Putting God’s Gift to Work
Notes
Transcript
1 King Solomon reigned over all Israel, 2 and these were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok, priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, court historian; 4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests; 5 Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king; 6 Ahishar, in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor. 7 Solomon had twelve deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year. 8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife); 12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); 14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon—Basemath); 16 Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18 Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of King Sihon of the Amorites and of King Og of Bashan. There was one deputy in the land of Judah.
Solomon asked God for a discerning heart or in other words, wisdom. He now uses that gift to organize the kingdom.
While settling local disputes like the one with the prostitutes is essential to a successful reign - his leadership expertise must extend to broader issues.
Verses 2- 19 present who Solomon chose to direct the nation’s internal affairs - as we read the rest of the book and see the references to Solomon’s many successes we can see his appointments were the right ones.
20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing. 21 Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 Solomon’s provisions for one day were 180 bushels of fine flour and 360 bushels of meal, 23 ten fattened cattle, twenty range cattle, and a hundred sheep and goats, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry, 24 for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders. 25 Throughout Solomon’s reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, each person under his own vine and his own fig tree. 26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen. 27 Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon’s table. They neglected nothing. 28 Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses to the required place according to his assignment.
Only prosperity keeps people from resenting large government and new taxes.
Israel’s population grew steadily during Solomon’s reign, food was plentiful and the nation was in good spirits.
Part of the wealth stemmed from tribute money brought to the king by countries his father has subdued - the income came from every corner of the promised land and provided the material blessings promised Abraham.
Estimates for the size of Solomon’s government vary from fourteen thousand to thirty-two thousand and that took a lot of resources - also the military.
Verse 26 mentions forty thousand stalls of horses for chariots and twelve thousand horsemen.
The moral of the story here is that Solomon gained both divine and popular favor.
The author expresses neither approval or disapproval of Solomon’s activities but presents him as a man made wise by the Lord - and of course the people seem happy now…
Yet Moses’ warnings, especially the one against collecting “great number of horses” Deuteronomy 17:16–17 “16 However, he must not acquire many horses for himself or send the people back to Egypt to acquire many horses, for the Lord has told you, ‘You are never to go back that way again.’ 17 He must not acquire many wives for himself so that his heart won’t go astray. He must not acquire very large amounts of silver and gold for himself.” and Samuel’s cautions against royal excesses 1 Samuel 8:10–18 “ should linger in the minds of seasoned readers - what long-term good can come of such traditionally non-Israelite practices?
29 God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore. 30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 He was wiser than anyone—wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations. 32 Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. 33 He spoke about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish. 34 Emissaries of all peoples, sent by every king on earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.
Solomon is said to be wiser than all the wise men of the East - this is quite a compliment given the impressive wisdom writing produced in Babylon, Egypt and other neighboring lands.
Also listed is Solomon’s writing accomplishments over 3,000 proverbs or comparisons drawn from life and over 1,000 songs
All proof that God has followed through and richly blessed Solomon with wisdom.
1 King Hiram of Tyre sent his emissaries to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, for Hiram had always been friends with David. 2 Solomon sent this message to Hiram: 3 “You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of the Lord his God. This was because of the warfare all around him until the Lord put his enemies under his feet. 4 The Lord my God has now given me rest on every side; there is no enemy or misfortune. 5 So I plan to build a temple for the name of the Lord my God, according to what the Lord promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for my name.’ 6 “Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants’ wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.” 7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!” 8 Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber. 9 My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.” 10 So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted, 11 and Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred twenty thousand bushels of wheat as food for his household and one hundred twenty thousand gallons of oil from crushed olives. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.
The time has come for Solomon to build the temple.
King Hiram sent word or congratulations to Solomon after hearing he had been anointed king after Dave - King Hiram and David we allies and friends. It was Hiram who supplied the timber and labor to help build the palace.
Now Solomon reaches out to Hiram and seeks help with materials and labor to build the temple.
A deal was struck so Hiram provided all the cedar and cypress timer he wanted and in exchange Solomon provided food for Hiram’s household (early case of “will work for food”)
12 The Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. 13 Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered thirty thousand men. 14 He sent ten thousand to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains, 16 not including his thirty-three hundred deputies in charge of the work. They supervised the people doing the work. 17 The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones. 18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.
The nations were at peace and again we see the author remind us that God had made Solomon wise.
Solomon drafted or conscripted 30,000 men to labor and quarry the stones used in the temple - his wisdom is seen in his provision of a labor rotation.
Godly leadership blesses others.
Godly leadership blesses others.
Wisdom is only good if put into practice. God blessed Solomon with wisdom and he used that wisdom to perform his daily tasks as well as his larger endeavors.
The result is that all those in his care were blessed and at peace which spilled over to those he had other dealings with.
If we will listen to God and lead in God’s wisdom then we can bring blessings to others.
Godly wisdom extends beyond the spiritual.
Godly wisdom extends beyond the spiritual.
We often think that if it from God then it only applies to church things or spiritual issues but this is not true.
So much of what we find in scripture can extrapolated into our daily life and applied in all kinds of situations.
All truth is God’s truth!
Prepare spiritually before taking big steps.
Prepare spiritually before taking big steps.
Solomon leaned into the wisdom God had given him before launching the temple build - he made sure to have his ducks in a row.
The best thing we can do is seek God and His direction before stepping out.
As we prepare spiritually we will find ourselves preparing in all aspects as well (financially, logistically, relationally, etc)
