Month: March 2020

March 15, 2020: Day 43 – I Kings 7

This chapter overlaps both the building of the temple and the building of the palace of Solomon.  It strikes me as curious that the palace was more than twice as big as the temple and the chapter which is somewhat devoted to the building of the palace, chapter 7 which we are looking at now, is inordinately long, as compared to the last chapter which describes the building of the temple.

So if someone were to project one could say with some impunity that for Solomon the building of his palace might have been considered a more important project than the building of the temple. The building of the house of the king might have been seen by some, at least the optics of it, as being more important than the building of the house of God.  Now, it seems like the house of God was built first, so that’s a good sign, it was also built in less time.  But the palace, well, that took nearly twice as long and was nearly twice as big.  No excuses are made by Solomon for this and all of the chapter lays out pretty much matter of factly what was built and how it was built.  A lot of detail is included to describe the building of both.  But one just seems to tower over the other in relationship to the time and the detail given.

March 14, 2020: Day 42 – I Kings 6

We are back.  It has felt like over these past few weeks we have been drinking water out of a fire hydrant trying to keep up and figure out how do we do church together.  A quote that I heard this past week that I really liked said the following: “We are still the church, we’ve just left the building.”  I like that.  And speaking about the building…

We find ourselves here in I Kings with Solomon who is depicted as building the temple just as he had promised his father that he would.  Solomon builds the temple in 7 years.  We have the details that go beyond probably any of our interests, but keep in mind that the temple is considered the house of God.  Interestingly after we read that this house is finished, Solomon then finishes his own house which takes almost twice as long.  We find the statement that Solomon finished the house a number of times.  It was a big deal.

But just think that we are of such a different mindset from those in the Old Testament.  We do not believe that God lives in the church.  But the church location has become such a real focal point for our communion, for our common life together.  Now that that is taken from us we are appreciating how important a location to gather is for us.  But again, we are still the church, we’ve just left the building.

March 13, 2020: Day 41 – I Kings 5

From last chapter, where we saw the expanse of Solomon’s influence, we transition to now this chapter where we read of an individual king to whom Solomon reaches out to gather his help in building a temple.  When Solomon reaches out to him he cites his father David as wanting to build the  temple but simply was not able to because he was always at war with the nations around him.  But now that things have calmed down, and now that there is a pax solomona (I made that up), then can you help me build the temple?

This king, King Hiram of Tyre, had the best lumber workers and wood workers in the region and Solomon got him to agree to help out and send his materials his way.  Solomon arranged all the logistics that were necessary in order for that to take place.  He also not only contacted the lumber folks, but also set up the stone workers in a way that they would not be without work.

In this time of upside down I find myself more and more involved in administrative and logistical tasks that I have not been so intensely involved in since my time in Russia.  Here in the US we have a real separation of duties which is great when people are able to meet and sort out who does what.  But when something like this comes along it requires that a new system and that a new routine be put into place.  We are well on our way to doing that.  Hopefully we can do it in such a way that we remain connected as a church body,  and as the human race.

March 12, 2020: Day 40 – I Kings 4

I find myself about a week behind schedule which is what it took to start getting to a place where this blog took a bit of a back seat to continued administrative work in getting people set up to worship and work virtually.  We are not by any means caught up, but we are at a place where I realize I have to jump back into the blog before the days pass before us and then I have more to make up than I can manage in a sitting or two.

So, here we find ourselves at the beginning of I Kings and we see ourselves dealing with Solomon who was just given in the previous chapter the wisdom which he had asked for and was able to use it right away over a maternity issue.  This chapter emphasizes the blessings that Solomon has received over the period of the beginning of his reign.  It is really meant to bring us up to speed on the breadth and width of Solomon’s rule and the amount of resources that he had.  Vs. 20 really reflects where we find ourselves in this chapter and in the life of Solomon.  

In some ways it shows the exact opposite of where we find ourselves now here in our reality where things are being incredibly restricted.  

March 11, 2020: Day 39 – I Kings 3

We find ourselves in Bible stories that never die and wisdom that is emulated throughout the ages.  Solomon is seen as a faithful follower of the Lord and one who consistently gave sacrificial offerings to the Lord.  At one of these times God came to him and asked him: What do you want?  I will give you what you want.  Put yourself in Solomon’s position.  You could ask for a long life, you could ask for riches, you could ask that your enemies be put to death.  What would you ask?  We know this story and we know what Solomon asks, look at vs. 9: “Give your servant an understanding mind to govern your people.”  I just want to be wise enough to carry out the responsibilities that have been placed upon me as king of Israel.

Needless to say God was impressed.  In fact, God was so impressed that not only did he give Solomon the wisdom and understanding that he asked for but also: “I give you also what you have not asked, both riches and honor all your life.”  We find this in vs.13 and we see that Solomon begins his time as the leader of Israel well equipped with what he needs.

Immediately after he receives the wisdom, and the promise of riches, we find the classic story of the women and the baby.  What an incredible story where of course the mom would be willing to give up her baby but keep his life even if she did not raise him.  The wisdom that was enacted in this decision making allowed Solomon’s reputation to spread throughout the land.

March 10, 2020: Day 38 – I Kings 2

A bloodbath ensues once Solomon is placed in power.  It seems that each of these stories is given almost as excuses as to why Solomon had every right to kill the people that he killed.  Let’s start with his brother, Adonijah, who uses Solomon’s mother as part of his scheme to really get under the skin of Solomon.  I’m not sure why he would do this unless he had a death wish.  Solomon kills his brother because he asked for a woman who was Solomon’s.  

Solomon kills Joab even while he is holding onto the horns of the altar.  The King banishes Shimei to Jerusalem  to city arrest and Shimei agrees to it.  But then three years later he leaves to get his property and comes back and Solomon kills him  for it.  It is interesting that this chapter ends with the words: “So the kingdom was established in the hands of Solomon.”  Almost  as if as a result of this bloodshed Solomon was able to establish his kingdom.  By eliminating your enemies you establish your kingdom.  What a non-Christian approach to government that we would be careful not to follow.

Notice how the chapter begins as we find David giving advice to his son Solomon.  We can see a straight line between this chapter and Joshua chapter 1 where we hear the Lord tell Joshua: Be strong, be courageous.  We see these words given by David to Solomon in 2:1.  David tells Solomon to follow the way of the Lord, to follow his commandments, to follow his statutes so that you can prosper in all that you do.  Again, this is a similar command that Joshua receives when he takes over from Moses.  David dies and is buried in Jerusalem, which was, and is, the city of David.

This simple command to obey God, to follow his commandments, and to be strong and courageous is one that we need to obey.  It will not keep us from all evil, we will still be tested and things will not always go the way that we want or hope, but we will be in the will of God which will open up doors to opportunities that we never thought possible.

March 9, 2020: Day 37 – I Kings 1

Before we get to the content of I Kings 1 we should get to the context of I and II Kings in totality.  I and II Kings were originally a single book of the Bible but in the 15th century they were separated probably because a single book this long was too unwieldy for the scribes to be able to handle it completely.  It begins with the ending of the protagonist of I and II Samuel who is King David.  There is some thought that the prophet Jeremiah was the one who had written this book of the Bible and that it was written around the time of King Josiah around 620 BC.  Remember, King David ruled around 1,000 BC.  Josiah was the one who spearheaded the reforms which included ensuring that the Word of God and the history of the people be written down for posterity sake.  It could have been written as a result of this edict.

These books of the Bible contain the very good and the very bad times in the nation of Israel.  From the single or united monarchy under Solomon to its division into a Northern and Southern Kingdom with the people doing their own thing and turning their back on God.  The god Baal becomes prevalent throughout this writing as the Israelites turn their back repeatedly and on God’s chosen one to rule them.  But let’s get to the first chapter.

This past Sunday I preached in II Chronicles how God promised Solomon that if the people of Israel obeyed that there would never be a problem in finding a successor for Israel.  Here we have Solomon who is made king of Israel but in the midst of a mess that his mother and his father’s prophet had to sort out.  Another of David’s sons, Adonijah, had placed himself as the next in line and had gathered his allies to ensure that it would take place.  David’s prophet, Nathan (the one who told David, You’re the man! after accusing him of treason for sleeping with Bathsheba), catches wind of it and they are able to get Solomon crowned before much damage is done.  But it was close.  

King David was really old, vs.1, and so time was running out.  Nathan came up with a plan and it worked exactly as they wanted.  Solomon had every right to kill those who had tried to take the throne away from him, but he seems to have mercy and tells his half-brother to go home.  He forgave him but had him assure him that he was a good man and that he would not cause any more trouble.  Solomon’s time to reign is about to begin.  David is still alive so we have to see what happens from the time that Solomon is anointed and from the time he actually rules.  Remember David was anointed years before he began his rule as Saul still reigned.  That caused a little friction, but Saul was in good health.  We don’t expect the same here.

March 8, 2020: Day 36 – Numbers 36

We find ourselves in the story of a girldad in the Old Testament, Zelophehad.  Remember him from chapter 27?  Well, back in that chapter we saw that Moses really protected his daughters and ensured that they would never end up without land if their husbands died.  But now that decision created another problem.  If they married outside of their family and outside of their tribe then that land would be lost to that tribe forever.  So…, Moses requires that these daughters, and all daughters, must marry within their father’s family in order to keep the land within the tribe.  So, it means that the daughters don’t lose land when they marry, but they must marry within their father’s tribe.  

The book of Numbers ends with the final declaration that what was written previously were the commandments and the ordinances that God passed down to Moses before they entered the promised land.  That means that once they enter the promised land they would be ready.  On to the next book of the Bible in this challenge: I Kings.

March 7, 2020: Day 35 – Numbers 35

We talk a lot about murder in this chapter.  It begins with the command by God for the Levites to be given 48 cities by the tribes of Israel.  It ends with the section giving the Levites the land to ensuring that the land which contains the houses of refuge, the cities of refuge, the place where criminals can run if they are accused of something and are seeking safety, all of those lands must belong to the Levites.  That makes sense.  You give the priests all of the lands that contain the criminals running from the law in them.  One would think that the priests would be the ones with the compassion to work with all people.  But on that note…

The next verses in the chapter speaks specifically as to which criminals can and cannot flee to those cities.  Only those who killed someone accidentally is able to flee to those cities.  As vs.15 states: “anyone that kills a person without intent may flee there.”  From vs.16 and following it lays out the distinction between murder that was meant and murder that was not meant.  I guess we would call it premeditated vs. accidental.  It was 100% eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.

But, not just one witness was able to convict a person, it had to be more than one.  Also, a murdered was not able to pay his way out of the crime.  The reasoning behind all of this was to keep the land pure of people who thought it was okay to murder.  Jesus, remember, had this to say: “38 “You have heard that it was said, ‘Eye for eye, and tooth for tooth.’[a] 39 But I tell you, do not resist an evil person. If anyone slaps you on the right cheek, turn to them the other cheek also. 40 And if anyone wants to sue you and take your shirt, hand over your coat as well. 41 If anyone forces you to go one mile, go with them two miles. 42 Give to the one who asks you, and do not turn away from the one who wants to borrow from you.”  

March 6, 2020: Day 34 – Numbers 34

We get the boundaries for the promised land laid out in this chapter.  It is less about the tribes and what their territories will be and more about the territories themselves and the geographic boundaries that the new nation will represent.  It is in this chapter where the leadership is laid out for Israel with Eleazar and Joshua each taking their respective places.  Eleazar is the chief priest and Joshua takes up the civic and military duties.  The other names that are listed represent the leaders of each of the tribes.

We are coming to a close in the book of Numbers and soon we will find ourselves inching towards I and II Kings.  It will be interesting to see how God never really wanted to have a king to lead the people, because there is such a temptation to make the king as close to god as anyone on the face of the earth.  That is what happened with all the tribes around them, so God wanted to avoid that.  But we see that the transition from judges to kings that God relents and gives the people what they want.  

  • 1
  • 2
  • 1-10 of 16 results