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1 Kings 4 Bible Study (Solomon's Officials, Wealth and Wisdom) | Pastor Daniel Batarseh · Bible Study with Pr. Daniel Batarseh | Verse by Verse Series | Maranatha Bible Church - Chicago

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  And Father, we pray together even now, again asking you for
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  the help of the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit that we just sang
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  about, that this would be indeed a vibrant and life giving time.
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  We pray that you would remove all weightiness, all
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  distraction, all cloudiness of thought, any obstruction of our
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  own beliefs that are contrary to the truth.
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  And Lord, just sweep us into the sweetness of your Word, the
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  wisdom of your Word, the saving power of your Word.
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  And we ask that the delivery of this Word would not be void of
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  the power of the Holy Spirit. We pray that it would be
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  absolutely energized, but what you can only do through a human
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  vessel. And so we just submit to the
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  leading of the Spirit even now, and let this be a changing, a
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  life changing moment for all of us tonight.
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  We trust you, Heavenly Father, we believe you and we give you
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  glory now in Jesus name. Amen.
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  Solomon, although he in chapter three with his God-given wisdom,
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  received national attention and praise for how he solved A
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  seemingly impossible case, is now actually going to in this
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  chapter, show how he is about to delegate and share certain
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  responsibilities in his Kingdom with other people.
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  This amazing man who is recognized with unparalleled
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  intelligence, is actually going to show us here that he relied
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  on other individuals. He relied on other people to
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  make his system his Kingdom efficient and successful.
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  And we might look at these verses here and be tempted to
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  ignore them or to fly by them. But the detailed roster here of
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  Solomon's high officials and ministers are inviting us to see
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  the breath of Solomon's wisdom further.
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  In other words, Chapter three was not the only thing that
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  displayed the early signs of the prudence and insight of this
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  man. It continues to be exercised in
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  Chapter 4, and we have to determine that at the outset of
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  this chapter so that we can see what this really all about.
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  This Is Us looking through the window to examine just how far
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  and how wide the mind of Solomon really was.
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  And it was all been granted by God himself.
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  And as we see this, we'll realize many things.
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  But there is one overarching lesson.
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  There is one simple observation that we can make just by
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  scanning through these various names and territories and
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  different charges that are given to different people under
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  Solomon's leadership. And it is this.
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  Solomon's leadership was not just limited to solving problems
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  or determining true justice. Solomon's leadership here, as
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  shown in his administrative abilities, his organizational
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  skills, but even more than that, Solomon's wisdom here, it's it's
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  going to be proven in that he sees the value.
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  He sees the necessity of other people working alongside of him.
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  Wisdom does not make you arrogantly self reliant.
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  True wisdom from God opens up your eyes and mind to see, to
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  understand, to perceive that we must be relationally strategic
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  and inclusive. A wise person sees the beauty
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  and the necessity of other people of like mindedness
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  walking hand in hand together for the glory of God.
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  And that's just the overarching lesson because if we just hear
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  that, then we might think, OK, this is this is a Bible study
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  for leaders. Solomon was a leader.
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  So this is mainly applied to those who are in every in any
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  kind of capacity of leadership. But we are in Bible study and
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  have been in Bible study long enough to know that there's
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  always underlying principles and truths for all of us.
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  And the way that we're going to discover this is to take our
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  time. Going through what again might
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  cause other people to say this has no, this has no relation to
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  my life. Oh, you're wrong.
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  This is Holy Scripture. This is God's words.
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  This is God's voice. And he had you in mind.
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  He had you in mind when he wrote this.
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  He had the Saints of God in mind, in Christ Jesus when he
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  penned these words. And so let's read the first few
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  verses together. First Kings Chapter 4, verse.
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  One King Solomon was king over all Israel and these were his
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  high officials. Azariah, the son of Zadok was
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  the priest. Elihoreth and Ahia, the sons of
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  Shisha were secretaries. Yehoshaphat, the son of Ahilod
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  was recorder. Benaiah, the son of Yehoidah was
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  in command of the army. Zadok and Abiathar were priest.
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  Azariah, the son of Nathan was over the officers.
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  Zebah, the son of Nathan, was priest and King's friend.
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  Ahishar was in charge of the palace and Adoniram, the son of
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  Abda was in charge of the forced labor.
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  Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel who provided food for
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  the king and his household. Each man had to make provision
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  for one month in the year. You probably won't find a text
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  like this in one of those daily devotionals.
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  That's what makes Friday night so special, because we are
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  almost forced to look at these verses with joy to see what is
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  it that God has to say. Well, we're not going to look at
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  each of these names and what these men did, but we will look
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  at some of them. Look back here again in verse 2.
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  Here are the names of some of the high officials and the first
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  one that is mentioned is a man. Azariah, the son of Zadok or
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  Zadok was the priest. Notice it says the priest, not
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  just priest. So it is believed that this man,
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  Zadok, or rather the Azariah, the son of Zadok was selected,
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  identified rather as the High priest.
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  The High Priest. And it is believed here that the
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  fact that this man is mentioned first is to denote how his
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  position was of greatest importance, that of all the
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  offices and all the responsibilities.
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  What was of most significance to Solomon was the establishment of
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  the chief spiritual leader in Israel.
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  And if that is the case, if that's what this means, that
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  Azariah being mentioned first shows the priority of the
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  priesthood, the priority of this office, then it says something
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  about the wisdom of Solomon. I'm sure it says something about
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  how he was thinking. It says something about how God
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  led him and directed him as a leader of so many other leaders.
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  And it is this. I was looking at this, and I
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  thought to myself, if this is Solomon, the Holy Spirit,
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  inviting us to exhibit his his wisdom, then it certainly shows
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  how true wisdom knows how to prioritize spiritual matters.
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  True wisdom will guide you, help you direct you to prioritize the
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  things of the Spirit, the things pertaining to your relationship
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  with God, the things pertaining to the truth.
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  Listen, a wise man or a wise woman will not neglect his soul,
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  will not neglect the health of their inner man.
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  A wise man or a wise woman will see again the beauty and the
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  value and the necessity of a fellowship of Saints and will
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  actually orbit their lives around that community.
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  A wise man, a wise woman, somebody who truly has this gift
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  from God, will also understand and know and seek and carefully
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  choose who their spiritual authorities will be, who they
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  will receive the word of God from.
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  And Solomon here is proving that, and it's not just proven
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  by the identification of the high priest.
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  Look down at verse 5 and notice this man, Zeba, the son of
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  Nathan, who was priest and King's friend.
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  That's a heartwarming verse, right?
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  We're told about one of Solomon's closest companions.
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  He was a friend. He was a friend to Solomon.
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  But I believe this is speaking more than just about somebody
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  who was near and dear to the king.
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  I believe that the King's friend here is actually speaking about
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  a position. And the position I'm thinking
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  of, and most people agree with, is that this is a chief
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  counselor to Solomon. This is somebody who Solomon
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  could confine and somebody he can pour his heart out to,
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  somebody from the primary ranks who would receive what Solomon
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  is thinking about in terms of a next project or what he's
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  dealing with. This was who Zebad was.
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  And in selecting this individual, notice the other
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  thing that he did, notice who else he was.
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  We're told that he was not just the King's friend, but what else
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  was he? He was a priest.
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  He was a priest. That's significant as well.
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  It makes me wonder if Solomon having this primary source, this
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  primary voice, speaking into his life, makes me think if Solomon
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  wanted somebody who knew the law, somebody who is very close
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  and near and familiar with the presence of God, somebody who
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  understood something of the sacrificial system in the
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  different acts of worship, makes me think, if Solomon wanted that
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  kind of a close friend in his life, and if that is true, then
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  surely wisdom is at work here because you can't make a more
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  life shaping decision than who you choose to keep close to you.
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  And so, assuming that this priest was indeed a man of God,
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  a man who feared God, Solomon made the right choice and having
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  him close, near and dear. You know what's so amazing when
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  you compare the list of officials here with the list of
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  officials of David, his father? Go to Second Samuel Chapter 8 in
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  your Bibles. Notice the comparison.
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  Notice there are many similarities, but there is one.
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  Significant difference in Second Samuel chapter 8 and verse 15.
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  This is when David reigned over all Israel.
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  Now notice how the Holy Spirit lists the officials his
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  administration in comparison to Solomon's verse 15 and Second
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  Samuel 8. So David reigned over all Israel
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  and David administered justice and equity to all his people.
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  Joab the son of Zariah was over the army and Josh about the son
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  of Ahilud was recorded in Zadok. The son of Ahitab and I Malik
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  the son of Abiathar were priest and Soraya was secretary.
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  Up to what we have studied concerning Solomon first kings.
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  For what's the main difference between the list of
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  administrators and ministers and David's time And in his time,
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  who's mentioned first in David's list?
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  Not priest Joab. What was Joab?
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  He was the commander of the army who was listed first for Solomon
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  the high priest. Is that accidental?
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  No, It makes total sense. You know why it makes sense?
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  Because what characterized David's reign?
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  War. What characterized Solomon's
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  reign? Peace.
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  Peace. And not just peace.
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  The. The mark of Solomon's
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  achievements. The the pinnacle of his
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  accomplishment would be the building of the temple, and so
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  it makes absolute sense for the priest to be mentioned first
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  because you can't have the temple necessarily, at least
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  operating the way God designed it without the right high
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  priest. And more than that, you can't
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  have peace without prioritizing this.
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  In other words, if Solomon was going to achieve true peace,
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  then he needed to prioritize the spiritual office above all of
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  the things. Is it any different for you?
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  And I think about it. Here's the lesson.
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  Here's the application. Is it any different for you and
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  I? You want peace, right?
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  You want inner peace. You want relational peace.
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  We all want peace. Even the world that hates our
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  God wants peace. And if you and I want to achieve
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  that inner tranquility and that rest, get your priorities
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  straight. Get your priorities straight.
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  In life, my friend, what do you pursue the most?
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  What's at the top of the list of your ambitions?
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  Where are your affections set? Where are you disciplined?
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  Is your spirituality first? Is your walk with Christ
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  primary? Does everything else submit to
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  that? Is everything else flowing from
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  that place? If not, no wonder that you're
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  not at rest. No wonder you're a chronic
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  spender. No wonder you try to numb
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  yourself with substances and thrills and physical intimacy.
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  Why? I can tell you straight up.
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  Because somewhere along the line you have misplaced God.
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  You have put him in a different rank.
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  You've put him in a different position.
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  Apart from #1, things always go wrong when God fails to be #1.
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  And when He's not the bullseye of our life, He's not the very
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  center of the very thing that everything else orbits around.
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  No, don't be surprised. Don't be surprised with inner
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  turmoil and even turmoil outside of yourself.
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  But here we see Solomon, whose Kingdom would be recognized for
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  this amazing peace. And what do we see here?
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  The first person mentioned is the priest, symbolizing the
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  spirituality of his own life and ultimately the life of the
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  nation. Well, let's keep going here.
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  Let's come down to verse four for the sake of time, Banaya
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  the. Son of Yehoiada was in command
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  of the army. He replaced Joab.
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  Zarak and Abiathar were priests all these.
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  Names are familiar, but what name there is concerning what
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  name there stands out? What name shouldn't be there?
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  Good Abiathar, you're right. And why is that the case?
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  We'll go to 1st Kings chapter 227, in case you forgot first
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  Kings 227. Just a couple chapters back and
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  you'll get your answer to why this seems to be out of place.
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  First Kings 227. So Solomon expelled Abiathar
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  from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the
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  Lord that he had spoken, constraining the House of Eli
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  and Shiloh. Abiathar, according to First
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  Kings, 227, is no longer a priest.
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  And then we come to the list of officials and we're told that he
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  was one of the priests. What happened here?
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  You know, some believe that Abiathar was forgiven and
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  restored. I don't hold to that view.
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  I I believe the best explanation is this is that although
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  Abiathar was removed and could not operate as a priest and was
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  relocated to Anathar, right, He was, he was, he was expelled and
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  he was under house arrest and he was no longer affiliated with
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  the temple or the priesthood in a hereditary way, he was still
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  able to keep that title. It was almost inseparable from
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  his identity. Because of his lineage.
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  He was a priest though he could not operate as a priest.
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  And so that's all that this is really saying.
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  He did not to get reinstalled. He wasn't inaugurated again.
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  He wasn't allowed back in. No, because God gave a prophetic
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  word to to Eli that his line would no longer ever be able to
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  recover and to be restored with such a responsibility.
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  I thought about this man and and I thought to myself, OK, he kept
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  his title. What does status mean?
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  What does position mean? What does any platform provide?
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  If ultimately you don't have God's favor upon your life?
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  You know there are people who are extremely content and think
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  they will find true satisfaction if they can just achieve
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  something like that. They can just have certain
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  letters by their name, they can have a certain title, they can
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  win the respect and the acknowledgement from other
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  people. And there are very few who are
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  willing to be content to be anywhere God would have them be,
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  as long as they have God's blessing upon them.
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  To live For the smile of God, to to live in His light and His
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  beauty in terms of His favor over us, should be the thing
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  that keeps us whole and satisfied.
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  Nothing else will. This is a sad man who had a
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  title but didn't have God's approval.
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  I'm afraid that there are many people, even in the context of
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  the church, that have the same title, does not automatically
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  assume and mean favor. I don't even challenge that
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  further results. Results don't necessarily prove
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  anything either. Sometimes God will use a broken
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  vessel, even a disobedient vessel, for the sake of being
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  merciful to the people under that person, when in fact they
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  themselves are not in right with God.
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  You don't believe me? Moses struck the rock when he
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  was told to speak to him. What happened to that rock?
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  Did a trickle come out? No waves of water came out, even
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  though he disobeyed God. Why?
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  Because God loved the people. God loved the people and he
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  wanted to bless the people and he dealt with Moses later on.
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  And so we see here that this man unfortunately was not a true
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  priest in terms of its function, though he remained a priest with
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  a title. And we read on and look at this
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  in verse 5. Azariah the son of Nathan was
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  over the officers. Zava, the son of Nathan was
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  priest and King's friend. What are these two guys have in
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  common? In verse 5, they're the sons of
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  Nathan. Now, David had another son named
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  Nathan, so that would be Solomon's brother.
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  Some believe that this is Solomon's brother Nathan.
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  Others believe he's the Nathan that we're familiar with.
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  Nathan who? Nathan the Prophet.
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  And if it is Nathan the prophet, then what a heartwarming verse
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  to see that this man of God had his children also walking in
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  service to the glory of God by serving the purpose of God
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  through King Solomon. I like to think that if this is
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  really Nathan the prophet and his boys, that there's something
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  about Nathan's life that surely influenced the life of his sons.
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  Perhaps this is this is not dogmatic, but just thinking
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  about if these are the boys of Nathan the prophet, then did
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  Nathan have any influence in their desire to be part of God's
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  work through Solomon? Could it be that these young men
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  didn't just see a messenger of God outside of the home, but saw
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  a messenger of God within the home?
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  I'd like to think so. May God help us influence and
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  inspire our children to love and serve him.
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  So you see these two men who are the sons of Nathan and then you
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  come down here and you read something interesting I hate.
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  Sharon. Verse six was in charge of the
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  palace and Aderayam, the son of AB that was in charge of the
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  forced labor. We will see him later on, but
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  notice here that Azariah, the son of Nathan, was over the
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  officers. So he had a supervising role
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  over certain certain officers. And these officers are what we
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  hear and see in verse 7. Solomon had twelve officers over
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  all Israel who provided food for the king in his household.
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  Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.
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  So you had these 12 individuals who were in charge of certain
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  districts. And these districts were there
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  to there was some form of taxation where they had to
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  gather resources and and funds in order to secure the material
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  needs of the king and his immediate household.
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  And think about it, you had one man that was in charge of one
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  month out of the year. And what we see here is that
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  this man Azariah, the son of Nathan, was in charge.
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  So he was supervising these individuals as they took care of
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  these specific territories and they drew from them in order to
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  take care of Solomon and his family and those who are closest
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  to Solomon. Now look at verse eight.
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  I'm not going to attempt to read these names because there are so
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  many of them from verse 8 down to verse verse 19, but just look
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  at the names. Take the time to just examine
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  all of these names. And there are, as you saw,
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  twelve of them, and some of them are related to Solomon by
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  marriage. So they married some of his
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  daughters. So Solomon is at an older point
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  of his life here. But you know, I'm looking at
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  these names and I'm thinking to myself, and maybe you're
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  thinking to yourself, why does the Holy Spirit take up space in
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  Holy Scripture for this complicated Hebrew names, tongue
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  twisters, some of the things that they did, some relation to
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  Solomon. And we have pages ink used up
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  for us to know these names. I love asking those questions.
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  I love coming to these texts and asking and investigating the
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  mind of God behind us. And here's what I came from and
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  came with. And maybe you are thinking the
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  same that the Holy Spirit does this in order to emphasize
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  players on a team that often do not receive recognition as they
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  should the Holy Spirit. And taking the time to surface
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  these names and to inscribe them in Holy Scripture helps us see
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  that there are other contributors to the grand scheme
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  of things that make things work. And in this context, it is the
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  Kingdom of Israel, which was really the Kingdom of God on
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  earth to an extent. And they were valuable.
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  They were assets. They were very important.
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  And so for leaders reading this, even just looking at these
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  names, you know what you can come away with.
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  If you're a leader of any group, you can't do it on your own.
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  You can't, no matter how gifted you are, just like Solomon, you
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  can't try to put your hand into everything and make it happen.
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  You need other people. God designed you no matter how
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  many gifts of the Spirit you think you have.
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  God designed you to be dependent upon some and for those who are
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  not leaders. You can look at a text like this
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  and also be encouraged to realize that your efforts and
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  your involvement and whatever part you have to play in this
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  machine is not without importance.
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  It's not something that can be easily replaced.
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  It is absolutely essential. And so you have these guys and
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  they're in charge of the scheduling and the gathering of
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  material needs, food and supplies for the animals.
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  And the Holy Spirit wants us to know their names.
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  I love that. That's wonderful.
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  It makes me think of a chapter in the book of Romans, that
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  masterpiece of an epistle, where after giving this incredible
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  essay about justification by faith and you have election and
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  the sovereignty of God and you have life in the Spirit and all
• 23:30
  these different deep thoughts about God and our relationship
• 23:34
  with him Near the end, near the end of that dissertation, you
• 23:40
  have almost an entire chapter given two names, just different
• 23:46
  people listed from the Roman church, actually turned down
• 23:50
  Romans 16. And notice the heart of God, the
• 23:53
  beauty of God, the loveliness of God in something like this in
• 23:59
  Romans 16. And just just like you probably
• 24:02
  did with first kings chapter 4, just look back at all the
• 24:05
  different people that Paul greets personally that he wants
• 24:10
  to sure receive a personal greeting from himself.
• 24:17
  You know what the impression you and I to receive in that you and
• 24:20
  I to understand that the Church of Jesus Christ is made-up of
• 24:24
  ordinary people who have been brought together through the
• 24:29
  shared conviction and submission to the Lordship of Jesus Christ.
• 24:34
  That's what the Church is made-up of.
• 24:38
  And Paul here understands that. You know what a common phrase is
• 24:41
  in Romans 16, in the Lord or in Christ.
• 24:43
  He says that over and over again in the Lord, in the Lord, in
• 24:47
  Christ, in Christ, in Christ. This is what binds people
• 24:50
  together. This is what brings men and
• 24:52
  women, slaves and bureaucrats and these sophisticated
• 24:58
  individuals. This is what ultimately brings
• 25:00
  them into one family, being in Christ, being in the Lord.
• 25:05
  And Paul here, as he's writing this, he's not speaking to
• 25:08
  famous individuals. He's not speaking to people who
• 25:10
  are impressive from a worldly perspective.
• 25:13
  But he is speaking to people because this is what Paul says a
• 25:15
  lot of times in that same section that they worked hard
• 25:18
  for the Lord. So these are not just Christians
• 25:21
  who are positionally enjoying the status of being children of
• 25:25
  God. They were also active as
• 25:27
  Christians. And Paul recognize that working
• 25:31
  hard in the Lord, serving the Lord.
• 25:33
  And he says that over and over again.
• 25:35
  And Paul wants to ensure that he sees them.
• 25:39
  God, the Holy Spirit, through this amazing man, this
• 25:41
  magnificent apostle, wants to let him know, I recognize the
• 25:46
  value that you have in the church.
• 25:49
  You know how he does it? He remembers their names.
• 25:53
  And it takes time in this thesis of Romans to say, please say hi
• 25:58
  to so and so. Please say hi to so and so.
• 26:00
  Please say hi to the mother of Rufus.
• 26:04
  Please say hi to Julia. Please say this guy's a
• 26:07
  brilliant theologian. He has a colossal intellect.
• 26:12
  He is so rich in the Spirit. And you know what?
• 26:15
  It didn't make him isolated, It didn't make him a separatist.
• 26:21
  It didn't cause him to just be among the elite of the church.
• 26:26
  Paul was a deep theologian, but he was also deeply involved in
• 26:30
  the lives of ordinary people. He he he wanted to sit with him.
• 26:36
  He want to talk with him. He wanted to have relationships
• 26:39
  with them. You know, the more spiritual
• 26:42
  you'll be, the more real you'll be.
• 26:44
  Really, you want to know how somebody's real.
• 26:47
  Your natural, your natural you should be approachable if you're
• 26:53
  spiritual. You know, people, people try to
• 26:56
  achieve this persona, this this aura that causes people to to
• 27:01
  not even want to look at them because they're so holy.
• 27:04
  What's that? That's that's not the heart of
• 27:06
  Paul. Paul was so down to earth.
• 27:11
  Paul was somebody who worked with his hands.
• 27:14
  Paul was somebody who gave, and he helped others out.
• 27:16
  Paul remembered names. Paul.
• 27:18
  Paul was real. If you're going to be spiritual,
• 27:20
  you're going to be real. That's true spirituality and
• 27:26
  this mind. This man had a mind unlike any
• 27:29
  other in so many ways. But he was somebody who had a
• 27:33
  heart that was just as big. You know, he could have just
• 27:37
  written to the elders of the church in Rome, to the elders,
• 27:41
  and he doesn't do that. He speaks to the people.
• 27:43
  You know why? Because he believed that the
• 27:44
  church is comprised of people, not just leaders.
• 27:47
  You know, the church functions beyond just the preaching and
• 27:51
  teaching of a few selectmen. You are the church.
• 27:55
  You you sitting there, right there.
• 27:56
  You are an irreplaceable instrument, tool part that is
• 28:06
  connected to other parts. That makes this thing move
• 28:08
  forward, makes this thing grow. And Paul absolutely understood
• 28:12
  that that was his theology of the church.
• 28:15
  It wasn't just for a few spiritual men to come and to and
• 28:17
  to give some kind of presentation and make other
• 28:20
  minions in the church feel insignificant.
• 28:22
  I'll never learn like that. I'll never know that, oh, that's
• 28:24
  wonderful. And just go on to their own
• 28:26
  world. Know it's this collective body
• 28:29
  interconnected. They can't operate apart from
• 28:33
  one another, men and women. Go read Romans 16 on your own
• 28:40
  and notice how much. How many women are mentioned,
• 28:44
  how many ladies are mentioned, Even these women who according
• 28:48
  to the Saint Paul Paul, who said that the role of an elder is
• 28:52
  exclusive to men. He also saw what woman
• 28:55
  contribute to the church, their gifts and their zeal and their
• 29:00
  participation. He was moved by it and he
• 29:04
  recognized it. Not just men and women.
• 29:06
  There's young and old, right? And and so there's a mother in
• 29:10
  there that he wants to greet who who he says was a mother to me
• 29:12
  as well. So there's somebody who who
• 29:15
  shared that kind of motherly, like affection and and took care
• 29:19
  of Paul at some point in his life where he says she's like a
• 29:21
  mom to me. This is real.
• 29:23
  Not just that you had households like actual units that share the
• 29:27
  same blood that were part of the Roman church, that blessed the
• 29:31
  wider family of faith. Don't we have that in this
• 29:33
  church? We have families here, parents
• 29:36
  and children that bless this church, their own homes, that
• 29:39
  come to this collective home, this household of God and
• 29:42
  contribute so much. This is the church.
• 29:45
  It's amazing. It's supernatural.
• 29:49
  And Paul saw it and he wrote about it and he's demonstrating
• 29:53
  his absolute appreciation to these separate individuals.
• 29:57
  And that's what we see here to some extent before I even turn
• 30:00
  back to Romans First Kings 4. Paul.
• 30:05
  And speaking to these ordinary common folk, if you can use that
• 30:08
  language, he's not just greeting them.
• 30:11
  Do you realize that he wrote Romans chapter 1 to 15 to them
• 30:15
  Is Romans a deep book. It's a dense book.
• 30:20
  It's one of those books are you just have to keep the cap of
• 30:23
  your highlighter off because you're just going to highlight
• 30:24
  almost every verse anyway. It's so rich, so comprehensive.
• 30:31
  It's so elaborate. It's it's it's deep.
• 30:35
  And who did he write it to? Theologians.
• 30:38
  No, He wrote it to what you see in Romans 16.
• 30:40
  You know what that tells you? And I, because there are many
• 30:44
  pastors who are under the persuasion that the philosophy
• 30:48
  of their ministries to remain and stay surface level in their
• 30:51
  teaching and preaching, lest you lose your people.
• 30:53
  That's not what Paul believed. Paul goes through Romans one,
• 30:57
  the the wrath of God. Romans 2 Romans 3, The depravity
• 31:02
  of man. Romans 4, Justification by
• 31:05
  faith. Romans 5-6.
• 31:08
  Romans 7, The flesh. The Spirit.
• 31:10
  Romans 8, Life in the spirit. Romans 9/10/11 election in
• 31:13
  Israel. He's speaking to the to common
• 31:16
  people. Why?
• 31:18
  Because we're meant to go deep. We're invited to go further and
• 31:23
  explore the mind of God. All that he has to say to us.
• 31:27
  So don't convince yourself. My brother, my sister, I'm not a
• 31:30
  pastor. I'm not a theologian.
• 31:32
  I didn't go to this seminary. Well, the book of Romans wasn't
• 31:35
  for seminarians. It's for you and I, for all of
• 31:40
  us. So let's come back now to First
• 31:44
  Kings chapter 4. Again.
• 31:46
  I told you I was going to read all these names.
• 31:48
  That's a good thing for your hearing experience.
• 31:54
  But let's come here to verse 20. We go from the cabinet of
• 32:00
  Solomon's government to the condition of the country.
• 32:04
  So here's how the nation is responding to the governance of
• 32:10
  Solomon and these other leaders with him verse 20, Judah and
• 32:14
  Israel, where as many as the sand by the sea they ate and
• 32:18
  drank and were happy. There's joy.
• 32:24
  There is a fulfillment of an Abrahamic promise, and that
• 32:27
  promise continues. In verse 21.
• 32:28
  Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to
• 32:32
  the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt.
• 32:35
  They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his
• 32:38
  life. Why is verse 21 an important
• 32:41
  thing for the Spirit of God to bring to our attention?
• 32:48
  Holy Spirit wants to let us know the borders of Israel, not
• 32:58
  spiritual Israel, not metaphorical Israel, physical
• 33:03
  Israel and. Its land.
• 33:06
  Why is it important for us to see this here in verse 21?
• 33:12
  Good And, and more than just that, that it's a fulfillment of
• 33:17
  a promise, a promise that God made to Abram.
• 33:21
  And what promise did God give to Abram?
• 33:24
  It's in Genesis 1518 and you're going to see similar ingredients
• 33:28
  in the verse that you and I just read to what was said hundreds
• 33:32
  of years ago before this time. So go to Genesis 1518 and notice
• 33:37
  this with me. On that day the Lord made a
• 33:40
  covenant with Abraham saying to your offspring.
• 33:42
  I give this land from the river of Egypt to the great river, the
• 33:46
  river Euphrates, from the river of Egypt to the great river of
• 33:50
  Euphrates. What do we read in verse 21 of
• 33:52
  First Kings 4? We're told here that Solomon
• 33:54
  ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the
• 33:58
  Philistines to the border of Egypt.
• 34:00
  This is a partial fulfillment of that promise that God gave to
• 34:03
  Abram. Your offspring are going to
• 34:06
  possess a land, and that land is going to have certain parameters
• 34:11
  and borders, and I'm going to assure that at some point
• 34:14
  they're going to know that land and enjoy that land because I
• 34:18
  gave it to them. Are you nervous?
• 34:25
  Yeah, there's a lot of tension today, right?
• 34:27
  There's a lot of debate today. There's a lot of dispute, not
• 34:29
  just among Christians and their theological persuasions
• 34:32
  concerning Israel, but even in our world today.
• 34:37
  Who does this land belong to? Is it the Palestinians land?
• 34:42
  Is it the nation of Israel's land, 1948?
• 34:45
  Who's the oppressor? Who's the oppressed?
• 34:48
  This is what this is what's dominating our media.
• 34:49
  This is what Dom is dominating social media.
• 34:51
  Maybe you're getting caught up in the frenzy.
• 34:54
  It's inescapable almost. And we can make the rest of the
• 34:57
  Bible study about this. But here's what I'm comforted
• 34:59
  by. The Bible has answers, even with
• 35:01
  this modern issue, because it's not a modern issue.
• 35:04
  It's an ancient issue. And I would say this, that you
• 35:08
  don't even have to get into much of the history necessarily.
• 35:14
  I'm more satisfied to look at the future.
• 35:18
  And the reason that is, is because there is an undeniable,
• 35:24
  concrete, unless you're not a Christian, answer to this whole
• 35:30
  thing, Israel, Palestine, Jerusalem.
• 35:39
  Who does it belong to? Can I tell you where Jerusalem
• 35:44
  is headed? Can I tell you who will own
• 35:47
  Jerusalem? Christ.
• 35:49
  That's who's going to own it. Jesus Christ of Nazareth is
• 35:53
  going to occupy Jerusalem. Oh, you don't believe me?
• 35:57
  You think that's my opinion? Well, let me show you what the
• 35:59
  prophets say. If you believe the Bible in
• 36:04
  Jeremiah chapter 3 and verse 16 and 17, where is this all headed
• 36:08
  to? Where is this ending?
• 36:12
  I'll tell you where it's ending. Because the prophets told us by
• 36:15
  the Spirit in Jeremiah 316 to 17, here's a prophecy of a time
• 36:21
  that has not yet been known, a time to come, an era that is yet
• 36:25
  to be experienced. In Jeremiah 316 Here's what the
• 36:27
  word of the Lord says. And when you have multiplied him
• 36:30
  in fruitful in the land in those days, declares the Lord, they
• 36:33
  shall no more say the ark of the covenant of the Lord.
• 36:36
  There's a time coming for the Jewish people, according to
• 36:39
  Jeremiah, that they're not. They're not going to seek after
• 36:43
  the Ark of the Lord, I guess, at some place, and we see it
• 36:45
  already. It's displaced.
• 36:47
  Nobody knows its whereabouts. But there's a time coming where
• 36:49
  it won't even be a thought. It won't be a desire, It won't
• 36:52
  be something sought after. Well, when will that happen?
• 36:57
  Says here it shall not come to mind or be remembered or missed.
• 37:00
  It shall not be made again. It's going to be completely
• 37:03
  irrelevant at one point. You know, there's some
• 37:06
  archaeologist now and some documentaries online where
• 37:08
  people claim they found the Ark and it was placed here.
• 37:11
  And this is there's time coming where there's going to be no
• 37:14
  more documentaries, no more questions about it.
• 37:16
  It's just going to be completely out of mind.
• 37:19
  Why? Because of verse 17.
• 37:22
  At that time, Jerusalem, Jerusalem shall be called what?
• 37:28
  The throne of the Lord, the throne of the Lord and all
• 37:34
  nations shall gather to it, to the presence of the Lord.
• 37:38
  Where? In New Jersey?
• 37:42
  In Sydney and Shanghai and Moscow?
• 37:47
  No. In Jerusalem.
• 37:53
  And they shall no more stubbornly follow their own evil
• 37:56
  heart. Do you know why they're not
• 37:57
  going to want to even discuss about the Ark of the Covenant?
• 38:00
  Because the thing that the Ark of the Covenant pointed to is
• 38:04
  now in their midst. The ark of the covenant was a
• 38:08
  symbol of God's presence. We're told here that Jerusalem
• 38:10
  will become the throne of the Lord, meaning the Lord himself.
• 38:12
  Yahweh will be on a physical throne in that holy city and
• 38:18
  they'll say we don't want the ark.
• 38:19
  We have what the ark spoke of here, the unfiltered, unhindered
• 38:24
  presence of God in the person of Jesus Christ.
• 38:30
  I know it's a charge political issue today, but here's what the
• 38:38
  Bible says. It's going to be solved when
• 38:39
  Christ claims it. And guess what?
• 38:43
  Nobody's going to take it from him.
• 38:46
  Nobody will be able to take it from no organization or
• 38:48
  terrorist group. No protest from college
• 38:52
  students. It's not going to work.
• 38:56
  He will rule and reign for 1000 years and the nations will come
• 39:00
  and honor him. You guys OK?
• 39:04
  Right. Good this is Bible, my friend.
• 39:08
  This is not my opinion. And so we read here that the
• 39:12
  borders of Israel. This is arguably the largest
• 39:16
  train that was experienced and enjoyed by the nation of Israel.
• 39:22
  Verse 22. Solomon's provision for one day
• 39:24
  was 30 cores of fine flour and 60 cores of meal. 10 fat oxen
• 39:28
  and 20 pasture fed cattle, 100 sheep besides deer, gazelles,
• 39:32
  robots and fat and fowl. Wow, what a menu.
• 39:37
  For he had dominion over all the region West of the Euphrates,
• 39:40
  from Tifsha to Gaza, over all the kings West of the Euphrates.
• 39:46
  And he had peace on all sides around him.
• 39:50
  And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to
• 39:53
  Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all
• 39:57
  the days of Solomon. So here's a summary of the reign
• 40:01
  of Solomon. They had peace.
• 40:02
  They knew peace all around them. And there's a proverbial saying
• 40:07
  that we heard at the conference that every man sat under his own
• 40:12
  fig tree. And that's just a beautiful way
• 40:15
  of explaining that there was a sense of safety in the hearts of
• 40:18
  the nation of Israel. That they can live out in the
• 40:21
  open and enjoy their own personal garden and live in
• 40:24
  their own shade with No Fear of being attacked or siege to come
• 40:27
  about them. They knew a security that was
• 40:31
  ushered in by this king who had a promise from God.
• 40:35
  And this proverbial saying that every man will sit under his fig
• 40:37
  tree became a proverbial portrait of the Messiah and his
• 40:43
  rule and reign. That when the Messiah comes, our
• 40:45
  Messiah being Jesus Christ, each man will also know this reality.
• 40:49
  They will know some kind of a peace and safety in the streets,
• 40:53
  and that will only come when the Prince of peace comes.
• 40:55
  That's Micah 4/4, if you're taking notes, Micah 4/4,
• 40:58
  Zechariah 310, where you see this description repeated as
• 41:02
  prophecy, repeated as prophecy. And again, may I remind you that
• 41:07
  at the conference, perhaps that is the significance of Nathaniel
• 41:10
  sitting underneath a fig tree, that he himself in that moment,
• 41:14
  though they were occupied by Rome and there was so much
• 41:17
  spiritual leadership and corruption.
• 41:20
  He's sitting underneath that fig tree.
• 41:21
  Maybe, maybe, maybe was meditating on when the Messiah
• 41:25
  would come and clean up all that mess and when Jesus Christ says
• 41:29
  I saw you underneath that fig tree and Nathaniel's response
• 41:32
  was you are the King of Israel, I believe Nathaniel in that
• 41:37
  moment wasn't just impressed how Jesus knew about his physical
• 41:39
  location, but what was occupying his heart.
• 41:44
  He couldn't wait for that messianic age to to be a reality
• 41:49
  in his own day. But listen to sit under your fig
• 41:53
  tree and to have your own personal garden, as impressive
• 41:57
  as that is, is limited. It's limited.
• 42:01
  Why? Because it speaks of economic
• 42:03
  flourishing. It speaks of political
• 42:05
  tranquility. But it's not a complete peace.
• 42:11
  Solomon couldn't offer the peace of heart when it comes to how
• 42:16
  you relate to God. Necessarily, Solomon could not
• 42:19
  offer a peace with the account of your sins.
• 42:23
  Solomon couldn't go there. He can only go so far.
• 42:27
  And so This is why Jesus is greater than Solomon.
• 42:28
  You remember that if you're at the conference, that he is the
• 42:31
  giver of a better peace. And if this is a summation of
• 42:34
  Solomon's peace, right, that they knew safety from Dan to
• 42:37
  even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig
• 42:39
  tree. What's the summation of the
• 42:42
  peace that King Jesus offers anybody?
• 42:43
  Remember, if you were at the conference, what is that
• 42:48
  reference that tells us about the extent of the peace that
• 42:50
  Jesus Christ gives? It's a verse that you and I
• 42:57
  should memorize in these days. It's in the last few verses of
• 43:01
  2nd Thessalonians 316. Here's the peace that Jesus
• 43:05
  gives. Here's the repose.
• 43:09
  Here are the green pastures for your soul that He leads you and
• 43:12
  I on and to lay upon 2nd Thessalonians 316.
• 43:18
  This is a beautiful scripture. Now may the Lord of peace.
• 43:21
  He's not just the giver of peace.
• 43:22
  He is the Lord of peace. May the Lord of peace himself
• 43:26
  give you peace when when you have the right party in office,
• 43:31
  when your bank account is full, when your body's intact and
• 43:36
  disease free. No.
• 43:38
  May the Lord of peace himself give you peace at all times, in
• 43:42
  every way uninterrupted peace, every second of every season.
• 43:47
  You can know this peace. The Lord be with you all.
• 43:53
  That's the peace that the greater than Solomon offers, A
• 43:55
  peace that secures emotional, spiritual, mental, serenity
• 44:02
  every second of every season. And I want to tell you that this
• 44:09
  kind of quality of peace is totally unattainable if you
• 44:14
  don't have the Lord of peace. You need the Lord of peace.
• 44:17
  You need to be rightly related with the Lord if you want this
• 44:24
  peace to be deposited in your heart.
• 44:26
  If you don't have the Lord of peace, you will never know.
• 44:28
  This peace, Neither will this world.
• 44:30
  Neither will the Middle East. It's only the Lord of peace and.
• 44:37
  That's what you and I can walk in now.
• 44:41
  We come here, back as we finish up this chapter.
• 44:47
  What do we see here? A crack in Solomon's faith.
• 44:51
  The foundation of his faith. We read here that he lived in
• 44:59
  peace, surely, but in verse 28 barley also, and straw for the
• 45:05
  horses and swift steeds they brought to the place where it
• 45:08
  was required. Each according to his duty.
• 45:11
  Earlier read that he had 40,000 stalls of horses and 12,000
• 45:15
  horsemen, good or bad. For Solomon to acquire all these
• 45:20
  horses, Is that just another symptom of his success or
• 45:24
  symptom of something else? Could a king have all these
• 45:28
  horses? Was it right for a king to
• 45:31
  possess this kind of artillery? How do you know?
• 45:39
  Yes, OK, it was supposed to be a time of peace, sure, but what if
• 45:46
  he just really liked horses? Is that the idea?
• 45:50
  No. It was supposed to be a time of
• 45:51
  peace. So there seems to be a
• 45:52
  contradiction here in Solomon's planning.
• 45:54
  But in the law, whether you're Solomon or not, to acquire many
• 46:00
  horses was illegal. Do you know the reference to
• 46:04
  this? In Deuteronomy 1716, we're told
• 46:07
  explicitly that for all kings, all succeeding kings, all future
• 46:11
  kings of Israel, you could not acquire for yourself many horses
• 46:16
  only he must not acquire many horses for himself or cause the
• 46:19
  people to return to Egypt. Here's the bad thing with
• 46:22
  Solomon here is that he does both.
• 46:27
  He established his relationship with Egypt, and he acquires
• 46:29
  horses in order to acquire many horses.
• 46:31
  Since the Lord has said to you you shall never return that way
• 46:34
  again, you shall never return that way again.
• 46:37
  Why was God against Chariots? Why was God against a king
• 46:41
  acquiring all this? Because you'd be tempted to rely
• 46:48
  on that and not on him. What does the psalmist say in
• 46:52
  Psalmist and Psalm 20 verse seven?
• 46:55
  You know it, yes? What is it?
• 47:00
  Some entrust, trust and horrors and others in Chariots.
• 47:03
  But where is our trust in the name of the Lord our God?
• 47:09
  So the Lord's the Lord said, you can't do this because I want you
• 47:12
  to rely on me. I mean, didn't they learn the
• 47:14
  lesson? What did God do with a bunch of
• 47:15
  Chariots when they cross the Red Sea?
• 47:16
  He buried them. He actually messed with the
• 47:20
  spokes and the wheels and they jammed.
• 47:22
  Why are you going to put your trust in that?
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  Why are you going to put so much energy and time and investment
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  and breeding? And look, they even have to feed
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  the horses and cause slaves and servants to go out and to
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  acquire, to make sure, make sure that they were strong and
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  healthy. You could avoided all of that if
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  you just simply listen to my word.
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  Just trust in me. Just trust in me.
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  And so, already here, just like in Chapter 3, we're seeing
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  problems in Solomon's faith. So in the midst of all of this
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  promising and flourishing, you see issues, you see issues with
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  his relationship with the Lord. He is not careful with the word
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  of God. And let me repeat myself from
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  something I said a couple weeks ago.
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  If you are not careful with the word of God today, you'll not be
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  prepared for the temptations that await you tomorrow.
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  He's already flimsy. He's not standing on solid
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  ground. He's not taking every aspect of
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  his life and screening it through the word of God and the
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  wisdom of God. He's slipping here and there.
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  You and I can't afford to do that because what starts out as
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  a crack can ultimately crumble, and we're going to see it.
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  We already know that. Well, it doesn't even end there,
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  does it? We get a summary of his wisdom
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  in verse 29 down as we close here.
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  God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure and
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  breath of mind, like the sand on the seashore, so that Solomon's
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  wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the East and
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  all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all of
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  their men, wiser than Ethan the Ezra height and hemen and Calcol
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  and Darda, the sons of Mahul. And his fame was in all the
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  surrounding nations. He also spoke 3000 Proverbs and
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  his songs were 1005. How many songs do we have of
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  Solomon in our Bibles songs? Unless you're trying to say that
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  the songs are also Psalms. If it's purely a song, we have
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  won the Song of Solomon out of 1000 and five 3000 Proverbs.
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  Incredible. He spoke of Trees, from the
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  Cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the
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  wall. He spoke also of beasts and of
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  birds and of reptiles, and a fish.
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  And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon
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  and from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his
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  wisdom. And so this is really like a
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  resume, right? This is just showing how
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  excelling this man was. But notice here, this is what
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  intrigued me, the name of certain men in verse 31.
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  He was wiser than all of the men.
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  So there's these other men who had a reputation of of being
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  wise as well. Four of them, one of them being
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  Ethan, another man being he man, Kalkul and Darda.
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  So clearly at this time there were contemporaries in Solomon's
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  day who had a reputation of being extremely intelligent.
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  And we're told here is that even the most famous that had a
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  reputation that were sought after, they could not compare.
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  They stood in the shadows of this towering mind of Solomon's.
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  Do we ever see Ethan and Heman or any of these men mentioned
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  elsewhere in Scripture? That's right.
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  They're both found in the Book of Psalms.
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  Actually, Ethan wrote one Psalm and Heman wrote another, and
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  they're coupled together. Does anybody know where the
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  Psalms are found? Which Psalms, Psalm 88 and Psalm
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  89. Go there with me for a second.
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  So not only were these wise men, these men were worshippers,
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  these men were psalmist, these men were prayer men.
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  And we don't have time to go through this, but look at Psalm
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  89. I mean, think about it this way.
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  And maybe I mean this is just my my individual kind of meditation
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  on what we just read in First Kings.
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  For you have Solomon being compared to these other amazing
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  men who are contemporaries, and he outshined them all.
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  He outshined them all. Makes you wonder what you would
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  feel if for the longest time you were a reputable individual,
• 51:49
  sought after individual, and then some guy comes out of
• 51:52
  nowhere and he just takes over. You know how some people would
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  be intimidated by that, By that. Some people be insecure by that.
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  But then I come to Psalm 88, Psalm 89, and I'm comforted to
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  know that these men were worshippers nonetheless.
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  And we know that the contemporaries.
• 52:10
  Because in Psalm 89, Ethan is actually writing about the
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  covenant that God made with David and his sons forever.
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  And he was rejoicing in that. Solomon wasn't a competitor.
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  Solomon wasn't somebody who challenged his ego.
• 52:23
  Solomon was just another display of God's mercy that gave Ethan
• 52:29
  another reason to glorify God. I hope we can see each other
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  that way. I hope you and I, when we see a
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  gifted individual, an individual that's been given much
• 52:39
  opportunity to glorify God, you can look at that person and that
• 52:43
  give you another reason to rejoice in the Lord, to praise
• 52:47
  the Lord. Look at the some of the
• 52:48
  language. Look here, verse one of Psalm
• 52:49
  89. I will sing of the steadfast
• 52:52
  love of the Lord forever with my mouth.
• 52:54
  I will make known your faithfulness to all generations.
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  And he rehearses over the covenant that God made with
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  David. And look at this verse 11.
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  The heavens are yours. The earth also is yours.
• 53:08
  The world and all that is in it. You have founded them.
• 53:11
  He just can't get over that. Everything.
• 53:14
  Even the covenant that David was experiencing, that Solomon was
• 53:17
  experiencing, that came from God.
• 53:18
  It all comes from God. This is how he can view people.
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  This is how he can view circumstances.
• 53:23
  This is how he can view shifts in his own life.
• 53:27
  I mean, in a sense he was among the first place, and now he's
• 53:29
  2nd, 3rd, 4th, and he's totally unmoved by that.
• 53:36
  You know, a believer comes in and they play beautifully on
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  music, probably more beautifully than you do.
• 53:42
  You rejoice in that somebody comes in and they they preach
• 53:45
  better than you do. You rejoice in that somebody
• 53:50
  comes in and they they have the ability to give wise counsel
• 53:54
  better than you. Do you rejoice in that?
• 53:58
  Or do we shrink and we harbor jealousy?
• 54:03
  I was that person one time. That's not godly, that's not
• 54:07
  wisdom, that's not spirituality. And I was just looking over this
• 54:12
  quickly. I mean, I was looking, it's a
• 54:14
  long Psalm. But one verse touched me and I
• 54:17
  think it's a good verse. It's not even related to this
• 54:19
  thought, but just a thought for us in the time that we're living
• 54:22
  in. Look at verse 46.
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  How long, O Lord, will you hide yourself forever?
• 54:27
  How long will your wrath burn like fire?
• 54:31
  This is the verse that touched me.
• 54:33
  Remember how short my time is, For what vanity you have created
• 54:40
  all the children of man. What man can live and never see
• 54:44
  death? Who can deliver his soul from
• 54:47
  the power of Sheol? And I found myself all my way
• 54:51
  here meditating on this Bible study, looking at Ethan's words
• 54:55
  and seeing and praying the same thing in my heart.
• 54:58
  Lord, remember how short my time is.
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  Remember how short my time is. Your time is short.
• 55:06
  True. Isn't it true?
• 55:08
  And the time of what we're seeing here, the times that
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  we're in, is indicating that time is indeed very short.
• 55:15
  And so I want us to just if we can close in prayer and ask the
• 55:17
  Lord to make the most of our time while we still have it.
• 55:22
  Father, we thank you for this Bible study.
• 55:28
  We thank you that you can speak to us through the high
• 55:32
  officials, the administration, the Cabinet of King Solomon, and
• 55:39
  touch our hearts. We ask Father, like what this
• 55:44
  man said by the Spirit, please consider how short our time is,
• 55:49
  and we ask that you would help us use it for your name's sake.
• 55:55
  May every second be fragrance of worship to you.
• 55:59
  May we know your peace every second as well.
• 56:03
  May that peace be a fragrance unto others in these last days,
• 56:07
  that they would realize that the miracle of freedom of turmoil
• 56:16
  and pain can only come from the Prince of peace.
• 56:19
  In Jesus name. Amen.