>> Jen: Well, good morning, friends and faithful listeners. Thanks for tuning into the Bible explain podcast on this lovely Wednesday morning as we discuss one kings chapter nine. I have been very productive here in the p 40 ministry's office. For those of you who don't know, p 40 ministries is the business that supports the Bible explained podcast. But, uh, I've been customizing my keyboard and now I have some neat looking key caps on my keyboard. And you're probably like, how is that being
productive? But really it is because my current keyboard is super loud. But I'm really sick of having to edit out all of the clickiness of my keyboards. So I got some new key caps and I also got a, um, like a nice, like rubber thing to put underneath the keys so that they don't make as much noise. So that is what I have been working on today so far.
And now the podcast, of course. So let's go ahead and read one kings 9:1-14 today we're going to talk about how god appears to Solomon for the second time and the message that god gives Solomon. And also we're going to talk about a funny little story here where King Hiram gives back a gift that Solomon gave him because he hated it. So we'll talk about both of those things today. This is first kings 9:1-14 I'll be reading from the web.
When Solomon had finished the building of Yahweh's house, the king's house, and all Solomon's desire, which he was pleased to do, Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. Yahweh said to him, I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built to put my name there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness to do according to all that which I have commanded you and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, there shall not fail from you a man on
the throne of Israel. But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them, and I will cast this house which I have made holy for my name out of my sight. And Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples. Though this house is so high, yet everyone who passes by it
will be astonished and hissitive. And they will say, why has Yahweh done this to the land and to this house? And they will answer, because they abandoned Yahweh, their god, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and embraced other gods and worshipped them and served them. Therefore, Yahweh has brought all this evil on them. At the end of 20 years, in which Solomon had built the two houses,
Yahwehs house and the king's house. Now, Hiram, the king of Tyre, had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and cypress trees and with golden. According to all his desire, King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. Hiram came out of tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, and they didn't please him. He said, what cities are these which you have given me, my brother? He called them the land of Kabul. To this day, Hiram sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
So, after 20 years, Solomon has finally finished building the temple to god and also his own palace. And it says that after Solomon had finished the building of Yahweh's house, the king's house, and all Solomon's desire, which he was pleased to do, then Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time as he had
appeared to him at ah, Gibeon. So if you remember, when Solomon was a young king, right after David had died, Solomon went to Gibeon instead of where the ark of the covenant was, and was sacrificing all of these sacrifices, like, a whole bunch of them up on a mountain where Gibeon was. And god appeared to Solomon then and was like, what are you asking of me? Why are you sacrificing here? And so
Solomon asked god for wisdom. And God actually granted Solomon that request because Solomon had not asked for a long life or gold or riches or anything like that, but instead asked for wisdom. So god said, there is not going to be any person like you that comes before you or comes after you, meaning Solomon. You're a very unique individual. So that was the first time god appeared to Solomon, was way back in those days, like 20 years prior.
But now that the temple to God is done and also Solomon's house is finished, god again appears to Solomon. And it says that he remembers Solomon's prayer. He says, I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me and I have made this house holy, which you have built to put my name there forever, and my eyes and my heart shall be there, there perpetually. And I mean, isn't that the grace of god? Because first and foremost, God had never asked for
this temple to be built. Didn't want David to build it in the first place. And even after it was built, when Solomon was in the process of building it, god had actually told Solomon through a prophet that all Solomon had to do if he wanted God to remain in Israel was not build a temple, but just follow his statutes and his laws that he had already made. god says, if you do that, then I will be here in Israel forever.
And honestly, God doesn't change. It's been the same story over and over and over from the very beginning. When god first brought the Israelites out of Egypt, what did he tell them? He said, if you follow my commandments that I give you, I will always be with you. That is what he said from the very beginning. And now the story does not change. Surprise, surprise. god again appears to Solomon, and he says, if you follow my commandments, I will be with you.
But before he does that, he actually says something really, really sweet. He says, I have made this house holy, which you've built to put my name there forever. And my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. Now, we know that god had not chosen a specific location for the temple yet. He did choose locations, like small locations for the tabernacle like tent to move around to. god did choose those, but he hadn't chosen a specific location yet for any temple to be built.
But Solomon had chosen the location of Jerusalem to build the temple to god. And now god says that not only has he made the temple that Solomon built holy, but he also chooses that location to put his name there forever, the location of Jerusalem. This is when God chooses the location that he always said he was going to choose. Throughout the entire law, he always said, I am going to choose a location for people to go to and worship. And that location
god now chooses is Jerusalem. And it's really interesting because, you know, Solomon was the one who had built the temple in Jerusalem to begin with. And through God's mercy, god says, yes, I will choose Jerusalem, and I will choose this temple. I will make this temple
that Solomon built holy. And this is even more merciful when you think about how, uh, at least I think this, how god didn't really want this temple to be built in the first place, and he allowed it to be built because of David's heart and his love for David and his love for Solomon, and they really wanted to build this temple to God but god had never asked for it. That's my own personal opinion, just to throw that
out there. There's nothing specifically in scripture that states that God did not want the temple ever built. But in his love and mercy, God accepted the temple because of his love for David and Solomon and the israelite people in general. But God knows the hearts of people, and he knows how the Israelites were going to corrupt the temple very shortly down the line. God knew the hearts of the people. And that's why I personally think god didn't specifically want a
temple built. But he did want a tabernacle, the tent that was in the wilderness that could be picked up and moved. god did command that, and he did want that, mainly because the tent, the tabernacle could move around and it could go to different locations and think about the size of Israel. Israel was a pretty big country, right? And, uh, it was actually, I think, even bigger in the days of Solomon than it is now,
land wise. So having a temple built in one location might be difficult for people at the very south side of Israel or very north part of Israel to travel several days to get to one location in order to worship God But if a tabernacle could be easily packed up and travel around to different locations, it could maybe visit the north side of Israel. And Israel then could go and
worship at, uh, where the tabernacle was. And it would just be easier for people to not have to travel long distances to get to, um, get to a temple. And I think that's one of the reasons why God wanted a tabernacle built, and commanded a tabernacle to be built, but didn't command a temple to be built. But now that the temple is built and it was built in Jerusalem, God accepts the temple. He accepts it, and he even accepts the location of where the temple is
at. He accepts Jerusalem as the location that he always told the people he was going to choose. He chooses Jerusalem because that is now where the temple is. And as we know, Jerusalem is going to come back up. Throughout all of the Bible, Jerusalem is a very central location for the scriptures. And even at the very end
of everything, when. When god finally comes back the second time and he makes a new heaven and a new earth, it actually says that he is going to make a city called the New Jerusalem, and it's going to come out of the sky, and it's going to be like a gem, a beautiful gem that all the people can go to to worship God at. So Jerusalem has now been chosen as the location for worship that God had promised the people he was going to choose.
And what's amazing about this is that it was Solomon and David that kind of chose that location, if you think about it. And god just accepted that particular location. So he says, I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever. And my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. Then verse four. As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness to do according
to all that I commanded you. And will keep my statutes in my ordinary and says, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom forever over Israel, as I promised to David, your father, saying, there shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel. So there you go. It's the same old story. God always says, just keep my commandments, and I will be with you. You don't have to build me anything fancy. Just keep my commandments. But there's a condition for all of this.
god will accept the temple that Solomon has built only if Solomon and Solomon's children and the Israelites continue to worship Yahweh. The condition is, if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and you do not keep my commandments and my statutes, which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship, then I will cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them. And I will cast this house which I have made holy for my name, out of my
sight. And Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all the peoples. So it's the same old story from the very beginning. god says, if you follow my commandments, all, uh, will go well for you. This is even from the very beginning of the garden of Eden. What did god say to Adam, the very first man he created? He says, if you do these things that I tell you to do, things will go well for you. If you eat from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil, you will die. That's what he said to Adam.
It's the same old story over and over and over. If you do what I tell you, things will go well. If you don't do what I tell you, if you worship other gods, things will go poorly for you, and I will begin to abandon all of these things that you have made for me. I will abandon the house, and I will kick Israel out of their
land, is what he says. In fact, people who pass by the house this house that you've made for me, this temple, people who pass by it will be astonished, and they will hiss and they will say, why has Yahweh done this to our land and to this house? And they will answer, because they abandoned Yahweh, their god, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and embraced other gods and worshiped them and served them. And that's the key right there. It's not just that God wants you to
follow him. He wants you to follow him with complete devotion. No other gods in your life. No other idols in your life. I'm actually reading a fantastic book right now called, um, Gods at War by Kyle Idleman. Okay? He's the same guy that wrote, not, uh, a fan, which is a very popular book, but the entire book, gods at war, is talking about the different idols that take up residence in our
hearts. And in fact, the author, Kyle Idleman, actually believes that every single sin that we do is rooted in some form of idolatry. Every single sin has a root of idolatry, which is kind of interesting. I had never thought of that before. But it does make some sense that when we sin, we are prioritizing something other than god. So it makes a lot of sense that, yes, all sins are a form of idolatry. god wants our full devotion, and he especially tells Solomon, you need
to do this. He says, if you go serve other gods, then all of this will happen. If your children go and serve other gods, then this will happen. Now, what's really interesting is that we're going to see that very quickly. Things do go very south for Israel, but yet God is always so compassionate toward Israel, even when they're going and serving other gods, he's always giving them chance after chance to turn back to him once again. But moving forward, there's a funny little story in
verses ten through 14. And this is King Hiram again. Now, King Hiram was the king of Tyrez, okay? He was also the king that supplied all of the building materials, specifically the wood for the temple to God and even for Solomon's palace. I'm pretty sure it says at the end of 20 years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, Yahweh's house and the king's house, it says that King Solomon gave Hiram 20 cities in the land of Galilee. Hiram comes out of tyre to see the cities which
Solomon had given him. And they didn't please him. So he didn't like the cities, these 20 cities that Solomon gave him. He's looking at him and he's just like, why did you give these to me in verse 13? He's like, what have you given to me, my brother? And he called them the land of Kabul, meaning good for nothing. That is what Kabul means in Hebrew. So Hiram really did not like these cities that Solomon gave him. And it actually says in two chronicles, I'm pretty sure that.
That Hiram gave these cities back to Solomon. He just did not like them and did not want them. We don't know why, but he did not want these 20 cities and thought they were good for nothing. But here's the thing. Solomon never should have given Hiram those cities to begin with, because those cities belonged to Israel, and Solomon had no right to give those cities away. He had no right to give those cities away. god had specifically said for Israel to not give
their land away. And Solomon was giving his land away to this king, which it's possible that the reason he gave these cities away to begin with was because he didn't have enough oil and wheat to pay Hiram for all of the, uh, for all of the gold and everything that Hiram had sent over. He possibly didn't have enough to pay Hiram. So he's like, you know what? I'll just give Hiram 20 cities in the
land of Galilee. That'll be good enough. But good thing Hiram gave those cities back and didn't like them, quite honestly, because Hiram was a foreign king. He possibly had other gods that weren't Yahweh, and he had no right to any land of Israel. And I think it was god possibly protecting israelite land when Solomon had made such a stupid mistake as to give that land away from the beginning. So Solomon, he was an excellent king for many
reasons. He was a very wise king, but he also didn't do the things that God had commanded the kings to do. And we can see that time and time again, and we're going to see that actually more and more as Solomon's story continues, that, uh, even though he was very wise, he didn't have a heart for Yahweh. Well, faithful listeners, I hope you enjoyed today's episode. And if you did, make sure to share it on your social media platforms and tell people that the Bible
explained podcast exists. Word of mouth is the best way that you can spread a podcast like this and actually even evangelize, because all we're doing here on the podcast is talking about the Bible and biblical history as well. But faithful listeners have a fantastic and wonderful rest of your day. I'll see you guys tomorrow, 06:00 a.m. or whenever you choose to wake up for an episode from first Corinthians. Happy listening and God bless. Mhm our channel.