WEBVTT 00:00:02.039 --> 00:00:04.419 Welcome to the official podcast of the Church 00:00:04.419 --> 00:00:06.960 of Christ Wheeler area. We're so glad that you've 00:00:06.960 --> 00:00:09.439 tuned in for today's message. Whether you're 00:00:09.439 --> 00:00:11.660 on your morning commute or if you're relaxing 00:00:11.660 --> 00:00:13.640 at home, we're here to share the strength and 00:00:13.640 --> 00:00:16.620 truth of God's Word with our community. If you're 00:00:16.620 --> 00:00:18.260 in the neighborhood, we'd love to meet you in 00:00:18.260 --> 00:00:21.879 person. Come see us at 1500 South Allen L. Bean 00:00:21.879 --> 00:00:24.879 Boulevard right here in Wheeler, Texas. We gather 00:00:24.879 --> 00:00:27.899 every Sunday morning at 10 .30 a .m. and in the 00:00:27.899 --> 00:00:30.760 afternoon at 2 .30 p .m. We meet again on Wednesdays 00:00:30.760 --> 00:00:34.340 at 7 p .m. Right now let's open our Bibles together 00:00:34.340 --> 00:00:40.840 and dive in to today's sermon. So this evening 00:00:40.840 --> 00:00:45.460 we're going to study or start on what is going 00:00:45.460 --> 00:00:48.159 to be a series of studies in the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:00:48.849 --> 00:00:51.710 So I recently started reading through Ecclesiastes 00:00:51.710 --> 00:00:54.869 kind of just chapter by chapter of course and 00:00:54.869 --> 00:00:57.950 Just for whatever reason I started enjoying that 00:00:57.950 --> 00:01:01.270 and so I thought we're gonna do a whole study 00:01:01.270 --> 00:01:05.569 on Ecclesiastes and As I thought well, we'll 00:01:05.569 --> 00:01:07.870 start in chapter one. I thought no we're gonna 00:01:07.870 --> 00:01:10.329 start before chapter one We'll start with the 00:01:10.329 --> 00:01:13.890 writer of Ecclesiastes being Solomon and so what 00:01:13.890 --> 00:01:16.250 I thought we'd do tonight is just go through 00:01:17.230 --> 00:01:20.010 somewhat verse by verse, and look at some of 00:01:20.010 --> 00:01:22.189 the high points, some of the interesting things, 00:01:22.609 --> 00:01:25.069 some of the important things that happen in the 00:01:25.069 --> 00:01:27.489 life of Solomon. And so we're gonna go back and 00:01:27.489 --> 00:01:30.689 we're gonna start before Solomon was even born 00:01:30.689 --> 00:01:35.430 as we start our reading in the Old Testament. 00:01:36.189 --> 00:01:38.290 In Ecclesiastes 1 and 1, it says, the words of 00:01:38.290 --> 00:01:41.069 the preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem, 00:01:41.670 --> 00:01:44.549 vanity of vanities, says the preacher, vanity 00:01:44.549 --> 00:01:47.939 of vanities, all is vanity. And that's kind of 00:01:47.939 --> 00:01:50.079 the gist of at least the first several chapters 00:01:50.079 --> 00:01:53.560 for really most of the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:01:53.980 --> 00:01:57.799 And I think in order to really understand this 00:01:57.799 --> 00:02:01.420 in the deepest way, we have to understand the 00:02:01.420 --> 00:02:04.879 writer of the book. And we all know mostly the 00:02:04.879 --> 00:02:06.780 story of Solomon. We know he was very wealthy. 00:02:06.879 --> 00:02:10.919 We know that he was very wise. That kind of puts 00:02:10.919 --> 00:02:13.620 it into perspective. But maybe if we take a slightly 00:02:13.620 --> 00:02:16.500 deeper dive at Solomon, that will help us as 00:02:16.500 --> 00:02:20.979 we go throughout the book in the future. And 00:02:20.979 --> 00:02:24.139 so as we look at Solomon, I want to look at four 00:02:24.139 --> 00:02:26.840 things tonight. And you can just identify them 00:02:26.840 --> 00:02:29.099 as we go on. I'm not going to stop and say this 00:02:29.099 --> 00:02:31.020 is what's happening. Number one, I want to look 00:02:31.020 --> 00:02:36.009 at his start, how he came to be. where he came 00:02:36.009 --> 00:02:38.750 from, who he belonged to, type of stuff. We're 00:02:38.750 --> 00:02:41.289 going to talk about his rise to power. He didn't 00:02:41.289 --> 00:02:46.030 have the typical, rise is not the word I'm looking 00:02:46.030 --> 00:02:49.229 for there. He wasn't appointed as a king just 00:02:49.229 --> 00:02:51.590 like anybody else would have been appointed as 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:54.009 a king. It happened in a little bit of a different 00:02:54.009 --> 00:02:57.169 way because of the circumstances surrounding 00:02:57.169 --> 00:02:59.129 the time. We're going to look then his wealth 00:02:59.129 --> 00:03:02.830 and his power and his wisdom and what he, the 00:03:02.830 --> 00:03:05.909 gifts that he was given. by God. And then finally, 00:03:05.930 --> 00:03:09.729 I think we'd be remiss to not talk about Solomon's 00:03:09.729 --> 00:03:13.270 utter failure, and we'll have to touch on that. 00:03:13.389 --> 00:03:17.449 So we'll go from before he was born to when he 00:03:17.449 --> 00:03:20.210 dies, or I guess technically after he dies. We'll 00:03:20.210 --> 00:03:22.550 do that all tonight. If you want to grab your 00:03:22.550 --> 00:03:25.289 Bible, most of these verses are in very close 00:03:25.289 --> 00:03:29.129 order here in 2 Samuel 1 Kings or in one of the 00:03:29.129 --> 00:03:31.889 Chronicles, and you can follow along. Originally, 00:03:32.280 --> 00:03:34.719 I was going to make you do that through all these 00:03:34.719 --> 00:03:36.719 verses and I chickened out this morning I put 00:03:36.719 --> 00:03:39.099 all the verses in the PowerPoint if not most 00:03:39.099 --> 00:03:41.659 of them and so If they're not on the PowerPoint, 00:03:41.659 --> 00:03:44.479 I'm going to kind of just briefly Overview what 00:03:44.479 --> 00:03:46.199 happened in those passages and you'll have to 00:03:46.199 --> 00:03:48.460 take my word for it or go look go look in the 00:03:48.460 --> 00:03:51.680 Bible for yourself All right So we got a lot 00:03:51.680 --> 00:03:53.900 of verses to get through, so let's get going. 00:03:54.419 --> 00:03:57.120 So in 2 Samuel, you're all very aware of this, 00:03:57.139 --> 00:03:58.939 so that's why I decided you didn't need to see 00:03:58.939 --> 00:04:02.639 these verses. In 2 Samuel chapter 11, in verse 00:04:02.639 --> 00:04:06.400 number 2, David looks out and he sees Bathsheba. 00:04:07.479 --> 00:04:09.560 And he sees her bathing on the roof, is what 00:04:09.560 --> 00:04:13.219 it says, and he looks at her, and in these verses, 00:04:13.699 --> 00:04:17.399 he calls, he sends for her, she comes to him, 00:04:17.579 --> 00:04:20.870 and they conceive a child. all in like four verses 00:04:20.870 --> 00:04:23.389 of time. And so they really just give you all 00:04:23.389 --> 00:04:27.470 that information. Between there and the latter 00:04:27.470 --> 00:04:30.009 part of that verse, as you probably well know, 00:04:30.050 --> 00:04:31.949 and it's a little less known fact unless you've 00:04:31.949 --> 00:04:35.949 gone through and read it, is that David... immediately 00:04:35.949 --> 00:04:38.389 starts trying to cover that up, right? He doesn't 00:04:38.389 --> 00:04:41.170 just send Uriah, which was Bathsheba's husband, 00:04:41.649 --> 00:04:43.910 to the front lines of battle. We all know that. 00:04:43.970 --> 00:04:45.949 We all remember that. But in between there, he 00:04:45.949 --> 00:04:48.389 tries to cover it up. He tries to just bring 00:04:48.389 --> 00:04:51.990 Uriah home from battle in an attempt so that 00:04:51.990 --> 00:04:54.529 Uriah would end up thinking that it was Bathsheba 00:04:54.529 --> 00:04:57.290 and his own child that she was going to have. 00:04:57.629 --> 00:05:00.279 But that didn't work because... Uriah wouldn't 00:05:00.279 --> 00:05:03.259 go and stay at home. He stayed outside because 00:05:03.259 --> 00:05:06.000 he said his men had to be outside in battle. 00:05:06.060 --> 00:05:08.600 He shouldn't just get to go home like that. And 00:05:08.600 --> 00:05:10.660 so that didn't work. He thought, well, I'll just 00:05:10.660 --> 00:05:12.540 send you to the front lines of battle. So David 00:05:12.540 --> 00:05:14.959 sends Uriah to a position in battle that would 00:05:14.959 --> 00:05:18.139 be considered certain death. And that turns out 00:05:18.139 --> 00:05:22.199 to be the truth because Uriah dies. In verse 00:05:22.199 --> 00:05:25.899 number 26, it says, when the wife of Uriah heard 00:05:25.899 --> 00:05:28.839 that Uriah, her husband, was dead, she mourned 00:05:28.839 --> 00:05:31.399 for her husband. And so Bathsheba learns that 00:05:31.399 --> 00:05:33.939 Uriah got sent to the front lines, Uriah got 00:05:33.939 --> 00:05:37.100 killed in battle, and she mourns for Uriah. And 00:05:37.100 --> 00:05:38.759 now the very next verse, and when her mourning 00:05:38.759 --> 00:05:41.800 was over, David sent and brought her to his house, 00:05:42.100 --> 00:05:45.379 and she became his wife and bore him a son. But 00:05:45.379 --> 00:05:47.540 the thing that David had done displeased the 00:05:47.540 --> 00:05:50.500 Lord. And it's no wonder that David, what he 00:05:50.500 --> 00:05:52.839 had done displeased the Lord. And we often, when 00:05:52.839 --> 00:05:54.680 we think about this story, we look back and we 00:05:54.680 --> 00:05:57.199 go, yeah, David committed adultery with Bathsheba. 00:05:57.399 --> 00:05:59.920 Obviously, that's wrong. Obviously, God's displeased. 00:06:00.060 --> 00:06:02.519 But it was all the things that surrounded that, 00:06:02.819 --> 00:06:04.879 in addition just to committing adultery, that 00:06:04.879 --> 00:06:07.920 obviously displeased the Lord. Trying to cover 00:06:07.920 --> 00:06:11.399 that up by bringing your eye home. And then instead, 00:06:11.680 --> 00:06:13.519 just essentially having him murdered by sending 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:18.259 him out to a place of certain death. Bathsheba 00:06:18.259 --> 00:06:20.319 has a little time to mourn and as soon as she's 00:06:20.319 --> 00:06:24.459 done mourning David takes her as his wife. And 00:06:24.459 --> 00:06:30.360 so now Bathsheba and David are married and it 00:06:30.360 --> 00:06:34.139 says they have the child finally. Okay now in 00:06:34.139 --> 00:06:37.120 this next set of in this next chapter that child 00:06:37.120 --> 00:06:40.480 that David and Bathsheba conceived He gets sick 00:06:40.480 --> 00:06:43.139 once he's born and seven days after he's born, 00:06:43.220 --> 00:06:46.480 this child dies because God was displeased with 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:50.139 him. God had that child get sick and die. Things 00:06:50.139 --> 00:06:51.879 are going to move pretty quickly. In verse number 00:06:51.879 --> 00:06:54.100 24, it says, then David comforted Bathsheba, 00:06:54.139 --> 00:06:56.819 his wife, and went into her and lay with her. 00:06:56.860 --> 00:07:00.660 So she bore a son and he called his name Solomon. 00:07:01.420 --> 00:07:05.259 So that obviously passes over a year or so of 00:07:05.259 --> 00:07:08.050 time, give or take. where they mourn the death 00:07:08.050 --> 00:07:10.889 of this child, and then David and Bathsheba, 00:07:10.930 --> 00:07:13.930 they conceive and they have another child. And 00:07:13.930 --> 00:07:16.870 now this is our writer of Ecclesiastes, this 00:07:16.870 --> 00:07:20.410 child. His name is Solomon. And it says immediately, 00:07:20.810 --> 00:07:26.910 now the Lord loved him. The Lord loved him. And 00:07:26.910 --> 00:07:30.029 he sent word by the hand of Nathan the prophet, 00:07:31.430 --> 00:07:34.519 so he called his name Jedidiah. Because the Lord 00:07:34.519 --> 00:07:36.980 and so now here Nathan the prophet comes in and 00:07:36.980 --> 00:07:39.519 he gives him a name or a nickname or whatever 00:07:39.519 --> 00:07:43.139 He says we're gonna I'm gonna call him Jedidiah 00:07:43.139 --> 00:07:46.860 and You know the J kind of sounds like a Y a 00:07:46.860 --> 00:07:49.300 lot of times and these words So it's probably 00:07:49.300 --> 00:07:51.819 yet a dire or something and I only bring that 00:07:51.819 --> 00:07:55.060 up because if we look at the Hebrew Definitions 00:07:55.060 --> 00:07:57.519 in the Hebrew meanings for these names Solomon 00:07:57.519 --> 00:08:01.220 it means peaceful the name that was given to 00:08:01.220 --> 00:08:04.589 Solomon his it was it meant peaceful and that'll 00:08:04.589 --> 00:08:07.069 come back around here in just a moment. The name 00:08:07.069 --> 00:08:10.709 that Nathan gave them was Jedidiah, which means 00:08:10.709 --> 00:08:13.990 beloved of Yah, which is just short for Yahweh, 00:08:14.329 --> 00:08:20.110 beloved of God. Well, I'm not a Hebrew understander 00:08:20.110 --> 00:08:23.410 or studier, but I can look pretty quick and it 00:08:23.410 --> 00:08:25.889 says in the end of verse 24, now the Lord loved 00:08:25.889 --> 00:08:29.129 him and it means Jedidiah means beloved of God. 00:08:29.689 --> 00:08:32.649 Well, that works out pretty well. God loved him. 00:08:32.759 --> 00:08:36.000 His name meant the beloved of God. That's pretty 00:08:36.000 --> 00:08:40.299 simple. You're all Hebrew scholars now. Okay, 00:08:40.360 --> 00:08:42.399 in 1 Chronicles chapter 22 and verse number eight, 00:08:42.419 --> 00:08:46.279 we see a little bit of why Solomon was loved 00:08:46.279 --> 00:08:51.980 by God. In verse number eight, it says, but the 00:08:51.980 --> 00:08:55.200 word of the Lord came to me saying, behold, and 00:08:55.200 --> 00:08:57.580 this is David speaking, obviously God speaking 00:08:57.580 --> 00:09:00.720 in, behold, a son shall be born to you who shall 00:09:00.720 --> 00:09:03.789 be a man of rest. And I will give him rest from 00:09:03.789 --> 00:09:05.830 all his enemies all around. His name shall be 00:09:05.830 --> 00:09:09.149 Solomon. Now here's what God says to David about 00:09:09.149 --> 00:09:11.289 Solomon. And we remember what the definition 00:09:11.289 --> 00:09:13.950 for Jedidiah was, or what the meaning was. It 00:09:13.950 --> 00:09:16.490 says, for I will give peace and quietness to 00:09:16.490 --> 00:09:20.090 Israel in his days. Remember, Jedidiah, it meant, 00:09:20.090 --> 00:09:22.649 well, Jedidiah meant beloved to God. Sorry, Solomon 00:09:22.649 --> 00:09:27.909 meant peaceful. And now God says that in Solomon's 00:09:27.909 --> 00:09:30.730 days and Solomon's reign he's going to give peace 00:09:30.730 --> 00:09:34.350 and quietness to Israel And so I just I think 00:09:34.350 --> 00:09:36.009 that's a little interesting point there to bring 00:09:36.009 --> 00:09:39.769 out God says he shall build a house for my name 00:09:39.769 --> 00:09:42.950 and he shall be my son and I will be his father 00:09:42.950 --> 00:09:45.889 and I will establish the throne of his kingdom 00:09:45.889 --> 00:09:48.190 over Israel forever I think I'm skipping ahead 00:09:48.190 --> 00:09:51.289 a little bit here, but David wanted to build 00:09:51.289 --> 00:09:54.679 God a temple David had decided he was gonna build 00:09:54.679 --> 00:09:57.659 his temple for God, and now here that's some 00:09:57.659 --> 00:09:59.820 of what God is referring to here, but he picks 00:09:59.820 --> 00:10:03.440 out Solomon specifically. Several chapters later 00:10:03.440 --> 00:10:07.220 says, and of all my sons, David's speaking again, 00:10:07.539 --> 00:10:10.100 for the Lord has given me many sons. You have 00:10:10.100 --> 00:10:12.639 a lot of sons when you have a lot of wives. He 00:10:12.639 --> 00:10:15.279 has chosen my son Solomon to sit on the throne 00:10:15.279 --> 00:10:19.289 of the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. And so 00:10:19.289 --> 00:10:23.149 here we see now again where Solomon is chosen 00:10:23.149 --> 00:10:28.529 special. He's chosen as the beloved of God, chosen 00:10:28.529 --> 00:10:32.750 as the favorite, if you will, of all of David's 00:10:32.750 --> 00:10:35.330 sons. And he's going to sit on the throne of 00:10:35.330 --> 00:10:38.730 the kingdom of the Lord over Israel. So God, 00:10:39.149 --> 00:10:43.690 years in advance, specifies that Solomon ought 00:10:43.690 --> 00:10:47.669 to be king after David. Now we're going to skip 00:10:47.669 --> 00:10:49.669 forward a bit to 1 Kings chapter 1 and verse 00:10:49.669 --> 00:10:51.750 number 1. And this verse, if you go and read 00:10:51.750 --> 00:10:53.610 it, it says something very short and very simple. 00:10:53.870 --> 00:10:56.629 It says basically David got really old and he 00:10:56.629 --> 00:11:00.029 couldn't stay warm. He was very cold. And I suppose 00:11:00.029 --> 00:11:02.110 if you can't stay warm in Israel, you can't stay 00:11:02.110 --> 00:11:04.509 warm anywhere. I don't know. He's getting pretty 00:11:04.509 --> 00:11:06.230 old. He's getting pretty feeble. He's getting 00:11:06.230 --> 00:11:09.190 to the point where he cannot adequately be the 00:11:09.190 --> 00:11:11.850 king. He cannot adequately serve in that role 00:11:11.850 --> 00:11:14.789 and do the things that a king ought to do is 00:11:14.789 --> 00:11:19.240 kind of the gist of that. and they go and they 00:11:19.240 --> 00:11:23.799 get him a concubine to come and to stay with 00:11:23.799 --> 00:11:27.059 David here in his old age. This is what happens 00:11:27.059 --> 00:11:31.200 in the first four verses. Alright, now very immediate 00:11:31.200 --> 00:11:33.700 shift, very immediate important things start 00:11:33.700 --> 00:11:36.340 happening in verse number five. Then Adonijah, 00:11:37.019 --> 00:11:39.840 the son of Haggath, which was one of David's 00:11:39.840 --> 00:11:43.679 wives, this is one of David's sons, exalted himself, 00:11:44.000 --> 00:11:47.759 Adonijah, saying, I will be king. He knows that 00:11:47.759 --> 00:11:50.539 his dad is getting old. He knows his dad's getting 00:11:50.539 --> 00:11:53.379 feeble and unable to serve in the role of king. 00:11:53.799 --> 00:11:57.480 And he looks and goes, this is my chance to be 00:11:57.480 --> 00:12:02.120 king if I'm going to do it. And I assume he probably 00:12:02.120 --> 00:12:04.679 knew that Solomon was going to be the chosen 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:08.429 one. I can only imagine. Maybe he didn't, maybe 00:12:08.429 --> 00:12:11.029 he did, but he exalts himself saying, I will 00:12:11.029 --> 00:12:13.830 be king. And he prepared for himself chariots 00:12:13.830 --> 00:12:16.750 and horsemen and 50 men to run before him. And 00:12:16.750 --> 00:12:19.629 his father had not rebuked him at any time by 00:12:19.629 --> 00:12:22.370 saying, why have you done so? He was also very 00:12:22.370 --> 00:12:25.710 good looking. His mother had born him after Absalom. 00:12:27.289 --> 00:12:30.950 Here we see Adonijah has put together a coup, 00:12:30.950 --> 00:12:33.950 if you will. He's got horsemen. He's got powerful 00:12:33.950 --> 00:12:38.169 people. He's got some of David's servants on 00:12:38.169 --> 00:12:40.549 his side, and he's put together this band of 00:12:40.549 --> 00:12:43.269 people. And now he's trying to do that. He's 00:12:43.269 --> 00:12:45.409 trying to get them on his side going, hey, you 00:12:45.409 --> 00:12:47.549 come be with me. I'll be the king, and I'll make 00:12:47.549 --> 00:12:49.970 sure you keep your job. And they probably don't 00:12:49.970 --> 00:12:52.889 know what to do about that. And they decide to 00:12:52.889 --> 00:12:57.789 side with Adonijah. Then he conferred with Joab, 00:12:57.830 --> 00:13:02.529 the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar, the priest, 00:13:02.549 --> 00:13:04.970 and they followed and helped Adonijah. Verse 00:13:04.970 --> 00:13:08.830 number eight says, but Zadok the priest, Baniah 00:13:08.830 --> 00:13:12.990 the son of Jehodah, Nathan the prophet, Shumay, 00:13:12.990 --> 00:13:15.269 Ray, and the mighty men who belonged to David 00:13:15.269 --> 00:13:17.990 were not with Adonijah. Skipping forward a little, 00:13:18.269 --> 00:13:20.870 but he did not invite Nathan the prophet, Baniah, 00:13:20.889 --> 00:13:25.330 or the mighty men, or Solomon, his brother. If 00:13:25.330 --> 00:13:29.330 you're gonna throw a coup over a king or something, 00:13:29.549 --> 00:13:32.289 there's probably all things that are in the How 00:13:32.289 --> 00:13:35.509 to Overthrow a King for Dummies book is don't 00:13:35.509 --> 00:13:37.909 get the people that are loyal to him in the room 00:13:37.909 --> 00:13:40.889 with you. So he keeps Solomon out of it. He keeps 00:13:40.889 --> 00:13:42.730 Nathan out of it. He keeps all these other people 00:13:42.730 --> 00:13:45.370 out of it. He keeps some other folks in the room 00:13:45.370 --> 00:13:48.250 that he thinks are going to help him. One of 00:13:48.250 --> 00:13:51.210 those people was Joab. Joab was the commander 00:13:51.210 --> 00:13:53.970 of David's army, thought to have been a mighty 00:13:53.970 --> 00:13:57.129 man, a man with a lot of power. Abiathar was 00:13:57.129 --> 00:14:00.830 one of the priests, a man with understandable 00:14:00.830 --> 00:14:11.559 power and influence, if nothing else. Here we 00:14:11.559 --> 00:14:14.460 have the run down there. David gets old, Adonijah 00:14:14.460 --> 00:14:18.200 recruits some powerful people. David's son, Adonijah, 00:14:18.419 --> 00:14:22.259 exalts himself as king. And so what's gonna happen 00:14:22.259 --> 00:14:27.299 next? Obviously, nothing good can come of this. 00:14:28.159 --> 00:14:35.620 Nothing good. In verse number 17, then she said, 00:14:35.720 --> 00:14:38.950 this is speaking of Bathsheba now, I've skipped 00:14:38.950 --> 00:14:42.250 ahead a little bit. Bathsheba goes in to David, 00:14:42.809 --> 00:14:45.110 and here in just a minute, Nathan's going to 00:14:45.110 --> 00:14:47.730 come in to David, and they're both going to say, 00:14:47.990 --> 00:14:51.389 hey buddy, do you know what's going on out there? 00:14:51.730 --> 00:14:54.669 Adonijah's trying to overthrow you and exalt 00:14:54.669 --> 00:14:56.929 himself as king. She says to him, my Lord, you 00:14:56.929 --> 00:14:59.350 swore by the Lord your God to your maidservant, 00:14:59.409 --> 00:15:01.950 saying, assuredly Solomon your son shall reign 00:15:01.950 --> 00:15:07.210 after me, and he shall sit on my throne. If y 00:15:07.210 --> 00:15:10.070 'all know your Old Testament better than me, 00:15:10.429 --> 00:15:13.330 show me, I assume you do even, but show me where 00:15:13.330 --> 00:15:15.710 this verse is where David says that. And the 00:15:15.710 --> 00:15:18.509 only ones I can come up with are those in First 00:15:18.509 --> 00:15:21.370 Chronicles chapter 22 and verse 28 that allude 00:15:21.370 --> 00:15:25.789 to this where Solomon, rather, would follow David 00:15:25.789 --> 00:15:28.730 as king. And it doesn't have to be written down. 00:15:28.990 --> 00:15:33.950 Obviously, David made this... This oath he swore 00:15:33.950 --> 00:15:36.429 this oath that Solomon would end up being king 00:15:36.429 --> 00:15:39.009 and so that's what Bathsheba is going and reminding 00:15:39.009 --> 00:15:42.750 David and Over these next 20 or so verses here 00:15:42.750 --> 00:15:46.009 It's just dialogue between Bathsheba and David 00:15:46.009 --> 00:15:48.090 Nathan comes in and wants to say all the same 00:15:48.090 --> 00:15:52.570 things To David as well and what they finally 00:15:52.570 --> 00:15:56.330 go and do is that they go and that they decide 00:15:56.330 --> 00:15:59.330 they need to anoint right then and there well 00:15:59.330 --> 00:16:01.159 not not there, they actually go to a different 00:16:01.159 --> 00:16:04.360 location for some reason, and they anoint Solomon 00:16:04.360 --> 00:16:07.379 as king. Verse 30 says, just as I swore to you 00:16:07.379 --> 00:16:09.720 by the Lord God of Israel saying, assuredly Solomon 00:16:09.720 --> 00:16:12.000 your son shall be king after me and he shall 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.240 sit on my throne in my place, says David, so 00:16:14.240 --> 00:16:18.159 I certainly will do this day. Let their Zadok 00:16:18.159 --> 00:16:20.639 the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him 00:16:20.639 --> 00:16:23.960 Solomon king over Israel and blow the horn and 00:16:23.960 --> 00:16:28.080 say long live King Solomon Then you shall come 00:16:28.080 --> 00:16:30.419 up after him and he shall come it come and sit 00:16:30.419 --> 00:16:33.080 on my throne And he shall be king in my place 00:16:33.080 --> 00:16:35.500 for I have appointed him to be the ruler over 00:16:35.500 --> 00:16:39.539 Israel and Judah Go out there and blow the horn 00:16:39.539 --> 00:16:45.580 make a show Scream out that Solomon will live 00:16:45.580 --> 00:16:49.139 forever, long live King Solomon and proclaim 00:16:49.139 --> 00:16:51.299 that Solomon's the king because David's giving 00:16:51.299 --> 00:16:53.980 him full power and full authority now and I want 00:16:53.980 --> 00:16:56.200 you to let everybody know that Adonijah's not 00:16:56.200 --> 00:17:00.139 king, Solomon's gonna be king. He's the rightful 00:17:00.139 --> 00:17:02.940 ruler to this throne is what David sends out 00:17:02.940 --> 00:17:08.059 for Zadok and for Nathan to go do and so that's 00:17:08.059 --> 00:17:11.240 what they do. Now it gets a little awkward here. 00:17:11.519 --> 00:17:15.869 It gets real awkward. Let's go back to the other, 00:17:15.869 --> 00:17:17.730 kind of feels like election night when they're 00:17:17.730 --> 00:17:19.150 throwing the party after they know they've won 00:17:19.150 --> 00:17:21.009 the election or something. They got all their 00:17:21.009 --> 00:17:23.549 buddies over there in the same room and that's 00:17:23.549 --> 00:17:25.289 what's happening with Adonijah. He's got all 00:17:25.289 --> 00:17:27.430 those powerful people. He got all those horsemen. 00:17:27.450 --> 00:17:29.289 He's got all these people that were on his side 00:17:29.289 --> 00:17:32.109 and they're in this big room together. Now Adonijah 00:17:32.109 --> 00:17:34.190 and all the guests who are with him heard it 00:17:34.190 --> 00:17:36.670 as they finished eating. They heard the horn 00:17:36.670 --> 00:17:39.319 blowing. He heard them proclaiming that Solomon 00:17:39.319 --> 00:17:41.720 was king. Then when Joab heard the sound of the 00:17:41.720 --> 00:17:44.299 horn, he said, why is the city in such a noisy 00:17:44.299 --> 00:17:46.500 uproar? They're wondering what's going on. They're 00:17:46.500 --> 00:17:49.480 throwing a party in here for King Adonijah. When 00:17:49.480 --> 00:17:53.160 outside, Solomon's becoming king. While he was 00:17:53.160 --> 00:17:55.420 still speaking, there came Jonathan, the son 00:17:55.420 --> 00:17:59.319 of Abathar, the priest. Bad time to walk in, 00:17:59.319 --> 00:18:03.920 buddy. And Adonijah said to him, come in, for 00:18:03.920 --> 00:18:06.559 you are a prominent man, and bring us good news. 00:18:08.609 --> 00:18:12.569 I got some news for you, buddy You're not gonna 00:18:12.569 --> 00:18:14.789 like it. It's actually gonna be the worst news 00:18:14.789 --> 00:18:17.990 of your life And then Jonathan answered and said 00:18:17.990 --> 00:18:22.549 to Adonijah. No our Lord King David has made 00:18:22.549 --> 00:18:26.789 Solomon King He crushed his dreams. He ruined 00:18:26.789 --> 00:18:31.630 his attempt to exalt himself as King. No David's 00:18:31.630 --> 00:18:34.170 actually out just been outsider. He's had Nathan 00:18:34.170 --> 00:18:38.839 and Zadok outside anointing Solomon as king, 00:18:39.920 --> 00:18:46.059 and Adonijah is now not king. So all the guests 00:18:46.059 --> 00:18:48.759 who are with Adonijah were afraid and arose, 00:18:49.119 --> 00:18:51.960 and each one went his way. Now Adonijah was afraid 00:18:51.960 --> 00:18:54.619 of Solomon, so he arose and went and took hold 00:18:54.619 --> 00:18:57.880 of the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, 00:18:58.180 --> 00:19:00.500 saying, Indeed, Adonijah is afraid of the king 00:19:00.500 --> 00:19:02.859 Solomon, for, look, he has taken hold of the 00:19:02.859 --> 00:19:05.740 horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon 00:19:05.740 --> 00:19:08.460 swear to me today that he will not put his servant 00:19:08.460 --> 00:19:11.900 to death with the sword. Then Solomon said, If 00:19:11.900 --> 00:19:14.559 he proves himself a worthy man, not one hair 00:19:14.559 --> 00:19:17.059 of him shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness 00:19:17.059 --> 00:19:20.440 is found on him, he shall die. And so, obviously, 00:19:20.599 --> 00:19:22.380 Adonijah's a little bit worried for his life 00:19:22.380 --> 00:19:25.650 right now. He's just tried to overthrow the kingdom. 00:19:25.650 --> 00:19:28.470 He's just tried to self -annoy himself over his 00:19:28.470 --> 00:19:32.869 brother as king and it didn't work and Understandably, 00:19:32.869 --> 00:19:34.369 he's a little bit worried that he's gonna get 00:19:34.369 --> 00:19:36.829 put to death because he's basically commit treason 00:19:36.829 --> 00:19:39.809 against the king is what he's done commit treason 00:19:39.809 --> 00:19:44.170 against his dad and Solomon instead extends mercy 00:19:44.170 --> 00:19:47.589 to him so King Solomon sent them to bring him 00:19:47.589 --> 00:19:49.910 down from the altar and he came and fell down 00:19:49.910 --> 00:19:54.190 before King Solomon and Solomon said to him Go 00:19:54.190 --> 00:19:59.910 to your house. Just go home. Get out of my hair. 00:20:04.130 --> 00:20:07.910 So I suppose Adonaja does that. Just a few verses 00:20:07.910 --> 00:20:12.950 later now, Adonaja blows it. He had his chance 00:20:12.950 --> 00:20:15.029 to live and he just absolutely couldn't stand 00:20:15.029 --> 00:20:20.170 it. And so Adonaja now asks Bathsheba for whatever 00:20:20.170 --> 00:20:25.059 reason. if she will ask Solomon, her son, if 00:20:25.059 --> 00:20:30.099 he can have Abishag, which was David's concubine 00:20:30.099 --> 00:20:34.079 from 1 Kings 1 and 1 in his old age. When it 00:20:34.079 --> 00:20:36.160 said he was getting old and cold and they got 00:20:36.160 --> 00:20:39.240 him a concubine, that was Abishag. And now, so 00:20:39.240 --> 00:20:42.579 for whatever reason, Adonijah goes to Bathsheba 00:20:42.579 --> 00:20:45.680 and ask if she'll go and ask Solomon if he can 00:20:45.680 --> 00:20:52.789 have Abishag as his wife. And so, Bathsheba does 00:20:52.789 --> 00:20:55.670 that. And we'll skip forward just a little bit 00:20:55.670 --> 00:20:58.009 here, but we'll read a touch of it. And King 00:20:58.009 --> 00:21:01.829 Solomon answered and said to his mother, to Bathsheba, 00:21:01.970 --> 00:21:05.730 now why do you ask Abishag the Shunammite for 00:21:05.730 --> 00:21:08.529 Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also, for he 00:21:08.529 --> 00:21:10.990 is my older brother. For him and for Abiathar 00:21:10.990 --> 00:21:15.890 the priest and for Joab the son of Zeruiah. And 00:21:15.890 --> 00:21:19.109 so, understandably a little bit, that kind of 00:21:19.109 --> 00:21:23.269 ticks Solomon off. David's not dead at this point 00:21:23.269 --> 00:21:26.549 either, by the way. He's still alive and his 00:21:26.549 --> 00:21:29.130 son just asked for his concubine to be his wife. 00:21:29.230 --> 00:21:31.930 So understandably that kind of upset Solomon 00:21:31.930 --> 00:21:35.490 after Solomon just extended grace to Adonijah. 00:21:36.930 --> 00:21:39.450 And it's gonna go downhill pretty quick for Adonijah. 00:21:39.569 --> 00:21:42.269 Then King Solomon swore by the Lord saying, my 00:21:42.269 --> 00:21:45.589 God do so to me and more also if Adonijah has 00:21:45.589 --> 00:21:48.559 not spoken this word against his own life. Now, 00:21:48.559 --> 00:21:50.759 therefore, as the Lord lives, who has confirmed 00:21:50.759 --> 00:21:53.759 me and set me on the throne of David, my father, 00:21:54.599 --> 00:21:57.359 and who has established a house for me, as he 00:21:57.359 --> 00:22:01.519 promised, Adonijah shall be put to death today." 00:22:01.519 --> 00:22:06.799 And in verse 25, he sins and has Adonijah killed. 00:22:07.900 --> 00:22:10.759 So Adonijah could have probably lived out his 00:22:10.759 --> 00:22:15.960 days in a decent position, but he goes behind 00:22:15.960 --> 00:22:19.680 David's back. and tries to take one of his concubines 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:22.480 from him and that ends up getting him killed. 00:22:22.519 --> 00:22:25.200 And I think there's some other significance to 00:22:25.200 --> 00:22:28.579 this that I didn't feel comfortable, you know, 00:22:28.920 --> 00:22:31.119 presenting publicly that I thought if you want 00:22:31.119 --> 00:22:32.920 to talk about later we might could because I 00:22:32.920 --> 00:22:34.920 don't know how historically accurate some of 00:22:34.920 --> 00:22:37.440 that stuff is, but it's kind of interesting. 00:22:39.380 --> 00:22:44.000 Okay, we can move on now. More about Solomon, 00:22:44.400 --> 00:22:47.849 a little less about Adonijah now. Gideon the 00:22:47.849 --> 00:22:49.970 Lord appeared to Solomon in the dream by night 00:22:49.970 --> 00:22:53.750 and God said now this is after now Solomon he's 00:22:53.750 --> 00:22:58.970 understandably the king no one's threatening 00:22:58.970 --> 00:23:04.289 his right to the throne and in this dream now 00:23:04.289 --> 00:23:07.250 Solomon or excuse me. Sorry not in the dream 00:23:07.250 --> 00:23:10.650 in this in this instance now God appears to Solomon 00:23:10.650 --> 00:23:15.960 He says ask what shall I give you? And here's 00:23:15.960 --> 00:23:19.119 the part we all know about Solomon. God gives 00:23:19.119 --> 00:23:22.859 him this opportunity. He'll give Solomon whatever 00:23:22.859 --> 00:23:26.880 he wants. He's the beloved of the Lord. And he's 00:23:26.880 --> 00:23:30.059 got favor with God. And verse number nine says, 00:23:30.559 --> 00:23:32.500 therefore give to your servant, this is Solomon 00:23:32.500 --> 00:23:34.880 speaking, an understanding heart to judge your 00:23:34.880 --> 00:23:37.500 people, that I may discern between good and evil. 00:23:37.839 --> 00:23:40.059 For who is able to judge this great people of 00:23:40.059 --> 00:23:43.200 yours? This speech pleased the Lord that Solomon 00:23:43.200 --> 00:23:46.230 had asked this thing. So, Solomon could have 00:23:46.230 --> 00:23:48.750 asked for anything, and they talk about that 00:23:48.750 --> 00:23:52.150 at the time. But instead, he just asked for wisdom. 00:23:52.450 --> 00:23:54.710 Help me to know good from evil. Help me to know 00:23:54.710 --> 00:23:56.750 right from wrong. Help me to do what I need to 00:23:56.750 --> 00:24:00.049 do to serve your people and to be a good king, 00:24:00.130 --> 00:24:03.529 the best king that he can be for them. And obviously, 00:24:03.910 --> 00:24:05.970 a pure heart like that, an honest heart that 00:24:05.970 --> 00:24:08.990 really just wants to serve, that pleases God. 00:24:10.809 --> 00:24:12.890 It pleased God that Solomon had even asked that. 00:24:13.970 --> 00:24:17.250 Okay. Now here's God's response now to Solomon 00:24:17.250 --> 00:24:44.259 asking for that. I have also given you what you 00:24:44.259 --> 00:24:46.920 have not asked both riches and honor So there 00:24:46.920 --> 00:24:49.019 shall not be anyone like you among the Kings 00:24:49.019 --> 00:24:52.119 all your days So if you walk in my ways to keep 00:24:52.119 --> 00:24:55.180 my statutes and my commandments as your father 00:24:55.180 --> 00:25:00.319 David walked Then I will lengthen your days Solomon 00:25:00.319 --> 00:25:02.660 gets everything he asked for and then everything 00:25:02.660 --> 00:25:06.299 else Could ask for the riches, but he didn't 00:25:06.299 --> 00:25:09.460 so he God made him rich could have asked for 00:25:09.460 --> 00:25:12.289 his enemies to be put away, could ask for a long 00:25:12.289 --> 00:25:13.990 life. He didn't ask for that, so God's gonna 00:25:13.990 --> 00:25:16.630 give him that. No one's gonna be as wise, no 00:25:16.630 --> 00:25:18.329 one's gonna be as wealthy, no one's gonna be 00:25:18.329 --> 00:25:21.630 as powerful for Solomon as long as Solomon lives. 00:25:21.990 --> 00:25:24.049 God's just given him this promise that he's gonna 00:25:24.049 --> 00:25:28.269 be the most powerful, wise, prominent person 00:25:28.269 --> 00:25:34.130 as long as he's alive. What an incredible opportunity 00:25:34.130 --> 00:25:38.569 now that Solomon's got, and he's got the wisdom 00:25:38.569 --> 00:25:44.980 to go on top of it. Okay, in first Kings chapter 00:25:44.980 --> 00:25:47.200 four and verse number nine, it says, in God gave 00:25:47.200 --> 00:25:51.039 Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great and understanding 00:25:51.039 --> 00:25:54.319 and largest of heart like the sand on the seashore. 00:25:54.720 --> 00:25:57.299 Thus Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of 00:25:57.299 --> 00:26:00.720 all the men of the East and all the wisdom of 00:26:00.720 --> 00:26:04.960 Egypt. He spoke 3 ,000 Proverbs and his songs 00:26:04.960 --> 00:26:09.380 were 1 ,005. Also, he spoke of trees from the 00:26:09.380 --> 00:26:12.369 cedar. tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that 00:26:12.369 --> 00:26:15.650 springs out of the wall he spoke also of animals 00:26:15.650 --> 00:26:19.490 of birds of creeping things of fish of and men 00:26:19.490 --> 00:26:22.410 of all nations from all the kings of the earth 00:26:22.410 --> 00:26:26.130 who had heard his wisdom came to hear him came 00:26:26.130 --> 00:26:29.650 to hear rather the wisdom of Solomon and so here 00:26:29.650 --> 00:26:31.809 we see that starting to play out the wisdom of 00:26:31.809 --> 00:26:35.690 Solomon the things that he knew uh interesting 00:26:35.690 --> 00:26:37.609 flex he knows all these things about animals 00:26:37.609 --> 00:26:41.519 now he's a He's a biologist. He knows all how 00:26:41.519 --> 00:26:43.440 these things work, which is maybe how he writes 00:26:43.440 --> 00:26:46.559 the Proverbs, maybe how he writes some of the 00:26:46.559 --> 00:26:48.980 things in Ecclesiastes, how he understands those 00:26:48.980 --> 00:26:53.880 things. God gave him all those abilities. Now, 00:26:53.880 --> 00:26:56.859 we'll just briefly go over probably the most 00:26:56.859 --> 00:26:59.940 famous story, the most known thing about Solomon. 00:27:00.299 --> 00:27:02.039 First, I wanted to read through these verse by 00:27:02.039 --> 00:27:04.740 verse, but for Tom's sake now, we're just gonna 00:27:04.740 --> 00:27:06.799 kinda... go over that really quickly because 00:27:06.799 --> 00:27:09.160 I know I can tell a story in about 20 seconds 00:27:09.160 --> 00:27:12.220 but essentially there's two women says that they 00:27:12.220 --> 00:27:14.519 live in the same house they live in the same 00:27:14.519 --> 00:27:16.640 place and they're both pregnant and they both 00:27:16.640 --> 00:27:20.900 give birth one of the women her baby dies and 00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:24.279 then the other woman her baby does not and now 00:27:24.279 --> 00:27:26.259 they have a dispute the one whose baby died she 00:27:26.259 --> 00:27:28.859 tried to take that baby from the mother whose 00:27:28.859 --> 00:27:31.839 child was living and they have this dispute over 00:27:31.839 --> 00:27:35.160 the baby And what are they gonna do? And so they 00:27:35.160 --> 00:27:37.240 go before King Solomon. They know that he's wise. 00:27:37.279 --> 00:27:39.640 They know that he'll have the answer. And Solomon 00:27:39.640 --> 00:27:44.660 has a very interesting, but incredibly wise answer 00:27:44.660 --> 00:27:48.779 to what they should do. And he says, that's fine. 00:27:48.839 --> 00:27:50.799 We've got two mothers. We've got one baby. He 00:27:50.799 --> 00:27:52.259 said, let's split it down the middle and we'll 00:27:52.259 --> 00:27:54.700 give half of it to each of you. And you'll both 00:27:54.700 --> 00:27:57.359 have a baby. And Solomon knew what was about 00:27:57.359 --> 00:28:00.119 to happen. The one who's, it was actually the 00:28:00.119 --> 00:28:02.210 mother. She says, no, no. Just give the baby 00:28:02.210 --> 00:28:04.009 to her, because she'd rather see her own baby 00:28:04.009 --> 00:28:06.670 go to somebody else than to see the child be 00:28:06.670 --> 00:28:09.289 split in half and die. And Solomon says, OK, 00:28:09.390 --> 00:28:11.470 you're the mother, give the baby to her. It's 00:28:11.470 --> 00:28:14.470 like, ah, that's genius. And there's the wisdom 00:28:14.470 --> 00:28:18.029 that was given to Solomon. What a credibly wise 00:28:18.029 --> 00:28:22.690 and simple way to fix that dispute. So now we 00:28:22.690 --> 00:28:26.089 can go back to 1 Chronicles, where we were reading 00:28:26.089 --> 00:28:28.369 a little bit about this temple that David wanted 00:28:28.369 --> 00:28:32.019 to build for God. David was getting in his old 00:28:32.019 --> 00:28:33.819 age. At this point, I'd be honest with you, I'm 00:28:33.819 --> 00:28:36.859 not sure if he's passed away or not. But he knows, 00:28:37.559 --> 00:28:40.240 Solomon knows that he was charged to end up building 00:28:40.240 --> 00:28:44.940 that temple now in the place of David. In verse 00:28:44.940 --> 00:28:46.640 number 11, it says, then the word of the Lord 00:28:46.640 --> 00:28:49.200 came to Solomon saying, concerning this temple 00:28:49.200 --> 00:28:52.339 which you are building, if you walk in my statutes, 00:28:52.740 --> 00:28:55.480 execute my judgments, keep all my commandments, 00:28:55.759 --> 00:28:58.920 and walk in them, then I will perform my word 00:28:58.920 --> 00:29:01.380 with you. which I spoke to your father David, 00:29:01.559 --> 00:29:03.839 and I will dwell among the children of Israel 00:29:03.839 --> 00:29:07.619 and will not forsake my people Israel." So Solomon 00:29:07.619 --> 00:29:11.220 built the temple and finished it. God makes this 00:29:11.220 --> 00:29:14.259 promise now to David and Solomon says, I'll build 00:29:14.259 --> 00:29:17.859 the temple. I'll do it. So Solomon builds and 00:29:17.859 --> 00:29:22.680 finishes this temple for God. In chapter eight, 00:29:22.799 --> 00:29:24.759 it says, then Solomon spoke. The Lord said he 00:29:24.759 --> 00:29:27.730 would dwell in the dark cloud. "'I have surely 00:29:27.730 --> 00:29:30.410 built you an exalted house "'and a place for 00:29:30.410 --> 00:29:33.470 you to dwell in forever.'" This magnificent, 00:29:33.609 --> 00:29:36.130 incredible place built by the most wealthy man 00:29:36.130 --> 00:29:39.789 in the world. He's built this temple now for 00:29:39.789 --> 00:29:42.390 God. This guy who wants to serve God, who wants 00:29:42.390 --> 00:29:45.970 to serve his people, who's got incredible largeness 00:29:45.970 --> 00:29:50.170 of heart is how it's explained in 1 Kings. And 00:29:50.170 --> 00:29:53.289 now he's built this temple for God. Second Chronicles. 00:29:55.579 --> 00:29:58.539 rots this as well when Solomon had finished praying 00:29:58.539 --> 00:30:00.799 fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt 00:30:00.799 --> 00:30:03.259 offering and the sacrifices and the glory of 00:30:03.259 --> 00:30:06.059 the Lord filled the temple and The priests could 00:30:06.059 --> 00:30:08.960 not enter the house of the Lord because the glory 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:11.680 of the Lord had filled the Lord's house When 00:30:11.680 --> 00:30:13.819 all the children of Israel saw how the fire came 00:30:13.819 --> 00:30:15.599 down and the glory of the Lord on the temple 00:30:15.599 --> 00:30:18.039 they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement 00:30:18.039 --> 00:30:20.740 and Worshipped and praised the Lord saying for 00:30:20.740 --> 00:30:24.539 he is good for his mercy endures forever and 00:30:24.539 --> 00:30:28.200 so Partly because of Solomon, Solomon had a hand 00:30:28.200 --> 00:30:30.319 to play in the building of this temple where 00:30:30.319 --> 00:30:32.180 people were able to come and see the glory of 00:30:32.180 --> 00:30:34.279 God and they were able to bow down, they were 00:30:34.279 --> 00:30:37.200 able to worship God and see his goodness and 00:30:37.200 --> 00:30:40.299 see his mercy. What a wonderful thing, but the 00:30:40.299 --> 00:30:42.339 most interesting, the coolest part of this passage 00:30:42.339 --> 00:30:47.059 is back in, was it in verse number two? It says, 00:30:47.279 --> 00:30:49.000 the priest could not enter the house of the Lord 00:30:49.000 --> 00:30:51.220 because of the glory of the Lord had filled the 00:30:51.220 --> 00:30:53.500 Lord's house. He built this magnificent place 00:30:53.500 --> 00:30:58.079 and that the Lord wanted to fill where God wanted 00:30:58.079 --> 00:31:03.619 to be and where God could dwell. And it's very 00:31:03.619 --> 00:31:05.700 obvious that God had a lot of respect for this 00:31:05.700 --> 00:31:08.279 temple that Solomon built. He had a lot of respect 00:31:08.279 --> 00:31:11.960 for Solomon for building this magnificent temple 00:31:11.960 --> 00:31:16.839 for him. Okay, now we'll read rather quickly 00:31:16.839 --> 00:31:19.599 here. Another example of Solomon becoming extremely 00:31:19.599 --> 00:31:21.579 wise. There's this queen, and I'm forgetting 00:31:21.579 --> 00:31:24.599 her name now. I could guess it, but I'm forgetting 00:31:24.599 --> 00:31:27.839 it's like Sheba or something. She says to the 00:31:27.839 --> 00:31:30.140 king, it was a true report which I heard in my 00:31:30.140 --> 00:31:33.720 own land about your words and your wisdom. However, 00:31:33.720 --> 00:31:35.859 I did not believe the words until I came and 00:31:35.859 --> 00:31:38.079 saw with mine own eyes and indeed the half was 00:31:38.079 --> 00:31:41.400 not told me your wisdom and prosperity Exceed 00:31:41.400 --> 00:31:44.079 the fame of which I heard this prominent this 00:31:44.079 --> 00:31:46.220 powerful queen. She's heard all these stories 00:31:46.220 --> 00:31:48.180 about Solomon So she wants to go and she wants 00:31:48.180 --> 00:31:52.240 to see his wisdom. She shows up She it says in 00:31:52.240 --> 00:31:54.660 verse two or three or so she she's got all these 00:31:54.660 --> 00:31:57.019 questions to ask Solomon So she asked him all 00:31:57.019 --> 00:31:59.279 his questions whenever she gets done. She goes 00:31:59.279 --> 00:32:02.519 all the things I heard I didn't even hear half 00:32:02.519 --> 00:32:06.079 of how wise you were and she's very impressed 00:32:06.079 --> 00:32:08.339 with Solomon he is extremely wise he becomes 00:32:08.339 --> 00:32:11.420 extremely wealthy says the weight of gold that 00:32:11.420 --> 00:32:15.779 came to Solomon yearly was 666 talents of gold 00:32:16.109 --> 00:32:19.210 Lot of gold besides that from the traveling merchants 00:32:19.210 --> 00:32:21.869 from the income of traders from all the kings 00:32:21.869 --> 00:32:24.390 of Arabia and from the governors of the country 00:32:24.390 --> 00:32:27.230 and King Salman made 200 large shields of hammered 00:32:27.230 --> 00:32:30.009 gold 600 shekels of gold went into each shield 00:32:30.009 --> 00:32:33.490 He also made 300 shields of hammered gold three 00:32:33.490 --> 00:32:36.529 Minas of gold which went into each seal shield 00:32:36.529 --> 00:32:39.170 the king put them in the house of the forest 00:32:39.170 --> 00:32:41.920 of Lebanon and there's Go read the chapter if 00:32:41.920 --> 00:32:43.799 you want. There's a bunch of talk of all the 00:32:43.799 --> 00:32:46.279 things that he made out of gold made a lot of 00:32:46.279 --> 00:32:50.589 things out of gold or lined with gold All of 00:32:50.589 --> 00:32:53.250 King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and 00:32:53.250 --> 00:32:55.150 all the vessels of the house of the forest of 00:32:55.150 --> 00:32:58.190 Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for 00:32:58.190 --> 00:33:00.910 this was accounted as nothing in the days of 00:33:00.910 --> 00:33:02.950 Solomon. He's got so much gold, who cares about 00:33:02.950 --> 00:33:06.269 silver? For the king had merchant ships at sea 00:33:06.269 --> 00:33:09.910 with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years, 00:33:10.009 --> 00:33:12.109 the merchant ships came bringing gold, silver, 00:33:12.210 --> 00:33:15.369 ivory, apes, and monkeys. So King Solomon surpassed 00:33:15.369 --> 00:33:18.210 all the kings of the earth in riches and wisdom. 00:33:18.289 --> 00:33:20.869 It's what God said. What's gonna happen? It comes 00:33:20.869 --> 00:33:23.529 true. He becomes extremely powerful. At the end 00:33:23.529 --> 00:33:26.130 of the day, that's what this means. When you 00:33:26.130 --> 00:33:28.230 have all the wealth in the world, when you have 00:33:28.230 --> 00:33:30.589 all the wisdom in the world, you become very 00:33:30.589 --> 00:33:33.950 powerful. Now all the earth sought the presence 00:33:33.950 --> 00:33:36.609 of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had 00:33:36.609 --> 00:33:39.829 put in his heart. Imagine being the one guy on 00:33:39.829 --> 00:33:43.769 earth and everybody wants to hear from you, because 00:33:43.769 --> 00:33:48.390 you're so wise. And with that comes an insane, 00:33:48.589 --> 00:33:52.369 amount of power, an un -understandable amount 00:33:52.369 --> 00:33:55.430 of power. Solomon gathered chariots and horsemen. 00:33:55.569 --> 00:33:59.369 He had 1 ,400 chariots and 12 ,000 horsemen whom 00:33:59.369 --> 00:34:01.950 he stationed in the chariot cities and with the 00:34:01.950 --> 00:34:05.569 king at Jerusalem. And this is why it's so important 00:34:05.569 --> 00:34:10.059 for us to understand exactly how powerful Solomon 00:34:10.059 --> 00:34:13.840 was, exactly how wealthy Solomon was, exactly 00:34:13.840 --> 00:34:17.860 how wise Solomon was. When we do, it brings a 00:34:17.860 --> 00:34:21.099 little bit more meaning now to the book of Ecclesiastes. 00:34:21.739 --> 00:34:24.260 When Solomon's, we can know he's powerful, we 00:34:24.260 --> 00:34:26.000 can know he's wealthy, we can know he's wise, 00:34:26.159 --> 00:34:31.599 but to understand the extent. But unfortunately, 00:34:32.340 --> 00:34:35.920 Solomon turns away from God. But King Solomon 00:34:35.920 --> 00:34:38.599 loved many foreign women, as well as the daughter 00:34:38.599 --> 00:34:41.719 of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, 00:34:41.900 --> 00:34:45.860 Edomites, Sidonians, and Hittites, from the nations 00:34:45.860 --> 00:34:47.699 of whom the Lord had said to the children of 00:34:47.699 --> 00:34:50.760 Israel, you shall not enter Mary with them, nor 00:34:50.760 --> 00:34:53.219 they with you. Surely they will turn away your 00:34:53.219 --> 00:34:57.139 hearts after their gods. Solomon clung to these 00:34:57.139 --> 00:35:00.949 in love. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 00:35:00.949 --> 00:35:04.329 300 concubines. And his wife turned away, his 00:35:04.329 --> 00:35:07.489 wives rather, turned away his heart. For it was 00:35:07.489 --> 00:35:10.469 so when Solomon was old that his wives turned 00:35:10.469 --> 00:35:13.769 away, turned his heart after other gods. And 00:35:13.769 --> 00:35:16.949 his heart was not loyal to the Lord his God, 00:35:17.250 --> 00:35:20.070 as was the heart of his father's David. He's 00:35:20.070 --> 00:35:21.989 got all the wisdom, he's got all the power, he's 00:35:21.989 --> 00:35:26.349 got all the wealth. And yet he kept chasing after 00:35:26.349 --> 00:35:32.880 other things. God warned him, don't do this. 00:35:33.139 --> 00:35:37.420 Don't go intermarry with those people. And still 00:35:37.420 --> 00:35:41.980 he was not as loyal as his father David. And 00:35:41.980 --> 00:35:44.820 verse number six, it says Solomon did evil in 00:35:44.820 --> 00:35:47.719 the sight of the Lord and did not fully follow 00:35:47.719 --> 00:35:51.239 the Lord as did his father David. And when God 00:35:51.239 --> 00:35:53.239 looks down at this person who at his birth, he 00:35:53.239 --> 00:35:56.869 said was beloved by the beloved of Yahweh. When 00:35:56.869 --> 00:35:58.630 he looked at this person who said was gonna bring 00:35:58.630 --> 00:36:02.010 peace and quietness to the people, he looks at 00:36:02.010 --> 00:36:04.769 him and now sees evil. And he did likewise for 00:36:04.769 --> 00:36:07.110 all his foreign wives who burned incense and 00:36:07.110 --> 00:36:09.670 sacrificed to their gods. He was just giving 00:36:09.670 --> 00:36:11.969 them things and they asked for things and he 00:36:11.969 --> 00:36:14.250 gave them. So the Lord became angry with Solomon 00:36:14.250 --> 00:36:15.969 because his heart had turned from the Lord God 00:36:15.969 --> 00:36:19.429 of Israel who had appeared to him twice. And 00:36:19.429 --> 00:36:22.329 so with all the power, with all the wealth, with 00:36:22.329 --> 00:36:26.010 all the wisdom. His story, his life, it ends 00:36:26.010 --> 00:36:31.349 here in this sad, sour, tragic note as he turns 00:36:31.349 --> 00:36:38.250 away from God. Now the Lord's gonna tell Solomon 00:36:38.250 --> 00:36:41.110 his demise. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, 00:36:41.250 --> 00:36:43.289 because you have done this, because you've turned 00:36:43.289 --> 00:36:46.010 from him, because you've went and got all these 00:36:46.010 --> 00:36:47.929 wives I told you not to get, because you've listened 00:36:47.929 --> 00:36:51.010 to them, because you are doing things for them. 00:36:51.179 --> 00:36:54.599 I have and have not kept my covenant and my statutes 00:36:54.599 --> 00:36:56.900 which I've commanded you remember the covenants 00:36:56.900 --> 00:36:58.619 and the statutes he talked about there when he 00:36:58.619 --> 00:37:01.260 was building the temple and asked said if you'll 00:37:01.260 --> 00:37:03.199 if you'll follow him if you'll be obedient to 00:37:03.199 --> 00:37:05.800 him he will give those to you he says you didn't 00:37:05.800 --> 00:37:08.420 do those I will surely tear the kingdom away 00:37:08.420 --> 00:37:11.460 from you and give it to your servant nevertheless 00:37:11.460 --> 00:37:14.079 I will not do it in your days for the sake of 00:37:14.079 --> 00:37:16.380 your father David I will tear it out of the hand 00:37:16.380 --> 00:37:19.389 of your son However, I will not tear away the 00:37:19.389 --> 00:37:21.789 whole kingdom I will give one tribe to your son 00:37:21.789 --> 00:37:24.489 for the sake of my servant David for the sake 00:37:24.489 --> 00:37:30.110 of Jerusalem which I have chosen and so here's 00:37:30.110 --> 00:37:33.010 His demise now the rest of the acts of Solomon 00:37:33.010 --> 00:37:36.329 all that he did and his wisdom are they not written 00:37:36.329 --> 00:37:39.829 in the book of the acts of Solomon and The period 00:37:39.829 --> 00:37:42.210 that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel 00:37:42.210 --> 00:37:46.460 was 40 which seems like a really pathetic amount 00:37:46.460 --> 00:37:49.059 of time to rule for someone with that much power, 00:37:49.300 --> 00:37:51.760 with that much wisdom, and with that much wealth. 00:37:52.980 --> 00:37:55.079 Then Solomon rested with his fathers and was 00:37:55.079 --> 00:37:57.920 buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam 00:37:57.920 --> 00:38:00.360 his son reigned in his place. Maybe that'll go 00:38:00.360 --> 00:38:02.699 better than Solomon's reign, I don't know. We'll 00:38:02.699 --> 00:38:08.239 have to find out next time. And so there's the 00:38:08.239 --> 00:38:13.480 life of Solomon. All the power. all the prominence, 00:38:13.519 --> 00:38:17.139 all the wisdom to come crashing down in failure. 00:38:17.260 --> 00:38:20.360 So I wanna close, next time we'll start getting 00:38:20.360 --> 00:38:24.380 into the book of Ecclesiastes finally and examining 00:38:24.380 --> 00:38:26.820 his writings there. But I wanna go look at two 00:38:26.820 --> 00:38:29.679 of the things that he says in that book. In chapter 00:38:29.679 --> 00:38:32.099 five and verse number 10, Solomon says, he who 00:38:32.099 --> 00:38:34.199 loves silver will not be satisfied with silver, 00:38:34.500 --> 00:38:37.059 nor he who loves abundance with increase. This 00:38:37.059 --> 00:38:39.300 also is vanity. And that's kind of the gist of 00:38:39.300 --> 00:38:43.570 a lot of the book. of Ecclesiastes. We have all 00:38:43.570 --> 00:38:46.130 these things in life that we want, that we desire, 00:38:46.230 --> 00:38:50.210 that we chase after, that we try to have more 00:38:50.210 --> 00:38:52.329 and more money, we try to have more and more 00:38:52.329 --> 00:38:54.510 fun, we try to have more and more hobbies, and 00:38:54.510 --> 00:38:56.510 we try to fulfill ourselves in these hobbies. 00:38:56.690 --> 00:38:58.969 And here's this guy who had it all, and he says, 00:38:59.150 --> 00:39:02.510 that's vanity, that's emptiness, that's meaningless 00:39:02.510 --> 00:39:07.289 to live your life that way. And if we can't believe 00:39:07.289 --> 00:39:10.199 that from anybody, except one person that might 00:39:10.199 --> 00:39:13.340 just be Solomon. He had everything he could want. 00:39:14.380 --> 00:39:17.340 Even he goes against his wisdom that he says, 00:39:18.340 --> 00:39:20.940 if there's something you want in life, in this 00:39:20.940 --> 00:39:22.739 world we live in, you're not gonna be satisfied 00:39:22.739 --> 00:39:26.460 with it at the end of the day. He had hundreds 00:39:26.460 --> 00:39:28.659 and hundreds of wives and concubines, wasn't 00:39:28.659 --> 00:39:31.719 enough, they turned him away from God. And maybe 00:39:31.719 --> 00:39:34.440 that silver for you today, you can have all the 00:39:34.440 --> 00:39:35.920 silver you want, it's never gonna be enough, 00:39:36.039 --> 00:39:38.969 it's never gonna satisfy you. It can all go away. 00:39:38.989 --> 00:39:41.710 It can all be taken from you. If that's just 00:39:41.710 --> 00:39:43.630 downtime or whatever that is, it can all be taken 00:39:43.630 --> 00:39:48.570 away. Solomon gives some of the best advice and 00:39:48.570 --> 00:39:51.230 wisdom at the very end of his book. Let us hear 00:39:51.230 --> 00:39:53.030 the conclusion of the whole matter. Fear God 00:39:53.030 --> 00:39:55.289 and keep His commandments. For this is man's 00:39:55.289 --> 00:39:58.170 all. For God will bring every work into judgment, 00:39:58.550 --> 00:40:00.969 including every secret thing, whether good or 00:40:00.969 --> 00:40:02.690 evil. At the end of the day, Solomon's greatest 00:40:02.690 --> 00:40:05.250 advice of wisdom is forget about everything else 00:40:05.250 --> 00:40:08.250 in life. Go and live your life. Go have some 00:40:08.250 --> 00:40:10.449 fun every now and then. But whenever you chase 00:40:10.449 --> 00:40:12.530 after it, you're never going to be satisfied. 00:40:14.909 --> 00:40:17.690 You're never going to be satisfied. What you 00:40:17.690 --> 00:40:20.829 can be satisfied in is fearing God and keeping 00:40:20.829 --> 00:40:22.570 His commandments. If the church can help you 00:40:22.570 --> 00:40:27.269 with something this evening. Thank you for listening 00:40:27.269 --> 00:40:29.550 to today's sermon from the Church of Christ Wheeler 00:40:29.550 --> 00:40:32.510 area. We hope this message encouraged you and 00:40:32.510 --> 00:40:34.809 strengthened you in your faith this week. Don't 00:40:34.809 --> 00:40:38.070 forget the doors always open at 1500 South Allen 00:40:38.070 --> 00:40:41.789 L. Bean Boulevard at 1030 a .m. on Sundays, 230 00:40:41.789 --> 00:40:44.610 p .m. on Sunday afternoons, and recharge with 00:40:44.610 --> 00:40:48.190 us midweek on Wednesdays at 7 p .m. For more 00:40:48.190 --> 00:40:51.429 information or to hear past messages, follow 00:40:51.429 --> 00:40:54.289 us on your favorite podcast platform. Look us 00:40:54.289 --> 00:40:56.909 up on Facebook and Instagram. 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