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II Chronicles 2

Solomon’s work forceverses 1-2

And Solomon determined to build a house for the name of the LORD

and a house for his kingdom

And Solomon told out threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens

and fourscore thousand to hew in the mountain

      and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them

Solomon asks Huram for help and suppliesverses 3-10

And Solomon sent to Huram the king of Tyre

saying

As you did deal with David my father

and did send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein

      even so deal with me

BEHOLD – I build an house to the name of the LORD my God

to dedicate it to HIM – to burn before HIM sweet incense

      and for the continual showbread

and for the burnt offerings morning and evening

      on the Sabbaths – on the new moons

                  on the solemn feasts of the LORD our God

this is an ordinance for ever and ever to Israel

And the house which I build is great – for great is our God above all gods

BUT who is able to build HIM an house

seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot

contain HIM?

Who am I then – that I should build HIM a house

save only to burn sacrifice before HIM?

Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in

gold – silver – brass – iron – purple – crimson – blue

and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that

are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem

whom David my father did provide

Send me also cedar trees – fir trees – algum trees – out of Lebanon

            for I know that your servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon

                        and – behold – my servants shall be with your servant

                                    even to prepare me timber in abundance

                                                for the house which I am about to build

                                                            shall be wonderful great

Behold – I will give to your servants – the hewers that cut timber

            twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat

            twenty thousand measures of barley

            twenty thousand baths of wine

            twenty thousand baths of oil

Huram sends helpverses 11-16

Then Huram the king of Tyre answered in writing

which he sent to Solomon

because the LORD has loved HIS people

                  HE has made you king over them

Huram

said moreover

Blessed be the LORD God of Israel – that made heaven and earth

WHO has given to David the king a wise son

      endued with prudence and understanding

                  that might build an house for the LORD

                              and an house for his kingdom

And now I have sent a cunning man – endued with understanding

of Huram my father’s – the son of a woman of the

daughters of Dan – and his father was a man of Tyre

                  skilful to work in gold – silver – brass  

iron – stone – timber – purple 

blue – fine linen – crimson

Also to grave any manner of graving

and to find out every device which shall be put to him

with your cunning men

with the cunning men of my lord David your father

Now therefore the wheat – barley – oil – wine

            which my lord hath spoken of

                        let him send to his servants

            and we will cut wood out of Lebanon

                        as much as you shall need

            and we will bring it to you in floats by sea to Joppa

                        and you shall carry it up to Jerusalem

Solomon strangers to workverses 17-18

And Solomon numbered all the strangers that were in the land of Israel

after the numbering wherewith David his father had numbered them

      and they were found – an hundred and fifty thousand

and three thousand and six hundred

And he set threescore and ten thousand of them to be bearers of burdens

            and fourscore thousand to be hewers in the mountain

                        and three thousand and six hundred overseers

to set the people a work

COMMENTARY:

DAILY SPIRITUAL BREAKFAST: Young Believers

: 1        And Solomon determined to build an house for the name of the LORD, and an house for his kingdom (559 “determined” [amar] means to express in words, mention, think, to bring to light, promise, or declare)

DEVOTION: Any project we work on should be one that honors the LORD. If it is just getting your work done for school, it should honor the LORD. If it is just working at a job for eight hours, it should honor the LORD. If we are working on a project at church, it should honor the LORD.

Whenever you enter into something that needs to be done you need to think of a way it can honor the LORD. Sometimes we look at projects as something that we have to get done to get to the fun stuff of life that we want to do but that should not be our attitude. Each project will either bring honor to the LORD or it will not.

If we do a half way job on any project it will not bring honor to the LORD and will not give us a good reputation of being someone who takes pride in their work. Every believer needs to take pride in what they do for the LORD according to their ability.

There will always be those who will try to find fault in what we do and we need to realize it. Too often we can give in to those who find fault and not do any job. That is not what the LORD wants of HIS servants. HE will help us with our projects and with HIS help it will give honor to HIM.

We have to go to HIM in prayer while we are completing the project and ask for HIS help and HE will give it. We answer to the LORD for each project HE sends our way. If we have the desire and the strength to complete the task or project it will bring honor to HIS name.

CHALLENGE: What have you decided to do for the LORD this week that will bring honor to HIS name?

DAILY SPIRITUAL LUNCH: Transitional Believers

: 5        And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. (1419 “great” [gadowl] means remarkable or out of the ordinary in degree, magnitude, or effect, elder, distinguished, or greatness)

DEVOTION:  There were many false gods in the days of Solomon. There are many false gods in our world today as well. In fact, there are religions that have thousands of false gods available to those who worship in their temples.

Today we have many false gods in the lives of those who claim to be believers in the God of the Bible. There are many churches that teach things that are not found in the Word of God. They claim to be worshiping the one true God of the Bible but then deny what HIS Word the Bible states.

There are cults that teach that we can become little gods. There are cults that teach that God is a God who gives health and wealth to everyone who truly believes while they are here on this earth. All you have to do is name it and claim it. That is not the God of the Bible but a false teaching regarding what HE is willing to do for those who are true followers of HIM. HE only gives us what will bring glory to HIS name and most of the time that is the gift of contentment with what we have.

There are many churches that are compromising the teaching of the Word of God by changing the standards that the LORD sets for those who claim to be true believers in HIM. They have stopped calling sin sin and now are calling these sins by other names. Some say that the Old Testament moral standards are not the same for today but the only things the LORD changed was the day we worship and the way we worship. HE also changed the dietary laws in the New Testament. The moral laws of God have never changed. HE calls sin sin and will want us to confess our sins to HIM or face chastening from HIM until we do.

Our God is truly greater than all the false gods that are in the world and that are in many churches today. There is only ONE WAY into heaven and that is through the blood of Jesus Christ the Son of God who is Co-Equal with the Father and the Holy Spirit. The triune God of the Bible is to be worshiped today just as HE was in the Old Testament. HE is ONE God in THREE PERSONS.

CHALLENGE:  Understanding this concept is part of the ministry of the Holy Spirit in our life. Believing it is of eternal consequences.


: 6        But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him? Who am I then, that I should build him a house, save only to burn sacrifice before him? (3557 “contain” [kuwl] means to keep in, to maintain, hold, sustain, or nourish)

DEVOTION:  When we study the characteristics of God in theology class we find that there are many attributes HE has that we don’t have. In our study of the Word of God we see God manifested in many ways in different circumstances. How many attributes/characteristics of God can you list on a piece of paper?

We see HIS love. We see HIS care for HIS own people. The children of Israel were HIS people in the Old Testament. In the New Testament those who are followers of Christ are HIS people.

Solomon has a high view of God. He knew that God was omnipresent. He knew that God was transcendent. He knew that God created the world. He knew that God was sovereign over the world. He knew that HE was greater than all the other gods that man worshiped. He knew that God had a plan and knew what the future held.

He knew that he was just a man. He didn’t feel worthy to build the temple. He was honored to be able to build the temple. God told David that Solomon was going to build the temple and he is in the process of building it in this chapter. He knew that a temple on earth could not keep HIM in one place. He built it to worship HIM through sacrifice.

We build buildings to meet in to worship the LORD. We realize that God is omnipresent but we want to worship HIM with our sacrifices of praise and thanksgiving each Sunday. HE states that where two or three are gathered to worship HIM, HE is in their midst. Our LORD is present each time we get together to genuinely worship HIM. There are churches that don’t honor the LORD and HE is not present in their services. We realize that the LORD is in every worship service that is honoring HIS name? HE is right by us in church.

What does HE see in our hearts? Does HE see humility in our hearts as HE saw in the heart of Solomon when he built the Temple? Are we worshiping HIM with all our hearts each Sunday? Do we realize that HE is watching every part of the service? Are we prepared to worship before we enter the church?

Study the characteristics of God in a Theology book. Make sure you have a high view of the abilities of the LORD. Make sure that you don’t limit HIM to human characteristics.

CHALLENGE: Once you have a high view of God, share your thoughts with those around you. Our world needs a high view of the Creator of the Universe.

DAILY SPIRITUAL SUPPER: Mature Believers

: 9        Even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the hosue which I am about to build shall be wonderful great. (6381 “wonderful” [pala’] means to be unusual, to be extraordinarily good or great, to distinguish, marvelous, astound, or show oneself marvelous)

DEVOTION:  David prepared all the material for the Temple. He made arrangements for cedar trees to be cut for the new Temple. He wanted his son to realize how important he considered the place of worship for the LORD.

Today we worship the LORD in a church building. It is different from the Temple of the Old Testament but it is important that we do the best we can to make the place of worship one that honors the LORD.

We are to make sure that when we worship, we are honoring the LORD and not ourselves. Sometimes we think that if we make the place of worship grand than the LORD will be pleased with us.

However, HE is more concerned with our heart attitude rather than the place we worship. I have preached in City Missions in some cities and the place might not be that great but the message is great and the people there are listening to the truth of the Word of God. These are the important things in the sight of the LORD.

Great buildings can be used to build pride in people who worship there. It is not the building that the LORD thinks is important but the heart attitude that the LORD looks at in every person.

What is your attitude when you enter a place of worship? Is it the building or the message that is preached? We need to answer that question in our own heart.

CHALLENGE:  We need to watch our hearts when we worship.


: 12      Huram said moreover, Blessed, be the LORD God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endured with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the LORD, and an house for his kingdom. (7922 “prudence” [sekel] means wisdom, sense, discretion, insight, good sense, trait of judging wisely and objectively, success, or intelligence)

DEVOTION:  There are people who are very smart but can’t tie their own shoes. Here we have a man who is very smart and can tie his own shoes if he had them.

A foreign king is giving Solomon a compliment. He is saying that Solomon is a blessing to the nation that the LORD has given. He even understands that the God of Israel created the world. Huram was a king who was influenced by David to understand who Jehovah really was in relation to the rest of the false gods of the other nations.

Huram wanted to help Solomon build the Temple as he helped his father with many projects. They had a working agreement. He provided the wood for the building of the Temple.

There are many projects started that are never finished but Huram knew that Solomon was capable to finish what he started. He knew that the LORD had given him the ability to think through the project with the plans that the LORD had given David and complete what needed to be done.

The LORD put Solomon in charge of the Temple building and gave him the sense to know what to do when and how to gather the material that his father had not already gathered.

He was a finisher. Many individuals cannot look at a project that is half done and be able to finish it. This was not going to happen to Solomon. We need to know what gifts the LORD has given us and then put them to use in the service of our LORD. If we have the gift of being a finisher, we need to find projects that would give glory to the LORD and finish what others have started.

In the process we need to pray for guidance from the Holy Spirit. HE is the one who can help us finish better than anyone else. HE will give you the power and understanding to know what to do when and then do it.

CHALLENGE: There are many unfinished tasks that need someone like Solomon who is blessed of the LORD with the ability to finish something that has been started.


DISCIPLINES OF THE FAITH:

BODY

Chastity (Purity in living)

Fasting (Time alone with LORD without eating or drinking)

Sacrifice (Giving up something we want to serve the LORD)

Submission (Willing to listen to others and LORD)

Solitude (Going to a quiet place without anyone)

SOUL

Fellowship (Gathering together around the Word of God)

Frugality (wise use of resources)

Journalizing (Writing down what you have learned from the LORD)

Study and Meditation (Thinking through your study in the Word)

Secrecy (Doing your good deeds without others knowing but God)

SPIRIT

Celebration (Gathering around a special occasion to worship LORD)

Confession (Tell the LORD we are sorry for our sins on a daily basis)

Prayer (Conversation with God on a personal level)

Silence (Letting the LORD deal with some problems and needs)

Worship (Time to praise the LORD alone or in a group)

Cedars from Tyreverse 3

Dedicated to the LORDverse 4

Burn sweet incenseverse 4

Continual showbreadverse 4

Burnt offeringsverse 4

            morning and evenings

Sabbathsverse 4

New moonsverse 4

Solemn feastsverse 4

Burn sacrificeverse 6

House of the LORDverse 12

House for HIS kingdomverse 12


DOCTRINES OF THE FAITH:

Scripture (66 inerrant books of the Bible)

Ordinance foreververse 4

God the Father (First person of the Godhead)

LORD – Jehovah (Covenant keeping, Personal)verses 1, 4, 11, 12

Name of the LORDverses 1, 4

God – Elohim (Creator)verses 4, 5, 12

LORD my Godverse 4

LORD our Godverse 4

Great is our God above all godsverse 5

Omnipresence of Godverse 6

LORD loved HIS peopleverse 11

LORD God of Israelverse 12

Creator of worldverse 12

God the Son (Second person of the Godhead – God/man, Messiah)

God the Holy Spirit (Third person of the Godhead – our comforter)

Trinity (Three persons of the Godhead who are co-equal = ONE God)

Angels (Created before the foundation of the world – Good and Evil)

Man (Created on the sixth twenty-four hour period of creation)

Huram – the king of Tyreverses 3, 10-13, 16

Payment given to of

Wheat – barley

Baths of wine

Baths of oil

Cunning men sent

Trees out of Lebanonverse 8

Man of Tyreverses 14-16

Skillful in gold, silver, brass

iron stone, timber

purple, blue fine linen

crimson, graving images

sent by way of Joppa

Strangers in Israelverse 17

153,600

70,000 bearers of burdens

80,000 hewers of wood

3,6000 overseers

Sin (Missing the mark set by God on man and angels)

False godsverse 5

Salvation (Provided by Christ’s death on the cross for our sins)

Determinationverse 1

Builder verse 4

Lovedverse 11

Blessedverse 12

Prudenceverse 12

Understandingverse 12

Skilful verse 14

Israel (Old Testament people of God)

Solomonverses 1-18

Wanted men cunning to work

gold – silver – brass

iron – purple – crimson

blue – skill to grave

Send cedar trees

Wanted house to be wonderful great

Wise son

Endued with prudence and

understanding

Davidverses 3, 7, 14, 17

Judahverse 7

Jerusalemverses 7, 16

Danverse 14

Land of Israelverse 17

Church (New Testament people of God)

Last Things (Future Events)


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QUOTES regarding passage

7 Solomon requested from Hiram a skilled workman and in fact hired a number of experienced Phoenicians (vv., 14) to work with his own men. For despite a growing number of “skilled craftsmen” in Israel, their techniques remained inferior to those of their northern neighbors, as is demonstrated archaeologically by less finely cut building stones and by the lower level of Israelite culture in general. (Payne, J. B. (1988). 1, 2 Chronicles. In F. E. Gaebelein (Ed.), The Expositor’s Bible Commentary: 1 & 2 Kings, 1 & 2 Chronicles, Ezra, Nehemiah, Esther, Job (Vol. 4, p. 445). Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing House.)


2:7–10. Nonetheless the temple was to be as appropriate as human creativity could make it. Since the Phoenicians were famous the world over for their architectural and building skills, Solomon solicited Hiram to send … a man of requisite abilities to work with his own craftsmen (v. 7). Hiram should also provide timber (on algum and its uses see comments on 9:10–11), the hewers of which would receive 20,000 cors (ca. 125,000 bushels) of ground wheat, 20,000 cors of barley, 20,000 baths (ca. 115,000 gallons) of wine, and 20,000 baths of olive oil (2:8–10). (Merrill, E. H. (1985). 2 Chronicles. In J. F. Walvoord & R. B. Zuck (Eds.), The Bible Knowledge Commentary: An Exposition of the Scriptures (Vol. 1, p. 621). Wheaton, IL: Victor Books.)


2:7 send me a skilled man. The Israelites were familiar with agriculture, but not metalworking. They needed experts for that. (MacArthur, J. F., Jr. (2006). The MacArthur study Bible: New American Standard Bible. (2 Ch 2:7). Nashville, TN: Thomas Nelson Publishers.)


Ver. 7. Send now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, &c.] There being many things relating to the temple about to be built, and vessels to be put into it, which were to be made of those metals: and in purple, and crimson, and blue: used in making the vails for it, hung up in different places: and that can skill to grave; in wood or stone: with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and Jerusalem, whom my father David did provide; see 1 Chron. 22:15. (Gill, J. (1810). An Exposition of the Old Testament (Vol. 3, p. 50). London: Mathews and Leigh.)


FROM MY READING:

(Remember the only author that I totally agree with is the HOLY SPIRIT in the inerrant WORD OF GOD called THE BIBLE! All other I try to gleam what I can to help me grow in the LORD!!)


Mark Twain once wrote: “Always do right. It will gratify some and astonish the rest.” While we smile at that, there are greater reasons for doing right.

Joseph is a good example. When he resisted the advances of Potiphar’s wife, Joseph set himself on the road to the throne of Egypt. Had he given in, Joseph would have set himself on the road to ruin.

Always do right. There is more at stake than you might think. (Quiet Walk)


Teaching Stones
“Woe unto him that saith to the wood, Awake; to the dumb stone, Arise, it shall teach! Behold, it is laid over with gold and silver, and there is no breath at all in the midst of it.” (Habakkuk 2:19) 

How foolish are those who worship idols—objects of wood and stone with no life in them, not even when they are adorned in silver and gold. Can inanimate objects come to life and even become teachers? A child knows better. 

But not college professors! All over the land, these proud purveyors of “science falsely so called” are indoctrinating young minds with the absurd belief that inorganic substances can somehow first become simple living substances and then eventually organize themselves all the way up to being people. They would not, of course, suggest that sticks and stones could suddenly become human (neither did the ancient idolaters, for that matter). They just believe that time—lots of it—can magically develop people out of much simpler substances than even these ancient philosophers ever imagined. “In the beginning, hydrogen” is their arrogant notion.

But God will not be mocked in this way forever. Life can only come from life—ultimately from the living God! The wooden idol of the pagan is every bit as scientific as the evolutionary models of the modern intellectual; neither one can create life. “Their idols are silver and gold, the work of men’s hands. They have mouths, but they speak not: eyes have they, but they see not: . . . They that make them are like unto them; so is every one that trusteth in them” (Psalm 115:4-5, 8). 

Only God can create life, and He can even cause stones to teach. “Speak to the earth, and it shall teach thee: . . . Who knows not in all these that the hand of the LORD hath wrought this?” (Job 12:8-9). HMM (The Institute of Creation Research)


2 Kings 2
The Lord takes Elijah to heaven in a whirlwind.
INSIGHT
Miracles don’t permeate the entire Bible. They tend to be concentrated during the times of Moses, the prophets, and Jesus. They occur other times as well, but these are the times of greatest concentration; and Elijah and Elisha represent one of the strongest periods. In our lives today, God seems rather inactive in comparison. Yet that is not because He is unable to act-but rather because He has chosen not to act in the same way. The power is still there, and we can rest in the confidence that He still has all things under control.
                                  (Quiet Walk)


DRAWING ASIDE

And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it without the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation.  Exodus 33:7
Moses set the Tabernacle up outside the camp—“afar off from the camp.” Now here is the point at which I am most liable to be misunderstood, but it is here, and it is part of the teaching. There is invariably, in the history of every revival, this drawing aside. Let us not forget that the camp of Israel was then the “church” of God. In the Old Testament the nation of Israel was the “church” in the wilderness. This is the church we are talking about, and yet you see what Moses did? He took this tabernacle from the midst of the “church,” as it were and put it up outside, “afar off from the camp.”
No revival that has ever been experienced in the long history of the church has ever been an official movement in the church. That is a strong statement, is it not? But I repeat it. No revival that the church has ever known has ever been an official movement. You read of the great precursors of the Protestant Reformation, people like Wycliffe, Jan Hus, and others. It was always unofficial, and the officials did not like it. It was the same with Martin Luther. Nothing happened in Rome. No, it happened just to this monk in his cell. And so it has continued to happen.
Even after the reformation of the Church of England, there were men who began to feel dissatisfied, and they began to follow this pattern and do the self-same thing. That is the origin of Puritanism. Then you are all probably familiar with the story of Methodism in its various branches. The two Wesley brothers and Whitefield and others were members of the Church of England. But they did not begin to do something in the Church of England but formed what they called their Holy Club, outside the camp.
A Thought to Ponder: No revival that has ever been experienced in the Church has ever been an official movement in the church   

                          (From Revival, p. 166, by Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones)


Reasonable Service
“I beseech you therefore…by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.” (Romans 12:1-2)
For those who would know God’s will for their lives, these verses provide the definitive answer. The key is sacrifice, not conformity. It is paradoxical, but wonderfully true, that real living is dying—dying to the world and living unto Christ! This great theme is emphasized repeatedly throughout the New Testament (Galatians 2:20, etc.).
Whether paradoxical or not, the principle of sacrificial living for Christ is eminently reasonable service! “Reasonable” is the Greek logikos, from which we derive our word “logical.” “Service” is the Greek latreian, referring to service as a priest. We have been made “an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ” (1 Peter 2:5). It is perfectly logical that we render such lifelong service to the great Friend who laid down His life for us in order to take away our sins and give us everlasting life with Him in the ages to come.
It is also logical that we should not conform our lives to the standards of this present evil world. Why should we imitate this world’s materialism or humanism, in dress or music or morals or anything else? We have far higher and more lasting standards, guided by the Word of God and by minds renewed in Christ.
Our minds once were “blinded” by “the god of this world” (2 Corinthians 4:4), but now they can be guided by “the mind of the Lord” (Romans 11:341 Corinthians 2:16). Here is the key to knowing that good and acceptable and perfect will of God!

                (HMM, The Institute for Creation Research)


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