I am using the daily Bible reading schedule from “The Bible.net” for my daily Bible reading.

Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 9-10.

    God responded to Solomon’s prayer from yesterday’s passage. God promised that as long as the people of Israel remained faithful to Him, He would establish and protect them. But if they failed to remain faithful, He would uproot them from the land and reject the Temple. The promise which God made to Solomon is one which still stands today. If a people are faithful to God, He will establish and protect them. However, if they reject His commands and instructions He will uproot them and bring disaster upon them.

    The rest of the passage describes how Solomon became wealthy and powerful as a result of his faithfulness to God. The Queen of Sheba, who was herself apparently fabulously wealthy, came to Jerusalem to test Solomon. He demonstrated wisdom and knowledge beyond her expectations. In addition, his wealth was everything rumor had conveyed to her. Solomon used his wisdom to negotiate and trade with many other peoples and lands. The core of his success lay with his grounding in God’s commands. It will not always work out for us as it did for Solomon, but if we obey God we will achieve success in all we do. Although that success will be according to God’s definition of success, not necessarily according to our definition of success