Through the Bible – Day 151

Bible text(s)

2 Chronicles 1

The LORD makes Solomon wise

₁King Solomon, the son of David, was now in complete control of his kingdom, because the LORD God had blessed him and made him a powerful king.

_2-5At that time, the sacred tent that Moses the servant of the LORD had made in the desert was still kept at Gibeon, and in front of the tent was the bronze altar that Bezalel had made.

One day, Solomon told the people of Israel, the army commanders, the officials, and the family leaders, to go with him to the place of worship at Gibeon, even though his father King David had already moved the sacred chest from Kiriath-Jearim to the tent that he had set up for it in Jerusalem. Solomon and the others went to Gibeon to worship the LORD, ₆and there at the bronze altar, Solomon offered a thousand animals as sacrifices to please the LORD.

₇God appeared to Solomon that night in a dream and said, “Solomon, ask for anything you want, and I will give it to you.”

₈Solomon answered:

LORD God, you were always loyal to my father David, and now you have made me king of Israel. ₉I am supposed to rule these people, but there are as many of them as there are specks of dust on the ground. So keep the promise you made to my father ₁₀and make me wise. Give me the knowledge I'll need to be the king of this great nation of yours.

₁₁God replied:

Solomon, you could have asked me to make you rich or famous or to let you live a long time. Or you could have asked for your enemies to be destroyed. Instead, you asked for wisdom and knowledge to rule my people. ₁₂So I will make you wise and intelligent. But I will also make you richer and more famous than any king before or after you.

₁₃Solomon then left Gibeon and returned to Jerusalem, the capital city of Israel.

Solomon's wealth

₁₄Solomon had a force of one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses that he kept in Jerusalem and other towns.

₁₅While Solomon was king of Israel, there was silver and gold everywhere in Jerusalem, and cedar was as common as ordinary sycamore trees in the foothills.

_16-17Solomon's merchants bought his horses and chariots in the regions of Musri and Kue. They paid six hundred pieces of silver for a chariot and a hundred and fifty pieces of silver for a horse. They also sold horses and chariots to the Hittite and Syrian kings.

2 Chronicles 2

Building and dedication of the Jerusalem temple

Solomon asks Hiram to help build the temple

(1 Kings 5.1-12)

₁Solomon decided to build a temple where the LORD would be worshipped, and also to build a palace for himself. ₂He assigned seventy thousand men to carry building supplies and eighty thousand to cut stone from the hills. And he chose three thousand six hundred men to supervise these workers.

₃Solomon sent the following message to King Hiram of Tyre:

Years ago, when my father David was building his palace, you supplied him with cedar logs. Now will you send me supplies? ₄I am building a temple where the LORD my God will be worshipped. Sweet-smelling incense will be burnt there, and sacred bread will be offered to him. Worshippers will offer sacrifices to the LORD every morning and evening, every Sabbath, and on the first day of each month, as well as during all our religious festivals. These things will be done for all time, just as the LORD has commanded.

₅This will be a great temple, because our God is greater than all other gods. ₆No one can ever build a temple large enough for God—even the heavens are too small a place for him to live in! All I can do is build a place where we can offer sacrifices to him.

₇Send me a worker who can not only carve, but who can work with gold, silver, bronze, and iron, as well as make brightly-coloured cloth. The person you send will work here in Judah and Jerusalem with the skilled workers that my father has already hired.

₈I know that you have workers who are experts at cutting timber in Lebanon. So would you please send me some cedar, pine, and juniper logs? My workers will be there to help them, ₉because I'll need a lot of timber to build such a large and glorious temple. ₁₀I will pay your woodcutters two thousand tonnes of wheat, the same amount of barley, four hundred thousand litres of wine, and that same amount of olive oil.

₁₁Hiram sent his answer back to Solomon:

I know that the LORD must love his people, because he has chosen you to be their king. ₁₂Praise the LORD God of Israel who made heaven and earth! He has given David a son who is not only wise and clever, but who has the knowledge to build a temple for the LORD and a palace for himself.

₁₃I am sending Huram Abi to you. He is very bright. ₁₄His mother was from the Israelite tribe of Dan, and his father was from Tyre. Not only is Huram an expert at working with gold, silver, bronze, iron, stone, and wood, but he can also make coloured cloth and fine linen. And he can carve anything if you give him a pattern to follow. He can help your workers and those hired by your father King David.

₁₅Go ahead and send the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you promised to pay my workers. ₁₆I will tell them to start cutting down trees in Lebanon. They will cut as many as you need, then tie them together into rafts, and float them down along the coast to Joppa. Your workers can take them to Jerusalem from there.

Solomon's work force

₁₇Solomon counted all the foreigners who were living in Israel, just as his father David had done when he was king, and the total was 153,600. ₁₈He assigned 70,000 of them to carry building supplies and 80,000 of them to cut stone from the hills. He chose 3,600 others to supervise the workers and to make sure the work was completed.

2 Chronicles 3

The temple is built

_1-2Solomon's workers began building the temple in Jerusalem on the second day of the second month, four years after Solomon had become king of Israel. It was built on Mount Moriah where the LORD had appeared to David at the threshing place that had belonged to Araunah from Jebus.

₃The inside of the temple was twenty-seven metres long and nine metres wide, according to the older standards. ₄Across the front of the temple was a porch nine metres wide and nine metres high. The inside walls of the porch were covered with pure gold.

₅Solomon had the inside walls of the temple's main room panelled first with pine and then with a layer of gold, and he had them decorated with carvings of palm trees and designs that looked like chains. ₆He used precious stones to decorate the temple, and he used gold imported from Parvaim ₇to decorate the ceiling beams, the doors, the door frames, and the walls. Solomon also made the workers carve designs of winged creatures into the walls.

₈The most holy place was nine metres square, and its walls were covered with over twenty tonnes of fine gold. ₉Five hundred and seventy grammes of gold was used to cover the heads of the nails. The walls of the small storage rooms were also covered with gold.

₁₀Solomon had two statues of winged creatures made to put in the most holy place, and he covered them with gold. _11-13Each creature had two wings and was four and a half metres from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other wing. Solomon set them next to each other in the most holy place, facing the doorway. Their wings were spread out and reached all the way across the nine metre room.

₁₄A curtain was made of fine linen woven with blue, purple, and red wool, and embroidered with designs of winged creatures.

The two columns

₁₅Two columns were made for the entrance to the temple. Each one was five and a half metres tall and had a cap on top that was over two metres high. ₁₆The top of each column was decorated with designs that looked like chains and with a hundred carvings of pomegranates. ₁₇Solomon had one of the columns placed on the south side of the temple's entrance; it was called Jachin. The other one was placed on the north side of the entrance; it was called Boaz.

2 Chronicles 1:1-3:17CEVOpen in Bible reader

John 12

₃₇He had performed a lot of miracles among the people, but they were still not willing to have faith in him. ₃₈This happened so that what the prophet Isaiah had said would come true,

“Lord, who has believed

our message?

And who has seen

your mighty strength?”

₃₉The people could not have faith in Jesus, because Isaiah had also said,

₄₀“The Lord has blinded

the eyes of the people,

and he has made

the people stubborn.

He did this so that they

could not see

or understand,

and so that they

would not turn to the Lord

and be healed.”

₄₁Isaiah said this, because he saw the glory of Jesus and spoke about him. ₄₂Even then, many of the leaders put their faith in Jesus, but they did not tell anyone about it. The Pharisees had already given orders for the people not to have anything to do with anyone who had faith in Jesus. ₄₃And besides, the leaders liked praise from others more than they liked praise from God.

Jesus came to save the world

₄₄In a loud voice Jesus said:

Everyone who has faith in me also has faith in the one who sent me. ₄₅And everyone who has seen me has seen the one who sent me. ₄₆I am the light that has come into the world. No one who has faith in me will stay in the dark.

₄₇I am not the one who will judge those who refuse to obey my teachings. I came to save the people of this world, not to be their judge. ₄₈But everyone who rejects me and my teachings will be judged on the last day by what I have said. ₄₉I don't speak on my own. I say only what the Father who sent me has told me to say. ₅₀I know that his commands will bring eternal life. That is why I tell you exactly what the Father has told me.

John 12:37-50CEVOpen in Bible reader