THE PROMISED CONDITION
Opening Prayer
Lord, impress on me even familiar old truths afresh.
Read 1 Kings 9:1–19
The Lord Appears to Solomon
9 When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and had achieved all he had desired to do, 2 the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. 3 The Lord said to him:
“I have heard the prayer and plea you have made before me; I have consecrated this temple, which you have built, by putting my Name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there.
4 “As for you, if you walk before me faithfully with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and laws, 5 I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father when I said, ‘You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’
6 “But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you and go off to serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. 8 This temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, ‘Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple?’ 9 People will answer, ‘Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshiping and serving them—that is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.’”
Solomon’s Other Activities
10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the Lord and the royal palace— 11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted. 12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Kabul, a name they have to this day. 14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the Lord’s temple, his own palace, the terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land, 19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.
New International Version (NIV)
Holy Bible, New International Version®, NIV® Copyright ©1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide.
Reflect
What are some ways that God has been faithful to you?God appears to Solomon again at Gibeon (1 Kings 3). Previously, he had praised the king for his request for wisdom. Now he reminds him of what he had repeatedly revealed ever since Moses’ day. The Old Covenant is a God-given agreement that requires both parties to keep their sides of the deal. God promises to keep his side: he will be with his people (3). But because the nation is represented by King Solomon, their fate lies in his hands. The key word is if: if he is faithful… (4,5); if he is unfaithful… (6–9).
None of this is news (glance back at 2:1–12). The difference is that now the primary responsibility lies with the king. God had made that clear to David (2 Sam. 7) and David no doubt reminded his son. This is crucial for understanding Israel’s subsequent history, right up to the Exile in Babylon. The writer of 1 and 2 Kings keeps reminding us of what God says here, so that the Temple’s destruction many years later comes as no surprise.
Now for the realities of rule (10–19): It is not without its challenges or controversies. We balk at the casual handover of cities, or the use of forced labor. But remember, the writer rarely comments. He merely describes reality. Nevertheless, the nation thrived under Solomon—for now…
Apply
God is always faithful. Is there an area of your life in which he has asked you to be faithful to him? Take the first step to live out your faithfulness today.
Closing prayer
Praise God that we have a King in Jesus who was constantly faithful to God throughout his life, even to the cross.
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