Through the Bible – Day 122

₁The LORD's temple and Solomon's palace were now finished, and Solomon had built everything he wanted. ₂Some time later the LORD appeared to him again in a dream, just as he had done at Gibeon. ₃The LORD said:

₁₀It took twenty years for the LORD's temple and Solomon's palace to be built. ₁₁Later, Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre twenty towns in the region of Galilee to repay him for the cedar, pine, and gold he had given Solomon.

₁₂When Hiram went to see the towns, he did not like them. ₁₃He said, “Solomon, my friend, are these the kind of towns you want to give me?” So Hiram called the region Cabul because he thought it was worthless. ₁₄He sent Solomon only five thousand kilogrammes of gold in return.

₁₅After Solomon's workers had finished the temple and the palace, he ordered them to fill in the land on the east side of Jerusalem, to build a wall around the city, and to rebuild the towns of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.

₁₆Earlier, the king of Egypt had captured the town of Gezer; he burnt it to the ground and killed the Canaanite people living there. Then he gave it to his daughter as a wedding present when she married Solomon. ₁₇So Solomon had the town rebuilt.

Solomon made his workers rebuild Lower Beth-Horon, ₁₈Baalath, and Tamar in the desert of Judah. ₁₉They also built towns where he could keep his supplies and his chariots and horses. Solomon made them build whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and anywhere in his kingdom.

_20-22Solomon did not force the Israelites to do his work. They were his soldiers, officials, leaders, commanders, chariot captains, and chariot drivers. But he did make slaves of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites who were living in Israel. These were the descendants of those foreigners the Israelites could not destroy, and they remained Israel's slaves.

₂₃Solomon appointed five hundred and fifty officers to be in charge of his workers and to watch over his building projects.

₂₄Solomon's wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt, moved from the older part of Jerusalem to her new palace. Then Solomon had the land on the east side of Jerusalem filled in.

₂₅Three times a year, Solomon burnt incense and offered sacrifices to the LORD on the altar he had built.

Solomon had now finished building the LORD's temple.

₂₆He also had a lot of ships at Ezion-Geber, a town in Edom near Eloth on the Red Sea. _27-28King Hiram let some of his experienced sailors go to the country of Ophir with Solomon's own sailors, and they brought back about fourteen thousand kilogrammes of gold for Solomon.

₁The Queen of Sheba heard how famous Solomon was, so she went to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. ₂She took along several of her officials, and she loaded her camels with gifts of spices, jewels, and gold. When she arrived, she and Solomon talked about everything she could think of. ₃He answered every question, no matter how difficult it was.

_4-5The Queen was amazed at Solomon's wisdom. She was breathless when she saw his palace, the food on his table, his officials, his servants in their uniforms, the people who served his food, and the sacrifices he offered at the LORD's temple. ₆She said:

₁₀The Queen of Sheba gave Solomon more than four thousand kilogrammes of gold, many jewels, and more spices than anyone had ever brought into Israel.

_11-13In return, Solomon gave her the gifts he would have given any other ruler, but he also gave her everything else she wanted. Then she and her officials went back to their own country.

King Hiram's ships brought gold, juniper wood, and jewels from the country of Ophir. Solomon used the wood to make steps for the temple and palace, and harps and other stringed instruments for the musicians. It was the best juniper wood anyone in Israel had ever seen.

₁₄Solomon received almost twenty-three thousand kilogrammes of gold a year. ₁₅The merchants and traders, as well as the kings of Arabia and rulers from Israel, also gave him gold.

₁₆Solomon made two hundred gold shields and used almost seven kilogrammes of gold for each one. ₁₇He also made three hundred smaller gold shields, using almost two kilogrammes for each one, and he put the shields in his palace in Forest Hall.

₁₈His throne was made of ivory and covered with pure gold. _19-20The back of the throne was rounded at the top, and it had arm rests on each side. There was a statue of a lion on both sides of the throne, and there was a statue of a lion at both ends of each of the six steps leading up to the throne. No other throne in the world was like Solomon's.

₂₁Since silver was almost worthless in those days, everything was made of gold, even the cups and dishes used in Forest Hall.

₂₂Solomon had a lot of seagoing ships. Every three years he sent them out with Hiram's ships to bring back gold, silver, and ivory, as well as monkeys and peacocks.

₂₃He was the richest and wisest king in the world. ₂₄People from every nation wanted to hear the wisdom God had given him. ₂₅Year after year people came and brought gifts of silver and gold, as well as clothes, weapons, spices, horses, or mules.

₂₆Solomon had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses that he kept in Jerusalem and other towns.

₂₇While he was king, there was silver everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.

_28-29Solomon's merchants bought his horses and chariots in the regions of Musri and Kue. They paid about six hundred pieces of silver for a chariot and a hundred and fifty pieces of silver for a horse. They also sold horses and chariots to the Hittite and Syrian kings.

_1-2The LORD did not want the Israelites to worship foreign gods, so he had warned them not to marry anyone who was not from Israel.

Solomon loved his wife, the daughter of the king of Egypt. But he also loved some women from Moab, Ammon, and Edom, and others from Sidon and the land of the Hittites. _3-4Seven hundred of his wives were daughters of kings, but he also married three hundred other women.

As Solomon got older, some of his wives led him to worship their gods. He wasn't like his father David, who had worshipped only the LORD God. ₅Solomon also worshipped Astarte the goddess of Sidon, and Milcom the disgusting god of Ammon. ₆Solomon's father had obeyed the LORD with all his heart, but Solomon disobeyed and did what the LORD hated.

₇Solomon built shrines on a hill east of Jerusalem to worship Chemosh the disgusting god of Moab, and Molech the disgusting god of Ammon. ₈In fact, he built a shrine for each of his foreign wives, so all of them could burn incense and offer sacrifices to their own gods.

_9-10The LORD God of Israel had appeared to Solomon twice and warned him not to worship foreign gods. But Solomon disobeyed and did it anyway. This made the LORD very angry, ₁₁and he said to Solomon:

₁₄Hadad was from the royal family of Edom, and here is how the LORD made him Solomon's enemy:

_15-16Some time earlier, when David conquered the nation of Edom, Joab his army commander went there to bury those who had died in battle. Joab and his soldiers stayed in Edom six months, and during that time they killed every man and boy who lived there.

_17-19Hadad was a boy at the time, but he escaped to Midian with some of his father's officials. At Paran some other men joined them, and they went to the king of Egypt. The king liked Hadad and gave him food, some land, and a house, and even let him marry the sister of Queen Tahpenes. ₂₀Hadad and his wife had a son named Genubath, and the queen let the boy grow up in the palace with her own children.

₂₁When Hadad heard that David and Joab were dead, he said to the king, “Your Majesty, please let me go back to my own country.”

₂₂“Why?” asked the king. “Do you want something I haven't given you?”

“No, I just want to go home.”

₂₃Here is how God made Rezon son of Eliada an enemy of Solomon:

Rezon had run away from his master, King Hadadezer of Zobah. _24-25He formed his own small army and became its leader after David had defeated Hadadezer's troops. Then Rezon and his army went to Damascus, where he became the ruler of Syria and an enemy of Israel.

Both Hadad and Rezon were enemies of Israel while Solomon was king, and they caused him a lot of trouble.

₂₆Jeroboam was from the town of Zeredah in Ephraim. His father Nebat had died, but his mother Zeruah was still alive. Jeroboam was one of Solomon's officials, but even he rebelled against Solomon. ₂₇Here is how it happened:

While Solomon's workers were filling in the land on the east side of Jerusalem and repairing the city walls, ₂₈Solomon noticed that Jeroboam was a hard worker. So he put Jeroboam in charge of the work force from Manasseh and Ephraim.

_29-30One day when Jeroboam was leaving Jerusalem, he met Ahijah, a prophet from Shiloh. No one else was anywhere around. Suddenly, Ahijah took off his new coat and ripped it into twelve pieces. ₃₁Then he said:

₄₀When Solomon learnt what the LORD had told Jeroboam, Solomon tried to kill Jeroboam. But he escaped to King Shishak of Egypt and stayed there until Solomon died.

₄₁Everything else Solomon did while he was king is written in the book about him and his wisdom. ₄₂After he had ruled forty years from Jerusalem, ₄₃he died and was buried there in the city of his father David. His son Rehoboam then became king.

₄₁Jesus asked, “Why do people say that the Messiah will be the son of King David? ₄₂In the book of Psalms, David himself says,

₄₅While everyone was listening to Jesus, he said to his disciples:

₁Jesus looked up and saw some rich people tossing their gifts into the offering box. ₂He also saw a poor widow putting in two pennies. ₃And he said, “I tell you that this poor woman has put in more than all the others. ₄Everyone else gave what they didn't need. But she is very poor and gave everything she had.”

₅Some people were talking about the beautiful stones used to build the temple and about the gifts that had been placed in it. Jesus said, ₆“Do you see these stones? The time is coming when not one of them will be left in place. They will all be knocked down.”

₇Some people asked, “Teacher, when will all this happen? How can we know when these things are about to take place?”

₈Jesus replied: