I am using One Year Bible Online for my daily Bible study. For today, One Year Bible Online links here. I have found that by writing this daily blog of what I see when I read these scriptures, I get more out of them. I hope that by posting these ruminations others may get some benefit as well. If you have any thoughts or comments regarding these verses or what I have written about them, please post them.

     In this passage, king Hiram of Tyre sends envoys to Solomon to discover what relationship Solomon would have with him, since he had always been friendly with David. Solomon’s response to Hiram indicates that Solomon intends to rule in a different manner than his father David. David started out as a bandit/raider (In 1 Samuel 27 we have an account of how David raided neighboring peoples while he was living among the Philistines). As he grew in power, he suppressed bandits and lived off of merchants providing him with tribute to suppress bandits. Even before he went to live among the Philistines he had done bandit suppression (see the story of David and Nabal in 1 Samuel 25). Considering that many of the peoples in that area lived by raiding merchant caravans, it is likely that bandit suppression played a significant motivational role in David’s wars of conquest. In his response to King Hiram, Solomon indicates that rather than receive payment from merchants in order to suppress bandits within the area he controls, Solomon intends to sponsor trade. The merchants passing through his lands will work for him.
     Upon making this trade deal with Hiram king of Tyre, Solomon begins building the Temple. Solomon conscripted close to two hundred thousand men to work on gathering the materials to build the Temple. This reflects some of what Samuel had warned the Israelites about when they demanded he anoint someone to be their king. The description of the Temple that Solomon built is very impressive with wood paneling on all of the interior surfaces and gold plating on much of it. It is impressive that he was able to get this built in seven years without using any modern machinery.

     When Stephen is brought before the Sanhedrin on charges of blasphemy, the high priest asks him if the charges are true. Stephen responds by giving an exposition on the history of the Jewish people. He starts by talking about Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. He talks about how God made promises to Abraham and gave him the covenant of circumcision. Stephen goes on to point out how God prophesied both the enslavement of the Israelites in Egypt and His freeing of them. At this point the members of the Sanhedrin are probably listening with rapt attention and agreeing with everything he is saying. Then he starts talking about Moses. He points out that Moses was special from birth and was called by God to rescue the Israelites. He tells how Moses killed an Egyptian overseer for abusing an Israelite. Then he says that Moses thought that the Israelites would see that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. Stephen illustrates this rejection by telling the story of Moses’ attempt to reconcile two Israelites who were fighting. I do not think his audience perceived where he was going when he got to this point. I think it is clear that Stephen was using Moses to show how the people of Israel had repeatedly rejected God’s messenger to them. That this rejection of Moses was a precursor to the rejection of Jesus.

     The psalmist tells us that no matter what we work at, if it is not the Lord’s will for it to come to fruition we are laboring in vain. No matter what we work at, we will not have success unless the Lord works with us toward that end. We should acknowledge that all of our successes are a gift from God. They are not a credit to our hard work. The psalmist goes on to say that children are a blessing from God. This goes directly counter to what is taught in our society today, which is that there are too many people on this earth and having many children is irresponsible. I do not think it is wrong for a couple to limit the number of children they have based on what they believe are their ability to properly raise them. However, the argument of those who disagree is rather compelling. If children are a blessing from God as the Bible teaches and I believe, why would you deny yourself a blessing? Is it not somewhat sacrilegious to deny yourself a blessing which God wishes to give you? I do not have an answer for that, but I do not agree with the starting point of those who say that we should limit the number of children we have because the earth is overpopulated. I do not believe that the earth is overpopulated and I do not believe that God will allow the earth to become overpopulated.

     We have today three proverbs that tell of three types of people who create trouble. The first is the troublemaker who spreads gossip in order to create conflict among others, often merely to amuse themselves watching other people fight. The second is the person who justifies using violence to resolve a dispute with someone else. Finally, is the person who conspires to make trouble for others. If you are involved with someone who is like this you should be careful because you may be their target next and, even if not, is their ends really worth the pain and suffering that they cause to others?