Come Holy Spirit. Give us understanding and wisdom. ESV 1 Kings 4 King Solomon was king over all Israel, 2 and these were his high officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest; 3 Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder; 4 Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests; 5 Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and kings friend; 6 Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor. 7 Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year. 8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim; 9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan; 10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (to him belonged Socoh and all the land of Hepher); 11 Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (he had Taphath the daughter of Solomon as his wife); 12 Baana the son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean that is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, and from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam; 13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair the son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars); 14 Ahinadab the son of Iddo, in Mahanaim; 15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he had taken Basemath the daughter of Solomon as his wife); 16 Baana the son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth; 17 Jehoshaphat the son of Paruah, in Issachar; 18 Shimei the son of Ela, in Benjamin; 19 Geber the son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and of Og king of Bashan. And there was one governor who was over the land. 20 Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. 21 [a] Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates[b] to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22 Solomons provision for one day was thirty cors[c] of fine flour and sixty cors of meal, 23 ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl. 24 For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates[d] from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him. 25 And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon. 26 Solomon also had 40,000[e] stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. 27 And those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to King Solomons table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking. 28 Barley also and straw for the horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it was required, each according to his duty. 29 And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore, 30 so that Solomons wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. 31 For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations. 32 He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. 33 He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish. 34 And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. Solomon is making a really good start. Hes going to be a great king, a mighty king, and this record of his start shows that he is already great. But God is continuing to build his case for the necessity of Jesus, and Solomon is going to fall, just like every other sinful man. Bear that in mind as you read, and dont get too attached to the idea of Solomon being a mighty man of God. He is, but like all mankind, without Jesus and the Holy Spirit, he cannot maintain it. He is imbued with original sin, and he is going to be pulled down by it. When I write these, I first pray over it, which I share with you at the top. Some days, there isnt much I can say about the passage when I start besides Holy Spirit-HELP! Some days, he gives me what to say. Some days, I have to go digging. Some days, Ive got a great sermon or Bible study tucked away that Ive heard in the past. Some days, there just isnt much to say, or its really tough to beat into something readable. Im digging today. One of the first things I ran across was this outline. I know absolutely nothing about this church or pastor, but I like this outline and it might help you. blackhawkchurch.org/wp-content/uploads/2012/02/eat_this_book_kings.pdf Look over it and see if it helps you grasp what we are going to be reading in the coming weeks. This is a structural passage. It isnt relating an event so much as it is giving you structure and details for understanding the rest of Kings, and there are things you will want to know as you go forward into Chronicles and the rest of the Bible. I think weve discovered as weve studied together that the parts that make our eyes glaze over and we tend to skip are often the most important parts. Now, Ive read the whole Bible several times. Ive done in depth studies of parts. Studying with you is often the first time Ive done a particular book in depth. Im learning some of this right along with you. The more I dig into these names, places and genealogical tables, the more Im realizing that half or more of the meaning of the Bible is hidden to you if you dont know these details. So dig into names. These ugly passages that seem to have nothing in them often end up being the passages I work hardest on. Azariah jewishencyclopedia/articles/2198-azariah Im not finding much on the sons of Shisha. This must be the only place they are mentioned. Im not finding much on Jehosaphat, except that there are several people in the Bible with this name. christiananswers.net/dictionary/jehoshaphat.html Like as not, Jehosaphat is the person who wrote down these passages. Weve seen Benaiah before. He was one of Davids mighty men. Weve seen him in Samuel, and we will see more of him in Chronicles. With a little digging, it looks like the men he commands are Philistines, although it isnt certain. However, weve seen in other places that David had Philistines in his inner circle of body guards and kings troops, so it wouldnt be surprising. Keep in mind here, David came into public notice when he killed the champion of the Philistines, and yet they became loyal enough to him to serve in his inner circle. Notice that he has Azariah son of Zadok as his chief priest, and as best I can tell, hes got Azariahs father and grandfather serving under him. Now, I havent studied Hebrew yet. With Marian, I am four years into studying Latin, but I havent done anything with Hebrew. I have read that Hebrew doesnt have the concise, specific words for things like father, son, brother, cousin etc. that we have in English, and I think there is an intuitive sense of that. We know that men were commanded to marry the widow of their brother if there were no sons, and any sons of that relationship would be considered the dead mans sons. That gives us a vagueness and ambiguity about the male line, which you would expect to be reflected in the language. The articles I found are not specific to the topic we are discussing here, and would be sort of tangential and confusing in this context, so Im not going to link them. But apparently the father/son words can also be used to describe grandfather and grandson, uncle and nephew. The brother word can also be used to describe cousin. Given that difference in the language, the relationships described here are not contradictory. Solomon has more than one Azariah in his court, which had to get confusing. The first Azariah, as weve seen, is son of Abiathar and grandson of Zadok. The second is the son of Nathan. Weve already seen Nathan in Samuel. He was the prophet who jerked David up short over killing Uriah and taking Bathsheba. Not only did David respect Nathan for calling him on his sin, and keep him around, but now we see Nathans sons advising Davids son. Azariah is in charge of Solomons men, Zabud is Solomons priest and friend. Im not finding anything about Ahishar, other than his name means brother of song, or my brother has sung. Digging into Adoniram son of Abda a bit, it would appear that Abdas father is Shammah, the Hararite. Many of these men go back to 2 Samuel 23. We just read that passage recently, but its worth going back over it. Clearly, Solomon is choosing his inner circle from the best sons of his fathers best men. This gives insight into hararite. abarim-publications/Meaning/Hararite.html#.VKqyJivF9XY Im not going to dig into the men in charge of providing the food for Solomons table. This will get way too long if we do. At the end of the passage, the author compares Solomon to the words of the sons of Mahol. We actually have some of the words of one of those sons in Psalm 89. Psalm 89 A Maskil[a] of Ethan the Ezrahite. 89 I will sing of the steadfast love of the Lord, forever; with my mouth I will make known your faithfulness to all generations. 2 For I said, “Steadfast love will be built up forever; in the heavens you will establish your faithfulness.” 3 You have said, “I have made a covenant with my chosen one; I have sworn to David my servant: 4 ‘I will establish your offspring forever, and build your throne for all generations.’” Selah 5 Let the heavens praise your wonders, O Lord, your faithfulness in the assembly of the holy ones! 6 For who in the skies can be compared to the Lord? Who among the heavenly beings[b] is like the Lord, 7 a God greatly to be feared in the council of the holy ones, and awesome above all who are around him? 8 O Lord God of hosts, who is mighty as you are, O Lord, with your faithfulness all around you? 9 You rule the raging of the sea; when its waves rise, you still them. 10 You crushed Rahab like a carcass; you scattered your enemies with your mighty arm. 11 The heavens are yours; the earth also is yours; the world and all that is in it, you have founded them. 12 The north and the south, you have created them; Tabor and Hermon joyously praise your name. 13 You have a mighty arm; strong is your hand, high your right hand. 14 Righteousness and justice are the foundation of your throne; steadfast love and faithfulness go before you. 15 Blessed are the people who know the festal shout, who walk, O Lord, in the light of your face, 16 who exult in your name all the day and in your righteousness are exalted. 17 For you are the glory of their strength; by your favor our horn is exalted. 18 For our shield belongs to the Lord, our king to the Holy One of Israel. 19 Of old you spoke in a vision to your godly one,[c] and said: “I have granted help to one who is mighty; I have exalted one chosen from the people. 20 I have found David, my servant; with my holy oil I have anointed him, 21 so that my hand shall be established with him; my arm also shall strengthen him. 22 The enemy shall not outwit him; the wicked shall not humble him. 23 I will crush his foes before him and strike down those who hate him. 24 My faithfulness and my steadfast love shall be with him, and in my name shall his horn be exalted. 25 I will set his hand on the sea and his right hand on the rivers. 26 He shall cry to me, ‘You are my Father, my God, and the Rock of my salvation.’ 27 And I will make him the firstborn, the highest of the kings of the earth. 28 My steadfast love I will keep for him forever, and my covenant will stand firm[d] for him. 29 I will establish his offspring forever and his throne as the days of the heavens. 30 If his children forsake my law and do not walk according to my rules,[e] 31 if they violate my statutes and do not keep my commandments, 32 then I will punish their transgression with the rod and their iniquity with stripes, 33 but I will not remove from him my steadfast love or be false to my faithfulness. 34 I will not violate my covenant or alter the word that went forth from my lips. 35 Once for all I have sworn by my holiness; I will not lie to David. 36 His offspring shall endure forever, his throne as long as the sun before me. 37 Like the moon it shall be established forever, a faithful witness in the skies.” Selah 38 But now you have cast off and rejected; you are full of wrath against your anointed. 39 You have renounced the covenant with your servant; you have defiled his crown in the dust. 40 You have breached all his walls; you have laid his strongholds in ruins. 41 All who pass by plunder him; he has become the scorn of his neighbors. 42 You have exalted the right hand of his foes; you have made all his enemies rejoice. 43 You have also turned back the edge of his sword, and you have not made him stand in battle. 44 You have made his splendor to cease and cast his throne to the ground. 45 You have cut short the days of his youth; you have covered him with shame. Selah 46 How long, O Lord? Will you hide yourself forever? How long will your wrath burn like fire? 47 Remember how short my time is! For what vanity you have created all the children of man! 48 What man can live and never see death? Who can deliver his soul from the power of Sheol? Selah 49 Lord, where is your steadfast love of old, which by your faithfulness you swore to David? 50 Remember, O Lord, how your servants are mocked, and how I bear in my heart the insults[f] of all the many nations, 51 with which your enemies mock, O Lord, with which they mock the footsteps of your anointed. 52 Blessed be the Lord forever! Amen and Amen. Can you see Jesus in his words?
Posted on: Mon, 05 Jan 2015 16:08:20 +0000
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