Today's scripture reading - God lights a fire at the temple, speaks to Solomon, then the bible jumps forward 20 years later. Lets follow along in our bibles.
Chapter 7 The dedication of the temple.
Verses 1-3 After Solomon finished praying, a fire came down from heaven, consumed the burnt offerings and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. Can you imagine how awesome that must have been to experience this first hand? Surely it must have left a lasting impression on the Isrealites watching fire from heaven come down. The priests could not enter the temple because the glory of the Lord filled it. When all the Israelites saw the fire they knelt on the pavement with their faces to the ground, worshiped, gave thanks and said He is good, his Love endures forever.
Verses 4-5 Solomon and all the people offered sacrifices to God. 22,000 head of cattle and 120,000 sheep and goats. That's a lot animals! Commentary by David Guzik said that parts of the animal sacrifices were given to the priests and people, and there was enough food to feed everyone for 2 weeks.
Verses 6-10 The festivities lasted for 14 days. The priests took their positions and Levites played instruments that David had made for praising the Lord. They again said His love endures forever. Solomon consecrated the middle part of the temple. They celebrated for 14 days! Can you imagine a 14 day party? Today we celebrate for a few hours then we are done. This makes me think maybe we need to take more time to praise and enjoy the good things that happen in our lives. Take time to enjoy each other, smell the roses. etc.
Verses 11-22 The Lord appears to Solomon. God tells Solomon that he heard his prayer. When God causes famine, or plagues, if the people have humbled themselves before God, pray and and seek God, he will forgive them for their sins. He has consecrated the temple so the people may see him and he will be there forever. Then God gives his warning, if his people turn from him he will uproot the Israelites and reject the temple. People from other nations will be appalled by the Temple and ask about it, and they will say it is appalling because the Israelites turned from God. These sound like harsh words. We will suffer consequences when we sin.
Chapter 8
20 years later - Solomon rebuilds villages that King Hiram gave him and throughout the land. I couldn't find a map to show his territory 20 years later.
Verses 11-12 Solomon marries Pharoah's daughter and builds a palace for her away from the Jerusalem because she is not Jewish so she can't be near the temple. The marriage may have been for political or military reasons. 2 Chronicles does not go into detail about Solomon's life, but he marries many women who weren't Jewish and they worshiped their gods and they had influence on Solomon which caused his downfall. We should be very careful who we marry. God does not want us to marry anyone who does not share our faith. I know we fall in love and say but this is different. When we have to put a but in the statement to defend ourselves then its probably wrong in the first place. We also need to be careful about other significant things in our lives, not just potential spouses. What about our circle of friends, what do we value the most? Career, possesions?
Verses 12-16 Solomon continues to follow the Lords commands for the temple, daily rituals, and all the festivals. All the work was completed for the temple. I wonder why Solomon made sure the Temple rituals were done according to the Lords commands, but yet he sinned and gradually fell away from God. Its a sobering thought that we must always be on guard not to let sin slowly seep into our lives. Ephesians 6:10-18 instructs us to put on the Armor of God. We need the belt for truth, breastplate for righteousness, foot gear to be ready to spread the word of God, shield for faith, helmet for salvation, and the sword which is the spirit, the word of God.
Verses 17-18 Hiram's men and Solomon's men go to sea and bring back 17 tons of gold. This indicates Solomon had great wealth.
Father God, today we read about a 14 day celebrate to dedicate your holy temple, it had to be a time of great feasting and fellowship! Maybe we take time to celebrate you. We read how you will bless us when we choose to follow you. If we sin and repent you will welcome us back. Lastly we ask for a daily renewal of putting on the Armor of God so that we won't be tempted to drift away from you. You wisely say we should not marry those who aren't believers. We need to be careful who are in our circle of friends/influences have on us. Be careful that we share our faith and not lose our faith. We ask these things in Jesus name, Amen
1 comment:
I'm still reading! Amazed you are keeping up. I think you've established the habit! Jewish history is so interesting. You and I both tried to justify wrong relationships. We learned a lot from those.
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