Tues.’s Devo - The Price of Disobedience and the Power of God

Read: 1 Kings 15:25-17:24; Acts 10:23b-48; Psalm 134:1-3; Proverbs 17:9-11 Israel’s kings fell into a pattern of sin and death. Jeroboam’s son Nadab reigned over Israel while Asa was in his second year of ruling Judah. (Asa was a good king who honored the Lord.) Nadab walked in wickedness and sin like his father Jeroboam. Baasha of Issachar killed Nadab while they were fighting against Gibbethon and reigned in his place. Baasha had all the family of Nadab killed just like the prophet had said. *** In Asa’s third year of ruling Judah, Baasha reigned over Israel and he was evil just like Jeroboam. Nadab died and his son Elah came to power. God sent Jehu the prophet to tell him that because his father had led Israel to sin and idolatry, he and his house would be killed just like his father had killed the household of Nadab for the same reason. *** Twenty-three years had passed since Asa became king in Judah and Elah only ruled two years in Israel. In Asa’s 27th year of ruling Judah, Elah was killed by his servant Zimri who was one of his chief army commanders. Just like the prophet had said, Elah killed all of Nadab’s household. Zimri reigned only seven days because the troops who were fighting for Israel didn’t like what Zimri had done by killing their king. Led by Omri, the army of Israel went to Tirzah where Zimri was and besieged the town Tirzah. When they took the city, Zimri went into the citadel of the king’s house and set it on fire with him in it. *** Israel was divided - half of them supported Tibni as king and the other half supported Omri. Omri’s side won and Tibni was killed. Asa had now reigned 31 years in Judah when Omri became king of Israel. He reigned over Israel for 12 years, six in Tirzah and six in Samaria which he bought for 2 talents of silver. *** Omri was a very evil king who led Israel into the idolatrous sins of Jeroboam. When he died, his son Ahab became king. Asa had now reigned 38 years in Judah. Ahab reigned for 22 years in Samaria. He took foreign wives and introduced Israel to the worship of Baal and Ashterah. These practices included child sacrifice and all manner of sexual perversion. He did more to provoke God’s anger than any other king had so far. *** A man named Hiel of Bethel went to rebuild Jericho but his firstborn died when he laid the foundation and his youngest son died when he set up the gates, just like Joshua had prophesied. *** Elijah the prophet from Tishbe told Ahab that there would be no dew or rain until he said it would come. Then Elijah went and hid himself by the brook Cherish. God told him that the brook would supply his water and the ravens would bring him meat and bread. He stayed there till the brook dried up. Meanwhile, in the whole land of Israel, there was no rain. *** When the brook dried up, God told Elijah to go to Zerephath because there was a widow there who would feed him. But, when he found her, she had enough flour to feed her and her son and then she was planning to die. Elijah told her to prepare the bread and feed him first, then feed them because her flour and oil would always be full. She obeyed his word and fed Elijah and it was just as Elijah said. *** Time went by and the widow’s only son became very ill and died. She blamed Elijah. Elijah took the dead son up in his chamber and laid him on the bed. Then he stretched himself on the child three times and the child came back to life an Elijah presented him to his mother. She was a total believer in Elijah’s words after that. *** In this reading, God keeps reminding us of what is going on in Judah while there is so much overturning and unrest in Israel. Asa was a God-fearing man so there was peace in Judah, where Israel’s kings had abandoned the Lord and their lives were filled with chaos, murder and deceit. That is the way it is in our lives. When we live our lives for ourselves and leave God out, our lives quickly turn to chaos, but when we honor the Lord first, He brings peace and order even in the midst of chaos in the world. *** In Acts, Peter had agreed to go with Cornelius’ servants to meet him at his house. When they arrived, Cornelius had invited his whole family to come and hear what Peter had to say to them. Cornelius fell on his knees before Peter when he arrived, but Peter quickly told him he was just a man and told him to stand. *** Peter told them about his vision, and Cornelius shared his. Peter realized that God’s plan was to save people of all nations. Then Peter told them the whole story of Jesus and what he did. He explains that all who believe in him will receive forgiveness of their sins. While Peter was preaching, the Holy Spirit fell on all who were there. Peter’s men were amazed as they saw them speaking in tongues and exalting the name of Christ. Peter commanded them to be baptized. They stayed there for several days fellowshipping and teaching them of the way of Christ. *** Acts, is the most exciting book and it is my belief that we are about to enter days much like the days in Acts. People will seek out those who walk in the power of the Holy Spirit and just like God’s Word says, the whole earth will be filled with the glory of the Lord. *** Lord, may we prepare our hearts for those days. May we have an answer for the hope we have in you. May your signs and wonders follow us and bring many to know you and your power.

Mon.’s Devo - The Fall of Nations

Read: 1 Kings 14:1-15:24; Acts 10:1-23a; Psalm 133:1-3; Proverbs 17:7-8 Jeroboam had a son who became terminally ill. Jeroboam had his wife disguise herself and go to Ahijah the prophet in Shiloah who had prophesied his kingship. *** God told Ahijah she was coming and would be disguised even though Ahijah was almost completely blind. He called her out the minute she walked in the door and told her he had some bad news for her husband, Jeroboam. God had placed him as king and told him to follow him and yet he had turned his back on the Lord and followed other gods and done evil things. So, God was going to bring harm on Jeroboam’s house and every male would be destroyed. None of them would be buried except the child that she had come to inquire about. The rest of them would either be eaten by dogs or birds. Then God would raise up a king over Israel that would cut off Jeroboam’s house, God would root up Israel out of the land that he had given them and scatter them on the other side of the Euphrates because Jeroboam had led them to worship other gods. The child that she had come to ask about would die when her feet enter her house. *** It happened just as Ahijah had said, her child died the moment her feet crossed her threshold. All Israel mourned his death and he was buried in Israel. Jeroboam reigned 22 years. When he died, his son Nadab reigned in his place. *** Rehoboam reigned in Judah only 17 years and Judah did evil in the Lord’s eyes, also. They provoked the Lord with their idolatry and worship of Asherah. They did the same thing the nations had done who lived there before them. *** In Rehoboam’s 5th year, the king of Egypt came and took away the treasures of the house of the Lord and the king’s house. He also took away the gold shields that Solomon had made. Rehoboam replaced them with bronze shields. *** Everything Rehoboam did was written in the Book of the Chronicles of the kings. There was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam continually. *** When Rehoboam died, his son, Abijam reigned over Judah. He only reigned over Jerusalem three years and did not follow after the Lord but continued in the sins of his father. When he died, his son Asa reigned. Jeroboam was in his 20th year of reigning over Israel. *** Asa did what was right in God’s eyes and put away the worship of Asherah. He removed Maacah, his own mother from being the queen because she made a disgusting image for Asherah. He took down her image and burned it in the Kidron Valley. Asa’s heart was true to the Lord even though Judah still offered on the high places. *** There was continual wars between King Asa and King Baasha of Israel. Baasha built Ramah between Israel and Judah and wouldn’t allow anyone to travel to Judah. Asa took all the gold and treasures of the temple and and his house and sent it to Ben-hadad of Syria to persuade him to break his covenant with Israel and make a covenant with him. Ben-hadad agreed and began taking territory from northern Israel. Israel got the message and stopped building Ramah. *** King Asa had everyone in Judah help carry the stones Baasha had used to build Ramah to Geba in the land of Benjamin. They also used them to build Mizpah. *** In Asa’s old age, he became diseased in his feet and died. Jehoshaphat his son reigned in his place. *** In Acts, there was a man in Caesarea named Cornelius. He was a centurion of the Italian Cohort. He greatly feared and worshipped the Lord as well as his household. One day, he saw a vision of an angel of God. The angel told him that his prayers had been heard and he was sending him a teacher named Simon Peter who was staying with Simon the tanner. When Cornelius came out of the vision he told his servant who was also a devout soldier to go to Joppa and bring back Peter. *** The next day, Peter was praying and went into a trance. He was hungry and was shown a screen with all kinds of animals and reptiles and birds. A voice told him to rise up and kill and eat them. He was alarmed because these animals were not kosher and clean, but the voice told him not to call anything unclean that the Lord calls clean. This happened three times. *** While Peter was contemplating what the vision meant Cornelius’ men arrived and asked for Peter. The Spirit told Peter that three men were looking for him and he was to go down and go with them because God had sent them. *** Peter asked them why they had come and they told him that Cornelius, a centurion who feared God and was respected by the Jewish community was directed by an angel to send for him and ask him to come to his house as his guest. *** For a Jewish person to go and stay with a Gentile would have been taboo, but because the Lord had just given Peter the vision, he understood that he was to go. *** Lord, may we follow you into unchartered territory if you call us there. May we not be afraid of things that go against our traditions. May we be sensitive to your Spirit and what you are doing on the earth. Thank you that you never lead us to where your Spirit has not been.

Sun.’s Devo - The Acts of the Apostles

Read: 1 Kings 12:20-13:34; Acts 9:26-43; Psalm 132:1-18; Proverbs 17:6 Jereboam was made king over Israel while Rehoboam only reigned over Judah and Benjamin. Rehoboam started to send his army to restore the kingdom back to himself but was stopped by a prophet named Shemaiah. He told him that this was the Lord’s doing and he should not go and fight his own brothers. He obeyed the word of the Lord and returned home. *** Jeremiah was not faithful to the Lord. He built Shechem to live as king. He was afraid if the people returned to Jerusalem every year for the feasts, they would turn against him as their king, so he had two gold calves made and put one in Bethel and one in Dan. He told the people to worship them as the gods who brought them out of Egypt. He appointed priest of his choosing who were not from the tribe of Levi. *** Then Jereboam established a counterfeit Feast of Tabernacles one month after the original. He went to Bethel to celebrate this new feast. As he was offering sacrifices on the altar he had built, a man of God came from Judah and gave him a word. He spoke against the altar and said that a son would be born to the house of David whose name would be Josiah and he would sacrifice the bones of the priests of Jereboam on this altar. As a sign that what he was saying was true, the altar would split and the ashes would be poured out. *** Jereboam stretched out his hand to point to the prophet and told his men to seize him. But, his hand became stuck and he could’t move it. The altar broke and the ashes poured out. Then the king begged the prophet to pray for the Lord to restore his hand. *** The prophet did pray for Jereboam and his hand was restored, but his heart was not changed. Jereboam asked the prophet to come back and eat with him and he would give him a reward, but the prophet told him that God had told him not to eat here nor return the way he came. So, they parted. *** An old prophet was told by his sons what had happened and he went after the young prophet and told him that an angel had told him to bring him back to his house and feed him. The young prophet believed the lie and returned to his house. While they were eating the old prophet gave the young prophet a word. He told him that he had disobeyed the Lord by coming and eating with him. Because he did this he would not be buried in his family grave. *** The young prophet left and was attacked by a lion. The old prophet brought his body back and mourned his death. He laid him in his own tomb and told his sons to bury him beside him. *** None of this makes much sense to me, but it is a lesson to all of us to not ever honor a man’s words over God’s Word. We find out later that Josiah did come and have his men dig up the bones of the prophets and burned them on the altar that had been torn down. He stopped when he came to the tomb of the young prophet and his did not get dug up or burned. I wonder if the other prophet who asked to be buried with him didn’t get burned either. I have more questions than answers. *** In Acts, when Saul came to Jerusalem, he wanted to join the disciples but they were afraid of him. Barnabas defended Saul to the apostles and told them of Saul’s conversion and how he had preached boldly about Jesus in the synagogue at Damascus. *** Saul went throughout Jerusalem preaching boldly and debating with the Hellenists. They wanted to kill him, but the believers found out and sent Saul to Tarsus. *** Now that Saul was a believer, the church in Judea, Galilee and Samaria had peace and multiplied. *** Peter went down to Lydda and met a man who had been bedridden and paralyzed for 8 years. He told him to rise in the name of Jesus Christ and he rose and walked. All of Lydda witnessed this miracle and turned to the Lord. *** A pious woman named Tabitha who lived in Joppa died. They washed her body and laid it in an upper room. Peter was sent there and when he arrived he told the mourners to leave the room. He knelt and prayed, then told Tabitha to rise and she did. He brought her out to her friends, alive. Many in Joppa heard about this and became believers. Peter stayed in Joppa with Simon the tanner. *** Lord, we don’t have to understand everything to know that you are the Lord of everything. Your word stands through time and endures forever. May we hide your word in our hearts that we don’t sin against you.

Sat.’s Devo - The Fall of Solomon

Read: 1 Kings 11:1-12:19; Acts 9:1-25; Psalm 131:1-3; Proverbs 17:4-5 Solomon disobeyed the Lord’s command not to marry women who were not from Israel. He married the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt, and women from the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites. They turned his heart away from the Lord and had him worship and build temples to their gods. *** The Lord became very angry with Solomon and told him that since he had not stayed true to the Lord, He would tear the kingdom from him and given it to one of his servants. God would not do it in his lifetime for David’s sake. He will save one tribe to follow his son, but the rest of Israel will be ruled by one of his servants. *** God also raised up three adversaries against Israel. One was Hadad the Edomite who had fled to Egypt when Israel’s army killed all the male in Edom. Hadad prospered in Egypt and when he heard that Solomon had died, he came back to Israel to cause trouble. *** The second adversary was Rezon who had fled from his master Hadadezer king of Zobah. He had many men who followed him to Damascus where he became king of Syria. He also hated Israel and wanted to do it harm. *** Jereboam was the third adversary. He had proved to Solomon that he was a great leader and a very hard worker when Solomon was building the Millo. Solomon promoted him to be in charge over all the forced labor of the house of Joseph. One day, when Jereboam left Jerusalem he was met by Ahijah the prophet. Ahijah took his robe he was wearing and ripped it into 12 parts and told Jereboam to take 10 of the pieces. He would rule 10 tribes of Israel because Solomon had gone after strange gods and stopped walking in his ways. He would leave one tribe for Solomon’s son to rule. If Jereboam would listen to the Lord and walk in his ways and do what is right, God would establish his name and his posterity. God would afflict the offspring of David, but not forever. *** Solomon must have heard of the prophecy because he sought to kill Jereboam who flee to Egypt until Solomon died. *** Solomon died and was buried in the city of David and Rehoboam, his son reigned in his place. He went to Shechem to be crowned the king. Jereboam heard about it and came to the celebration. *** Jereboam led a bunch of men to ask Rehoboam what kind of king would he be. Would he be a hard taskmaster like his father was or would he remove his yoke from the people. Rehoboam told him he would give them an answer in three days. *** Rehoboam went to his father’s counselors and asked them how he should answer them. They advised him to be a servant to the people and they would love and serve him forever. Great advice! *** Then Rehobaom went to his peers and asked them what he should do. They told him to tell the people that he would be even harder on them than his father was. *** Three days later, Rehoboam forsake the counsel of his elders and chose the counsel of his peers. He told them he would be harder than his father was and discipline them with scorpions. Needless to say, they abandoned him and the house of David. Rehoboam sent his taskmaster over his forced labor to get them in order, but they stoned him. Now it was King Rehoboam who fled. He went back to Jerusalem. *** In Acts, Saul was out arresting anyone he could find who followed the Way. He came to Damascus and was stopped by a light from heaven. He fell to the ground and heard the Lord asking him why he was persecuting him. Saul asked him who he was. He answered that he was Jesus, the one he was persecuting. Jesus told him to get up and go into the city and he would tell him what to do. The men with him heard the same thing. Saul was left blind with his eyes open. They had to lead him by the hand to Damascus where he couldn’t see for three days. Neither did he eat anything. *** Ananias, a follower of Christ lived in Damascus and the Lord gave him a vision where he told him to go the street called Straight and find Judas’ house. There was a man from Tarsus named Saul. He would find him praying. *** Ananias had heard about Saul and tried to argue with the Lord, but God told him that Saul was chosen by him to carry his name to the Gentiles and kings and the children of Israel. He will suffer much for his sake. So Ananias obeyed and found Saul. He laid his hands on him and told him that the Lord Jesus who had appeared to him on the road had sent him to pray that he would regain his sight and be filled with the Holy Spirit. Immediately the scales fell from Saul’s eyes and he could see. He was baptized and ate. *** Saul stayed with the disciples for days and went to the synagogue and proclaimed that Jesus was the Son of God. Everyone was amazed because they knew who he was. Some didn’t trust him, but as Saul grew in the Lord he proved to many that Jesus was the Christ. *** Jews who didn’t confess Christ, planned to kill Saul, but he found out and escaped through an opening in the wall of the city at night. *** The change in Saul was immediate and powerful. We are about to witness many who will have just as powerful of conversions. God is going to shake the heavens and the earth. It will be glorious. *** Lord, may we not be afraid when we see the death of the wicked and the shaking of the earth. May we rejoice to see your hand moving on the earth in power. May we have an answer to the hope we have.

Fri.’s Devo - God’s Goodness -

Read: 1 Kings 9:1-10:29; Acts 8:14-40; Psalm 130:1-8; Proverbs 17:2-3 God appeared to Solomon again and told him that He had heard Solomon’s prayer over the Temple he had built. God promised that as long as he walked uprightly with Him and obeyed his laws and commandments, he would be with him and his posterity would sit on the throne. But, if he or his children rebelled and began to worships false gods, then God would cut off Israel from the land he had given them and the house that he had built Him would become a heap of ruins. *** In 20 years, Solomon had finished building his two houses, the Temple and the king’s house. Hiram had supplied Solomon with as much cedar and cypress and gold as he desired, so Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. When Hiram came to see the cities that Solomon had given him he said he was disappointed and called them “Cabul” which means “good for nothing.” *** Solomon used his forced labor to build many cities. The pharaoh of Egypt had given Solomon the Canaanite city of Gezer as a wedding gift when Solomon married his daughter. The Pharaoh had captured it and burned it down. Solomon used his forced labor group to rebuild it. He also built many other cities to store his treasures and horses and chariots throughout the land. Solomon had the resources to do whatever he wanted to do. But, Solomon didn’t make slaves of the Israelites. They were his officers and commanders. *** Solomon built the Millo which was a fortification or wall to the north that protected Israel from invasions. Three times a year Solomon offered up sacrifices and offerings to the Lord. *** Solomon had a fleet of ships built so he could bring in gold from Ophir. *** The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon and his great wealth and wisdom and came for a visit. She brought with her spices and gold and precious stones from her country. She sat with Solomon and asked him hard questions and Solomon freely shared with her everything he knew and showed her how his kingdom ran. She was overwhelmed and gave praise to God for all she saw and heard. Solomon gave the queen anything she desired and sent her home with a bounty. *** Solomon received much gold every year. He made 600 gold shields to hang in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. He also had a great throne with 12 lions on the steps leading to the throne and lions as his armrests. They were all covered with gold. *** His fleet of ships brought in gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. King Solomon was the richest and wisest king in all the earth. Everyone came from far and wide to hear his wisdom and bring him presents. The whole land was wealthy and prosperous. He imported chariots and horses from Egypt. Dueteronomy 17:16 says about the king, “Only he shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the people to return to Egypt, to the end that he may multiply horses; forasmuch as Jehovah hath said unto you, Ye shall henceforth return no more that way. Neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn not away: neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and gold.” Solomon did all these things. *** In Acts, the apostles at Jerusalem heard about all Philip was doing in Samaria and how many there were receiving Jesus as their Lord. Peter and John went there to pray for them to receive the Holy Spirit. When Simon, the man who had been a magician, saw them laying their hands of the people to receive the Holy Spirit he offered them money to be able to do this. Peter rebuked him and told him the things of God couldn’t be bought with money. He told him to repent and pray for forgiveness. Simon asked them to pray for him. *** Peter and John returned to Jerusalem, preaching throughout Samaria along the way. *** An angel came to Philip and told him to go south to the road that leads to Jerusalem. As he went, he met an Ethiopian eunuch who was a court official to Candace, the queen of the Ethiopians. He was in charge of all her treasure. He had come to Jerusalem to worship and was on his way home. He was reading Chapter 53 of the book of Isaiah and the Spirit of God told Philip to go and listen. *** When Philip heard what he was reading, he asked him if he understood what he was reading. He didn’t and asked Philip to join him and teach him. He explained that the sheep that was lead to slaughter was Jesus. He told him the good news of the gospel. The Ethiopian received the word and saw some water and asked Philip to baptize him in it. Philip baptized him and when the came out of the water, Philip was translated to Azotus where he preached the gospel to the towns there. The Ethiopian went his way rejoicing. *** The queen of Sheba and the Ethiopian eunuch were both from the same region of the world. Both came seeking something from Israel and both left filled. The queen of Sheba left with wisdom and riches, but the Ethiopian eunuch left with eternal life. Both went home and shared their wealth with their country. *** Lord, your desire to get the Good News out to the world is great. May we do our part in sharing who Jesus is and what he came to do. Thank you for saving us.

Thurs.’s Devo - The Dedication of the Temple

Read: 1 Kings 8:1-66; Acts 7:51-8:13; Psalm 129:1-8; Proverbs 17:1 Solomon had finished the Temple in the 4th month of that year but waited till the seventh month to dedicate it. This time was their new year and it was a jubilee year. He brought everyone together a few days before the Feast of Tabernacles which, appropriately represented how God reigns on earth with us. *** The priests brought the ark up out of the tent in the city of David along with all the vessels. The men of Israel had come to Jerusalem for the feast, so it was a perfect time for the nation to celebrate the dedication of Temple. Inside the Ark was the tablets that God had written on for Moses. The priests placed the Ark in the Holy Place and when they came out, a cloud filled the house of the Lord. The priest had no strength to stand because of the cloud of glory filled the house. *** Solomon blessed the Lord and the people and told them why the Temple was built. It was in the heart of David to build God a house, but the Lord said that one of David’s sons would build it. Now, the Lord fulfilled that promise and Solomon had built the Lord a house. *** Solomon prayed a prayer exalting the name of the Lord and praying for God’s blessing on his family that they would always sit on the throne of Israel and walk before him. *** He prayed that God would honor this place of worship and in times when people need him to help them, if they would pray towards this place that God would hear their prayer and give them their request. Solomon gave every scenario he could think of that Israel would need the Lord. When he had finished praying, he knelt with his hands stretched toward heaven and blessed the people with peace and prayed that God would be with them always. He prayed that the people would have hearts to walk in God’s ways and keep his commandments, statutes and rules that he commanded their fathers. *** Solomon offered thousands of animals as peace offerings, burnt offerings and grain offerings. They celebrated the seven days of the feast, then on the eighth day he sent the people home full of joy and gladness celebrating the goodness of the Lord. *** In Acts, Stephen was at the end of his story. He told the people that they were stubborn and their hearts were evil because they resisted the Holy Spirit. They persecuted and killed the prophets who announced the coming of the Messiah, who they has now killed. They had received the law of Moses, yet didn’t keep it. *** When the leaders heard this, they were full of anger and hatred towards Stephen. But, Stephen looked to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at his right hand. He told them what he was seeing. They mobbed him and took him out of the city where they stoned him. *** The witnesses laid their garments at the feet of Saul, who was a young man at that time. As they were stoning Stephen, he fell on his knees and begged the Lord not to hold this sin against them. Then he fell asleep. *** Persecution became rampant from that day. Believers buried Stephen’s body, while Saul was ravaging the church and dragging men and women to prison for believing in Jesus. *** The apostles were scattered and began preaching about Christ where they went. Philip went to Samaria and brought healing and deliverance to those in the city. *** There was a man named Simon who lived in Samaria and practiced magic. He had many followers. But, when his followers saw what Philip was doing under the power of God, they were baptized under his teaching. Simon also came to believe in Jesus and was baptized. He was amazed at the miracles that Philip performed. *** It had always been God’s plan that the apostles go out and preach the good news everywhere, but they had stayed in Jerusalem. Persecution caused then to scatter and the good news to spread. Sometimes, what looks like a bad thing is really God’s intent all along. *** Lord, may we recognize You in everything. May we see that you can turn everything in our lives for something good if we let you. Thank you for your steadfast love.

Wed.’s Devo - God’s Temple

Read: 1 Kings 7:1-51; Acts 7:30-50; Psalm 128:1-6; Proverbs 16:31-33 It took Solomon seven years to build the temple and 13 to build his own house. Then, he built the House of Forests to look like a forest. It was made of cedar and had windows between the pillars so that you felt like you were outside. He also built the Hall of Pillars and a Hall of the Throne also known as the Hall of Judgment. He made another Hall of Judgment for the Pharaoh’s daughter who he had married. *** All of his buildings had their foundations of costly stones and their walls were made of cedar. *** Solomon sent for Hiram of Tyre whose mother was from the tribe of Naphtali and his father from Tyre. He was not the Hiram who was king of Tyre. This Hiram was skilled in working with bronze. He did all of Solomon’s bronze work. He made the casts for the pillars for the entrance into the Temple. They were huge and very ornate. The one on the south was named Jachin and the one on the north called Boaz. Jachin means ‘he will establish.’ Boaz means ‘in him is strength.’ *** Hiram also designed and made the sea which was the basin to hold the water so the priest could wash before and after they sacrificed. The sea sat on the backs of 12 bronze oxen. Three oxen faced north, three east, three south and three faced west. He made 10 stands with panels that had lions, oxen and cherubim carved on them. They were used to hold smaller basins were on wheels like a chariot. Five of them were set on the south side of the house and five on the north. *** Hiram also made pots and shovels. When his work was finished, he had made so many that they couldn’t keep account of their weight. *** Solomon also had made the vessels to be used in the Temple: the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence, the lamp stands - five for the south side and five for the north side and all the utensils needed for the Temple. *** When the work was finished, Solomon brought in all the silver, gold and vessels that David had dedicated to the Lord and put them in treasury rooms in the house of the Lord. *** In Acts, Stephen was in the middle of his history lesson. God appeared to Moses in the burning bush and told him to return to Egypt and deliver his people out of bondage. Stephen made it clear that the same people who had rejected Moses were the same people he was to save. He was making the point that it was the same with Jesus. They had rejected Jesus, but could still save them. *** Moses led them out of Egypt with signs and wonders and told them that God was going to raise up a prophet like him from among them. Moses, like Jesus, had gone up on a mountain and received God’s laws for the people. Jesus would go up on the mountain often to receive his commands from the Lord. While Moses was up on the mountain speaking with God, the people were down on the ground making a golden calf to take God’s place. They worshiped false gods throughout their walk in the wilderness, in spite of the fact that God had given them a tent of witness to worship him. *** Israel continued in this state till David arose who pleased the Lord and asked to build a dwelling place for God on earth. It was his son, Solomon who built the Temple. But, God doesn’t dwell in a building - the whole earth is his footstool. He is the creator of everything and is all-encompassing. *** Lord, thank you that your love is long-suffering and perfect. Thank you that you love us even when we reject you and your laws. May we faithfully follow you as your witnesses to the world. Thank you for the Holy Spirit who enables us to walk in righteousness and holiness.