2 Kings 2 -- An Ending And A New Beginning

I love this story of Elisha accompanying his mentor Elijah until God separated them and took Elijah alive to heaven.  My commentary had several important thoughts:

 

n  The work of the Lord is always one generation short of extinction and we must be faithful to obey 2 Timothy 2:2, which tells us to “commit [the things you have heard from me] to faithful men who will be able to teach others also.”

n  The three miracles Elisha invoked have spiritual messages:  1)  By taking Elisha west of the Jordan, Elijah forced him to trust God to get him across the river and back into the land.  2) In healing the bad waters of Jericho, through Elisha God was reminding the people that His blessings were for a nation that was loyal to His covenant.  To disobey His law meant to forfeit His blessings, and Jericho had been under a curse as disobedient people.  3)  In judging the mocking young men, Elisha was doing what we frequently see God doing at the beginning of a new period in Bible history – issuing a warning to His people that the new beginning doesn’t mean that the old rules have been changed.

 

Father, I thank You for new beginnings that remind us of Your grace to cleanse us and bring us back to You.  As changes come in this life, remind me that You make such changes not to harm us, but to strengthen us in our faith.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

2 Kings 1 -- It's All Downhill From Here

Ahab died, and with his rule ended, Israel began to fall apart.  They’d kept Moab under their thumb and now, seizing the opportunity, Moab broke free.

 

Ahab’s son Ahaziah followed him as king and he had never learned from the contest on Mount Carmel that God was God.  He too worshiped idols and not the living God.  One day he fell through the latticework from an upstairs room and was badly injured.  He sent messengers to inquire of the Baal priests if he would live (he didn’t ask for healing!).  God directed Elijah to intercept the messengers and deliver His message that Ahaziah would definitely die.

 

Ahaziah knew the message had been given to Elijah, and he foolishly sent a contingent of soldiers to have him brought in, possibly hoping to get him to change his prophecy, since Ahaziah didn’t like the implied outcome.  Elijah called down fire from heaven twice, and God completely burned up both the first and second teams of soldiers.  The third captain knew better than to be prideful, falling on his knees and begging Elijah to respect the 51 lives before him.  God told Elijah to go with them.

 

Face to face with the king, Elijah fearlessly delivered God’s message again, and with the words ringing in his ears, Ahaziah died!  He’d been stubborn, disobedient, and prideful to the end!

 

The introduction to 2^nd Kings in my Bible said, “Twenty-five chapters of people reaping the harvest of sin.  Story after story of people learning firsthand the eternal truth:  The consequence of persistent sin is pain.  Pain, not just in your life but in the lives of those you love.”

 

I don’t look forward to the other twenty-four chapters.

 

Father God, please help me to remember, and my sons to fully understand as well, the timeless truth You reveal here – that persistent sin produces pain, not just in our own lives, but in the lives of those we love.  Help us to love each other enough not to hurt each other by our own choosing to sin.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 21-22 Just Makes You Shake Your Head

My commentary took a moment to see how well Ahab was not keeping the 10 Commandments, and I picked up some interesting thoughts:

 

“The essence of idolatry is the entertainment of thoughts about God that are unworthy of Him.” (A.W. Tozer)

 

Regarding covetousness, “A man is rich in proportion to the number of things he can afford to leave alone … This commandment is perhaps the most difficult one to obey … This commandment deals primarily with the hidden desires of the heart.”

 

King Jehoshaphat of Judah was a godly leader, but he made three costly compromises, it said.  He let his son marry Ahab’s daughter; he got entangled in Ahab’s battle affairs with Syria; and he foolishly joined forces with Ahab’s son later, trying to get rich by importing foreign goods, but God wrecked his fleet.

 

Ahab, dressed for battle not as a king but as a commoner, finally met his match:  “By chance, a soldier shot an arrow, but he hit Ahab between the pieces of his armor … that evening he died …”  There is no chance where God is concerned.  God directed the arrow toward the most vulnerable part of Ahab’s armor, and did what He’d said He would do.

 

Father, please work in my mind and heart to keep unworthy thoughts about You from ever entering them.  Help me to value the number of things I can afford to leave alone.  Take control of the hidden desires of my heart and hold them captive to You and Your will!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 20 -- Some People NEVER Learn

Syria surrounded Samaria to attack it.  They needed the trade route through the country because Assyria had captured the northern trade route.  The Syrian (Aramean) king demanded all of Ahab’s silver and gold, as well as the best of his wives and kids (I’ll bet he wouldn’t take Jezebel!).  And Ahab agreed!  But then the Syrian king pushed too far, demanding that his soldiers could take anything they wanted from the palace.  Ahab’s refusal caused the Syrians to prepare to attack.

 

God still wanted Ahab to return to Him and acknowledge that He is God, so He sent word to Ahab, telling him how to defeat this king.  Ahab believed and led his army, wiping out the foe.  God also sent word for him to strengthen his army for a spring attack.  Before long, the attack came, but Ahab, with God’s help, wiped out that army as well!  But rather than killing the Syrian king as God had commanded, Ahab agreed to a land swap and a trade agreement!  So a young prophet dressed as a wounded soldier put himself before the king, tricking him into naming his own punishment just as Nathan had done with David.  God told him:  “You freed the man I said should die, so your life will be taken instead of his.”  All Ahab could do was return home and pout.

 

My commentary said that “what the enemy couldn’t accomplish with their weapons, they accomplished with their deception.”  Satan works the same way.  “If he can’t succeed as the lion who devours, he will come as a serpent who deceives.”

 

Father, help me to be acutely aware of Satan’s deceits.  Let me not fall for them.  Help me to see that in You alone is the truth.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 19 -- Just When I Needed It

What a change for Elijah!  Having just watched a huge display of power by God and after ridding the land of 450 prophets of Baal, Elijah let’s an enraged Jezebel’s threats drive him away from his ministry.  God had protected him through drought and those same threats for three years, but now Elijah is exhibiting burnout.  God didn’t tell him to go to Mt. Sinai, but apparently Elijah went there to be alone with God.  God knew he was headed that way, knew what he was feeling, and even sent an angel to twice prepare him for the long trip.

 

I needed God’s timing in all of this, for I’ve been about to the edge of burnout this week.  And I also needed what God showed me in my commentary:

 

1)       Prepare for what may happen after the victories God gives us.  How quickly we can move from the mountaintop of triumph to the valley of testing.

2)      God looks beyond our changing moods and impetuous prayers, and He pities us the way parents pity their discouraged children … how tenderly and patiently God deals with us when we’re in the depths of despair and feel like giving up.

3)      When God’s servants get out of God’s will, they’re liable to do all sorts of foolish things and fail in their strongest points.

4)      God never asks us to be better than anybody else, but only to hear His Word and obey.

5)      The “I’m the only one left” refrain makes it look as though Elijah was indispensable to God’s work when actually no servant of God is indispensable.

6)      “He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor punished us according to our iniquities … For He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust.” Psalm 103:10,14

7)      No matter how much or how often His servants fail Him, God is never at a loss to know what to do.  Our job is to obey His Word and get up and do it.

8)      God was calling Elijah to stop weeping over the past and running away from the present.  It was time for him to start preparing others for the future.  When God is in command, there is always hope.

9)      To glamorize or criticize the past accomplishes little; what’s important is that we do our job in the present and equip others to continue it after we’re gone.

 

Father, thank you for arranging it so that I woke up and didn’t sleep in on this holiday – that I heard You calling me to Your Word when I really needed it.  Forgive me for my entitlement attitude and for the despondency I’ve felt for several days.  Please pick me up, dust me off, and use me again.  I am so thankful that You know my frame and that You remember that I am dust, yet You love me anyway!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 18 -- Where All The Action Is

God had withheld the rain for three years.  He’d also hidden and protected His servant Elijah.  Now God was ready to confront His people about who they would serve.  Ahab and 450 prophets of Baal met Elijah on Mt. Carmel at Elijah’s request, and Elijah suggested a contest to prove whether God or Baal was the mightiest.  The people were vacillating between serving God and Baal, and Elijah called for them to decide, but no one spoke. 

 

In the margin of my Bible I’d written, “Not deciding between God and sin is a sin.”

 

Elijah weighted the contest heavily in favor of the prophets of Baal, allowing them to go first and giving them all the time they needed to pray for Baal to answer.  They tried feverishly to call for his help until 3pm, but of course no answer came.

 

Then Elijah did something I’d not really realized the significance of before:  He rebuilt a stone altar to Jehovah there using 12 stones for the 12 tribes of Israel.  That’s significant because he was in Israel, the northern kingdom of 10 tribes.  The southern kingdom, consisting of Judah and Benjamin, wasn’t represented and was disliked by the other 10 tribes.  My commentary said in doing this, “He reaffirmed the spiritual unity of God’s people in spite of their political division.”

 

After having weighted the contest in favor the prophets of Baal, Elijah now handicapped himself more to highlight even more God’s power, by having the sacrifice, the wood, the altar, and the ground saturated with water.  He then prayed one time that God would glorify Himself and that He would change the minds of the people through what He was about to do.  “By sending fire from heaven, the Lord would be telling His people that He had forgiven them and would turn their hearts back to the worship of the true God,” my commentary said.

 

God did just that, immediately sending fire from heaven, burning up not just the sacrifice and the wood, but even the stones of the altar, the ground around the altar, and all the water in the ditch around the altar!  The people were left with no doubts that God was mightier than Baal!

 

Elijah directed the people to capture the 450 prophets of Baal and he killed them in the valley below before returning to the top of Mt. Carmel to await the rain.

 

Seven times Elijah prayed for God to now send the rain, and six times no response was evident, yet after the seventh time of prayer, clouds began to form on the horizon.  My commentary said, “This is a good example for us to follow as we watch and pray and continue to intercede until the Lord sends His answer.”

 

Elijah sent a “flash flood warning” to King Ahab, telling his he’d better get his chariot moving or risk getting stuck – this after the ground had received no rain for 3 years and would be able to soak up huge amounts of water!  God then gave His power to Elijah, who ran the 17 miles back to Jezreel ahead of Ahab’s chariot, beating him home!

 

Father, how thrilled Elijah must have been to watch as You immediately answered his prayer and burned up his sacrifice, proving that Baal was nothing.  As the 450 prophets of Baal were destroyed, I imagine that he was glad to be removing a huge source of Baal-worship.  Then as You sent the rain, I imagine every drop that touched his body felt like a kiss from You.  What it also must have been like to run faster than a chariot, without tiring, for 17 miles! 

 

Yet fresh from this spiritual victory, Elijah will face a spiritual valley.  It seems to always happen.  Please help me as spiritual victories occur in my own life not to be tempted by a sense of entitlement to sin and not to have to experience what Elijah will endure next.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 17 -- God's Provision

King Ahab and his evil non-Jewish queen Jezebel were going to get a 3-year lesson from God via Elijah, who popped on the scene just long enough to announce that God was bringing a protracted drought because the people of Israel were worshiping Baal.  Since Baal was the storm god of fertility, a drought would disavow them of any ideas that he was anything but an idol.  Elijah then followed God’s direction, crossing the Jordan to hide in a ravine, where he would have water and where ravens would supply him daily with meat and bread!  Though under Mosaic law ravens were unclean because they ate dead animals, God’s instructions were to eat, and Elijah did what God said.

 

The drought finally caused even this stream to dry up, but Elijah waited to hear from God, who commanded him to leave Israel for the home country of Jezebel!  What’s more, he was to find a certain widow and her son who would care for him.  My commentary said that Elijah was probably amazed at this, because widows were usually among the neediest people in the land!  It also said, “Because of our proneness to look at the bucket and forget the fountain, God has frequently to change His means of supply to keep our eyes fixed on the source,” and that’s what He was doing with Elijah.

 

As the drought continued, the woman’s grain and oil never ran out – a true miracle.  But then her son grew ill and died.  Elijah prayed to God for the boy’s life to be returned, and God answered his prayers with the first resurrection of a dead person recorded in the Bible.  This caused the widow, who’d been amazed at the continuing food supply, to finally understand that Jehovah was in charge of her own life and her son’s.

 

Perhaps the biggest thing about this story is that Christ would later use it to show unrepentant Jews that God is no respecter of persons, that they didn’t have a corner on the market with Him, and that “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,” my commentary said.

 

Father, Elijah’s faith in Your provision for him helps to sustain me as I await Your resolution of several things.  You continue to bless me, and I know that in Your timing You will take care of us in it, too.  I trust You, Father.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 16 -- A Contest To See Who's Worse

My commentary summed up what was going on in Israel quite well – “One thing we learn from history is that we don’t learn from history.”  The books of 1^st and 2^nd Kings deal more with Israel’s apostasy than anything else, and while Asa’s kingdom continued for decades in Judah, Israel was on a course to meltdown.

 

Jeroboam’s son Nadab only served two years as king before Baasha killed him and ended the first family dynasty in Israel.  Baasha somehow managed to hang on to power for 24 years, but his idolatry took its toll and God said, “You were nothing, but I took you and made you a leader over my people Israel.  But you have … led my people Israel to sin … so I will soon destroy you and your family.”  He died and his son Elah became king, but he ruled for only two years before being assassinated by Zimri, one of his officers, who declared himself king.  The second family dynasty was gone.

 

Zimri held onto power for one week before the army of Israel decided to take charge, making their commander Omri king.  They attacked their own capital city, leading Zimri to commit suicide by burning down his own palace as the attackers watched!  The third dynasty ended almost before it began.

 

Each succeeding king after Jeroboam seemed to fall farther and farther into idolatry, and each was labeled worse than the one before.  Omri ruled for 12 years and died, with his infamous son Ahab becoming king in his place.  Ahab married a non-Jewish woman named Jezebel, and together they took the nation to unfathomable lows, worshiping the Canaanite god Baal, building a temple for the idol, and making an idol for worshiping Asherah.

 

The nation had spat in God’s face for far too long, and God’s about to do something about it.

 

Father, it’s unimaginable to me how a nation could fall into such a horrible state, plagued with idolatry and assassination.  But moving away from You, chaos always reigns.  Please redirect our nation and cause us to seek after You before it’s too late.  We don’t want to suffer the same fate as Israel.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 15 -- Waiting On Gravity

Reading this chapter was a lot like watching two old biplanes falling from the sky in death spins.  The conclusion is inevitable, but I kept wanting to hold out hope for a recovery.

 

On Judah’s side, Abijah became king after his father Rehoboam died.  “He did all the same sins his father before him had done.”  He’d emulated his father’s walk – that should be a stern warming to all of us dads!

 

Abijah died and his son Asa became king.  “He began his reign with a heart like that of David, but though a good king for most of his life, during the last five years of his reign, he rebelled against the Lord,” my commentary said.  Still, the dynasty of David continued in Judah.

 

But in Israel it was quite another thing!  Jeroboam finally died, but his son Nadab kept up his sinful ways.  He was assassinated by Baasha, who wiped out all of Jeroboam’s heirs, ending that dynasty.  Although used by God to fulfill the prophecy against Jeroboam, Baasha did not choose to follow God.

 

The one thing that stood out to me was Asa’s apparent willingness to follow the Lord, yet he later took the treasures from God’s Temple to use to bribe a Gentile king, Ben-Hadad of Syria, to help in his wars with Israel rather than trusting the Lord.  My commentary said, “Asa’s heart was divided – one day trusting the Lord and the next day trusting in the arm of the flesh.  A perfect heart isn’t a sinless heart but a heart wholly yielded to the Lord and trusting Him fully.”  I hadn’t thought about it quite like that before, but we are all sinners and far from perfect.  Yet the most important thing we can do is to keep our trust in the Lord.

 

Father, You’ve been taking me through some faith-building exercises over the last 3 years.  I continue to trust in You to help me through them.  My heart isn’t sinless, but I pray that You see it as one wholly yielded to You and trusting You fully.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 14 -- The End Begins

Back in the Northern Kingdom, Jereboam’s son had become very ill.  Though he was not apparently praying to God or worshiping Him, Jereboam knew that God’s prophet Ahijah would know the truth about his son.  Too proud to admit that there might be a problem in the kingdom, Jereboam told his wife to dress down and take a peasant’s offering to the prophet.

 

Though old and blind, Ahijah was still in touch with God, and was told all that was about to happen.  Jereboam’s idolatry would led to his son’s immediate death, despite the fact that his son Abijah pleased the Lord.  So why would God kill a boy who pleased Him when hardly anyone else did?  God used the words of Isaiah to tell us:  “No one understands, for the righteous man is taken away from evil.”  God was calling Abijah away from all the sin that was happening in Israel.  That in itself showed God’s love for him.  Yet what a disaster Jereboam had caused for himself!  His son would be the only male member of the royal line to receive a proper burial.  All others would suffer a fate which was terribly humiliating to Jews – their bodies would never be buried.

 

But God wasn’t done.  Because Jeroboam’s sin of idolatry had led the people to sin, God would “pull up Israel from the Land” and He would scatter them beyond the Euphrates River at the hand of Assyria.  Once man, Jereboam, had chosen to sin after God had chosen him to lead, and he had led his nation to sin rather than to worship the One true God.  It would cost his nation everything.

 

Thomas Jefferson was quoted in my commentary regarding something he wrote in 1781:  “Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God IS just; that His justice cannot sleep forever…”   Chilling words….

 

Wow, Father!  That sounds all too familiar now.  You’ve already shown that one man’s sin and apostasy can take down a great nation.  Please let it not happen with America.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 13 -- NOW It Gets STRANGE ...

A very strange chapter that seems to drive home what my evangelist friend Ronnie Hill says:  “95% obedience equals 100% disobedience.”

 

Jeroboam, the new king of the just-formed northern 10 tribes, felt that he had to break all religious ties with Jerusalem and set up a substitute religion if he was going to be able to retain control.  Breaking every command of the Mosaic law, he set about to do just that, including making himself a priest.

 

So God sent a faithful “man of God” from Judah to deliver a message.  God’s message wasn’t specifically for the king, but for the altar where he was presenting sacrifices.  “This altar will break apart, and the ashes on it will fall to the ground.”  Jeroboam pointed at the prophet and ordered him seized, but instantly his arm became paralyzed.  Then the altar did what God had said would happen.  Concerned more for his arm than for his spiritual condition, Jeroboam asked the man to pray to God for ehaling, and God graciously granted it.

 

Jeroboam offered him a meal and a gift, but the prophet refused, because God had warned him not to eat or drink anything, and to return home by a different route.  (In Middle Eastern custom, sharing a meal indicated acceptance of the host’s actions and beliefs.) 

 

Here comes the strange part – An old prophet was for some reason still living in Bethel when all the other priests and Levites had left for Judah.  He went after the young prophet, who had stopped under an oak tree (remember this).  The old prophet asked him to come share a meal, but the young prophet refused, stating his instructions from God.  Telling a lie, the old prophet claimed an angel from the Lord had sent him to bring the man to his home to eat.  Apparently bowing to perceived seniority, the young prophet agreed.  God then stepped in and used the old lying prophet to tell the young prophet he’d disobeyed, even though he’d been deceived.  On his way home, he was killed by a lion!

 

The whole scene could upset our sensibilities, but my commentary said, “The young prophet’s ministry is very important in this account, for all that he said and experienced, including his death, were a part of God’s warning to King Jeroboam … We must not forget the main message:  if the Lord punished a deceived prophet for his disobedience, how much more would He punish a wicked king who was sinning with his eyes wide open?  … The young prophet did his work well and got out of town.  Had he kept going and not lingered under the tree he would have escaped the tempting offer of the old prophet.  God’s servants often face great temptation after times of great success and excitement … The younger man shouldn’t have hastened to accept the older man’s words.  If God gave the man from Judah the message and the instructions for delivering it, then God could also give him the changes in the plan … Beware of letting other believers tell you God’s will for your life.”

 

Despite all this, which God was using to speak to Jeroboam about his sin, Jeroboam refused to change, and God’s next warning to him will hit close to home.

 

Father, thanks for reminding me that until I hear differently from You, I must keep doing the last thing You’ve directed me to do, and that I can’t let others open my mail from You and read it to me.  Again You’ve emphasized the importance of 100% obedience.  Thank You for the reminder!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 12 -- Stepping Into A Mess

With Solomon gone, Rehoboam stepped into the kingship and right into a mess.  People were fed up with his father’s spending, taxing, and forced labor, and said it was time for a change.  Rehoboam acted like he was considering their request, but there’s no mention of him consulting God, a prophet, or the high priest.

 

Instead, he’d amassed a cocky group of young hangers-on who told him he’d better prove his mettle quickly or be seen as weak.  Rehoboam agreed and spoke harshly to the people, ignoring what his own dad had written:  “A soft answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.”

 

My commentary said, “Leaders who try to impress people with their skills, but take no time to seek God, only prove that they don’t know the most important thing in spiritual leadership:  they are second in command.”

 

I also read something about what to do when our wisest decisions turn out to be not so wise:  “We make our decisions, and then our decisions turn around and make us … If the path we choose turns out to be a detour, then let’s admit it, confess our sin, and ask the Lord to lead us back to the right road.”

 

Father, what a blessed nation we would have if all leaders in all areas consulted You for their decisions and followed Your commands!  Please help me to know the correct path to take, and if I hear wrongly or just end up being detoured as part of Your will, guide me not to let pride keep me from admitting it and turning to the way You will show me.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 11 -- Ending Badly

God didn’t waste any time laying out for Solomon the path he’d followed that had led to his idolatry.  Solomon’s actions revealed his unbelief, starting with his marriage to an Egyptian princess to gain a peace treaty and his fanaticism in collecting horses and chariots.  “He didn’t really believe that Jehovah could protect the land,” my commentary said.  “Solomon’s compromise wasn’t a sudden thing, for he gradually descended into his idolatry … His sensual love for his many wives was more compelling than his spiritual love for the Lord … He was a man with a divided and disobedient heart … and gradually his heart turned from the Lord.”

 

God had spoken to Solomon twice and sent extra warnings when His own warnings had done no good.  Yet Solomon refused to change course.

 

Father, I don’t want to do what Solomon did.  I don’t want to have a divided and disobedient heart.  Examine me and warn me of anything You find that I must change.  Then help me to not refuse Your Word as Solomon did, but instead to accept Your gracious advice and act upon it, for You love me more than I could ever love myself!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 10 -- The Decay Continues

The queen of Sheba came “to test Solomon with hard questions.”  The intellect loves to be tested and grows prouder with each successful contest.  For the queen of such a highly civilized nation to be so amazed must have sent Solomon’s ego through the roof.  Aside from her compliments though, I saw more trouble brewing:

 

“King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she wanted and asked for, in addition to what he had already given her of his wealth.”  The one-upsmanship of entertaining royalty from other nations was a heavy load on the economy.  “Solomon had to maintain a huge budget and he needed as much money as he could get,” my commentary said.  He was building a house of cards economically, for there was little value added by his significant trade – it was all for his own consumption.  The foreign trade also brought with it “foreign ideas, including ideas about religion and worship; and eventually Solomon himself, influenced by his foreign wives, succumbed to idolatry,” my commentary added.

 

Solomon’s pursuit of his various goals resulted in disobedience to God’s Word:  the horses, the wives, the pride and lack of humility, and finally the idolatry.  Just the effort of keeping up appearances would cause him to have less and less time for God.

 

Father, don’t ever let me become so blinded by goals that I allow myself to slip away from You and Your Word.  Keep me grounded in Your wisdom and not my own.  Remind me often that, but for You, my life would be miserable.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 9 -- More Disturbing Things

God once again appeared to Solomon.  That can be a scary thing, depending on what transpires.  God’s first comments sound goo:  “I have heard your prayer and what you have asked me to do.  You built this Temple, and I have made it a holy place.  I will be worshiped there forever and will watch over it and protect it always…” (So far so good, but wait for it …)

 

“But you …”  (Here it comes)  “… must serve Me as your father David did … You must obey all I have commanded and keep My laws and rules.  If you do, I will make your kingdom strong …”

 

(I kind of imagine Solomon weighing all this in his mind, probably thinking, “Okay, that’s do-able, but could crimp my lifestyle somewhat.”) 

 

God continues:  “But you and your children … (there’s that ominous ‘but’ again) must follow Me and obey the laws and commands I have given you.  You must not serve or worship other gods.”

 

I almost bet Solomon felt a twinge here.  After all, he had to have known that his collection of wives had come with some idols packed in their baggage, and he was certainly concerned with keeping those wives happy.  That part about children also likely caused a twinge, for he was busy being a diplomat more than a dad, and those wives would likely be doing most of the child-raising.  God knew his weakness and graciously warned him ahead of time.

 

With the brand new Temple still gleaming with polished gold, I wonder if Solomon choked when God said next, “If you do [serve or worship other gods] … I will leave this Temple… If the Temple is destroyed….”  (That really got his attention.  After all, he’d just spend seven years building it.)

 

I saw something else in here that made me wonder about Solomon, and my commentary came up with it, too.  We’d known that Hiram provided lumber and workers to help build the Temple, but there’s mention of 4.5 tons of gold as well here.  Had Solomon’s plans gotten so extravagant that he’d overspent on the Temple and his palace?  It sounds like he had to offer 20 Israelite cities as collateral until the “loan” could be repaid.  But when Hiram inspected his collateral, he declared it worthless.

 

Solomon had no right to give away Israelite land, for even land that was “sold” had to be returned to the tribe and family during the Year of Jubilee.  Also, what does it say about Solomon’s character that he gave such poor collateral to someone who’d been such a generous friend?

 

Father, success is no guarantee of obedience, and it sure seems like that applies to Solomon here.  Help me to always obey You, especially in business matters, because my character is reflective of You and I don’t want to represent You poorly.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 7-8 What (Who's) In The House?

It’s way too easy to get hung up in all of the descriptions of what was inside the Temple.  I remember in St. Petersburg, Russia walking into a very Russian-looking church with beautiful multi-colored onion domes on top.  But inside there was no place for us to sit and worship and listen to God’s word.  Worshipers simply came in, lit a candle, silently said a prayer, and left.

 

Most Israelites would never see the inside of the Temple Solomon had built.  Priests would be performing functions inside, but the worship would mainly be taking place outside.  The most important event related to the Temple during this dedication occurred after the Ark of the Covenant was placed within the Holy of Holies.  The glory of God came and filled the house of the Lord to such an extent that the priests had to stop working!

 

Their hearts must have been overjoyed, for the people’s sins had caused His glory to depart from the tabernacle (1 Samuel 4:19-22).  “But the nation would sin again and be taken to Babylon, and there Ezekiel the prophet would have a vision of the glory of God leaving the Temple,” my commentary said.  “The glory came to earth in the person of Jesus Christ, but sinners crucified the Lord of glory.  When Jesus returned to heaven, the cloud of glory accompanied Him and the temple was left desolate.”

 

Great beginnings never insure great finishes.  It’s the stick-to-it-iveness that really matters.  Solomon didn’t have it, and the people he ruled didn’t either.  With all the dedication ceremonies taking place, I wonder if our all-knowing God felt it was tedious?

 

Father, I’m amazed at Your love for us despite the fact that You already know the sins we’ll still commit!  I’m so thankful that You are infinitely more patient and loving than I am.  Otherwise, my outlook would not include the wonderful hope I have in You.  Your love dispels futility and frustration.  Thank You for loving us and giving us hope!

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 6 -- What's This In The Middle?

Right in the middle of this chapter about the building of the Temple is what seems to be a paragraph having nothing to do with that construction project:

 

“The Lord said to Solomon: ‘If you obey all my laws and commands, I will do for you what I promised your father David.  I will live among the Israelites in this Temple, and I will never leave My people Israel.’ “

 

My commentary wondered if Solomon might have been getting discouraged about the building progress, or more likely might have started exhibiting pride at what he was accomplishing.  It said, “The Lord reminded Solomon, as He must constantly remind us, that He’s not impressed with our work if our walk isn’t obedient to Him.  What He wants is an obedient heart … This was the second time God spoke to Solomon about obedience and He would speak to him about it again after the dedication of the Temple.”

 

It sure puts a lot of personal responsibility on Solomon.  God was saying He would live with the people in the Temple and never leave if SOLOMON obeys.  But as I’ve been noticing, Solomon already was having a problem with that, and all of this labor and expense was going to end up being for nothing.

 

I did love one thing my commentary brought out – David’s two greatest sins were his adultery with Bathsheba and his counting of the people when God had forbidden it.  After the latter, he purchased land to build an altar at the spot where God halted the death angel.  After the former, David married Bathsheba and eventually had a son by her named Solomon.  “Now we have Solomon building a temple on David’s property on Mount Moriah!  God took the consequences of David’s two worst sins … and built a temple!  … It’s an encouragement to us to go on serving God after we’ve repented and confessed our sins.  Satan wants us to think that all is lost, but the God of all grace is still at work.”

 

Father, thank You for Your grace and mercy.  Thank You that I can see You continuing to work in my own life despite my sins.  Thank You for always wanting us back, despite our sins, and for calling us to obedience.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford

1 Kings 5 -- Planting Bitter Seeds When Building For God

David had been setting aside some of the spoils of battle, planning to provide materials and probably financing for Solomon’s future Temple building activities, yet there is no way to comprehend what was spent on a building that would easily fit in my front yard plus the courtyards which would be built around it:

 

“4,050 tons of gold, 38,000 tons of silver, thousands of tons of bronze and iron, as well as precious stones,” my commentary said.  If he’d simply piled it all up where the Temple foundations were being placed, it probably would have been bigger than the completed Temple itself and solid to the core, with no room for worshipers!

 

Solomon also needed laborers and lumber.  For the privilege of getting the fine cedar wood from Lebanon for free, he agreed to pay Hiram’s household grocery bill annually during the process of harvesting the trees.  This amounted to 125,000 bushels of wheat and 115,000 gallons of olive oil every year (freight paid to Lebanon, of course!).  The Lebanese workers were to receive a lump sum payment of 125,000 bushels of wheat, 125,000 bushels of barley, 115,000 gallons of wine, and 115,000 gallons of olive oil for the entire project.

 

But then there were Solomon’s citizens being used besides this!  Thirty thousand Israelite men rotated out, working one month on and two months off out of county.  There’s no record of any payment to them for their salaries, but we can imagine they were provided room and board.  There were also 150,000 non-Israelites living in the land who were conscripted to cut stones from quarries and transport them to the site, plus 3,300 overseers and supervisors.  All this for one building that took seven years to complete!

 

I could see this for the Capitol Building in Washington, D.C., but for a building that would fit in my front yard???

 

My commentary added:  “The Jewish people resented Solomon taking 30,000 of their men to work in Lebanon four months out of the year.  This critical attitude helped to strengthen the people’s revolt against Rehoboam and to precipitate the division of the nation after Solomon’s death.  Indeed, when it came to labor and taxes, Solomon did indeed put a heavy yoke on the people.”

 

Naturally, we would all not hesitate to agree that our God is worth whatever is spent to glorify Him, but ….  It might have been simpler, quicker, and shinier to have made stones of silver and gold onsite!

 

Father, this story has been repeated multiple times across the world and even within our own church as we have constructed and reconstructed buildings over the years, and while motives may have been good at the outset, the end product often leaves questions and quite a bitter taste, which were never intended.  I pray that You will give us proper wisdom for these types of endeavors so that seeds such as those mentioned above will never be planted as a result, for that never glorifies You.

 

Your Brother In Christ,

Gary Ford