Day 106, 1 Kings 4-6

King Solomon was king over all of Israel. Today started out with listing his high officials: who they were and their jobs.

• Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest
• Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries
• Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder
• Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army
• Zadok and Abiathar were priests
• Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers
• Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and king’s friend/personal advisor
• Ahishar was in charge of the palace
• Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor

Solomon also 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. It listed their names, who they were, and where they were from.

At this point Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. They had peace all around them, and Judah and Israel lived in safety.

Solomon also had 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots, and 12,000 horsemen. Those officers supplied provisions for King Solomon, and for all who came to his table, each one in his month. They let nothing be lacking. They even had barley and straw for the horses, and swift steeds they brought to the palace where it was required, each according to his duty.

Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all other men, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.

He spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005. He spoke of trees, beasts, birds, reptiles, and fish. People from all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in the place of his father, for Hiram always loved David. Solomon sent word to Hiram saying that his father was never able to build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare and his enemies surrounding him.

But now, the Lord had given them rest on all sides, so Solomon planned to build a house for the name of the Lord. As the Lord said to his father, “Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name,” and Solomon intended to do just that.

Solomon told him to command the cedars of Lebanon be cut for him, and his servants would join Hiram’s servants, and he would pay him for them the wages that he set.

As soon as Hiram heard these words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.”

Hiram sent to Solomon a message saying that he heard what he had sent, and he was ready to do all that Solomon asked of him in the matter of cedar and cypress timber. His servants would bring it down to the sea from Lebanon.

So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber he desired and Solomon made sure his servants were fed. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him, and there was a peace between Hiram and Solomon and the two made a treaty.

King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. He sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month there and two months at home.

Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, besides his 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, and had charge of the workers.

In the four hundredth and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, he began to build the house of the Lord.

It went on to explain the details of the house: the dimensions, the windows, the structure, the stories, the outside, the walls, the entrance, the ceiling, etc. When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron was heard in the house while it was being built.

The word of the Lord came to Solomon, “Concerning this house that you are building, if you will walk in my statutes and obey my rules and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you, which I spoke to David your father. And I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel.”

So Solomon built the house and finished it. He built in it an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place. He prepared the inner sanctuary in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He overlaid all of it with pure gold.

He made two cherubim of olivewood that were identical. He put them in the innermost part of the house. The wings of one cherubim were spread out so that a wing of one touched the one wall, and a wing of the other cherubim touched the other wall. Their other wings touched each other in the middle of the house. He overlaid them with gold.

Around all the walls of the house he carved engraved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers, in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold.

In the fourth year the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid. In the eleventh year, in the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts, and according to specifications. It took seven years to build it.