And Father, we pray together even now, again asking you for
the help of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that we just sang
about, that this would be indeed a vibrant and life giving time.
We pray that you would remove all weightiness, all
distraction, all cloudiness of thought, any obstruction of our
own beliefs that are contrary to the truth.
And Lord, just sweep us into the sweetness of your Word, the
wisdom of your Word, the saving power of your Word.
And we ask that the delivery of this Word would not be void of
the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that it would be
absolutely energized, but what you can only do through a human
vessel. And so we just submit to the
leading of the Spirit even now, and let this be a changing, a
life changing moment for all of us tonight.
We trust you, Heavenly Father, we believe you and we give you
glory now in Jesus name. Amen.
Solomon, although he in chapter three with his God-given wisdom,
received national attention and praise for how he solved A
seemingly impossible case, is now actually going to in this
chapter, show how he is about to delegate and share certain
responsibilities in his Kingdom with other people.
This amazing man who is recognized with unparalleled
intelligence, is actually going to show us here that he relied
on other individuals. He relied on other people to
make his system his Kingdom efficient and successful.
And we might look at these verses here and be tempted to
ignore them or to fly by them. But the detailed roster here of
Solomon's high officials and ministers are inviting us to see
the breath of Solomon's wisdom further.
In other words, Chapter three was not the only thing that
displayed the early signs of the prudence and insight of this
man. It continues to be exercised in
Chapter 4, and we have to determine that at the outset of
this chapter so that we can see what this really all about.
This Is Us looking through the window to examine just how far
and how wide the mind of Solomon really was.
And it was all been granted by God himself.
And as we see this, we'll realize many things.
But there is one overarching lesson.
There is one simple observation that we can make just by
scanning through these various names and territories and
different charges that are given to different people under
Solomon's leadership. And it is this.
Solomon's leadership was not just limited to solving problems
or determining true justice. Solomon's leadership here, as
shown in his administrative abilities, his organizational
skills, but even more than that, Solomon's wisdom here, it's it's
going to be proven in that he sees the value.
He sees the necessity of other people working alongside of him.
Wisdom does not make you arrogantly self reliant.
True wisdom from God opens up your eyes and mind to see, to
understand, to perceive that we must be relationally strategic
and inclusive. A wise person sees the beauty
and the necessity of other people of like mindedness
walking hand in hand together for the glory of God.
And that's just the overarching lesson because if we just hear
that, then we might think, OK, this is this is a Bible study
for leaders. Solomon was a leader.
So this is mainly applied to those who are in every in any
kind of capacity of leadership. But we are in Bible study and
have been in Bible study long enough to know that there's
always underlying principles and truths for all of us.
And the way that we're going to discover this is to take our
time. Going through what again might
cause other people to say this has no, this has no relation to
my life. Oh, you're wrong.
This is Holy Scripture. This is God's words.
This is God's voice. And he had you in mind.
He had you in mind when he wrote this.
He had the Saints of God in mind, in Christ Jesus when he
penned these words. And so let's read the first few
verses together. First Kings Chapter 4, verse.
One King Solomon was king over all Israel and these were his
high officials. Azariah, the son of Zadok was
the priest. Elihoreth and Ahia, the sons of
Shisha were secretaries. Yehoshaphat, the son of Ahilod
was recorder. Benaiah, the son of Yehoidah was
in command of the army. Zadok and Abiathar were priest.
Azariah, the son of Nathan was over the officers.
Zebah, the son of Nathan, was priest and King's friend.
Ahishar was in charge of the palace and Adoniram, the son of
Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
Solomon 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. You probably won't find a text
like this in one of those daily devotionals.
That's what makes Friday night so special, because we are
almost forced to look at these verses with joy to see what is
it that God has to say. Well, we're not going to look at
each of these names and what these men did, but we will look
at some of them. Look back here again in verse 2.
Here are the names of some of the high officials and the first
one that is mentioned is a man. Azariah, the son of Zadok or
Zadok was the priest. Notice it says the priest, not
just priest. So it is believed that this man,
Zadok, or rather the Azariah, the son of Zadok was selected,
identified rather as the High priest.
The High Priest. And it is believed here that the
fact that this man is mentioned first is to denote how his
position was of greatest importance, that of all the
offices and all the responsibilities.
What was of most significance to Solomon was the establishment of
the chief spiritual leader in Israel.
And if that is the case, if that's what this means, that
Azariah being mentioned first shows the priority of the
priesthood, the priority of this office, then it says something
about the wisdom of Solomon. I'm sure it says something about
how he was thinking. It says something about how God
led him and directed him as a leader of so many other leaders.
And it is this. I was looking at this, and I
thought to myself, if this is Solomon, the Holy Spirit,
inviting us to exhibit his his wisdom, then it certainly shows
how true wisdom knows how to prioritize spiritual matters.
True wisdom will guide you, help you direct you to prioritize the
things of the Spirit, the things pertaining to your relationship
with God, the things pertaining to the truth.
Listen, a wise man or a wise woman will not neglect his soul,
will not neglect the health of their inner man.
A wise man or a wise woman will see again the beauty and the
value and the necessity of a fellowship of Saints and will
actually orbit their lives around that community.
A wise man, a wise woman, somebody who truly has this gift
from God, will also understand and know and seek and carefully
choose who their spiritual authorities will be, who they
will receive the word of God from.
And Solomon here is proving that, and it's not just proven
by the identification of the high priest.
Look down at verse 5 and notice this man, Zeba, the son of
Nathan, who was priest and King's friend.
That's a heartwarming verse, right?
We're told about one of Solomon's closest companions.
He was a friend. He was a friend to Solomon.
But I believe this is speaking more than just about somebody
who was near and dear to the king.
I believe that the King's friend here is actually speaking about
a position. And the position I'm thinking
of, and most people agree with, is that this is a chief
counselor to Solomon. This is somebody who Solomon
could confine and somebody he can pour his heart out to,
somebody from the primary ranks who would receive what Solomon
is thinking about in terms of a next project or what he's
dealing with. This was who Zebad was.
And in selecting this individual, notice the other
thing that he did, notice who else he was.
We're told that he was not just the King's friend, but what else
was he? He was a priest.
That's significant as well.
It makes me wonder if Solomon having this primary source, this
primary voice, speaking into his life, makes me think if Solomon
wanted somebody who knew the law, somebody who is very close
and near and familiar with the presence of God, somebody who
understood something of the sacrificial system in the
different acts of worship, makes me think, if Solomon wanted that
kind of a close friend in his life, and if that is true, then
surely wisdom is at work here because you can't make a more
life shaping decision than who you choose to keep close to you.
And so, assuming that this priest was indeed a man of God,
a man who feared God, Solomon made the right choice and having
him close, near and dear. You know what's so amazing when
you compare the list of officials here with the list of
officials of David, his father? Go to Second Samuel Chapter 8 in
your Bibles. Notice the comparison.
Notice there are many similarities, but there is one.
Significant difference in Second Samuel chapter 8 and verse 15.
This is when David reigned over all Israel.
Now notice how the Holy Spirit lists the officials his
administration in comparison to Solomon's verse 15 and Second
Samuel 8. So David reigned over all Israel
and David administered justice and equity to all his people.
Joab the son of Zariah was over the army and Josh about the son
of Ahilud was recorded in Zadok. The son of Ahitab and I Malik
the son of Abiathar were priest and Soraya was secretary.
Up to what we have studied concerning Solomon first kings.
For what's the main difference between the list of
administrators and ministers and David's time And in his time,
who's mentioned first in David's list?
Not priest Joab. What was Joab?
He was the commander of the army who was listed first for Solomon
the high priest. Is that accidental?
No, It makes total sense. You know why it makes sense?
Because what characterized David's reign?
War. What characterized Solomon's
reign? Peace.
And not just peace.
The. The mark of Solomon's
achievements. The the pinnacle of his
accomplishment would be the building of the temple, and so
it makes absolute sense for the priest to be mentioned first
because you can't have the temple necessarily, at least
operating the way God designed it without the right high
priest. And more than that, you can't
have peace without prioritizing this.
In other words, if Solomon was going to achieve true peace,
then he needed to prioritize the spiritual office above all of
the things. Is it any different for you?
And I think about it. Here's the lesson.
Here's the application. Is it any different for you and
I? You want peace, right?
You want inner peace. You want relational peace.
We all want peace. Even the world that hates our
God wants peace. And if you and I want to achieve
that inner tranquility and that rest, get your priorities
straight. Get your priorities straight.
In life, my friend, what do you pursue the most?
What's at the top of the list of your ambitions?
Where are your affections set? Where are you disciplined?
Is your spirituality first? Is your walk with Christ
primary? Does everything else submit to
that? Is everything else flowing from
that place? If not, no wonder that you're
not at rest. No wonder you're a chronic
spender. No wonder you try to numb
yourself with substances and thrills and physical intimacy.
Why? I can tell you straight up.
Because somewhere along the line you have misplaced God.
You have put him in a different rank.
You've put him in a different position.
Apart from #1, things always go wrong when God fails to be #1.
And when He's not the bullseye of our life, He's not the very
center of the very thing that everything else orbits around.
No, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised with inner
turmoil and even turmoil outside of yourself.
But here we see Solomon, whose Kingdom would be recognized for
this amazing peace. And what do we see here?
The first person mentioned is the priest, symbolizing the
spirituality of his own life and ultimately the life of the
nation. Well, let's keep going here.
Let's come down to verse four for the sake of time, Banaya
the. Son of Yehoiada was in command
of the army. He replaced Joab.
Zarak and Abiathar were priests all these.
Names are familiar, but what name there is concerning what
name there stands out? What name shouldn't be there?
Good Abiathar, you're right. And why is that the case?
We'll go to 1st Kings chapter 227, in case you forgot first
Kings 227. Just a couple chapters back and
you'll get your answer to why this seems to be out of place.
First Kings 227. So Solomon expelled Abiathar
from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the
Lord that he had spoken, constraining the House of Eli
and Shiloh. Abiathar, according to First
Kings, 227, is no longer a priest.
And then we come to the list of officials and we're told that he
was one of the priests. What happened here?
You know, some believe that Abiathar was forgiven and
restored. I don't hold to that view.
I I believe the best explanation is this is that although
Abiathar was removed and could not operate as a priest and was
relocated to Anathar, right, He was, he was, he was expelled and
he was under house arrest and he was no longer affiliated with
the temple or the priesthood in a hereditary way, he was still
able to keep that title. It was almost inseparable from
his identity. Because of his lineage.
He was a priest though he could not operate as a priest.
And so that's all that this is really saying.
He did not to get reinstalled. He wasn't inaugurated again.
He wasn't allowed back in. No, because God gave a prophetic
word to to Eli that his line would no longer ever be able to
recover and to be restored with such a responsibility.
I thought about this man and and I thought to myself, OK, he kept
his title. What does status mean?
What does position mean? What does any platform provide?
If ultimately you don't have God's favor upon your life?
You know there are people who are extremely content and think
they will find true satisfaction if they can just achieve
something like that. They can just have certain
letters by their name, they can have a certain title, they can
win the respect and the acknowledgement from other
people. And there are very few who are
willing to be content to be anywhere God would have them be,
as long as they have God's blessing upon them.
To live For the smile of God, to to live in His light and His
beauty in terms of His favor over us, should be the thing
that keeps us whole and satisfied.
Nothing else will. This is a sad man who had a
title but didn't have God's approval.
I'm afraid that there are many people, even in the context of
the church, that have the same title, does not automatically
assume and mean favor. I don't even challenge that
further results. Results don't necessarily prove
anything either. Sometimes God will use a broken
vessel, even a disobedient vessel, for the sake of being
merciful to the people under that person, when in fact they
themselves are not in right with God.
You don't believe me? Moses struck the rock when he
was told to speak to him. What happened to that rock?
Did a trickle come out? No waves of water came out, even
though he disobeyed God. Why?
Because God loved the people. God loved the people and he
wanted to bless the people and he dealt with Moses later on.
And so we see here that this man unfortunately was not a true
priest in terms of its function, though he remained a priest with
a title. And we read on and look at this
in verse 5. Azariah the son of Nathan was
over the officers. Zava, the son of Nathan was
priest and King's friend. What are these two guys have in
common? In verse 5, they're the sons of
Nathan. Now, David had another son named
Nathan, so that would be Solomon's brother.
Some believe that this is Solomon's brother Nathan.
Others believe he's the Nathan that we're familiar with.
Nathan who? Nathan the Prophet.
And if it is Nathan the prophet, then what a heartwarming verse
to see that this man of God had his children also walking in
service to the glory of God by serving the purpose of God
through King Solomon. I like to think that if this is
really Nathan the prophet and his boys, that there's something
about Nathan's life that surely influenced the life of his sons.
Perhaps this is this is not dogmatic, but just thinking
about if these are the boys of Nathan the prophet, then did
Nathan have any influence in their desire to be part of God's
work through Solomon? Could it be that these young men
didn't just see a messenger of God outside of the home, but saw
a messenger of God within the home?
I'd like to think so. May God help us influence and
inspire our children to love and serve him.
So you see these two men who are the sons of Nathan and then you
come down here and you read something interesting I hate.
Sharon. Verse six was in charge of the
palace and Aderayam, the son of AB that was in charge of the
forced labor. We will see him later on, but
notice here that Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over the
officers. So he had a supervising role
over certain certain officers. And these officers are what we
hear and see in verse 7. Solomon had twelve officers over
all Israel who provided food for the king in his household.
Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.
So you had these 12 individuals who were in charge of certain
districts. And these districts were there
to there was some form of taxation where they had to
gather resources and and funds in order to secure the material
needs of the king and his immediate household.
And think about it, you had one man that was in charge of one
month out of the year. And what we see here is that
this man Azariah, the son of Nathan, was in charge.
So he was supervising these individuals as they took care of
these specific territories and they drew from them in order to
take care of Solomon and his family and those who are closest
to Solomon. Now look at verse eight.
I'm not going to attempt to read these names because there are so
many of them from verse 8 down to verse verse 19, but just look
at the names. Take the time to just examine
all of these names. And there are, as you saw,
twelve of them, and some of them are related to Solomon by
marriage. So they married some of his
daughters. So Solomon is at an older point
of his life here. But you know, I'm looking at
these names and I'm thinking to myself, and maybe you're
thinking to yourself, why does the Holy Spirit take up space in
Holy Scripture for this complicated Hebrew names, tongue
twisters, some of the things that they did, some relation to
Solomon. And we have pages ink used up
for us to know these names. I love asking those questions.
I love coming to these texts and asking and investigating the
mind of God behind us. And here's what I came from and
came with. And maybe you are thinking the
same that the Holy Spirit does this in order to emphasize
players on a team that often do not receive recognition as they
should the Holy Spirit. And taking the time to surface
these names and to inscribe them in Holy Scripture helps us see
that there are other contributors to the grand scheme
of things that make things work. And in this context, it is the
Kingdom of Israel, which was really the Kingdom of God on
earth to an extent. And they were valuable.
They were assets. They were very important.
And so for leaders reading this, even just looking at these
names, you know what you can come away with.
If you're a leader of any group, you can't do it on your own.
You can't, no matter how gifted you are, just like Solomon, you
can't try to put your hand into everything and make it happen.
You need other people. God designed you no matter how
many gifts of the Spirit you think you have.
God designed you to be dependent upon some and for those who are
not leaders. You can look at a text like this
and also be encouraged to realize that your efforts and
your involvement and whatever part you have to play in this
machine is not without importance.
It's not something that can be easily replaced.
It is absolutely essential. And so you have these guys and
they're in charge of the scheduling and the gathering of
material needs, food and supplies for the animals.
And the Holy Spirit wants us to know their names.
I love that. That's wonderful.
It makes me think of a chapter in the book of Romans, that
masterpiece of an epistle, where after giving this incredible
essay about justification by faith and you have election and
the sovereignty of God and you have life in the Spirit and all
these different deep thoughts about God and our relationship
with him Near the end, near the end of that dissertation, you
have almost an entire chapter given two names, just different
people listed from the Roman church, actually turned down
Romans 16. And notice the heart of God, the
beauty of God, the loveliness of God in something like this in
Romans 16. And just just like you probably
did with first kings chapter 4, just look back at all the
different people that Paul greets personally that he wants
to sure receive a personal greeting from himself.
You know what the impression you and I to receive in that you and
I to understand that the Church of Jesus Christ is made-up of
ordinary people who have been brought together through the
shared conviction and submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
That's what the Church is made-up of.
And Paul here understands that. You know what a common phrase is
in Romans 16, in the Lord or in Christ.
He says that over and over again in the Lord, in the Lord, in
Christ, in Christ, in Christ. This is what binds people
together. This is what brings men and
women, slaves and bureaucrats and these sophisticated
individuals. This is what ultimately brings
them into one family, being in Christ, being in the Lord.
And Paul here, as he's writing this, he's not speaking to
famous individuals. He's not speaking to people who
are impressive from a worldly perspective.
But he is speaking to people because this is what Paul says a
lot of times in that same section that they worked hard
for the Lord. So these are not just Christians
who are positionally enjoying the status of being children of
God. They were also active as
Christians. And Paul recognize that working
hard in the Lord, serving the Lord.
And he says that over and over again.
And Paul wants to ensure that he sees them.
God, the Holy Spirit, through this amazing man, this
magnificent apostle, wants to let him know, I recognize the
value that you have in the church.
You know how he does it? He remembers their names.
And it takes time in this thesis of Romans to say, please say hi
to so and so. Please say hi to so and so.
Please say hi to the mother of Rufus.
Please say hi to Julia. Please say this guy's a
brilliant theologian. He has a colossal intellect.
He is so rich in the Spirit. And you know what?
It didn't make him isolated, It didn't make him a separatist.
It didn't cause him to just be among the elite of the church.
Paul was a deep theologian, but he was also deeply involved in
the lives of ordinary people. He he he wanted to sit with him.
He want to talk with him. He wanted to have relationships
with them. You know, the more spiritual
you'll be, the more real you'll be.
Really, you want to know how somebody's real.
Your natural, your natural you should be approachable if you're
spiritual. You know, people, people try to
achieve this persona, this this aura that causes people to to
not even want to look at them because they're so holy.
What's that? That's that's not the heart of
Paul. Paul was so down to earth.
Paul was somebody who worked with his hands.
Paul was somebody who gave, and he helped others out.
Paul remembered names. Paul.
Paul was real. If you're going to be spiritual,
you're going to be real. That's true spirituality and
this mind. This man had a mind unlike any
other in so many ways. But he was somebody who had a
heart that was just as big. You know, he could have just
written to the elders of the church in Rome, to the elders,
and he doesn't do that. He speaks to the people.
You know why? Because he believed that the
church is comprised of people, not just leaders.
You know, the church functions beyond just the preaching and
teaching of a few selectmen. You are the church.
You you sitting there, right there.
You are an irreplaceable instrument, tool part that is
connected to other parts. That makes this thing move
forward, makes this thing grow. And Paul absolutely understood
that that was his theology of the church.
It wasn't just for a few spiritual men to come and to and
to give some kind of presentation and make other
minions in the church feel insignificant.
I'll never learn like that. I'll never know that, oh, that's
wonderful. And just go on to their own
world. Know it's this collective body
interconnected. They can't operate apart from
one another, men and women. Go read Romans 16 on your own
and notice how much. How many women are mentioned,
how many ladies are mentioned, Even these women who according
to the Saint Paul Paul, who said that the role of an elder is
exclusive to men. He also saw what woman
contribute to the church, their gifts and their zeal and their
participation. He was moved by it and he
recognized it. Not just men and women.
There's young and old, right? And and so there's a mother in
there that he wants to greet who who he says was a mother to me
as well. So there's somebody who who
shared that kind of motherly, like affection and and took care
of Paul at some point in his life where he says she's like a
mom to me. This is real.
Not just that you had households like actual units that share the
same blood that were part of the Roman church, that blessed the
wider family of faith. Don't we have that in this
church? We have families here, parents
and children that bless this church, their own homes, that
come to this collective home, this household of God and
contribute so much. This is the church.
It's amazing. It's supernatural.
And Paul saw it and he wrote about it and he's demonstrating
his absolute appreciation to these separate individuals.
And that's what we see here to some extent before I even turn
back to Romans First Kings 4. Paul.
And speaking to these ordinary common folk, if you can use that
language, he's not just greeting them.
Do you realize that he wrote Romans chapter 1 to 15 to them
Is Romans a deep book. It's a dense book.
It's one of those books are you just have to keep the cap of
your highlighter off because you're just going to highlight
almost every verse anyway. It's so rich, so comprehensive.
It's so elaborate. It's it's it's deep.
And who did he write it to? Theologians.
No, He wrote it to what you see in Romans 16.
You know what that tells you? And I, because there are many
pastors who are under the persuasion that the philosophy
of their ministries to remain and stay surface level in their
teaching and preaching, lest you lose your people.
That's not what Paul believed. Paul goes through Romans one,
the the wrath of God. Romans 2 Romans 3, The depravity
of man. Romans 4, Justification by
faith. Romans 5-6.
Romans 7, The flesh. The Spirit.
Romans 8, Life in the spirit. Romans 9/10/11 election in
Israel. He's speaking to the to common
people. Why?
Because we're meant to go deep. We're invited to go further and
explore the mind of God. All that he has to say to us.
So don't convince yourself. My brother, my sister, I'm not a
pastor. I'm not a theologian.
I didn't go to this seminary. Well, the book of Romans wasn't
for seminarians. It's for you and I, for all of
us. So let's come back now to First
Kings chapter 4. Again.
I told you I was going to read all these names.
That's a good thing for your hearing experience.
But let's come here to verse 20. We go from the cabinet of
Solomon's government to the condition of the country.
So here's how the nation is responding to the governance of
Solomon and these other leaders with him verse 20, Judah and
Israel, where as many as the sand by the sea they ate and
drank and were happy. There's joy.
There is a fulfillment of an Abrahamic promise, and that
promise continues. In verse 21.
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. Why is verse 21 an important
thing for the Spirit of God to bring to our attention?
Holy Spirit wants to let us know the borders of Israel, not
spiritual Israel, not metaphorical Israel, physical
Israel and. Its land.
Why is it important for us to see this here in verse 21?
Good And, and more than just that, that it's a fulfillment of
a promise, a promise that God made to Abram.
And what promise did God give to Abram?
It's in Genesis 1518 and you're going to see similar ingredients
in the verse that you and I just read to what was said hundreds
of years ago before this time. So go to Genesis 1518 and notice
this with me. On that day the Lord made a
covenant with Abraham saying to your offspring.
I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the
river Euphrates, from the river of Egypt to the great river of
Euphrates. What do we read in verse 21 of
First Kings 4? We're told here that Solomon
ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the
Philistines to the border of Egypt.
This is a partial fulfillment of that promise that God gave to
Abram. Your offspring are going to
possess a land, and that land is going to have certain parameters
and borders, and I'm going to assure that at some point
they're going to know that land and enjoy that land because I
gave it to them. Are you nervous?
Yeah, there's a lot of tension today, right?
There's a lot of debate today. There's a lot of dispute, not
just among Christians and their theological persuasions
concerning Israel, but even in our world today.
Who does this land belong to? Is it the Palestinians land?
Is it the nation of Israel's land, 1948?
Who's the oppressor? Who's the oppressed?
This is what this is what's dominating our media.
This is what Dom is dominating social media.
Maybe you're getting caught up in the frenzy.
It's inescapable almost. And we can make the rest of the
Bible study about this. But here's what I'm comforted
by. The Bible has answers, even with
this modern issue, because it's not a modern issue.
It's an ancient issue. And I would say this, that you
don't even have to get into much of the history necessarily.
I'm more satisfied to look at the future.
And the reason that is, is because there is an undeniable,
concrete, unless you're not a Christian, answer to this whole
thing, Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem.
Who does it belong to? Can I tell you where Jerusalem
is headed? Can I tell you who will own
Jerusalem? Christ.
That's who's going to own it. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is
going to occupy Jerusalem. Oh, you don't believe me?
You think that's my opinion? Well, let me show you what the
prophets say. If you believe the Bible in
Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 16 and 17, where is this all headed
to? Where is this ending?
I'll tell you where it's ending. Because the prophets told us by
the Spirit in Jeremiah 316 to 17, here's a prophecy of a time
that has not yet been known, a time to come, an era that is yet
to be experienced. In Jeremiah 316 Here's what the
word of the Lord says. And when you have multiplied him
in fruitful in the land in those days, declares the Lord, they
shall no more say the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
There's a time coming for the Jewish people, according to
Jeremiah, that they're not. They're not going to seek after
the Ark of the Lord, I guess, at some place, and we see it
already. It's displaced.
Nobody knows its whereabouts. But there's a time coming where
it won't even be a thought. It won't be a desire, It won't
be something sought after. Well, when will that happen?
Says here it shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed.
It shall not be made again. It's going to be completely
irrelevant at one point. You know, there's some
archaeologist now and some documentaries online where
people claim they found the Ark and it was placed here.
And this is there's time coming where there's going to be no
more documentaries, no more questions about it.
It's just going to be completely out of mind.
Why? Because of verse 17.
At that time, Jerusalem, Jerusalem shall be called what?
The throne of the Lord, the throne of the Lord and all
nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord.
Where? In New Jersey?
In Sydney and Shanghai and Moscow?
No. In Jerusalem.
And they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil
heart. Do you know why they're not
going to want to even discuss about the Ark of the Covenant?
Because the thing that the Ark of the Covenant pointed to is
now in their midst. The ark of the covenant was a
symbol of God's presence. We're told here that Jerusalem
will become the throne of the Lord, meaning the Lord himself.
Yahweh will be on a physical throne in that holy city and
they'll say we don't want the ark.
We have what the ark spoke of here, the unfiltered, unhindered
presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
I know it's a charge political issue today, but here's what the
Bible says. It's going to be solved when
Christ claims it. And guess what?
Nobody's going to take it from him.
Nobody will be able to take it from no organization or
terrorist group. No protest from college
students. It's not going to work.
He will rule and reign for 1000 years and the nations will come
and honor him. You guys OK?
Right. Good this is Bible, my friend.
This is not my opinion. And so we read here that the
borders of Israel. This is arguably the largest
train that was experienced and enjoyed by the nation of Israel.
Verse 22. Solomon's provision for one day
was 30 cores of fine flour and 60 cores of meal. 10 fat oxen
and 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep besides deer, gazelles,
robots and fat and fowl. Wow, what a menu.
For he had dominion over all the region West of the Euphrates,
from Tifsha to Gaza, over all the kings West of the Euphrates.
And he had peace on all sides around him.
And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to
Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all
the days of Solomon. So here's a summary of the reign
of Solomon. They had peace.
They knew peace all around them. And there's a proverbial saying
that we heard at the conference that every man sat under his own
fig tree. And that's just a beautiful way
of explaining that there was a sense of safety in the hearts of
the nation of Israel. That they can live out in the
open and enjoy their own personal garden and live in
their own shade with No Fear of being attacked or siege to come
about them. They knew a security that was
ushered in by this king who had a promise from God.
And this proverbial saying that every man will sit under his fig
tree became a proverbial portrait of the Messiah and his
rule and reign. That when the Messiah comes, our
Messiah being Jesus Christ, each man will also know this reality.
They will know some kind of a peace and safety in the streets,
and that will only come when the Prince of peace comes.
That's Micah 4/4, if you're taking notes, Micah 4/4,
Zechariah 310, where you see this description repeated as
prophecy, repeated as prophecy. And again, may I remind you that
at the conference, perhaps that is the significance of Nathaniel
sitting underneath a fig tree, that he himself in that moment,
though they were occupied by Rome and there was so much
spiritual leadership and corruption.
He's sitting underneath that fig tree.
Maybe, maybe, maybe was meditating on when the Messiah
would come and clean up all that mess and when Jesus Christ says
I saw you underneath that fig tree and Nathaniel's response
was you are the King of Israel, I believe Nathaniel in that
moment wasn't just impressed how Jesus knew about his physical
location, but what was occupying his heart.
He couldn't wait for that messianic age to to be a reality
in his own day. But listen to sit under your fig
tree and to have your own personal garden, as impressive
as that is, is limited. It's limited.
Why? Because it speaks of economic
flourishing. It speaks of political
tranquility. But it's not a complete peace.
Solomon couldn't offer the peace of heart when it comes to how
you relate to God. Necessarily, Solomon could not
offer a peace with the account of your sins.
Solomon couldn't go there. He can only go so far.
And so This is why Jesus is greater than Solomon.
You remember that if you're at the conference, that he is the
giver of a better peace. And if this is a summation of
Solomon's peace, right, that they knew safety from Dan to
even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig
tree. What's the summation of the
peace that King Jesus offers anybody?
Remember, if you were at the conference, what is that
reference that tells us about the extent of the peace that
Jesus Christ gives? It's a verse that you and I
should memorize in these days. It's in the last few verses of
2nd Thessalonians 316. Here's the peace that Jesus
gives. Here's the repose.
Here are the green pastures for your soul that He leads you and
I on and to lay upon 2nd Thessalonians 316.
This is a beautiful scripture. Now may the Lord of peace.
He's not just the giver of peace.
He is the Lord of peace. May the Lord of peace himself
give you peace when when you have the right party in office,
when your bank account is full, when your body's intact and
disease free. No.
May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times, in
every way uninterrupted peace, every second of every season.
You can know this peace. The Lord be with you all.
That's the peace that the greater than Solomon offers, A
peace that secures emotional, spiritual, mental, serenity
every second of every season. And I want to tell you that this
kind of quality of peace is totally unattainable if you
don't have the Lord of peace. You need the Lord of peace.
You need to be rightly related with the Lord if you want this
peace to be deposited in your heart.
If you don't have the Lord of peace, you will never know.
This peace, Neither will this world.
Neither will the Middle East. It's only the Lord of peace and.
That's what you and I can walk in now.
We come here, back as we finish up this chapter.
What do we see here? A crack in Solomon's faith.
The foundation of his faith. We read here that he lived in
peace, surely, but in verse 28 barley also, and straw for the
horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it
was required. Each according to his duty.
Earlier read that he had 40,000 stalls of horses and 12,000
horsemen, good or bad. For Solomon to acquire all these
horses, Is that just another symptom of his success or
symptom of something else? Could a king have all these
horses? Was it right for a king to
possess this kind of artillery? How do you know?
Yes, OK, it was supposed to be a time of peace, sure, but what if
he just really liked horses? Is that the idea?
No. It was supposed to be a time of
peace. So there seems to be a
contradiction here in Solomon's planning.
But in the law, whether you're Solomon or not, to acquire many
horses was illegal. Do you know the reference to
this? In Deuteronomy 1716, we're told
explicitly that for all kings, all succeeding kings, all future
kings of Israel, you could not acquire for yourself many horses
only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the
people to return to Egypt. Here's the bad thing with
Solomon here is that he does both.
He established his relationship with Egypt, and he acquires
horses in order to acquire many horses.
Since the Lord has said to you you shall never return that way
again, you shall never return that way again.
Why was God against Chariots? Why was God against a king
acquiring all this? Because you'd be tempted to rely
on that and not on him. What does the psalmist say in
Psalmist and Psalm 20 verse seven?
You know it, yes? What is it?
Some entrust, trust and horrors and others in Chariots.
But where is our trust in the name of the Lord our God?
So the Lord's the Lord said, you can't do this because I want you
to rely on me. I mean, didn't they learn the
lesson? What did God do with a bunch of
Chariots when they cross the Red Sea?
He buried them. He actually messed with the
spokes and the wheels and they jammed.
Why are you going to put your trust in that?
Why are you going to put so much energy and time and investment
and breeding? And look, they even have to feed
the horses and cause slaves and servants to go out and to
acquire, to make sure, make sure that they were strong and
healthy. You could avoided all of that if
you just simply listen to my word.
Just trust in me. Just trust in me.
And so, already here, just like in Chapter 3, we're seeing
problems in Solomon's faith. So in the midst of all of this
promising and flourishing, you see issues, you see issues with
his relationship with the Lord. He is not careful with the word
of God. And let me repeat myself from
something I said a couple weeks ago.
If you are not careful with the word of God today, you'll not be
prepared for the temptations that await you tomorrow.
He's already flimsy. He's not standing on solid
ground. He's not taking every aspect of
his life and screening it through the word of God and the
wisdom of God. He's slipping here and there.
You and I can't afford to do that because what starts out as
a crack can ultimately crumble, and we're going to see it.
We already know that. Well, it doesn't even end there,
does it? We get a summary of his wisdom
in verse 29 down as we close here.
God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and
breath of mind, like the sand on the seashore, so that 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 of
their men, wiser than Ethan the Ezra height and hemen and Calcol
and Darda, the sons of Mahul. And his fame was in all the
surrounding nations. He also spoke 3000 Proverbs and
his songs were 1005. How many songs do we have of
Solomon in our Bibles songs? Unless you're trying to say that
the songs are also Psalms. If it's purely a song, we have
won the Song of Solomon out of 1000 and five 3000 Proverbs.
Incredible. He spoke of Trees, from the
Cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the
wall. He spoke also of beasts and of
birds and of reptiles, and a fish.
And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon
and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his
wisdom. And so this is really like a
resume, right? This is just showing how
excelling this man was. But notice here, this is what
intrigued me, the name of certain men in verse 31.
He was wiser than all of the men.
So there's these other men who had a reputation of of being
wise as well. Four of them, one of them being
Ethan, another man being he man, Kalkul and Darda.
So clearly at this time there were contemporaries in Solomon's
day who had a reputation of being extremely intelligent.
And we're told here is that even the most famous that had a
reputation that were sought after, they could not compare.
They stood in the shadows of this towering mind of Solomon's.
Do we ever see Ethan and Heman or any of these men mentioned
elsewhere in Scripture? That's right.
They're both found in the Book of Psalms.
Actually, Ethan wrote one Psalm and Heman wrote another, and
they're coupled together. Does anybody know where the
Psalms are found? Which Psalms, Psalm 88 and Psalm
89. Go there with me for a second.
So not only were these wise men, these men were worshippers,
these men were psalmist, these men were prayer men.
And we don't have time to go through this, but look at Psalm
89. I mean, think about it this way.
And maybe I mean this is just my my individual kind of meditation
on what we just read in First Kings.
For you have Solomon being compared to these other amazing
men who are contemporaries, and he outshined them all.
He outshined them all. Makes you wonder what you would
feel if for the longest time you were a reputable individual,
sought after individual, and then some guy comes out of
nowhere and he just takes over. You know how some people would
be intimidated by that, By that. Some people be insecure by that.
But then I come to Psalm 88, Psalm 89, and I'm comforted to
know that these men were worshippers nonetheless.
And we know that the contemporaries.
Because in Psalm 89, Ethan is actually writing about the
covenant that God made with David and his sons forever.
And he was rejoicing in that. Solomon wasn't a competitor.
Solomon wasn't somebody who challenged his ego.
Solomon was just another display of God's mercy that gave Ethan
another reason to glorify God. I hope we can see each other
that way. I hope you and I, when we see a
gifted individual, an individual that's been given much
opportunity to glorify God, you can look at that person and that
give you another reason to rejoice in the Lord, to praise
the Lord. Look at the some of the
language. Look here, verse one of Psalm
89. I will sing of the steadfast
love of the Lord forever with my mouth.
I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
And he rehearses over the covenant that God made with
David. And look at this verse 11.
The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours.
The world and all that is in it. You have founded them.
He just can't get over that. Everything.
Even the covenant that David was experiencing, that Solomon was
experiencing, that came from God.
It all comes from God. This is how he can view people.
This is how he can view circumstances.
This is how he can view shifts in his own life.
I mean, in a sense he was among the first place, and now he's
2nd, 3rd, 4th, and he's totally unmoved by that.
You know, a believer comes in and they play beautifully on
music, probably more beautifully than you do.
You rejoice in that somebody comes in and they they preach
better than you do. You rejoice in that somebody
comes in and they they have the ability to give wise counsel
better than you. Do you rejoice in that?
Or do we shrink and we harbor jealousy?
I was that person one time. That's not godly, that's not
wisdom, that's not spirituality. And I was just looking over this
quickly. I mean, I was looking, it's a
long Psalm. But one verse touched me and I
think it's a good verse. It's not even related to this
thought, but just a thought for us in the time that we're living
in. Look at verse 46.
How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever?
How long will your wrath burn like fire?
This is the verse that touched me.
Remember how short my time is, For what vanity you have created
all the children of man. What man can live and never see
death? Who can deliver his soul from
the power of Sheol? And I found myself all my way
here meditating on this Bible study, looking at Ethan's words
and seeing and praying the same thing in my heart.
Lord, remember how short my time is.
Remember how short my time is. Your time is short.
True. Isn't it true?
And the time of what we're seeing here, the times that
we're in, is indicating that time is indeed very short.
And so I want us to just if we can close in prayer and ask the
Lord to make the most of our time while we still have it.
Father, we thank you for this Bible study.
We thank you that you can speak to us through the high
officials, the administration, the Cabinet of King Solomon, and
touch our hearts. We ask Father, like what this
man said by the Spirit, please consider how short our time is,
and we ask that you would help us use it for your name's sake.
May every second be fragrance of worship to you.
May we know your peace every second as well.
May that peace be a fragrance unto others in these last days,
that they would realize that the miracle of freedom of turmoil
and pain can only come from the Prince of peace.
In Jesus name. Amen.