Explore the fascinating history of King Solomon, a ruler known for unparalleled wisdom and immense wealth. This episode delves into how Solomon fortified his kingdom with strategic cities and amassed vast treasures that marked the height of Israel’s ancient glory. Discover the story of the Queen of Sheba’s visit and Solomon’s unmatched grandeur, which left her breathless. Yet, beneath the glittering exterior, there were underlying challenges that would eventually lead to his kingdom’s division.
The CEM Network is pleased to present Ronald L. Dart and Born to Win.
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When you’re reading the history in the Bible, you have to resist the temptation to see things in terms familiar to the modern reader. Take the idea of cities, for example. Solomon has finished the temple, and somewhere along the line he has married the daughter of Pharaoh. Well, Pharaoh wants to give his daughter a present. So he goes up along the coastal plain and takes a city named Gezer, about 20 miles or so northwest of Jerusalem. He slew the Canaanites who were still living there, killed them all, burnt the place to the ground with fire, and then gave it to his daughter as a present. What kind of present is that? Giza probably wasn’t much of a town to start with. Now his daughter gets as a present from her dad a lot of burned out houses, a few hundred corpses of Canaanites. What is this? You’ll find this story in the ninth chapter of 1 Kings. And what you need to take away from the account is it wasn’t houses that were important. It was the real estate. Deezer might have controlled a few hundred square miles of good agricultural land. And it also may have provided a prime location for an outpost, a fortress, if you will. You go through the Middle East and you visit some of the archaeological sites you find, and the guide will point out to you what he calls Solomon’s stables. You’ll find those in several locations. You think, well, what’s this? Unless you’re tuned in to the times, you might think, well, what is a riding stable, perhaps, where they ride to the hounds or where they do steeplechase races or what have you. You’d be very wrong. Horses were not used for agriculture, and as far as we know, they weren’t used for sport in those days. They were for combat. Horses drawing chariots were the equivalent of tanks and armor in the modern army. And so when you go looking around at these ancient cities where they sometimes dominated an area of land, also perhaps dominated some passes and approaches to Jerusalem, They were prime locations for fortresses. A lot of these fortified cities were really not towns. They were forts. They were outposts from which the approaches of surrounding areas could be dominated. There were still a lot of outlaws and marauders around. And if you worked land in the fields, you might feel a whole lot better sleeping inside walls at night. We’re familiar enough with forts from our own history, and a lot of American cities are on the site of what used to be fortresses. Fort Stockton, Texas comes to mind. Well, Solomon built Gezer and Beth Horon, the lower, Baaleth, Tadmor, and the wilderness in the land, all the cities of store that Solomon had. In other words, these were places where they would bring the agriculture into a city behind walls where they could be protected. He had cities for chariots, cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and Lebanon and all the land of his dominion. So basically, he had put together… probably with a minister of defense, a secretary of defense, an elaborate system of storage, cities for storage, walled cities where they could be protected. He put together fortresses for his chariots, his horsemen, his armies. And so he had everything in the area pretty well under his control. All the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, the whole gang of the people who were not of the children of Israel, Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able to utterly destroy, upon these did Solomon levy a tribute of bond service to this day. In other words, he turned them into servants. They would cut his wood, they’d carry water, do whatever work needed to be done. But of the children of Israel, Solomon did not make any bondmen. They were men of war and his servants and his princes and his captains and rulers of his chariots and his horsemen. It’s almost as though there were two classes of people, the serving class and the fighting class. And this isn’t entirely unheard of in the ancient world where a whole nation of people really is mobilized and organized to be able to fight. In a sense, you have that in Switzerland to this day, where they have universal military conscription, and everybody is in the army. It’s kind of disconcerting sometimes when you see a soldier on his way to his duty, getting on the train and carrying his rifle across his back. We also know that there were certain civilizations in ancient Greece that did this, to where there was a serving class, and there was a fighting class, and not much of anything in between. In verse 23, it says, Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David into her house Solomon had built for her. Then he built Millo, and three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar he built to the Lord, and he burnt incense upon the altar before the Lord, so he finished the house. That three times a year, by the way, is what’s commanded in the law. Deuteronomy 16 and about verse 16 that says this, Three times a year shall all your males come to appear before the Lord in the Feast of Unleavened Bread, in the Feast of Weeks, in the Feast of Tabernacles. And these are the seasons in which Solomon was offering his burnt offerings and his peace offerings. And Solomon had a navy, something I imagine that many people don’t realize. He had a navy of ships in Ezeon Geber. They were not on the Mediterranean. They were on the Red Sea. This is down beside Eilat on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. There’s a town today, you can look it up on your map, called Eilat. It’s a very southern end of Israel, just as you’re ready to enter the Red Sea. It’s quite a tourist center to this day. They’ve got some beaches around there, some of the best, apparently, some of the best skin diving and snorkeling that you’ll see anywhere. You can go there and swim with dolphins. A very nice location. Well, this was also important to Solomon. It’s where he sent his navy, his servants, his shipmen that had knowledge of the sea. And also they also had Hiram who sent people down to be with them. They came to Ophir and fetched from thence gold, 420 talents of gold, and brought it to King Solomon. 420, that’s not a terrifically large number. And biblical weights and measures can vary somewhat in time and place. But by one conservative system, this would amount to a shipment of gold worth some $280 million in today’s price of gold. Rather a significant source of gold somewhere down the Red Sea, probably toward Africa. Well, when the Queen of Sheba, this is in 1 Kings chapter 10. When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bore spices, and much gold and precious stones. And she came to King Solomon, and she communed with him of all that was in her heart. We have no idea how long this interview took place, over what days and weeks, and who knows, perhaps months, that the Queen of Sheba unloads all of her hardest questions and communed with him and told him everything that was on her mind. And Solomon told her all her questions. There was not anything hid from the king which he didn’t tell her. This poor woman sitting there with the king of Israel, King Solomon, having a question in her mind, Solomon told her what the question was. It was almost as though he could read her mind and her heart. And when the queen of Sheba had seen all of Solomon’s wisdom and the house he had built and the food at his table, the sitting of his servants, the attendance of his ministers, all their apparel, his cupbearers, when she saw his ascent by which he went up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. I guess literally it took her breath away. And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in my own land of your acts and of your wisdom. I didn’t believe it. They told me all this. I didn’t believe it until I came and my eyes had seen it. And behold, the half was not told to me. Your wisdom and your prosperity exceeds the fame which I had heard. Happy are your men. Happy are these your servants that stand continually before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be Jehovah your God who delights in you to set you on the throne of Israel. Because Jehovah loved Israel forever. Therefore he made you king to do justice and judgment. And she gave him a hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices, great store, and precious stones. There came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon. Her gift amounted to tens of millions of dollars.” The navy of Hiram that brought gold from Ophir brought in from Ophir great plenty of algum trees and precious stones. Apparently the algum tree was the sandalwood. The king made of the sandalwood trees pillars for the house of the Lord, for the king’s house, harps, psalteries for singers, all kinds of such trees. They hadn’t seen anything like this until that day. And King Solomon gave to the Queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she asked, beside what Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. And she turned and went back to her own country and to her own servants. Legend has it that among the things that Solomon gave to Queen of Sheba of her desire was a son. and that she did return and had a son of Solomon from this visit, a man the Ethiopians claimed for their own all the way down to Haile Selassie. Now, the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 603 score and six talents of gold. You know, we’re kidding up towards half a billion dollars worth of gold alone. Perhaps it came in taxes, perhaps it came from trade, it’s hard to say. But that’s in one year. Besides all he had of the merchantmen, the traffic of the spice merchants, and all the kings of Arabia, and the governors of the country. And Solomon had a healthy tax system, to be sure he got some of that. Stay with me. This story gets bigger and the plot thicker as we make our way along.
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The Book of Kings includes so much valuable history, and it lays the foundation for understanding the rest of the Bible. The entire series of programs on Kings and the Book of Samuel is available for a special price this week only. Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas. 75791 or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE44 and tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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It seems that Solomon made nearly everything out of gold or covered it with gold. If you think the temple was magnificent, his home must have been unbelievable. He made 200 shields out of beaten gold. 600 shekels of gold went into one of these shields. He made 300 smaller shields of beaten gold with three pounds of gold in one shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Now, a lot of kings might very well make themselves a throne out of ivory to sit on. It would be a beautiful thing to behold. There might be other kings who might make their throne out of wood and cover it with the finest of gold, and that would be a very special throne. But Solomon? Solomon made himself a great throne out of ivory. and then overlaid it with the best gold. You know, that’s a little hard for me to figure, but I guess if he knew, that was what was important. But he covered this gorgeous ivory throne with gold. The throne had six steps. The top of the throne was round behind, and there were stays on either side of the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays. I presume these aren’t live lions, but statuary. There were twelve lions stood on one side above the other, and there was not the like made in any kingdom. And all Solomon’s drinking vessels were gold. All the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were pure gold. None were of silver. Silver was nothing accounted for in the days of Solomon. You want to make it out of silver? You might as well make it out of brass. Nobody cares about silver. They didn’t care about it because the king had at sea a navy, a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram. And every three years, this navy came back bringing gold and silver and ivory and apes and peacocks. Naturally, it was running down the coast of Africa, as we learned from the ivory and the apes that they brought back. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom. I mean, when a man made a decision, it was right and it stood and it paid. And all the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom that God had put in his heart. And every man when he came brought a present. They brought vessels of silver, which who knows what they did with them. They may have given to the peons. They had vessels of gold and garments and armor and spices and horses and mules. A rate year by year. And Solomon put together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots. That’s a pretty good armored division. 12,000 horsemen. You have to realize, all these were for fighting. And he bestowed these in the cities for chariots and with the king at Jerusalem. And he made silver to be in the Jerusalem like stones. Cedar he made like the sycamore trees in the veil for abundance. Solomon had horses brought out of Egypt, and linen yarn. The king’s merchants received linen yarn at a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, a horse for a hundred and fifty, and so for all the kings of the Hittites, the kings of Syria, they brought them out according to their means. Solomon’s wealth is staggering. This remarkable man wrote three books of the Bible, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. We’ll give you the address again, and when you get in touch with us, either by phone or by letter, be sure and ask about the album, because I have read Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon on the tape. They’re not in radio programs, but they are all available for you to get, and I think you’ll find them a marvelous collection of these great works. So be sure you’ve got a pencil and a pad, because we will again give you the address and the phone number. But as Solomon will note in the book of Ecclesiastes, all that wealth did nothing for him in the end, except perhaps to teach him some bitter lessons. 1 Kings chapter 11. King Solomon loved many strange women. together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, the Ammonites, the Edomites, the Zidonians, and the Hittites, of all the nations concerning which the Lord had said to the children of Israel, you are not to go into them. Now, that’s an interesting way of putting it. Basically, what he’s saying is you shall not have sex with these women. They’re not going to come into you. You’re not going to spend the night with them, nor are they with you. For surely they will turn away your heart after their gods. Solomon claimed to these in love, or at least that’s what he called it. And he had 700 wives, princesses, and 300 concubines. And his wives turned away his heart. A thousand women he had. You know, later on when he writes Ecclesiastes, he says, you know, among all the men that I have known, I have found maybe out of a thousand men, I have found one who’s faithful. Out of a thousand women, none. And you know, the thing about it, Solomon never really had a woman he loved because he tried to love all of them. Now, sometimes when people read that verse out of context, they read that and they say, what? I mean, look what David did. David was a sinner. He did some terrible things. How can God say that Solomon’s heart was not right as the heart of David, his father, was? Well, with all the sins and mistakes of David, this was one mistake he never made. He never even thought of serving another god. And when he did wrong, and he knew he did wrong, he repented, he was sorry, and no thought entered his mind of even looking at, bowing down to, or serving any god other than Jehovah. But Solomon, well, Solomon went after Ashtoreth, the god of the Sidonians, whom some people say is Easter. He went after Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites. He went after all these women. And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord and did not go fully after the Lord as did David his father. He wasn’t 100%. So Solomon built a high place at Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that’s before Jerusalem. Another one for Moloch, the abomination of the children of Ammon. And this Moloch was one who sometimes required people to burn their own children in the fire to him. And likewise he did for all his strange wives who burned incense and sacrificed unto their gods, sometimes sacrificing their own children. The Lord was angry with Solomon because his heart was turned from the Lord God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, and had commanded him concerning this thing, he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep that which the Lord commanded. And you know, I honestly think that most of us believe that if we could just see God, if we could just interact with God, that we would be solid for life. And strangely, as Solomon demonstrates all too painfully, it doesn’t work that way. We may be better off struggling along in faith of him than we would be if we saw him. I’ll let you think about that. Grab that pencil and paper and be sure to get the address and phone number we’re going to give you now.
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For a free copy of this radio program that you can share with friends and others, write or call this week only. And request the program titled, Kings No.
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Write to Born to Win, Post Office Box 560, White House, Texas 75791. Or call toll free 1-888-BIBLE-44. And tell us the call letters of this radio station.
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As I’m sure you suspect, the chickens finally came home to roost. And the Lord said to Solomon, Because you’ve done this, because you have not kept my covenant, because you have not kept my statutes I commanded you, I’m going to take the kingdom away from you, and I’ll give it to your servant. However, I’m not going to do it while you’re alive because of David your father. I will tear it out of the hand of your son. I’m not, however, going to tear away all the kingdom. I will give one tribe to your son for David, my servant’s sake, and for Jerusalem’s sake, which I have chosen. That’s it. It’s done. And the Lord stirred up an adversary to Solomon, Hadad the Edomite. He was of the king’s seed in Egypt. What this means when it speaks of the king’s seed isn’t entirely clear, perhaps only that he was a prince of Edom. And it had happened that back when David was in Edom and Joab, the captain of the host, had gone to bury the slain after he had smitten every male in Edom. For six months, Joab stayed there with all Israel until he cut off every male in Edom. And during that time, Hadad fled. He and certain Edomites of his father’s servants with him to go into Egypt, Hadad being yet a little child. While others rose up out of Midian and came to Paran, they took men with them, the whole gang of them went down to Egypt to get away from Joab because he was cleaning house. Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, because he was a prince, gave him a house, appointed him food, and gave him some land. Hadad found great favor in the sight of Pharaoh, so that as he grew up, Pharaoh gave him to wife, a sister of his own wife, the sister of Toppenes, the queen. It’s a different world, folks. They handed people around or gave women around as wives here and there. It was no question of sitting around courting in the moonlight. She was given to him. And the sister of Toppenes bare him Ginebeth, his son, whom Toppenes weaned in Pharaoh’s house. And he was in Pharaoh’s household among the sons of Pharaoh. But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David had died, that Joab the captain of the host was dead, and he probably was very happy to hear that, he said to Pharaoh, Let me depart. I want to go back to my own country. And Pharaoh said, What have you lacked here with me that you want to go away? And he said, Nothing, but please let me go anyway. God stirred him up another adversary, Rezan, the son of Eliadah, who fed from his lord Hadadezer, the king of Zobah. He gathered men to him and became captain over his band. When David slew all the men of Zobah, they went to Damascus and dwelt there and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, beside the mischief that Hadad did. And he hated Israel and reigned over Syria. You know, nothing much ever changes, does it? Here we are all these generations later, and the ruler of Damascus hates Israel. I wonder sometimes if they really know why. Because the things they offer as the reasons for the hatred of the Jews make no rational sense at all. It’s an irrational hatred. And now arises on the scene a very important player who will be mentioned again and again in the course of the history of Israel. His name is Jeroboam. He’s the son of Nebat. He’s an Ephrathite of Zereda. He had been Solomon’s servant. His mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow woman. And he lifted up his hand against the king. He was a servant, and he raised up himself and revolted. This was the reason why it happened. Solomon built Millo and repaired the breaches of the city, and the man Jeroboam was a mighty man of valor. And Solomon, seeing the young man, he was industrious. He made him ruler over all the charge of the house of Joseph. He’s an Ephraimite. He gave him all of that tribe. And it came to pass, at the time when Jeroboam went out of Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah the Shalannite found him in the road. He had clad himself with a brand new garment, and the two of them were alone in the field. And Ahijah caught the new garment that was on him and tore it into twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, You take ten pieces, for thus saith the Lord God of Israel, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to you. And here is the basis of the division of Israel into two kingdoms, the house of Israel and the house of Judah.
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More next time. You may call us at 1-888-BIBLE44 and visit us online at borntowin.net.
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