Kings and Prophets 01

[0:00] Father, we just thank you this morning for your amazing love and your amazing grace that you give to us each and every day of our lives. And we just look up to you and we just thank you for all those blessings that you give to us.

[0:13] And through your son, the Lord Jesus Christ and what he did at the cross. And Father, we just this morning want to thank of Lois Lynn and just pray that the things going with her would improve.

[0:27] And also thank of Bruce and Marie today, Father, with the things that they're going through with their health of both of them. We just pray for you while there. And Father, we just thank of all this world today, Father, all the things that's going on in the world today.

[0:44] It's just all the violence and the destruction and the things over in the Middle East. And Father, also here in this country, it's just hard to take it in.

[0:56] And Father, we know that you know how this is all going to end. And that's all we can do. All we can do is lift it up to you and just pray that way.

[1:08] And we don't know of any other way to do that. And also, we have an important vote coming up this Tuesday. And with that, there's several things on the ballot that can affect the many lives here in the United States or here in Ohio.

[1:23] And all we can do with that is also pray to you, Father, and lift that up to you because it's got to be in your will. And so we just hope there's a good turnout.

[1:35] And we just hope that the vote is the right way. So we can leave that in your hands. So, Father, this morning, this study, we just pray you'll guide us as we go through this.

[1:47] And, Father, we ask these things today in our Lord and Savior's name, Jesus Christ. Amen. Okay. Well, we're going to be talking about the kings.

[1:59] And we're also going to be talking about prophets. And it's difficult to get into the book of kings because there's so many of them.

[2:11] And all the different things that they do and how God deals with it. But it's also interesting to see that God provided people during this time span and with all these different kings to go to them and warn them, hey, what you're doing is not right.

[2:33] It's not God's will. And that's what the prophets were all about. And in the Bible, we have, well, we have the minor or the major prophets. And we have the minor prophets.

[2:45] But there's so many other prophets that's there in the Old Testament that, you know, they're mentioned. But we don't even think about it because it's, you're reading a text and this prophet is brought up.

[2:59] So most of the time we think of prophets, we're thinking about the major prophets, the minor prophets, because they're written in the Bible with a story there and what they did with that particular king that they were associated with.

[3:12] So we're going to see some of those prophets that's not mentioned in a book writing and see how that all worked out. So there's a lot of things going on in 1 Kings and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles.

[3:27] And it's just a lot to take in. So hopefully we can do it and have good information everybody can grab hold of and keep. And as we're going through it, if you've got questions, comments, just raise your hand and let's do that.

[3:41] We hope it's going to be an open type study. So Kings and Prophets. The period of the kings and the writing of the prophets spanned from 1050 to 432 B.C.

[3:58] The kings only ruled from 1050 to 856, whereas the prophets continued to preach and write to the ends of the nation of Israel. And that's when the captivity came about.

[4:11] The prophets kept prophesying during that period. So they had a longer period that they were actually in there and doing God's will. So before we get started, I got two handouts.

[4:25] If somebody would hand these out for me. And one of them, this one here is the nation of Israel. And it lists all the kings of the southern kingdom and the northern kingdom.

[4:40] And it has the, where they're at in kings. And kind of gives a time span for it. So we give that to everybody. And the second one then is a, another one that kind of gives a time span.

[4:55] But it also puts the prophets. We can see where the prophets come in line with the kings that we're talking about. So this is a very important chart. And I think it'll be interesting.

[5:06] Just keep these charts while we're doing this study. And we can keep referring to them. You can see how all this kind of messes together. So this is, I found this to be a very interesting chart and very helpful.

[5:23] And again, mostly, it gives the major prophets and the minor prophets. Except for Elijah and Elisha.

[5:35] And, but there's other, many other prophets that we'll be talking about that's there also. So keep these charts. I think it'll help us all just to see how things are going as we go through the book of Kings.

[5:49] And second Kings. And second Chronicles. And we'll see how they all fit together. So as we start, the beginning with the settlement of Cana.

[6:01] This is, now we're talking about Israel. And through that period of judges, Israel was merely a group of scattered or unorganized tribes. And we saw that when we was doing a study in David. They had little connection with each other.

[6:14] Almost living as separate peoples. Because they were in all these separate lands. And they hadn't gathered together yet. I'm sorry, somebody. Is there two separate seats?

[6:25] Yeah, there is two separate seats. Okay, we didn't have enough? Okay. Somebody want to make more copies? Okay.

[6:47] Okay. Okay, so if we go back to the book of Samuel. Samuel was the bridge between this original isolated condition of the people.

[6:59] And the period when the kingdom was united under its first king. And we're going, we saw that when we was back here in the book of, studying the book for David also. This prophet, priest, uttered in a period of transition and radical changes in Hebrew life.

[7:16] Which modeled Israel into a nation, a united nation. Israel in transition. Samuel was a king player in this transition. We saw that in the first book of Samuel.

[7:27] He was born and answered a prayer dedicated to serve God by the priest and called by God. He was appointed by God to be a prophet, a priest, and a judge.

[7:39] And we see that through first and second Samuel. The first class I taught was on David, which we ended with his death and began with Solomon's reign. We saw that for Solomon to gain complete control, he had to kill his brother at Adijah.

[7:55] Who tried to take the kingship from Solomon, but he failed. He also had to kill Joab, King David's general, and his bodyguard because of his cunning and ruthless activities during David's reign and also for treason.

[8:11] So, we saw about Samuel. We saw about David and Saul. Samuel was also founded in the school of prophets. And we saw that back in 1 Samuel chapter 19.

[8:26] And that's when Saul was out there chasing David. And they came to this town that all the prophets were gathered together. And Samuel was their leader. And when Saul was going to go in there and kill and get David and all that stuff.

[8:41] But there were so many prophets there speaking God's word that Saul's men that he sent there started believing all this. So, Saul was set back again.

[8:51] He couldn't get David at that point. But that's some of the things that was going on there back there in Samuel. So, although the books of 1 and 2 Kings and 2 Chronicles cover the same historic time periods, these written records are very different purposes.

[9:10] Therefore, they follow different trails. The book of Kings traces the history from the prophetic viewpoint. Chronicles from the priestly standpoint, emphasizing the temple and the rituals there.

[9:23] And to get people back to God again. And Kings is kind of like a chronological order of the kings that we're going to be talking about. And you'll see that as you go through the book of Kings and 2 Kings.

[9:37] In these books, the writer jumps back and forth between the kings of Israel and Judah. Painting a chronological picture and giving us pertinent information about each king's life and his reign.

[9:51] Then he passes a verdict on each of his, whether they're good kings or bad kings. And we're going to see that as you read through the text. A new king will be anointed.

[10:04] And there will be a story about what this king did. It gives the time span that he was a king. King Saul came in and he reigned for so many years.

[10:14] And then usually that's going to be saying, and Saul was a bad king. And some of the kings is going to say, and this king was a good king.

[10:25] And we're going to see that throughout. Of course, we're also going to see out as you go through that first chart there. I think there's about 20 kings on each side.

[10:37] And so there's a lot of kings that we're going to be talking about. It's also interesting to go through that chart, the number of years that they served.

[10:50] I don't have my chart. Okay. Thank you. And it's very interesting because some of these kings reigned, well, the maximum was what?

[11:04] 52 years? Uzziah reigned for 52 years? Okay. 55 for somebody? There was also one king that only reigned for three years.

[11:21] Another king for two years. Another king for seven days. Now, that's kind of a... You've been anointed king of the northern tribe of Israel.

[11:34] And knowing the northern tribe of Israel, you didn't last long. Because some of these guys were very ruthless. And as we get to that king, you're going to find out that he was king for a very short period.

[11:46] And the next guy that came along the line had him killed. Killed his whole family. Did all those type of things. So, it's interesting to go through there and see the numbers of years that these kings would have been in their position.

[12:03] And some of the times, all the problems they could cause in a short period of time also. So, in the kings and the chronicles, you're going to be seeing them jumping back and forth between the northern tribe, the southern tribe.

[12:18] Another thing that I found kind of confusing was, some of these kings had the same name. And even in one of the chapters, it was talking about one king whose name was...

[12:33] Which one was it? Uzziah, I believe. No. Wasn't Uzziah. Let's see.

[12:43] Yeah, it was. Almost in the same chapters. It was the same king. So, here you were talking, you were reading and you heard about this guy and you were going to write a couple paragraphs later.

[13:00] It was talking about the same king, but it was saying something different. You're thinking, whoa, what's going on? It was the same king, the same name. And that's not unusual. As you go through there, you'll see several names that's repeated also.

[13:11] So, 2 Chronicles was written for a specific purpose of chronicling the religious movements during that same time. The writer emphasized the law, the removal of idolatry, and the restoration of the temple and Jehovah's worship.

[13:27] Since Israel had no such religious revivals, the book of Chronicles deals mostly and solely with the rulers of Judah. And as we go through the kings, you're going to see that the northern tribe of Israel were just bad people.

[13:45] And it all started from that first king that they had. And as we go through there, it paints that picture. And you know how things get passed down through the line?

[13:57] That thing happened there. It got passed down the line for several different kings and got passed down and got passed down. And even at one point, they killed everybody associated with that line.

[14:12] And another king was appointed. And it didn't take long for them to fall back and do the same thing. And we had that other line perpetuated again. So the northern tribe of Israel is basically, as you go through there, you're going to see, I don't know if these charts say, no, I think I had another chart at home that said, this king was a bad king, the other king was a good king.

[14:36] Yes? You keep saying the northern tribe of Israel. Yes. Is this before the 12th tribe? No, no, no. No. No. No. This is when, after what we're going to see, when Solomon dies and his son Jeroboam, yeah, Jeroboam takes over, that's when the nation of Israel is going to be split into different nations.

[15:04] There are going to be two. You're going to have the ten tribes of Israel, northern Israel, and you're going to have the two tribes in Judah. So you're going to have Judah and, is that Benjamin? Yeah.

[15:14] Yeah. So you're going to have a southern tribe, and you're going to have a northern tribe. And the king's books, you follow the northern tribe, and you follow the southern tribe.

[15:28] And when we get to the end of that period, the northern tribe is going to be captured by another country, and they're going to be put into captivity.

[15:39] And also, later on, the nation of Judah is going to be captured and put into captivity. Yeah, Joe? Yeah. Solomon, of course, had a rich kingdom, and his sons came on the scene.

[15:50] They wanted to be richer than Solomon was, so they taxed the people real heavy. They taxed them real heavy. And they didn't like, just like we don't like to tax heavy. And so they had a disagreement.

[16:02] Judah stayed here, and all the other people said, we're not going to be taxed with him. We're going to split. So 10 of the tribes took off, because they didn't want to be ruled by Judah, which was the sons of Solomon, which were going to tax them like the decade.

[16:16] So they split up. That's what caused the split. Yeah, we'll be good into that, and we'll see how that unfolds. When did the 12 tribes come? And are you saying that the 12 tribes were divided into northern tribes and southern tribes?

[16:32] Exactly. That's what happened. The 12 tribes were already there. Yes. Right. Yeah, they were there during King Saul, King David, King Solomon. Ten north and two states south. Ten north and two states south.

[16:45] Yeah. And we'll see how that unfolds as we go along here. Second purpose for, I think, for some of these writings, the kings and the chronicles was the fact that it's going to show how ineffective human governments are.

[17:00] And appoint to the need of the righteous king who God would stand as sovereign over all. That was God's whole purpose for doing this, was to get somebody out there to be there to present God.

[17:18] And this is not happening. When these things turn into human governments, human kings, that's when we find out all the problems start.

[17:28] Of course, Israel had problems from the very beginning. But it continues. Today we're starting the study of King Solomon. We'll go through 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles until his death.

[17:41] And then the divided kingdom between northern tribes of Israel and the southern tribes of Judah. We'll see how that unfolds. We will look at the kings from both Israel and Judah, the good and the bad.

[17:52] We will also look at some of the prophets during the reign of these kings and see how they interacted with these kings. Keep in mind what God told the nation of Israel about seeking a king.

[18:04] Anybody remember that? Back in Samuel. What happened? I think it was in chapter 8. God told Samuel that they're not rejecting you, they're rejecting me.

[18:17] Yeah. That's why they're asking for it. Yeah. Everything was going along good there. Samuel was doing his job as a prophet and as a judge. And I think when it was time for him to die, the people came and said, We want to be like all these other countries and nations.

[18:39] They have a king. That has to be great. Samuel says, Okay. Samuel goes to God and said, God, your people want a king.

[18:53] And God told Samuel, You tell them, I'm going to let you have a king. But you're also going to see what this is going to do to you as a nation.

[19:05] And that's where the human governments come in here. When you start a king, you've got to support a king. King has power.

[19:18] King has money. And we're going to see what King Solomon, he had so much money. He built and he built. He built the temple. He built his big, I don't know if you call it a castle or not, but his big place where he was going to live.

[19:36] And he went out and started rebuilding some of these cities that had been destroyed in some of the wars that happened at that time. He had wealth.

[19:47] He had everything. We're going to see at the end of that, he also started to put on the people what? High taxes.

[19:59] Hey, people, we're doing all this stuff. We think that you ought to help pay for some of this stuff. So that's when he started putting taxes on people. And when we do that, things start happening.

[20:11] So we're going to see that as we go along. So God warned the Israelites about the consequences of having a king. He said that the king would take their sons, their daughters, their lands, their animals, and their crops and make them his servants.

[20:27] And they cried out with a loud voice. He would not answer them. And when they do cry out for a loud voice, they will not answer him. So God is saying, hey, you're my chosen people.

[20:41] I said I would be with you. You have a volition. You want a king? Okay. I'm going to give you a king. But you're going to have to deal with the consequences.

[20:52] And they may not be good. So as we start with Solomon, Solomon was the third and final king of the unified nation. When David came in, he brought all of Israel together.

[21:05] When Saul was there, it was a complete disaster. David came in. He brought the nations together. He brought the Ark of the Covenant and the tabernacle to Jerusalem, David's city or zoin.

[21:25] And the temple or the tabernacle will sit there and stay there. And so all these things brought the nations together. And it was a unified nation there under David.

[21:36] Although we know David also had a lot of problems. So as King Solomon takes over, he's the third king, succeeding Saul and King David. He was the son of David and Bathsheba, the former wife of Uriah the Hittite, whom David had killed to cover his infidelity with Bathsheba, while her husband was on the battlefield.

[21:58] And we talked about that the last time when we were talking about David. Solomon also wrote the book of Solomon, the book of Ecclesiastes, and much of the book of Proverbs.

[22:09] Solomon ruled and was the king for 40 years. When Solomon rose to the throne, he sought after God, and God gave him an opportunity to request whatever he desired.

[22:23] And we see that when we get into 1 Kings chapter 3. So if we turn to 1 Kings chapter 3, we'll be starting to read some verses.

[22:34] This is not going to be a verse-by-verse study. But we are going to get in with some of the parts I want to present. We'll get into the actual scriptures and read what the scriptures are saying about this particular event.

[22:48] So as you turn to 1 Kings chapter 3. And Solomon humbly recognized his inability to rule and nobly acts for God for the wisdom he would need to govern God's people righteously.

[23:02] Solomon started this thing in a good way. He says, okay, I'm going to be king. Lord, I don't know what I'm doing.

[23:15] So that's a good way for somebody to start. I wish that was the way some of our politics went today. You know, you get this new position.

[23:25] Lord, thank you for putting me in this position. Now, please show me how to be a leader in the way that I should be.

[23:36] To follow you and your commands and your wishes. Yes? And he was king over all 12 tribes? At this point, yes. Yes. Yeah, this was a unified nation.

[23:49] The 12 tribes were together. They were unified at this point. And that happened during the period of King David. So. Solomon no sooner ascends to the throne than he takes drastic measures to secure his position as king.

[24:09] And the first is initiated by its ultimate victim, Adonijah, who had tried unsuccessfully to steal the throne from Solomon. Then in keeping with his father's practice regarding Job, Solomon was also the former army general.

[24:26] He also executed him. So not only, this not only solidifies his position for potential opponents, it also forms a special, he also formed a special alliance with the Pharaoh in Egypt.

[24:43] And through this alliance, he married Pharaoh's actual daughter. And so when he did that, he had a lot of things that was coming to him.

[24:55] As far as Pharaoh would provide him funds, he would provide him livestock, all kinds of things. So we see here that Solomon is going to start building this fortune that he had.

[25:06] Solomon reigns with calm, hardly known by any of the former kings. Although he started out with a bloody type thing by killing his brother and also Joab.

[25:18] But we'll see that these executions were just a part of it. But the marriage and allegiance with the Egyptian, that Solomon is a wise and he's also a king, king site ruler, a sighted ruler.

[25:32] He knew how to rule and get his way. And we're going to see that as we go through. Yes. Yeah, because as you said earlier, he turned to God and asked God for guidance in his role.

[25:43] And he followed God's guidance up until he, like most people, hit a lot of leaders that finally sinned. But anyhow, he was a good leader because he asked for God's guidance and he got it from God.

[25:56] He did. He did what God said. Yeah. And what was this? What was a special gift that God was going to give him? He will soon receive a gift of wisdom.

[26:08] Now, we have a whole book of the Bible that talks about wisdom. And a lot of that was provided by Solomon himself. And this man, God gave him wisdom.

[26:19] And as we go through, we're going to see, wow, he did give him a lot of wisdom. So, he speaks of all wealth, Solomon, that when the opportunity presents itself, he refuses to ask for wealth or for power, preferring wisdom.

[26:35] But he said, I want that wisdom instead. Instead of power, give me wisdom. And that's going to be kind of, what do I want to say? It's going to reverse.

[26:45] And we'll see how that happens. And it happens today. We see it happening all the time with our politicians. You know, you get into office, you're a young man or whatever, and you have your ideas how you want to do it.

[26:59] But the power and all the money that comes with it, it erodes your mind. And it works on you. And this is exactly what happens to these kings during this time period. So, the record of this special bestowment upon Solomon begins with a notation of worship of Solomon and his people prior to the erection of the temple.

[27:21] So, now if you go to 1 Kings in chapter 3, verse 2. The people were still sacrificing on the high places because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days.

[27:32] Now, Solomon loved the Lord walking in his statutes of his father David, accepting sacrifices and burnt incense on the high places. The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place.

[27:48] Solomon offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar. In Gibeon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night, and God said, Ask what you wish of me, and I will give it to you.

[28:00] Then Solomon said, You have shown great love kindness to your servant David and to my father, according as he walked before you in truth and in righteousness and uprighteousness of the heart towards you.

[28:13] And you have reserved for him this great love kindness, that you have given him a son to sit on the throne as it is this day. Now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of my father David.

[28:28] Yet I am but a little child. I do not know how to go and come out and come in. What a declaration there.

[28:39] Your servant is in the mindset of your people, which you have chosen, a great people who are too many to be numbered or counted. So give your servant an understanding heart to judge, your people to discern between good and evil.

[28:54] For who is able to judge this great people of yours? It was a pleasing insight of the Lord that Solomon had asked this thing. Verse 11, When God said to him, Because you have asked this thing and have not asked for yourself long life, nor have asked for riches for yourself, nor have asked for the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself discernment to understand justice.

[29:21] Behold, I have done according to your words. Behold, I have given you wisdom and discerning heart, so that there has been no one like you before, or shall no one like you arise after you.

[29:37] I have also given you what you have not asked, both riches and honors, so that there will not be any among the kings like you all the days.

[29:47] If you walk in my ways, keeping my statutes and commandments as your father David walked, then I will prolong your days. Verse 15, Then Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

[30:01] And he came to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the Lord and offered burnt offerings and made peace offerings and made a feast for all his servants. A well-known example of Solomon's wisdom is his judgment in a dispute over the identity of an actual mother, an infant child.

[30:19] We'll see that in 1 Corinthians 3, 16 through 28. The story of Solomon's judgment illustrates his profound wisdom. Two mothers living in the same house, each the mother of a newborn son, came to Solomon in a dispute over the custody of a baby boy.

[30:39] One of the babies had died, and each claimed the remaining boy was her own. Wow, what a situation that was. Can you imagine? Calling for a sword.

[30:52] This is where his knowledge comes, where his wisdom comes in. Solomon announced his judgment. The baby would be cut in two, each woman to receive half. One mother did not oppose the ruling, stating that if she could not have the baby, that neither of them could.

[31:12] Wow. Can you imagine? The mother saying that. But the other begged Solomon, give the baby to her. Just don't kill him.

[31:24] The king declared the second woman, the true mother, as the mother would give up her baby if it was needed to save its life. All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had rendered, and they stood in awe of the king, because they perceived the wisdom of God was him to do justice.

[31:45] That is an amazing story. And that's just the kind of wisdom that was given to Solomon. And he was able to rule his people with that type of wisdom before.

[32:00] And as he did this, and his wisdom became known, it spread all over the country. And people would come to him. And we'll see in chapter four, we're not going to read too much out of chapter four.

[32:12] We're not going to read anything out of chapter four, as a matter of fact. But it pretty much comes down in saying, the last verse, 434 says, men came from all over to hear his wisdom.

[32:26] From all over the country, and even from some of the other nations. We're going to sing when Bathsheba, or not Bathsheba, but the... It just left my head.

[32:41] Queen of Sheba came, and she traveled many, many miles. So we're going to get into chapter five. Chapter five through seven is going to deal with the building of the temple.

[32:56] David wanted to build a temple. God said, David, you draw up the plans. You do all this work beforehand, but you're not going to build this temple.

[33:08] Your son will build the temple. And this is what God has laid on to Solomon's heart. Perhaps Solomon's best-known achievement is building the magnificent temple in Jerusalem.

[33:21] A temple unsurpassed in beauty, it would become a national monument, symbolic of Israel's special relationship with God. King David had drawn up the initial plans, and has now left to Solomon to oversee the construction.

[33:35] The detail described is reminiscent of that which accomplished the building of the tabernacle in the wilderness. Even the two structures themselves are similar in design, though multiple stories and a grand porch was added to the temple.

[33:51] Much of the work is done by materials provided by the skilled workmen of Tyre. The record begins with the making of a contract between Solomon and the king of Tyre. Sometime later, another man will be brought from Tyre to do the brass work of the temple, the furnishings, the complete work is magnificent beyond description.

[34:10] Now all you have to do is go back to Moses' time when the tabernacle was going to be built. And what did he do? He said, I want, God is going to provide to people that would know how to build this temple.

[34:25] They had craftsmen that did the lumber work. They had craftsmen that did the gold work. All the things that was done in the temple. They had special people that had the knowledge that they could do these type things.

[34:37] And this is kind of the same thing that was going on here when Solomon starts building this temple. And the temple itself is pretty much like the tabernacle as far as what's inside it.

[34:52] The Holy of Holies and all this type of thing. Of course, it has a big structure around it. Now it's just not a tent. And that's the big difference. But it's a magnificent thing that all the people of that country, all the nation of Israel saw and other nations saw.

[35:09] It was a great accomplishment. So, in chapter 5, verse 1. Now Hiram, king of Tyre, sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father.

[35:21] For Hiram was also, was always been a friend of David. Then Solomon sent word to Hiram, saying, You know that David, my father, was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord, his God, because of the wars which surrounded him until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

[35:39] But now the Lord, my God, has given me rest on every side that there is neither adversary or misfortune. And this was a time of peace.

[35:50] You know, during King David's time, he was a warrior. He had all kinds of battles. David won most of those battles. And as we get here into Solomon, Solomon didn't have to fight so many battles, although there were some going on.

[36:05] But it was really a time of peace at this point. In verse 5, Behold, I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord, my God. As the Lord spoke to David, my father, saying, Your son, whom I will send on your throne in your place, he will build a house for my name.

[36:22] Now therefore, command that they cut me cedars from Lebanon, and my servants will be your servants, and I will give your wages for your servants according to all that they say. For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.

[36:37] When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over the great people.

[36:49] So Hiram sent word to Solomon, saying, I have heard the message which you have sent me. I will do what you desire concerning the cedar and the cypress lumber. And that will conclude chapter 5.

[37:03] Chapter 6 and chapter 7 are descriptions on the actual building of the temple. And I'm not going to get into that because we've had studies before about the temple and how it was built.

[37:17] Not the temple, but the tabernacle. And it's pretty much the same thing that's going to be going on here. How they build this temple and the great building and that is done at that time.

[37:32] Yes, Joe? I think this tells us something about God, too. He's very organized, disciplined, you know, once things are done in a certain way and so forth.

[37:42] That tells us something about God. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Now, this was not a haphazard thing. I mean, they had blueprints.

[37:53] Maybe they didn't have blueprints like we have today that you print out on a computer. But God talked to David and he also talked to other people. Write these things down.

[38:04] This is what I want this temple to look like. Just like he talked to Moses with a tabernacle. This is how this tabernacle is going to be built.

[38:15] He gave the dimensions of it. He gave what was going to be inside of it. And he gave instructions to the priest and all the other people that would be there in the tabernacle.

[38:26] This is my thing. So, that's what we're going to see in chapters 6 and 7. So, he builds this great temple.

[38:38] Chapter 8 starts with the dedication of the temple. The temple and its furnishes now complete, Solomon brings the people together for a dedication of the temple to God's use and glory.

[38:50] He reminds his people of the covenant relationships signified by the temple and thus of their obligation to remain faithful to God. Solomon's prayer asks that God will hear the people's prayers and bless them in times of special need.

[39:06] As the dedication begins, the old tabernacle is brought to the temple site. They went, they got the old tabernacle there that they stored because they didn't have a place for it.

[39:19] So, they put that there. The people came to it that whole time and now that King Solomon has built the temple, go get this tabernacle and bring it to the temple.

[39:31] So, they brought it, all the things that was in that tabernacle was now placed in the temple. Oh, the ark was there also.

[39:43] Absolutely. 1 Kings 8.1 Then Solomon sent the elders of Israel to all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers, houses of the children of Israel and to King Solomon in Jerusalem to bring up the ark of the covenant of Jehovah out of the city of David which is Oin.

[40:03] And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto the king of Solomon at the feast. And all the elders of Israel came and the priests took up the ark into the temple.

[40:17] And they brought up the ark of Jehovah and the tent of the meeting and all the holy vessels that were there in the tent. Even these did the priests and the Levites bring up. And King Solomon and all the congregation of Israel that were assembled unto him were with him before the ark sacrificing sheep and oxen that could not be counted or numbered or multiplied.

[40:38] And the priests brought the ark of the covenant of Jehovah into its place into the oracle of the house to the most holy place even under the wings of the cherubim.

[40:49] So we sing the ark was brought in to the holy of holies just like there in the tabernacle. Verse 8 And the staves were so long and the ends of the staves were seen from the holy place before the oracle but they were not seen without and they are like that until this day.

[41:13] I read that and I'm thinking what is staves? Now I had to go back and get to where the temple and all that stuff was and the staves are the poles that they had to carry the tabernacle back when they were traveling through the desert.

[41:34] Or the ark. So and that's the thing that the one man touched it when they were bringing it into Jerusalem when King David was there and he was killed instantly.

[41:47] So the staves or the pole had a lot of meaning and those poles stayed with the ark. So they were there at that point. Verse 10 and it came to pass when the priest came out of the holy place that the cloud filled the house of Jehovah so that the priest could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud for the glory of Jehovah filled the house of Jehovah.

[42:11] Jehovah now has a place from the tabernacle to the temple. Is anybody having comments or anything about what we've been doing here so far this morning?

[42:24] We're almost out of time. Okay, I can go ahead and the next thing there in verse 812.

[42:39] Solomon blesses, now blesses the Lord. Then spoke Solomon, Jehovah have said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built thee a house of habitation that plays for thee to dwell in forever.

[42:53] And the king turned his face about and blessed all the assembly of Israel and all the assembly of Israel stood. And Solomon's prayer and dedication in verse 822, and Solomon stood before the altar of Jehovah in the presence of all the assembly of Israel and spread forth his hands toward heaven.

[43:13] And he said, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, there is no God like thee in heaven or above on earth beneath who keepeth covenant and love kindness with thy servants that walk before thee with all their heart, who has kept with the servant of David my father that which thou didst promise him.

[43:33] Yea, thou speakest with thy mouth and hast fulfilled it with thy hand as it is this day. Now therefore, O Jehovah, the God of Israel, keep with thy servant David my father that which thou hast promised him saying there shall not fail thee a man in my sight to sit on the throne of Israel if only the children take heed to their way to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

[44:02] So, the building of the temple, his prayer, he listened up to God and God comes back and blesses them but with that blessing and I think he did it with just about all the blessings with the nation of Israel.

[44:17] He gave what? He gave a warning. All these things are yours. I'm giving them to you. If only the children take heed to their way to walk before me as thou hast walked before me.

[44:35] that's what God wanted from the nation of Israel. That's what God has always wanted from the nation of Israel. So, there's no other questions?

[44:49] Yeah? by chapter 4 though, even with all of this and this with Solomon's dedication of the temple and everything, still he multiplied for himself the chariots and the horses which God has commanded the kings not to do.

[45:12] Exactly. And so, he I'm glad I live in the day of grace where getting messed up doesn't defeat everything.

[45:26] But he was all his wisdom there at the end of chapter 4 he was a naturalist he wrote about trees and birds it says trees, birds, animals, fish and insects and it says that his wisdom or his his mind was broad as the sand.

[45:53] Yeah. And you can see that. I mean, he wrote all these other books. He wrote probably most of the Proverbs we'll see that came from Solomon the book Ecclesiastes the song of Solomon.

[46:09] This man had wisdom Yeah, Joe. It also does say that because he didn't ask for wealth and riches and so forth God did provide that for him.

[46:22] Yeah, he did. He does mention that even though he didn't ask for it God did provide those riches for him. Yeah, because that's the natural thing of a king which he had warned about.

[46:33] I'm going to bless Solomon but hey he's still a king and kings are going to put kings first. Although king as we saw here during the dedication of the temple and all these things now blessings from God and he had all this wisdom.

[46:52] We will see later on that hey he's going to fall just like David fell. So these are God's chosen people. This nation of Judah as the nation splits is going to be his people and they're going to have kings that will obey God and some of them are going to fall and it's just going to be this thing over and over again as we go through here.

[47:19] But the study of Solomon is fine. He was. He had the wisdom that just couldn't understand all the wisdom that was given to him. And he had all the riches and everything that come with it.

[47:32] Yeah. Right.

[47:48] Not yet. Although we're going to see they do come back. All these people destroyed the temple and they had the captivity but they're going to come back and they're going to rebuild that temple.

[48:02] So. Yep. So we're going to see a lot of things about the temple. We'll get into those. Some of the things about the ark.

[48:14] The ark thing is very confusing. I don't think anybody really knows the truth about the ark. Although there's so many stories and articles written out there about the ark of the covenant.

[48:27] And we've had a movie. We had movies about the ark of the covenant with the raiders of the lost ark. And all these things that's about the ark.

[48:39] And, you know, God knows. And so. Okay. We'll see you next week. Thank you.