and so that you may hear the prayer that your servant prays toward this place.
1 Kings 8:30 Hear the petition of your servant and your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May you hear in your dwelling place in heaven. May you hear and forgive.
1 Kings 8:31 When a man sins against his neighbor and is forced to take an oath, and he comes to take an oath before your altar in this temple,
1 Kings 8:32 may you hear in heaven and act. May you judge your servants, condemning the wicked man by bringing what he has done on his own head and providing justice for the righteous by rewarding him according to his righteousness.
1 Kings 8:33 When your people Israel are defeated before an enemy, because they have sinned against you, and they return to you and praise your name, and they pray and plead with you for mercy in this temple,
1 Kings 8:34 may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your people Israel. May you restore them to the land you gave their ancestors.
1 Kings 8:35 When the skies are shut and there is no rain, because they have sinned against you, and they pray toward this place and praise your name, and they turn from their sins because you are afflicting them,
1 Kings 8:36 may you hear in heaven and forgive the sin of your servants and your people Israel, so that you may teach them the good way they should walk in. May you send rain on your land that you gave your people for an inheritance.
1 Kings 8:37 When there is famine in the land, when there is pestilence, when there is blight or mildew, locust or grasshopper, when their enemy besieges them in the land and its cities, when there is any plague or illness,
1 Kings 8:38 every prayer or petition that any person or that all your people Israel may have — they each know their own affliction — as they spread out their hands toward this temple,
1 Kings 8:39 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and may you forgive, act, and give to everyone according to all their ways, since you know each heart, for you alone know every human heart,
1 Kings 8:40 so that they may fear you all the days they live on the land you gave our ancestors.
1 Kings 8:41 Even for the foreigner who is not of your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of your name —
1 Kings 8:42 for they will hear of your great name, strong hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple —
1 Kings 8:43 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks. Then all peoples of the land will know your name, to fear you as your people Israel do and to know that this temple that I have built bears your name.
1 Kings 8:44 When your people go out to fight against their enemies, wherever you send them, and they pray to Yahveh in the direction of the city you have chosen and the temple I have built for your name,
1 Kings 8:45 may you hear their prayer and petition in heaven and uphold their cause.
1 Kings 8:46 When they sin against you — for there is no one who does not sin — and you are angry with them and hand them over to the enemy, and their captors deport them to the enemy’s country — whether distant or nearby —
1 Kings 8:47 and when they come to their senses in the land where they were deported and repent and petition you in their captors’ land: “We have sinned and done wrong; we have been wicked,”
1 Kings 8:48 and when they return to you with all their heart and all their soul in the land of their enemies who took them captive, and when they pray to you in the direction of their land that you gave their ancestors, the city you have chosen, and the temple I have built for your name,
1 Kings 8:49 may you hear in heaven, your dwelling place, their prayer and petition and uphold their cause.
1 Kings 8:50 May you forgive your people who sinned against you and all their rebellions against you, and may you grant them compassion before their captors, so that they may treat them compassionately.
1 Kings 8:51 For they are your people and your inheritance; you brought them out of Egypt, out of the middle of an iron furnace.
1 Kings 8:52 May your eyes be open to your servant’s petition and to the petition of your people Israel, listening to them whenever they call to you.
1 Kings 8:53 For you, Lord God, have set them apart as your inheritance from all peoples of the land, as you spoke through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt.
1 Kings 8:54 When Solomon finished praying this entire prayer and petition to the Lord, he got up from kneeling before the altar of the Lord, with his hands spread out toward heaven,
1 Kings 8:55 and he stood and blessed the whole congregation of Israel with a loud voice:
1 Kings 8:56 “Blessed be the Lord! He has given rest to his people Israel according to all he has said. Not one of all the good promises he made through his servant Moses has failed.
1 Kings 8:57 May Yahveh our God be with us as he was with our ancestors. May he not abandon us or leave us
1 Kings 8:58 so that he causes us to be devoted to him, to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commands, statutes, and ordinances, which he commanded our ancestors.
1 Kings 8:59 May my words with which I have made my petition before Yahveh be near Yahveh our God day and night. May he uphold his servant’s cause and the cause of his people Israel, as each day requires.
1 Kings 8:60 May all the peoples of the land know that Yahveh is God. There is no other!
1 Kings 8:61 Be wholeheartedly devoted to Yahveh our God to walk in his statutes and to keep his commands, as it is today.”

more than justice

Solomon’s prayer of dedication begins by simply asking God to hear the prayers of the righteous, and give them justice when they pray toward the temple in Jerusalem. But then he asks the LORD to go one step further. He asks God to favor his people with his grace when they sin, and then, realizing their sin, they repent. The temple is the direction of grace. The presence of God (which the temple represents) is the place of grace.

LORD, forgive us. We need your grace.

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missing inventory

Posted on September 11, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240911

Photo by Alexander Grey on Pexels.com

missing inventory

1 Kings 8:1-21 (JDV)

1 Kings 8:1 At that time Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the tribal heads and the ancestral leaders of the Israelites before him at Jerusalem to bring the ark of Yahveh’s covenant from the city of David, that is Zion.
1 Kings 8:2 So all the men of Israel were assembled in the presence of King Solomon in the month of Ethanim, which is the seventh month, at the festival.
1 Kings 8:3 All the elders of Israel came, and the priests lifted up the ark.
1 Kings 8:4 The priests and the Levites brought the ark of the Lord, the tent of meeting, and the holy utensils that were in the tent.
1 Kings 8:5 King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had gathered around him and were with him in front of the ark, were sacrificing sheep, goats, and cattle that could not be counted or numbered because there were so many.
1 Kings 8:6 The priests brought the ark of Yahveh’s covenant to its place, into the inner sanctuary of the temple, to the most holy place beneath the wings of the cherubim.
1 Kings 8:7 Because the cherubs were spreading their wings over the place of the ark, so that the cherubs covered the ark and its poles from above.
1 Kings 8:8 The poles were so long that their ends were seen from the holy place in front of the inner sanctuary, but they were not seen from outside the sanctuary; they are still there today.
1 Kings 8:9 Nothing was in the ark except the two stone tablets that Moses had put there at Horeb, where Yahveh made a covenant with the Israelites when they came out of the land of Egypt.
1 Kings 8:10 When the priests came out of the holy place, the cloud filled Yahveh’s temple,
1 Kings 8:11 and because of the cloud, the priests were not able to stay ministering, for the glory of Yahveh filled the temple.
1 Kings 8:12 Then Solomon said: Yahveh said that he would dwell in total darkness.
1 Kings 8:13 I have indeed built an exalted temple for you, a place for your dwelling forever.
1 Kings 8:14 The king turned around and blessed the entire congregation of Israel while they were standing.
1 Kings 8:15 He said: Blessed be Yahveh God of Israel! He spoke directly to my father David, and he has fulfilled the promise by his power. He said,
1 Kings 8:16 “Since the day I brought my people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city to build a temple in among any of the tribes of Israel, so that my name would be there. But I have chosen David to rule my people, Israel.”
1 Kings 8:17 My father David had his heart set on building a temple for the name of the Lord, the God of Israel.
1 Kings 8:18 But Yahveh said to my father David, “Since your heart was set on building a temple for my name, you have done well to have this desire.
1 Kings 8:19 Yet you are not the one to build it; instead, your son, your own offspring, will build it for my name.”
1 Kings 8:20 Yahveh has fulfilled what he promised. I have taken the place of my father David, and I sit on the throne of Israel, as Yahveh promised. I have built the temple for the name of Yahveh, the God of Israel.
1 Kings 8:21 I have provided a place there for the ark, where Yahveh’s covenant is that he made with our ancestors when he brought them out of the land of Egypt.

missing inventory

When Solomon had the ark brought to the temple in Jerusalem, only the two tablets of stone were in it. Aaron’s rod and the jar of manna were missing. Perhaps someone alone the way thought that these items might be valuable or bring good fortune. At any rate, the real value was not in the symbols of God’s presence and power – it was in the presence itself.

LORD, may we cling to your person, not to symbols of your power.

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he establishes it in strength

Posted on September 10, 2024 by Jefferson Vann

20240910

Photo by Tobias Bju00f8rkli on Pexels.com

he establishes it in strength

1 Kings 7:13-51 (JDV)

1 Kings 7:13 King Solomon sent and took Hiram from Tyre.
1 Kings 7:14 He was a widow’s son from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a bronze craftsman. Hiram had great skill, understanding, and knowledge to do every kind of bronze work. So, he came to King Solomon and carried out all his work.
1 Kings 7:15 He cast two bronze pillars, each 18 cubits high and 12 cubits in circumference.
1 Kings 7:16 He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on top of the pillars; five cubits was the height of the first capital, and five cubits was also the height of the second capital.
1 Kings 7:17 The capitals on top of the pillars had gratings of latticework, wreaths made of chainwork– seven for the first capital and seven for the second.
1 Kings 7:18 He made the pillars with two encircling rows of pomegranates on the one grating to cover the capital on top; he did the same for the second capital.
1 Kings 7:19 And the capitals on top of the pillars in the portico were shaped like lilies, four cubits high.
1 Kings 7:20 The capitals on the two pillars were also immediately above the rounded surface next to the grating, and two hundred pomegranates were in rows encircling each capital.
1 Kings 7:21 He set up the pillars at the portico of the sanctuary: he set up the right pillar and named it Jachin; then he set up the left pillar and named it Boaz.
1 Kings 7:22 The tops of the pillars were shaped like lilies. Then the work of the pillars was completed.
1 Kings 7:23 He made the cast metal basin, ten cubits from brim to brim, perfectly round. It was five cubits high and 30 cubits in circumference.
1 Kings 7:24 Ornamental gourds encircled it below the brim, ten every cubit, completely encircling the basin. The gourds were cast in two rows when the basin was cast.
1 Kings 7:25 It stood on twelve oxen, three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east. The basin was on top of them, and all their hindquarters were toward the center.
1 Kings 7:26 The basin was three inches thick, and its rim was fashioned like the brim of a cup or of a lily blossom. It held two thousand baths.
1 Kings 7:27 Then he made ten bronze water carts. Each water cart was 4 cubits long, 4 cubits wide, and 3 cubits high.
1 Kings 7:28 This was the design of the carts: They had frames; the frames were between the cross-pieces,
1 Kings 7:29 and on the frames between the cross-pieces were lions, oxen, and cherubim. On the cross-pieces there was a pedestal above, and below the lions and oxen were wreaths of hanging work.
1 Kings 7:30 Each cart had four bronze wheels with bronze axles. Underneath the four corners of the basin were cast supports, each next to a wreath.
1 Kings 7:31 And the water cart’s opening inside the crown on top was a cubit wide. The opening was round, made as a pedestal twenty-seven inches wide. On it were carvings, but their frames were square, not round.
1 Kings 7:32 There were four wheels under the frames, and the wheel axles were part of the water cart; each wheel was 1 ½ cubits tall.
1 Kings 7:33 The wheels’ design was like that of chariot wheels: their axles, rims, spokes, and hubs were all of cast metal.
1 Kings 7:34 Four supports were at the four corners of each water cart; each support was one piece with the water cart.
1 Kings 7:35 At the top of the cart was a band nine inches high encircling it; also, at the top of the cart, its braces and its frames were one piece with it.
1 Kings 7:36 He engraved cherubim, lions, and palm trees on the plates of its braces and on its frames, wherever each had space, with encircling wreaths.
1 Kings 7:37 In this way he made the ten water carts using the same casting, dimensions, and shape for all of them.
1 Kings 7:38 Then he made ten bronze basins — each basin held 40 baths and each was six feet wide — one basin for each of the ten water carts.
1 Kings 7:39 He set five water carts on the right side of the temple and five on the left side. He put the basin near the right side of the temple toward the southeast.
1 Kings 7:40 Then Hiram made the basins, the shovels, and the sprinkling basins. So, Hiram finished all the work that he was doing for King Solomon on Yahveh’s temple:
1 Kings 7:41 two pillars; bowls for the capitals that were on top of the two pillars; the two gratings for covering both bowls of the capitals that were on top of the pillars;
1 Kings 7:42 the four hundred pomegranates for the two gratings (two rows of pomegranates for each grating covering both capitals’ bowls on top of the pillars);
1 Kings 7:43 the ten water carts; the ten basins on the water carts;
1 Kings 7:44 the basin; the twelve oxen underneath the basin;
1 Kings 7:45 and the pots, shovels, and sprinkling basins. All the utensils that Hiram made for King Solomon at Yahveh’s temple were made of burnished bronze.
1 Kings 7:46 The king had them cast in clay molds in the Jordan Valley between Succoth and Zarethan.
1 Kings 7:47 Solomon left all the utensils unweighed because there were so many; the weight of the bronze was not determined.
1 Kings 7:48 Solomon also made all the equipment in Yahveh’s temple: the gold altar; the gold table that the Bread of the Presence was placed on;
1 Kings 7:49 the pure gold lampstands in front of the inner sanctuary, five on the right and five on the left; the gold flowers, lamps, and tongs;
1 Kings 7:50 the pure gold ceremonial bowls, wick trimmers, sprinkling basins, ladles, and firepans; and the gold hinges for the doors of the inner temple (that is, the most holy place) and for the doors of the temple sanctuary.
1 Kings 7:51 So all the work King Solomon did in Yahveh’s temple was completed. Then Solomon brought in the consecrated things of his father David — the silver, the gold, and the utensils — and put them in the treasuries of Yahveh’s temple.

he establishes it in strength

Combining the meaning of the two names of the pillars, we discover a faith statement about the temple itself, and the planet it symbolizes. The symmetry of the temple’s construction, along with the abundant supply for all its services portrays a God who sustains everything for all time. The temple was a faith statement about God.

Can you make that faith statement about your life — that God is establishing it by his strength. Are you waiting on the LORD and having your strength renewed? Can you do all things through Christ who gives you strength?

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