1 As soon as Solomon had finished building the house of the LORD and the king's house and all that Solomon desired to build,
2 the LORD appeared to Solomon a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
3 And the LORD said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your plea, which you have made before me. I have consecrated this house that you have built, by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time.
4 And as for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, with integrity of heart and uprightness, doing according to all that I have commanded you, and keeping my statutes and my rules,
5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, as I promised David your father, saying, 'You shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.'
6 But if you turn aside from following me, you or your children, and do not keep my commandments and my statutes that I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them,
7 then I will cut off Israel from the land that I have given them, and the house that I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and Israel will become a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
8 And this house will become a heap of ruins. Everyone passing by it will be astonished and will hiss, and they will say, 'Why has the LORD done thus to this land and to this house?'
9 Then they will say, 'Because they abandoned the LORD their God who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt and laid hold on other gods and worshiped them and served them. Therefore the LORD has brought all this disaster on them.'"
Solomon's Other Acts
10 At the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the LORD and the king's house,
11 and Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon with cedar and cypress timber and gold, as much as he desired, King Solomon gave to Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
12 But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, they did not please him.
13 Therefore he said, "What kind of cities are these that you have given me, my brother?" So they are called the land of Cabul to this day.
14 Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
15 And this is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the LORD and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer
16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife;
17 so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and Lower Beth-horon
18 and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah,
19 and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
20 All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel---
21 their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction---these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day.
22 But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen.
23 These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: 550 who had charge of the people who carried on the work.
24 But Pharaoh's daughter went up from the city of David to her own house that Solomon had built for her. Then he built the Millo.
25 Three times a year Solomon used to offer up burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar that he built to the LORD, making offerings with it before the LORD. So he finished the house.
26 King Solomon built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
27 And Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, seamen who were familiar with the sea, together with the servants of Solomon.
28 And they went to Ophir and brought from there gold, 420 talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.
1 Kings 10: The Queen of Sheba
1 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.
2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind.
3 And Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her.
4 And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built,
5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more breath in her.
6 And she said to the king, "The report was true that I heard in my own land of your words and of your wisdom,
7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told me. Your wisdom and prosperity surpass the report that I heard.
8 Happy are your men! Happy are your servants, who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom!
9 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness."
10 Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold, and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. Never again came such an abundance of spices as these that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
11 Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which brought gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a very great amount of almug wood and precious stones.
12 And the king made of the almug wood supports for the house of the LORD and for the king's house, also lyres and harps for the singers. No such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.
13 And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked besides what was given her by the bounty of King Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
Solomon's Great Wealth
14 Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold,
15 besides that which came from the explorers and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of the west and from the governors of the land.
16 King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold; 600 shekels of gold went into each shield.
17 And he made 300 shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
18 The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.
19 The throne had six steps, and at the back of the throne was a calf's head, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests,
20 while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom.
21 All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver; silver was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon.
22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
23 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom.
24 And the whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.
25 Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.
26 And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen, whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
27 And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.
28 And Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king's traders received them from Kue at a price.
29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150, and so through the king's traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Syria.
Things to think about…
1. The Lord appears to Solomon a second time and confirms His promises to bless him for faithfulness or to judge him for disobedience. The promise was that “this house will become a heap of ruins”, 1Kings 9:8 for not honouring the Lord. Note that the promise was directed specifically to Solomon for his witness before the people, 1Kings 9:4. Solomon’s heart of course was turned away by his many wives and the Lord’s promise was fulfilled. In 586BC the temple that Solomon built lay in ruins after being destroyed by the Babylonians. The building was built around 957BC and therefore stood for around 370 years. One day it will be rebuilt and destroyed again during the tribulation.
2. The Canaanite nations were not destroyed but were taken as slaves by Solomon, 1Kings 9:20. While they were alive and were slaves they still had a spiritual influence on Israel. Idol worship was not abandoned by Israel, the high places for worship to both Yahweh and other gods was practised. These practises ultimately led to the captivity of northern Israel in 722 BC by the Assyrians and the captivity of Judah by the Babylonians in 586BC.
3. The Queen of Sheba offers the same amount of gold to Solomon as King Hiram did – 120 talents. She is amazed at Solomon’s wealth and wisdom. So much so, her breath was taken from her. But she was given by Solomon more than she had given to him. This is something of what we should experience as we stand in awe of the Saviour Jesus Christ, whose wealth and wisdom far exceeds that of Solomon’s. He blesses us so much more than we could ever offer in return.
4. The numbers associated with Solomon’s wealth are staggering 1Kings10:14-29. But we of course start to see some fleshly cracks in Solomon’s rule. Horses were bought and traded. Chariots were bought from Egypt, 1Kings 10:26. The Israelites were not supposed to own horses or trust in their strength, Solomon’s father David understood this principal, Ps 20:7,8. Solomon here defies the Lord and so we see the beginning of self-reliance and the start of decay in his kingdom and influence.
5. Our trust today should be in the Lord. It was Oliver Cromwell who said “trust in the Lord, but keep your powder dry”. Getting this balance right for the Christian takes much wisdom and grace. Pray that we all receive the Lord’s wisdom.
Vision statement for CBC
CBC’s Vision :- To be a growing biblical church community, significantly influencing our city and beyond, through intentional outreach, fulfilling our mission.
Life groups Wednesdays. 6:30pm every Wednesday. 5:30pm prayer.
Prayer Points
1. A new admin and finance officer for CBC. Pray for God’s choosing in this role.
2. Pray for the US as they enter into the final day of the election.
3. Prayer for Israel, Gaza and Lebanon for peace to descend over the region.
4. Pray for the work we have going on with site development and TMR and the development of a project team.
5. Keep praying for PlayPatch on Fridays, pray for more families to be reached.
6. Pray for Chaplaincy and Kids Hope at Karalee State School.
7. The ongoing conflict in Ukraine.
8. Church finances to continue to grow and expenses to be more than met.
9. Pray for Kids@Church, Life groups. Young Adults.
10. Mathys has a prayer time at church on Wednesday afternoons, 5:30pm at church. He would be happy for you to join him and to send prayer requests.
11. Pray about the possibility and planning of a Farmers Market at Chuwar Baptist Church once a month on Saturdays. Anastasia taking the lead on this. Pray for us as we plan
12. That we be bold in our witnessing for Christ. Pray for a heart to see those around you to be saved. Pray for the blessing over the new pastoral care and hosting program.
13. Growth, conversions, joy in the Word and Spirit to increase.
Praise Points
1. Baptisms and testimonies. Praise God for the witness of Lucy, Anna, Aron and Nathan. Pray the Lord encourages them this week.
2. More new visitors on Sunday. Pray they feel welcomed in the church
3. Joy, peace and grace we see at CBC. Thankyou Lord
Announcements
1. Members meeting – AGM - 24th Nov after the service
2. PlayPatch Friday mornings – 9:30am. Contact Anna for details
3. Prayer meeting 5:30pm and Life Group Wednesday 6:30pm at church.
4. Carols Sunday 22nd Dec starting from 3pm.
5. Church bank details bsb:- 704 913 and Acc number:- 4000 4388 1
6. Tune in again this week on our YouTube page. Subscribe to the CBC channel Chuwar Baptist YouTube channel.
Catechism questions for November...
Q. 26. Who tempted them to this sin? A. The devil tempted Eve, and she gave the fruit to Adam.
