Day 145: solomon builds the temple

1 Kings 3:1-15 Amid deep prayer, Solomon asked God for the gift of wisdom. God was pleased with this kind of request since it did not include a petition for riches and fame. God, therefore, granted him wisdom as well as unimaginable wealth and blessing. Wisdom is a gift from God, one of the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit, and it is among the virtues necessary for a ruler to guide the people fairly in a spirit of moral integrity. (CCC 1706, 1845, 1917, 1954)

Ch 3:16-28 This classic story of two women in dispute over a baby exemplifies King Solomon’s wisdom. St. Augustine saw in this passage a type of two kinds of Christians: those who are concerned more about appearances and those who are motivated by true interior love (Sermo 10: De Iudicio Salomonis, 4-5). The juxtaposition of these two types of persons in Christ’s preaching is manifested in his criticism of the Pharisees’ concern with external appearances rather than sincere love for God and neighbor. (CCC 579, 595, 2054,  2505)

2 Chronicles 5-7 These chapters describe the procession of the Ark of the Covenant to the Temple and the Temple’s dedication. The spectacular ceremony that accompanied this act attests to the great importance of the Temple to the history and faith of the people of Israel. (CCC 1156-1158)

Psalm 64 The author of this psalm portrays his enemies as evil and treacherous These evildoers are also described as fools since they plan to do evil with impunity and, therefore, are oblivious to divine justice and retribution. Their own evil designs will destroy them.  (CCC 672, 716, 2213, 2236)

God will shoot his arrow at them: As the evildoers “aim bitter words like arrows” in ambush of the innocent, God’s punishment will correspond to the crime since each person is rewarded or punished according to his or her works.

Wag their heads: This gesture of mockery was used against the righteous, who are often mocked as fools for their beliefs, but it is the doubters and the evildoers who are the true fools.

• With Solomon firmly set upon the Davidic throne, Israel embarks on a brief “golden age” with a king who is remembered for his wisdom and nobility. 

• Perhaps the best snapshot of that nobility appears in 1 Kings 3. God tells Solomon, “Ask what I shall give you” (1 Kgs 3:5), and Solomon requests “an understanding mind” (1 Kgs 3:9) to govern his kingdom well and wisely.

• Because Solomon asks for wisdom to serve his people, and not riches and honor for himself, God grants Solomon’s request with great pleasure, adding riches and honor besides.

• The narrator illustrates the fruitfulness of Solomon’s listening heart in the courtroom (1 Kgs 3:16-28), with his choice of officials, in the expansion of his rule, and in his ability to compose proverbs (1 Kgs 4)

• So want to go in reverse again? 

• 2 Chronicles Ch 4-5 this is Solomon’s GREATEST LIFE WORK

• This is the greatest thing Solomon will have done in his ENTIRE LIFE

• Remember that King David did a number of GREAT THINGS

• King David UNITED the tribes into a KINGDOM

• King David defeated all the enemies around Israel

• King David amassed all this wealth not only for the people of Israel, but for the building of the Temple

• And now, Solomon is doing the SINGLE GREATEST TASK that he had in his life

• Solomon builds the temple SO WELL

• This is FOR GOD’S GLORY

• Everything that Solomon did in building the Temple was EXCELLENT

• The FINEST MATERIALS to build with

• Solomon built the Temple according to the model that was given when it came to the Tabernacle and the Tent of Meeting

• Solomon lined all these structures with GOLD AND SILVER

• Solomon makes these MASSIVE BRONZE DOORS

• Keep this in mind

• Solomon is sacrificing MASSIVE AMOUNTS of animals

• He is giving the Lord the sacrifices that he believes the Lord DESIRES

• He knows he is sacrificing to the Lord what he believes the Lord DESERVES

• Solomon is doing so well RIGHT NOW

• The Chronicler highlights WHO carries the Ark from where it was to the Holy of Holies

• It was the LEVITES

• Remember when David wanted to bring the Ark from the house Obededom the Gittite, Uzzah died after touching the Ark

• Here is Solomon who learned from his father’s mistakes

• The Levites are carrying the Ark PROPERLY

• That is SO IMPORTANT

• It was HONORED BY GOD

• WHY?

• As they install the Ark into the Most Holy Place

• As they COMPLETE THE TEMPLE

• THE CLOUD OF GLORY FILLS THE SPACE

• This reminds us of the CLOUD OF GLORY that led the people of Israel OUT OF EGYPT and INTO FREEDOM

• OUT OF EGYPT and THROUGH THE WILDERNESS

• The CLOUD OF GLORY that would rest upon the Ark of the Covenant 

• Upon the Tent of Meeting

• Upon the Tabernacle

• Is now FILLING THAT SPACE

• Here is God AFFIRMING what Solomon had done

• GOD SAID YES WITH HIS PRESENCE

• The people came together and gave FREELY the sacrifice to the Lord

• This is SO MASSIVELY IMPORTANT

• On one hand, we have our OWN sacrifices

• Here is what I am going to do for God

• AND YET…

• We wonder sometimes, “Ok God, are you RECEIVING what I am OFFERING?”

• “Do you even WANT what I am OFFERING?”

• The SHEKINAH GLORY CLOUD is a sign of God’s FAVOR, not just God’s PRESENCE

• A sign of God’s ACCEPTANCE of what they are doing

• The people did the RIGHT THING

• They offered to the Lord what He DESERVED

• They offered to the Lord what He DESIRED

• This concludes Solomon’s HIGH POINT

• He will do other things, but this was the MOST IMPORTANT

• 1 Kings Ch 3 we have Solomon praying for WISDOM

• Solomon prays for wisdom at Gibeon at the place of sacrifice before the Temple in Jerusalem is built

• Solomon is praying to the Lord

• Solomon is giving to the Lord a sign of his heart and life

• Solomon is SACRIFICING 

• That’s what sacrifices are

• They are a sign of our DESIRE to give OURSELVES to the Lord by giving him something VALUABLE

• That is what is at the heart of virtually every sacrifice

• Rather than myself being sacrificed, I am sacrificing something on my behalf 

• I am sacrificing something that is of importance to me

• So Solomon is doing this and the Lord says, “What do you want?”

• Solomon asks for “an understanding mind” aka “wisdom” aka “right understanding in discernment and judgement”

• God gives him this GREAT GIFT

• We see it played out in the story of the two women who had children, one of which died

• So they ask Solomon which of them is right

• Solomon utilized the wisdom God had given him

• This is GOOD

• AND YET…

• At the very beginning of 1 Kings Ch 3 we are given a line that says, “Solomon had married the daughter of Pharaoh” (Fr. Mike said David but I’m pretty sure he meant to say Solomon because that’s what it says in The Bible 😁)

• This is not completely prohibited

• But we will see what happens because of this when it comes to marrying the daughter this begins his expansion when it comes to his own household

• Solomon wants to make alliances with the nations around him by MARRIAGE

• Solomon will end up marrying MANY MANY DAUGHTERS of influential people around them

• This is the first time we get this sense that Solomon is doing something and it is not going to be GOOD OR HELPFUL

• Solomon is not going to show himself to TRULY be WISE

• Yes, Solomon is WISE but he is not necessarily GOOD

• Solomon has the WISDOM to be able to discern RIGHT AND WRONG

• But he doesn’t always necessarily always DO RIGHT or AVOID WRONG 

• So this is one of the first chinks in Solomon’s armor

• We can KNOW THE RIGHT THING TO DO

• But KNOWING the right thing to do doesn’t always get us to DO IT

• We can BELIEVE the RIGHT things

• But BELIEVING the RIGHT things doesn’t always get us to the place where we DO THE RIGHT THING (A Spike Lee Joint 🤓)

• And so here we are in a place TODAY knowing that WE NEED GOD’S GRACE

• NOT JUST TO KNOW THE TRUTH

• NOT JUST TO BE WISE

• BUT TO CHOOSE THE TRUTH

• BUT TO LIVE IN WISDOM

• BUT TO LIVE IN LIFE

• AND TO CHOOSE LIFE

• For OURSELVES and our FAMILY

• So we NEED GOD’S GRACE

• WE NEED PRAYERS

• If we are not sustained by God’s Grace, then the people around us will suffer for that

• This community of people walking through the Bible in a Year is a GENUINE COMMUNITY

• It might be ONLINE

• It might be VIRTUAL

• It might be JUST IN YOUR EARS

• But for EVERYONE listening to this, we are all praying the Bible in a Year

• IT IS IN YOUR HEARTS

• IT IS A REAL THING YOU HAVE COMMITTED TO

• It is Day 145 for crying out loud

• It’s NOT a fad for you anymore

• This is YOUR LIFE right now

• THESE ARE YOUR PEOPLE WHO ARE WALKING WITH YOU AND ARE PRAYING FOR YOU

• PRAY FOR EACH OTHER

• PRAY FOR FR. MIKE

Prayer by Fr. Mike: “Father in Heaven we thank you for your word. We thank you for revealing your heart to us. We thank you for continually turning our hearts to you because our hearts can be so easily turned away from you. And so, Lord, in this moment right now, God, I just want to speak to you about this psalm that we just prayed and how clearly the righteous find a place in your temple, how the righteous find a place in your heart, how the righteous find a place in you. And Lord, so often we are not righteous. So often we are the opposite of that. We are unrighteous. We are false. We are fickle. We are sinners. And yet, you still take us back even then. Even when we are not righteous. Even when we are disasters. You still love us. And you never give up on us. Help us to never give up on you. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen.”