God Speaks and Other Details

1 Kings 9 CSB

1 When Solomon finished building the temple of the Lord, the royal palace, and all that Solomon desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time just as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord 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 there at all times. 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, 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. 6 If you or your sons turn away from following me and do not keep my commands—my statutes that I have set before you—and if you go and serve other gods and bow in worship to them, 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. 8 Though this temple is now exalted, everyone who passes by will be appalled and will scoff. They will say, “Why did the Lord do this to this land and this temple?” 9 Then they will say, “Because they abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of the land of Egypt. They held on to other gods and bowed in worship to them and served them. Because of this, the Lord brought all this ruin on them.”

This is the second time the Lord appears to Solomon.

The first appearance was just after Solomon’s rise to power and his request for wisdom.

This time the Lord appears to express His satisfaction with the king’s prayers for the people and for the temple - we do not know how long it was between the temple dedication to the Lord’s appearance.

There are two sides to a covenant - with Abraham God was responsible for bother sides of the covenant - the Davidic Covenant God handles the eternal side but the temporal side must be handles by Solomon and his descendants and their obedience.

God is just in His dealings with people - He informs them of the benefits of walking before the Lord and following His commands but He also makes sure Solomon understands the consequences of turning away… People can never say to God, “I didn’t know”.

The requirements - follow God, keep His commands, keep His statutes ( a command refers to the general body of divine laws to establish fundamental boundaries and ethical principles for human behavior in relationship with God and others - statutes are specific rules, laws, or decrees that detail how to live in obedience to God to provide a framework for living out God’s larger will, with an emphasis on a specific enacted form of instruction), must no go and serve/worship other gods.

The punishment - they will but cut off from the promised land but not only that, Israel will become an object of contempt and ridicule to the other nations.

It would be so evident that God cut them off because of their disobedience that even outsiders, non-believers would know that it was Israel broke their covenant with God.

1 Kings 9 CSB

10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon had built the two houses, the Lord’s temple and the royal palace—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. 12 So Hiram went out from Tyre to look over the towns that Solomon had given him, but he was not pleased with them. 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. 14 Now Hiram had sent the king nine thousand pounds of gold.

Solomon and King Hiram’s relationship remained strong until Solomon’s death but in these verse Solomon switches things up.

Solomon had been giving Hiram food for supplying the wood for the temple and gold, but here he gives him 20 towns.

Hiram looks over the towns and calls them Cabul which means “worthless” - it is interesting, Hiram refers to Solomon as “brother” and is firm in their relationship to let Solomon know the gift of these towns is not an adequate gift for a “brother”.

1 Kings 9 CSB

15 This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon had imposed to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. 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. 17 Then Solomon rebuilt Gezer, Lower Beth-horon, 18 Baalath, Tamar in the Wilderness of Judah, 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. 20 As for all the peoples who remained of the Amorites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not Israelites—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. 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. 23 These were the deputies who were over Solomon’s work: 550 who supervised the people doing the work.

The Canaanite’s who remained in Israel were conscripted into forced labor - they became slaves to help build.

The Canaanite’s became permanent unpaid labor but the Israelites were temporary draftees.

1 Kings 9 CSB

24 Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces. 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 the Lord’s presence. So he completed the temple.

Solomon built his Egyptian wife and house seperate from the temple and palace complex.

The reason was that the pales where the ark had entered were holy and Pharaoh’s daughter worships other gods… he tried at first.

For now Solomon is honoring the Lord by offering sacrifices at the new temple - 3 occasions most likely the Feats of Unleavened Bread, The Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Booths, demonstrating his faithfulness to the covenant.

1 Kings 9 CSB

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. 27 With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants. 28 They went to Ophir and acquired gold there—sixteen tons—and delivered it to Solomon.

Solomon’s partnership with Hiram emerges again. Israel built the ships, Tyre sailed them and both nations took home gold.

Ophir was an ancient city virtually synonymous with the production of gold.

They took home 16 tons of gold - if worth of that much gold today would be around 1.88 billion dollars.

Three Takeaways

God honors obedience but warns against complacency.

God reminds Solomon that continued blessing is tied to continued faithfulness.

The promises of God come with responsibility - not entitlement.

Past faithfulness doesn’t excuse present compromise.

Luke 11:28 “28 He said, “Rather, blessed are those who hear the word of God and keep it.””

God’s Name is on display in our lives.

The temple was not just a building - it was a visible sign of God’s presence and reputation among the nations.

We represent God’s presence to the world - 2 Corinthians 6:16 “16 And what agreement does the temple of God have with idols? For we are the temple of the living God, as God said: I will dwell and walk among them, and I will be their God, and they will be my people.”

What people see in us reflects what they think about God. We must live in such a way that others see God through us.

Worldly success doesn’t guarantee spiritual health.

We see how successful Solomon was politically and economically.

While all that we good we will see a shift is the spiritual health of Israel.

Be careful not to let accomplishment replace God.