God had given David a wise son

                                     

                                                                1 Kings 5:7-18

 

 April 23, 2021

 

As soon as Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.”   And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, “I have heard the message that you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the matter of cedar and cypress timber.   My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it. And you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household.”   So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired,  while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cors of wheat as food for his household, and 20,000 cors of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year.   And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.

 

A friend will always find great pleasure when he sees a child of his friend, becoming a man of Integrity.  Hiram had great respect for David, and it brought joy to him to see Solomon being a wise leader.  He did all that Solomon asked of him and in return, Solomon supplied his household food, year after year.  

 

Now as you read the remainder of Chapter 5, you will see it was a great task and required a lot of men to do all that was required, so shall we pick up the account in Chapter 5:13-18.

 

 King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men.   And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft.   Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country,  besides Solomon's 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work.   At the king's command, they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.   So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

 

Now, most of you younger folks may not understand the term (drafted), but it was very popular when I was getting out of two years of college.  It was the military, and you were drafted because we had a war going on with the Vietcong, it was referred to as the Vietnam War and many young American soldiers died in that war.  Solomon drafted 30,000 men to go to Lebanon, he also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country. 

 

They had a great task to undertake and God was blessing Solomon and at this point, Solomon was pleasing to the LORD.

 

From the Back Porch,

 

Bob Rice