Read the Bible in Lockdown - Day 57 - 1 Kings 5

with the news that a return to us all gathering back for church uh may be possible in the next month we can rejoice and uh anticipate that great uh coming reality but uh in the meantime we still have the word of god to feed us individually and so let's read the bible in lockdown again we're heading to 1 kings chapter 5 today 1 kings chapter 5 when haram king of tyre heard that solomon had been anointed king to succeed his father david he sent his envoys to solomon because he had always been friend on friendly terms with david solomon sent back this message to hiram okay before we get to the message uh let's uh see where we're going so we've got haram king of tyre was a town uh kind of in the north in lebanon on the coast uh which is very important for the story and uh the king hiram was on good terms with uh king david solomon's father so he's uh writing to solomon and uh here's what solomon wrote back you know that because of the wars waged against my father david from all sides he could not build a temple for the name of the lord his god until the lord put his enemies under his feet but now the lord my god has given me rest on every side and there is no adversity or disaster i intend therefore to build a temple for the name of the lord my god as the lord told my father david when he said your son whom i will put on the throne in your place will build the temple for my name so give orders that cedars of lebanon be cut for me my men will work with yours and i will pay you for your men whatever wages you set you know that we have no no one's skilled in failing timber as the sidonians okay so what we've got here is solomon now acting on uh the promise of god which is great he is going to build the temple that uh god said david you're not to build the temple your son will and so solomon now is uh using this good relationship with the king of tyre to uh to get some uh cedar logs some cedars of lebanon uh these cedar trees are famous in lebanon they even make it on the lebanese flag uh and uh and these were uh trees of good quality timber particularly for building things like ships and big buildings like the temple and so there's what solomon instruct uh wrote when hiram heard solomon's message he was greatly pleased and said praise be to the lord today for he has given david a wise son to rule over this great nation and so hiram sent word to solomon i have received the message you sent me and will do all you want in providing the cena and juniper logs my men will haul them down from lebanon to the mediterranean sea and i will float them as rafts by sea to the place you specify there i will separate them and you can take them away and you are to grant my wish by providing food for my royal household so you can see here we've got a good relationship between the king of israel and the king of other nations uh so what will happen is they'll get the cedar logs to tire and they'll float them down the mediterranean to somewhere near jerusalem where they can be then loaded aboard a cart and uh taken to the capital city uh and so we see uh god's blessing coming to other nations through god's appointed king and uh god's uh as he as god's appointed king looks to do the will of god particularly here in building the temple let's get going verse 10 in this way hiram kept solomon supplied with all the cedar and juniper logs he wanted and solomon gave hiram 20 000 cores of wheat as food for his household in addition to 20 000 bars of pressed olive oil solomon continued to do this for hiram year after year so the lord gave solomon wisdom just as he had promised him there were peaceful relations between hiram and solomon and the two of them made a treaty but with all this wonderful relationship between these two nations and the mutual blessing that is uh occurring because of the wisdom of solomon we have again another concern in the king's actions verse 13 king solomon conscripted labourers from all israel thirty thousand men he sent them off to lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month so that they spent one month in lebanon and two months at home adoniram was in charge of the forced labour solomon had 70 000 carriers and 80 000 stone cutters in the hills as well as 3 300 foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers at the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high grade stone to provide a foundation of dress stone for the temple the craftsmen of solomon and hiram and workers from biblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple so we've got this wonderful work that solomon has been charged to do to build the temple which god has commanded him but king solomon conscripted labourers from all israel uh it's which uh of course is a negative thing this will come back to bite uh the king of israel not in solomon's day but later on uh which you can read about later in one kings it also harks back to when uh god's people back in one samuel were demanding a king say we want a king like all the other nations and the lord said i will give you a king but he will take he will take your sons and daughters and use them for for his purposes and that's what we're seeing here from king solomon so in king solomon we've got a mix of god's blessing as he seeks to do the will of god and build the temple uh for the lord but inconsistency as well not complete faithfulness to god and kindness to his people in uh little ways but of course all those little ways will add up for bad effect later in his reign compared to solomon though the king that we now have as who rules over god's people is the lord jesus his offer to uh to us all is come to me all you who are weary and burdened and i will give you rest take my yoke upon you and learn from me for i am gentle and humble in heart you will find rest for your souls for my yoke is easy and my burden is light so rather than conscripting his people jesus gives his subjects rest and takes off our heavy burden and so today why don't you whoever burdened your feeling either with all you need to do or even the burden of guilt and shame and sin that you may have hanging over you why don't you today come to the gentle and humble king and receive rest rest for your souls uh today and uh rejoice that that is who jesus is and that's what jesus brings you

Channel: All Saints North Epping

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Id: KKD2XkEKkw8

Length: 7min 32sec (452 seconds)

Published: Mon Sep 13 2021