#476 The Wrong Sacrifice

And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,

2 That the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon.

3 And the Lord said unto him, I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put my name there for ever; and mine eyes and mine heart shall be there perpetually.

4 And if thou wilt walk before me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep my statutes and my judgments:

5 Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.

6 But if ye shall at all turn from following me, ye or your children, and will not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:

7 Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:

8 And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?

9 And they shall answer, Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath the Lord brought upon them all this evil.

10 And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house,

11 (Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.

12 And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not.

13 And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day.

14 And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.

15 And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.

16 For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife.

17 And Solomon built Gezer, and Bethhoron the nether,

18 And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

19 And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

20 And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel,

21 Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day.

22 But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen.

23 These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.

24 But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo.

25 And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house.

26 And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Eziongeber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom.

27 And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.

28 And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon. 1 Kings 9

All that Solomon has set out to do, every major project has been accomplished, as the arms of Samson, so was the mind of Solomon, and he used his gift to move forward in all he set his mind to. Now it is the end of the project, it has been done his way and to his design, God has blessed the temple and Solomon knew that for a certain when His presence filled the place. Solomon is no longer so busy or so driven. This is that time when you can take a breath, pause from your labor, and look back across the mowed field, the bales of hay, the empty pile of bricks that has become a building. Lesser men have jumped off this ledge, thinking they could fly, but his prayer in the chapter before knows no such doctrine. He understands that God cannot be contained by the heavens that Solomon cannot see the end of. That door is always there though, the original and most base of sins, "look at what I have done, who I am, do you realize who you're dealing with?" There is that temptation, and it will in turn justify every endeavor of idol hands and a spoiled heart. Great minds need great challenges, or they will make many a worthless idol, perceiving themselves wise in one way, they will glorify their every thought, no matter how cliche. 

God steps in, and it is rather good timing as well. He had answered with the cloud of His presence, but it is good for men to be reminded of the conditions of their blessing. I have heard your prayer, and we may be so shocked, but why, because it does not happen right away or is it because we don't expect to hear back? Why do you pray? Some time has passed here as well, and maybe the cloud was enough, but God is gracious and His time is perfect. Solomon, look, if you will only walk as your father walked before God, not even perfectly, but as your father David did, in integrity. All us pious folks, are like, "wait a minute. Shouldn't You raise the bar a little higher than that, God?" I think I'm going to wait on the comparison here, because it gets so much worse than this. If you do walk in that kind of integrity then I will bless your and establish your throne forever. 

He outlines it the other way as well, what is the deal breaker? It says it so much in the positive aforementioned statement, "do all that I have commanded thee, keep My statutes and my judgments." Again, with reflection to his father, this is not even a stringent or impossible perfection. It goes to the negative that if you turn away, not keep My judgments and My statutes, and if you go after other gods, then I will cut off, not just you, but also Israel, and it will become a joke to the nations around them. What happened here? Well, their God brought them out of Egypt, promised them this place, gave them this inheritance, but upon the condition that they don't worship themselves or those idols that could not bring them here. Oh. I would venture at this point that Solomon thinks, OK, I got this. I'm a business man, I recognize a good deal, I'm a closer, this is cake. 

Remember Samson, he thought it was all in his hair, and he ate honey from the lion, followed his passions to those with whom he was unequally yoked, he made a game of it, like it was his strength. He failed miserably all along, but it didn't thwart God's plan, what we may mean for evil, God can work for good. Solomon is already questionable, and he has accomplished much, but must also pay for it, so he puts up land which is the inheritance of the tribes. It becomes a bit of a sore spot as well, and some may think it shrewd on the part of Solomon, that as some would have it, the end doth justify the means, but Hiram is not so happy with the deal. Should God's people ever sell their inheritance or that of someone else? Should we ever be corrupt in business, so that those not of the flock may have such room to say, "this is what His sheep are like?" He does not drive out those which God commanded his forefathers to remove from the land, but he keeps them as slaves. I could not say for sure before, but now I will, that his house is too big, he does delight too much in material things. Yes, he is brilliant, and he accomplished much, but he has found a way to pay for more than what he needed by selling his integrity. Most will take great comfort though in what their predecessor wasn't, that he was not perfect. What can those say though who call themselves Christians?

2 to put off your old self,[a] which belongs to your former manner of life and is corrupt through deceitful desires, 23 and to be renewed in the spirit of your minds, 24 and to put on the new self, created after the likeness of God in true righteousness and holiness. Ephesians 4: 22-24