Hello, this is Father Paul, and I'm glad we're
taking this journey together to read the Bible
in a year. Today's reading is from 1 Kings chapters
9 and 10. Chapter 9 And it came to pass, when
Solomon had finished building the house of the
Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's
desire, which he wanted to do, that the Lord
appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had
appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said
to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication
that you have made before me. I have consecrated
this house which you have built to put my name
there forever, and my eyes and my heart will
be there perpetually. Now if you walk before
me as your father David walked, in integrity
of heart and in uprightness, to do according
to all that I have commanded you, and if you
keep my statutes and my judgments, then I will
establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel
forever, as I promised David your father, saying,
You shall not fail to have a man on the throne
of Israel. But if you or your sons at all turn
from following me and do not keep my commandments
and my statutes which I have said before you,
but go and serve other gods and worship them,
Then I will cut off Israel from the land which
I have given them, and this house which I have
consecrated for my name I will cast out of my
sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword
among all peoples. And as for this house which
is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be
astonished and will hiss, and say, Why has the
Lord done thus to this land and to this house?
Then they will answer, because they forsook the
Lord their God, who brought their fathers out
of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other
gods, and worshipped them, and served them. Therefore
the Lord has brought all this calamity on them.
Now it happened at the end of twenty years, when
Solomon had built the two houses, the house of
the Lord and the king's house. Hereon the king
of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress
and gold, as much as he desired. that King Solomon
then gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of
Galilee. Then Hiram went from Tyre to see the
cities which Solomon had given him, but they
did not please him. So he said, What kind of
cities are these which you have given me, my
brother? And he called them the land of Kabul,
as they are to this day. Then Hiram sent the
king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
And this is the reason for the labor force which
King Solomon raised, to build the house of the
Lord, his own house, the Milo, the wall of Jerusalem,
Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. Pharaoh king of Egypt
had gone up and taken Gezer and burnt it with
fire, had killed the Canaanites who dwelt in
the city, and had given it as a dowry to his
daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon built Gezer,
lower Beth Hebron, Balat, and Tadmor in the wilderness,
in the land of Judah. All the storage cities
that Solomon had, cities for his chariots, and
cities for his cavalry. and whatever Solomon
desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and
in all the land of his dominion. All the people
who were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of the children
of Israel, that is, their descendants, who were
left in the land after them, whom the children
of Israel had not been able to destroy completely,
from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it
is this day. But of the children of Israel, Solomon
made no forced laborers, because they were men
of war and his servants, his officers, his captains,
commanders of his chariots, and his cavalry.
Others were chiefs of the officials who were
over Solomon's work, 550, who ruled over the
people who did the work. But Pharaoh's daughter
came up from the city of David to her house,
which Solomon had built for her. Then he built
the Milo. Now three times a year Solomon offered
burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar
which he had built for the Lord, and he burned
incense with them on the altar that was before
the Lord, so he finished the temple. King Solomon
also built a fleet of ships at Ezion Geber, which
is near Eilat on the shore of the Red Sea, in
the land of Edom. Then Hiram sent his servants
with the fleet, seamen who knew the sea, to work
with the servants of Solomon. And they went to
Ophir and acquired four hundred and twenty talents
of gold from there and brought it to king Solomon.
Chapter 10 Now when the queen of Sheba heard
of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of
the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions.
She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue.
with camels that bore spices, very much gold
and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon,
she spoke with him about all that was in her
heart. So Solomon answered all her questions.
There was nothing so difficult for the king that
he could not explain it to her. And when the
queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon,
the house that he had built, the food on his
table, the seating of his servants, the service
of his waiters and their apparel, his cupbearers,
and his entryway by which he went up to the house
of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
Then she said to the king, It was a true report
which I heard in my own land about your words
and your wisdom. However, I did not believe the
words until I came and saw with my own eyes,
and indeed the half was not told me. Your wisdom
and prosperity exceed the fame of which I heard.
Happy are your men, and happy are these your
servants, who stand continually before you and
hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God,
who delighted in you, setting you on the throne
of Israel, because the Lord has loved Israel
forever. Therefore he made you king, to do justice
and righteousness. Then she gave the king one
hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in
great quantity, and precious stones. There never
again came such abundance of spices as the queen
of Sheba gave to king Solomon. Also the ships
of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought
great quantities of almog wood and precious stones
from Ophir. And the king made steps of the almug
wood for the house of the Lord and for the king's
house, also harps and stringed instruments for
singers. There never again came such almug wood,
nor has the like been seen to this day. Now King
Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all she desired,
whatever she asked, besides what Solomon had
given her according to the royal generosity.
So she turned and went to her own country, she
and her servants. The weight of gold that came
to Solomon yearly was 666 talents of gold. Besides
that, from the traveling merchants, from the
income of traders, from all the kings of Arabia,
and from the governors of the country. And King
Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold.
600 shekels of gold went into each shield. He
also made 300 shields of hammered gold. Three
minas of gold went into each shield. The king
put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
Moreover, the king made a great throne of ivory
and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had
six steps, and the top of the throne was round
at the back. There were armrests on either side
of the place of the seat, and two lions stood
beside the armrests. Twelve lions stood there,
one on each side of the six steps. Nothing like
this had been made for any other kingdom. All
King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold. and
all the vessels of the house of the forest of
Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for
this was accounted as nothing in the days of
Solomon. For the king had merchant ships at sea
with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years
the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver,
ivory, apes, and monkeys. So king Solomon surpassed
all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom.
Now all the earth sought the presence of Solomon
to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his
heart. Each man brought his present, articles
of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices,
horses, and mules, at a set rate year by year.
And Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. He
had 1 ,400 chariots and 12 ,000 horsemen, whom
he stationed in the chariot cities and with the
king at Jerusalem. The king made silver as common
in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees
as abundant as the sycamores which are in the
lowland. Also Solomon had horses imported from
Egypt and Keveh. The king's merchants bought
them in Keveh at the current price. Now a chariot
that was imported from Egypt cost 600 shekels
of silver and a horse 150 and thus through their
agents they exported them to all the kings of
the Hittites and the kings of Syria. I hope you
enjoyed today's reading as much as I did. And
I look forward to seeing you again tomorrow to
continue on our journey. God bless you and have
a great day.