Mon.’s Devo - The Days of Solomon

Read: 1Kings 9:1-10:29; Acts 8:14-40; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 17:2-3 When Solomon had finished building the Temple and his royal palace, God appeared to Solomon again and gave his approval to what Solomon had built. He promised that as long as Solomon obeyed his law and kept his commandments he would always have a descendant to sit on the throne of Israel, but if he abandoned Him and his laws God would reject this Temple and make Israel a mockery and ridicule among the nations. *** It had taken Solomon 20 years to complete the buildings and at that time he sent word to King Hiram of Tyre that he was giving him 20 towns. When Hiram went to see the towns he called them “cabul” which means “worthless”. According to Josephus, these lands were probably rejected because they were occupied by Canaanites and were inland which weren’t suitable for Tyre’s offshore trading. Solomon ended up taking these cities for himself and repairing them and filling them with Hebrews. They were in the promised land so this was better for Israel. Solomon appeased Hiram another way. *** Solomon did not use Hebrews in his forced labor but foreigners of lands he had conquered. He assigned Israelites as soldiers, government officers, captains of his army commanders of his chariots and charioteers. He appointed 550 of them to supervise the labor force. *** Solomon moved his wife from the city of David to her new palace in Jerusalem. He sacrificed three times a year (Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles) to the Lord and burned incense on the Day of Atonement to the Lord. *** He built a fleet of ships to carry gold from Ophir, the lands of the east. *** The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame and came to see for herself. Solomon showed her everything in his kingdom and explained how he ran his kingdom. He answered all her questions about the universe. She was overwhelmed by what she saw and heard. She presented Solomon with 9,000 pound of gold and spices and jewels. Solomon gave her anything she asked for. *** Each year Solomon received about 25 tons of gold as well as gold brought by merchants and traders. With this gold he had 200 large shields and 300 smaller shields made and placed in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon. He had a huge throne made decorated with ivory and overlaid with fine gold. The throne had six seeps with lion statues on either side of the steps. There was a lion on the sides of the throne. No other throne in all the world could be compared with it. *** Solomon drank from gold cups and all his utensils in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were made of gold. Silver was considered worthless because of its abundance in Solomon’s day. *** Solomon became known as the wisest man on the earth and many leaders of nations came to hear his wisdom and ask advice. They all brought gifts of silver, gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. He had the greatest army in the world. *** The days of Solomon are what we are about to walk in but first, we have to rid the land of the enemies of God. Our enemies are not flesh and blood but the Spirits that had taken over the seed of Satan. God will fight our enemies, our job is to believe, proclaim and obey. *** In Acts, the Gospel was the most valuable thing, with the Holy Spirit being like the gold of Solomon’s day. As the good news traveled throughout Samaria, many Gentiles were being save and filled with the Holy Spirit. Simon the sorcerer saw this happening and asked the apostles if he could buy some of this power from them. They told him to repent from thinking God’s Spirit could be bought with money. Simon did repent. and continued with them. *** An angel told Philip to go down a specific road that led south. As he did, he met the treasurer to Kandake, the queen of Ethiopia. Many scholars believe that he was the offspring of Solomon and the queen of Sheba we read about today. This eunuch was reading aloud from the scroll of Isaiah and was at the part in Isaiah 53 that prophecies about the first coming of Jesus. Philip ran over to him and asked him if he understood what he was reading. He invited Philip to join him in his carriage and Philip opened up to him the scriptures about Jesus. When they came to some water, the eunuch asked Philip to baptize him. When he came out of the water, the Spirit snatched Philip up and he found himself farther north at the town of Axotus and continued to preach the Gospel there and all the towns along the way until he came to Caesarea. Lord, it is amazing to see how you watch over your Word and your people. Your plan is amazing and your ways are perfect. Thank you that we are a part of your great marvelous plan. Be a lamp to our feet today to lead us down the right paths. Open our eyes to the people we meet along the way.