Tag Archives: 1 Kings

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April 23, 2025 Bible Study — If Solomon, to Whom God Appeared Twice, Could Fall Into Sin, We Must Take Care to Not Do Likewise

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 11-12.

When I first read through this passage I decided I was going to comment on the prophesies which God sent about how he was going to tear the kingdom of David from Solomon’s son, and I may still get to that.  However, as I re-read the passage to pull my thoughts together, I read this: “The Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. ”  God did not just bless Solomon with wisdom, wealth, and honor, He appeared to him twice.  Think about that when you think your faith is strong; Solomon allowed his heart to be turned from God, despite God actually appearing to him on two occasions.  Despite God having appeared to him twice, Solomon indulged in sexual sins and allowed them to draw him into idolatry.

So, about the prophesies concerning God tearing the kingdom from Solomon’s son.  I have always thought that God said that he was going to tear all but two of the tribes from Solomon’s son.  However, God told Solomon that he was going to give his son one tribe for the sake of David.  Then later, when Ahijah prophesied to Jeroboam, he said that God said that he was going to give him, Jeroboam, ten tribes and give Rehoboam one tribe.  I am not sure how this adds up to twelve.  Do the prophecies assume that, of course, Judah would remain faithful to the House of David, and Benjamin was the tribe which God was giving to Rehoboam?  Or is there something else at play?  There is nothing especially significant about this, but it illustrates how we assume we know what a passage says because of other things we know (or think we know) about the Bible.

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

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April 22, 2025 Bible Study — If We Forsake the Lord Our God, Our Lives Will Become Heaps of Rubble

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

I am going to write about God’s answer to Solomon’s prayer dedicating the temple he had built.  The first part of God’s answer is that He has consecrated the Temple, and that He had placed his Name upon it forever.  Even today, long after the temple was last destroyed (and not rebuilt), God’s name is associated with it.  God still holds Jerusalem in His eyes and in His Heart.  Which brings me to God’s warning, both for the Israelites and for us.  God told Solomon that if he, and the people he ruled over, or their descendants turned away from Him, the temple would become a heap of rubble about which people would say, “This happened because they have forsaken the Lord their God.”  Today, the temple is a pile of rubble, and those who know God know that is the case because God’s people forsook the Lord their God.  It serves as an object lesson to us today.  The monuments of those who forsake the Lord will be rendered into heaps of rubble.  Let us not forsake God ourselves lest we find our very lives become living heaps of rubble to serve as object lessons to those who come after us.

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

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April 21, 2025 Bile Study — Not One Word Has Failed From the Promises Which God Has Made to Us

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 8.

There were several things which I thought about writing for today’s passage.  I decided that the things I wanted to write about come from Solomon’s prayers of blessing over the temple.  The first things I wanted to write about come from the portion where Solomon was asking God to bless the temple.  Solomon asked that when God’s people are suffering bad things because of their sin, but repent of their sins, turn to God, and beg His forgiveness that God give them that forgiveness and rescue them from their suffering.  The other thing Solomon asked of God that I wanted to highlight was that when people who are not already one of God’s people comes to God and makes a request that God fulfill that request so that people everywhere might come to worship and honor God.  These are prayers which we know God will answer and has answered time and again.

The other thing I wanted to write about comes from Solomon’s benediction to his prayer.  Solomon prayed that not one word had failed from the promises which God made to His people through Moses.  And I want us to think about the fact that not one word has failed from the promises which God has made to His people ever.  God has promised to be with each and every one of us in the troubles we face, and He will redeem us from those troubles if we put our faith in Him.

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

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April 20, 2025 Bible Study — Do Not Allow Meeting Your Needs Distract You from Serving God

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 7.

At the end of yesterday’s passage the writer told us that Solomon spent seven years building a temple for God.  He starts today’s passage by telling us that Solomon spent thirteen years building his palace.  I am convinced the writer is foreshadowing what went wrong in Solomon’s reign.  He is telling us that Solomon put more time and effort into building a house for himself than he put into the house he built for God.  Solomon did right by building the Temple before he built his own palace.  Solomon’s mistake was not necessarily the extra time he put into his own palace.  Rather, during that time he focused more on himself than on God and on serving God.  We can learn an important lesson from this.  While we need to care for ourselves and our needs, we must never allow our self-care to distract us from worshiping and serving God.

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

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April 18, 2025 Bible Study — Solomon’s Wisdom Brought Him Wealth and Honor. Wealth and Honor Turned His Heart from God.

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 2-3.

I find it interesting that Solomon chose to act against Shimei only after Adonijah attempted to position himself to mount a coup against Solomon by marrying Abishag, King David’s last concubine.  I find it interesting because Shimei had refused to back Adonijah when the latter tried to seize the throne while David was still alive.  The best I can come up with is that Solomon waited to act against Shimei until he had eliminated the last threat to his throne and no longer needed to fear Shimei throwing his support behind a usurper.  In many ways, the incident where God asked Solomon what he wanted God to give him foreshadows Jesus’ teaching about seeking first the kingdom of God.  Solomon asked God to give him discernment when administering justice.  God granted him that desire, and also granted him wealth and honor.  The main point of this exchange is that wisdom and discernment will often lead to wealth and honor, but wealth and/or honor without wisdom will always be short-lived.  If you seek wisdom and allow it to guide you, it will lead you to seek God’s kingdom.  Unfortunately, we learn later that Solomon allowed the wealth and honor his wisdom brought him to turn his heart from God.  Let us pray that if God grants us wealth and honor that we do not fall into the same temptation.

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

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April 17, 2025 Bible Study — Adonijah and Solomon, Two Different Approaches to Leadership

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Today, I am reading and commenting on 1 Kings 1.

Every time I read today’s passage I struggle to understand why Joab and Abiathar gave their support to David’s son Adonijah, when Benaiah, Zadok, Nathan, and several other key people did not.  Joab had repeatedly demonstrated an understanding of the political implications of David’s actions and an understanding of how people think.  Yet here he makes what was clearly a miscalculation: he chose to go against what was clearly going to be the winning side.  And that is not just in hindsight.  For that matter, if Joab was going to back one of David’s son to become king at this point, why didn’t he back Solomon?  While we must be careful not to draw too much from what is said here, since it was written from the perspective of those who favored Solomon, it is still clear that Solomon was the only other contender to be David’s successor.  The fact that Adonijah invited all of David’s sons to his coronation feast except Solomon indicates that he viewed Solomon as a threat to his claim to the throne.  I mentioned struggling with trying to understand why Joab and Abiathar supported Adonijah, but, to a degree, the reverse is also true: why did Benaiah, Zadok, Nathan, and the others oppose Adonijah becoming king?  I will note that this is the first reference we have to a promise from David to Bathsheba that Solomon would succeed him as king, and, to be honest, it seems as likely something Nathan made up for Bathsheba to tell David as something David had previously promised.  On the other hand, as I said, Solomon was clearly the only alternative to Adonijah as David’s successor.

I want to close this out by noting that there is a clear lesson for us in all of this.  Solomon did not become king because he put himself forward to be king.  He became king because others championed his cause.  Adonijah, on the other hand, attempted to secure for himself the honor of becoming king, and failed.  Things ended badly for Adonijah, and for those who supported his cause.  Let us not make the mistake which Adonijah made, nor the mistake which Joab and Abiathar made.  Instead let us humbly follow the example of Solomon.  Or, if we find ourselves in the position of Benaiah, Nathan, or Zadok, let us support the humble claimant to leadership rather than the one who grasps it for themselves.

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

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April 27, 2024 Bible Study — Ahab Listened to the Advice He Wanted to Hear, Even When He Knew God Had a Different Message for Him

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 20-22.

Like yesterday, there are more things I would enjoy writing about in today’s passage than I have time to go into.  Today I am going to write about what happened when King Ahab invited King Jehoshaphat of Judah in going to war to reclaim Ramoth Gilead from Aram.  Jehoshaphat was agreeable, but asked Ahab to seek the Lord’s counsel first.  So, Ahab summoned about 400 prophets.  Now this is an amazingly similar number to the number of the prophets of Baal whom Elijah challenged on Mount Carmel.  Which leads me to believe that these were also prophets of Baal.  This idea is supported by the fact that after these 400 prophets told Ahab the Lord would give Ramoth Gilead into his hands, Jehoshaphat asked if there wasn’t a prophet of the Lord whom they could consult.  So, Ahab reluctantly summoned Micaiah in order to consult what God told him.  The messenger whom Ahab sent to Micaiah told him that all of the other prophets had told Ahab that he would be successful, and Micaiah should be sure to say the same thing.  So, Micaiah told Ahab the same thing all of the other prophets said.  Ahab immediately realized that when Micaiah said that, it was not what God had told him.

I could go on to summarize the rest of the story, but that gets us to what I want to write about today.  First, Ahab tried to pass off the prophets of Baal as being prophets of God.  He pretended like he didn’t know there was a difference between Baal and God.  Yet when Jehoshaphat pushed the issue, he acknowledged that he did indeed know the difference.  Then when Micaiah told Ahab what he had been told to say, which was the same as what the other prophets had told him, Ahab knew he wasn’t giving a truthful answer.  Which tells us that Ahab knew the prophets of Baal were only telling him what he wanted to hear, and that he knew that God had a different message for him.   Yet, despite knowing that, Ahab chose to follow the message which the prophets of Baal gave him, to his on detriment.  Do we listen to the advice that is merely what we want to hear, when we know God has a different message for us?

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

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April 26, 2024 Bible Study — Elijah Was Not Alone

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 18-19.

I love today’s passage, there is so much to write about in it.  It starts with Elijah approaching Obadiah, King Ahab’s palace administrator to take word to Ahab that Elijah wanted to meet with him.  We are told that Obadiah was a devout follower of the Lord who had protected 100 prophets of the Lord from Jezebel’s campaign to kill them all.  Obadiah reminds Elijah that he had done this.  Yet when Elijah confronts the prophets of Baal on Mount Carmel, he claims that he is the only prophet of God left.  Perhaps something had happened to those 100 prophets in between Obadiah protecting them and Elijah’s speech on Mount Carmel, or, perhaps Elijah was referring to himself as the only prophet of God willing to appear before King Ahab by that point.  While he was on Mount Carmel Elijah was the perfect example of the boisterous showman, playing to the crowd and capturing its attention.  A few days later, when he was fleeing from Jezebel’s threat to kill him, he exhibits the symptoms of someone experiencing depression, he had had enough and wanted to die.

Elijah flees through the wilderness for forty days and forty nights until he ends up at Mount Horeb.  When he gets there. God asks him why he is there.  To which he replies that he has been zealous for the Lord, but the people have not responded and now he is the only one left and they are trying to kill him.  Then God tells him, “Stand up for I am about to pass by.”  So Elijah stood up while God sent a fierce wind, an earthquake, and a mighty fire before arriving as a gentle whisper.  Once more God asked Elijah why he is there.  Elijah replies with the same answer he had just given.  Which leads God to tell Elijah, “Get over yourself.  You are still alive because I still have work for you to do.  And you are not alone.  I have reserved a multitude who have been just as faithful as you.”  Elijah had become depressed because he had exhausted himself and he thought he was alone in this world in being faithful to God.  He felt like it was all pointless, like he was useless.  God’s answer was that until you are dead, you are not useless, and none of us are alone.  The best treatment for depression is to seek, and perform, what tasks God has for you, and the company of those who love the Lord.

 

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

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April 25, 2024 Bible Study — Our Hearts Need to be Fully Devoted to the Lord

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 15-17.

I find it interesting that the passage does not tells us that Abijah, son of Rehoboam, did evil in the eyes of the Lord.  Instead it tells us that he committed all of the sins of his father and was not fully devoted to the Lord.  I find this interesting because it seems to be in contrast to what it says about the kings of Israel, the Northern Kingdom.  Of each of those kings it says some variation of. “he did evil in the eyes of the Lord.”  This suggests to me that Abijah at least tried to serve the Lord, but allowed himself to be led into sin by his desires.  Later, it describes Omri as doing evil in the eyes of the Lord AND sinning more than all of those before him.  It then describes Omri’s son Ahab as doing more evil than any of those before him.  The passage explains saying this about Ahab by saying that he not only committed the sins of Jeroboam (worshiping the calf idols Jeroboam had made and appointing non-Levites as priests), but he began to worship and serve Baal.  So, we have Abijah, who ruled in Jerusalem was not fully devoted to the Lord, but was not quite as bad as the kings of the Northern Kingdom, who followed the sins of Jeroboam.  Then we have Ahab, who went beyond the sins of Jeroboam to fully embrace the worship of pagan gods.  This suggests that those who followed the cult established by Jeroboam followed the worship practices established by Moses, but directed them at the idols made by Jeroboam rather than at God.  However, it also tells us that as we fail to follow one of the commands which God has given us will lead us to move further and further away from Him.

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

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April 24, 2024 Bible Study — Why Did the Man of God Allow Himself to be Deceived?

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Today, I am reading and commenting on  1 Kings 13-14.

The account of the otherwise unidentified man of God who testified against Jeroboam, and his altar, always strikes me as strange.  Why did the old prophet deceive him into breaking God’s command?  Why did the man of God not follow the commands God had given him?  Why did God allow the man of God to be deceived?  I have never been satisfied by any of the answers I have come up with to those questions.  However, the story does act as an object lesson for us.  When the man of God spoke the prophecy God had given him, as God had commanded him, Jeroboam ordered him seized, but God intervened and Jeroboam relented.  So, the man of God demonstrated that he was a man of God.  When the man of God allowed himself to be deceived into violating the command which God had given him, God sent judgement upon him.  So, we see that God will protect us when we do His will, but when we go against His will, we will suffer the consequences.  Even when we are encouraged to go against what God has told us by those who have spoken God’s word in the past.

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