Tag Archives: Solomon asks for wisdom

Daily Bible Study

July 20, 2012 Bible Study

     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.

2 Chronicles 1-3:17

     Second Chronicles begins with Solomon taking the throne of Israel. He then gathered the leaders of Israel and went to Gibeon where the Tabernacle is still located (even though David had moved the Ark of the Covenant to Jerusalem) to offer sacrifices. That night God appeared to Solomon and asked him what he desired God to give him. Solomon asks for the wisdom and knowledge to lead the people properly. God replied that he would give Solomon wisdom and knowledge, and because Solomon’s first thought was of the people, God would give him great wealth and fame.
     The next thing we are told is that Solomon had a huge force of chariots and horses. This is followed be an account that suggests that Solomon’s power and wealth were based on being in the center of a trading empire. David built his power by protecting the trade routes through Israel/Palestine from bandits and raiders. Solomon built his power and wealth by taking control of the trade that used those routes. Next we are told that Solomon arranged a trade agreement with King Hiram of Tyre for master craftsmen to oversee the building of the Temple and for lumber to use in the construction. Solomon took a census of the foreigners living in the land of Israel. He then recruited them as forced labor to build the Temple.
     Today’s passage ends with a description of the Temple that Solomon built. There are two things about it that strike me. The first is something that I have always been aware of. It contained a massive amount of gold and other precious materials. The second thing is that it wasn’t really all that big. The Temple was about 2700 square feet, the average new house in the U.S. in 2010 was about 2400 square feet. Now the square footage of a house is based on multiple floors, while the Temple was a single floor. However, on another site I found a measurement that said the footprint for an average house was around 800 to 1500 square feet. Based on that, a house that was 30 feet by 50 feet would not be considered terribly large, whereas this passage tells us that Solomon’s Temple was 30 feet by 90 feet, or less than double the size of a moderately large house.

Romans 6:1-23

     Yesterday’s passage ended with Paul telling us that as people sinned more and more, God’s grace became more abundant. Today’s passage begins by telling us that this does not mean that we should sin so as to cause God to show us even more grace. Instead he tells us that the power of sin over us has been crucified alongside of Jesus and we are raised with Him. That even as death no longer has any power of Jesus, so sin should no longer have any power over us. Paul tells us that we are slaves to that which we choose to obey. If we sin, we are yielding ourselves into slavery to sin. We should instead choose to be slaves of righteousness.
     I had never looked at this passage this way before, but I have a story that illustrates what Paul is getting at here. When I got out of college, I smoked pot. After a time, I realized that as a Christian I should quit (I probably knew all along that as a Christian I shouldn’t smoke pot, but before this point that hadn’t entered my calculations). I, also, felt called to be more active in the Church. I tried to give up pot, but was unsuccessful in doing so. I became more and more convicted that I should be more active in the Church. But I felt like I needed to give up pot first, that otherwise I would be a hypocrite. After quite some time of trying to quit pot and failing, God revealed to me that I should not put off any longer doing what I knew I should be doing and I should become more active in the Church. I said to God, “OK, I can’t stop doing this, which I know I should not be doing, but I will start doing that, which I know I should be doing.” The interesting thing is that when I stopped trying to quit smoking pot and started doing the things that I knew that God was calling me to do, I almost immediately stopped smoking pot. When I made myself a slave to righteousness (obeying the commands of being righteous), I stopped being a slave to sin. There were a couple of steps involved here. The first was acknowledging that smoking pot was a sin. The second was acknowledging that I did not have the ability on my own to stop committing that sin. The final was being open about the fact that I was a sinner and being active doing works of righteousness anyway. The lesson I take away from this (both the story and this passage) is that if there is a sin in your life that you cannot overcome, you need to become more active in doing acts of righteousness. I have sins I struggle with now. I see that the solution to my struggle is to spend less time in “leisure” activity and more time doing acts of righteousness, whether that is Church activities, writing another blog or some other activity that God calls me to. Time we spend doing acts of righteousness is time we do not have to sin.

Psalm 16:1-11

     There are two elements to today’s psalm. The first is that the psalmist turns to God for safety. He recognizes that every good thing comes from God. The second is that he vows to not take part in the worship of other gods, whether those gods are Vishnu and Zeus, or pleasure and wealth. The psalmist says that he will follow God’s guidance and not be shaken because God is right beside him. What more do we need than the joy of being in God’s presence and the pleasure of living with Him forever?

Proverbs 19:20-21

     Today’s first proverb tells us that we should actively seek advice and instruction. Beyond that, we should take advice and instruction, even when we were not seeking it. The second proverb tells us that we make whatever plans we desire, but God’s purpose will be served. We should seek to align our plans with God’s will, to make our plans to serve God’s purposes.

Daily Bible Study

June 8, 2012 Bible Study

     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.

1 Kings 3:3-4:34

     This passage starts by telling us that Solomon showed his love for the Lord by obeying the instructions that David had given him, except for the fact that he offered sacrifices at the high places. When I was younger I believed that these were sacrifices to idols. My recollection is that I was taught that, but that may be a faulty memory. In fact if one reads closely one realizes that Solomon was offering sacrifices to God on those high places. It is after Solomon offered sacrifices to God at one of these high places that God tells Solomon in a dream to ask for whatever he wants God to give him. I had never noticed before, but most translations say that God told Solomon to tell Him what Solomon wanted God to give him without actually saying that He would give it to him. This is consistent with God’s answer to Solomon’s request. After Solomon tells God that he would like God to give him wisdom, God tells Solomon that because he asked for wisdom, He will grant Solomon’s request. The implication is that if Solomon had asked for something else, God may not have granted his request.
     Next we have the story where Solomon was asked to decide which of two women was the mother of a child. Both women claimed that the child was born to them and that the child born to the other woman had died. There were no other witnesses. Solomon has a sword brought and proposes that the child be cut in half and that each woman receive half. The account tells us that the child’s real mother objected, saying that rather than kill the child give it to the other woman to raise. While the other woman was content that the child be killed. Solomon then ordered that the child not be killed but be given to the woman who was willing to give up her claim that the child might live. The biblical account tells us that the woman who wanted the child to live was the child’s real mother and I believe that it means that she was the child’s biological mother. However, in this story, even if she was not the child’s biological mother, the woman who would give up her claim in order to save the child’s life was indeed the child’s real mother.

Acts 6:1-15

     In earlier passages we had been told that wealthy believers sold their property and brought the money to the apostles to be distributed to those in need. Now we are told that as the number of believers increased there was strife among the believers between the Greek-speaking believers and the Hebrew-speaking believers. The Greek-speaking believers felt that their widows were being discriminated against in the daily distribution. From the remedy that the apostles chose it is clear that there complaint was not without some basis. The apostles asked the believers to choose seven well respected men to take over the distribution of food to those in need. While these men were chosen to handle the distribution of food to those in need and free up the apostles to preach and pray, it quickly becomes apparent that these men did not limit themselves to overseeing the provision to the needy.

     We are told that Stephen got into a debate with some men from the Synagogue of the Freed Slaves. I was unable to find any definitive information about this group. However, some of them were from Alexandria and Cyrene, both of which were noted centers of learning in the Roman empire. This suggests to me that these were Jews who were practiced in Greek philosophy and debate. In addition, the passage tells us that some of them were from Cilicia. Tarsus, the birth place of Saul, later Paul, was in Cilicia. All of this suggests to me that Stephen got into a debate with a group of men who were proud of their debating skills. Men who were sure they had the answers that proved that Jesus was not the Messiah. When they were unable to counter Stephen’s arguments they became angry and claimed that he had committed blasphemy. I suspect that before their encounter with Stephen they had claimed that in order to believe that Jesus was the Messiah one needed to also believe some blasphemous creed. When Stephen was unswayed by their arguments and further defeated their arguments, they concluded that he must be blaspheming because they had decided before ever engaging Stephen in discussion that anyone who believed what he did must also believe certain blasphemous things. When Stephen was brought before the Sanhedrin on these charges, some kind of transformation came over him so that those who looked at him felt that they were in the presence of someone extraordinarily holy.

Psalm 126

     The psalmist tells us here that suffering is only temporary for those who love the Lord. That those who sever the Lord will experience joy and laughter.

Proverbs 16:26-27

     This proverb tells us that those who have unsatisfied desires will work harder than those whose every want has been met.