November 30, 2024 1 Kings 7:45-51 45  Now the pots, the shovels, and the basins, all these vessels in the house of the  Lord , which Hiram made for King Solomon, were of burnished bronze.   46  In the plain of the Jordan the king cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan.   47  And Solomon left all the vessels unweighed, because there were so many of them; the weight of the bronze was not ascertained. 48  So Solomon made all the vessels that were in the house of the  Lord : the golden altar, the golden table for the bread of the Presence,   49  the lampstands of pure gold, five on the south side and five on the north, before the inner sanctuary; the flowers, the lamps, and the tongs, of gold;   50  the cups, snuffers, basins, dishes for incense, and fire pans, of pure gold; and the sockets of gold, for the doors of the innermost part of the house, the Most H...

November 29, 2024 1 Kings 7:13-44 13  And King Solomon sent and brought Hiram from Tyre.  14  He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in bronze. And he was full of wisdom, understanding, and skill for making any work in bronze. He came to King Solomon and did all his work. 15  He cast two pillars of bronze. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits measured its circumference. It was hollow, and its thickness was four fingers. The second pillar was the same.  16  He also made two capitals of cast bronze to set on the tops of the pillars. The height of the one capital was five cubits, and the height of the other capital was five cubits.  17  There were lattices of checker work with wreaths of chain work for the capitals on the tops of the pillars, a lattice for the one capital and a lattice for the other capital.  18  Li...

November 28, 2024 1 Kings 7:1-12 7  Solomon was building his own house thirteen years, and he finished his entire house. 2  He built the House of the Forest of Lebanon. Its length was a hundred cubits and its breadth fifty cubits and its height thirty cubits, and it was built on four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams on the pillars.  3  And it was covered with cedar above the chambers that were on the forty-five pillars, fifteen in each row.  4  There were window frames in three rows, and window opposite window in three tiers.  5  All the doorways and windows had square frames, and window was opposite window in three tiers. 6  And he made the Hall of Pillars; its length was fifty cubits, and its breadth thirty cubits. There was a porch in front with pillars, and a canopy in front of them. 7  And he made the Hall of the Throne where he was to pronounce judgment, even the Hall of Judgment....

November 27, 2024 1 Kings 6:14-38 14  So Solomon built the house and finished it.  15  He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar. From the floor of the house to the walls of the ceiling, he covered them on the inside with wood, and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress.  16  He built twenty cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the walls, and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the Most Holy Place.  17  The house, that is, the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long.  18  The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar; no stone was seen.  19  The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.  20  The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits hi...

November 26, 2024 1 Kings 6:1-13 6  In the four hundred and eightieth year after the people of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord.  2  The house that King Solomon built for the Lord was sixty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high.  3  The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was twenty cubits long, equal to the width of the house, and ten cubits deep in front of the house.  4  And he made for the house windows with recessed frames.  5  He also built a structure against the wall of the house, running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary. And he made side chambers all around.  6  The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits br...

November 25, 2024 1 Kings 5:7-18 7  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.”  8  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.  9  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.”  10  So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired,  11  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.  12  And the Lord gave Solomon wisdo...

November 24, 2024 1 Kings 5:1-6 5   Now Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David.  2  And Solomon sent word to Hiram,  3  “You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.  4  But now the Lord my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune.  5  And so I intend to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.’  6  Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me. And my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your...

November 23, 2024 1 Kings 4:29-34 29  And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding beyond measure, and breadth of mind like the sand on the seashore,  30  so that Solomon's wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the people of the east and all the wisdom of Egypt.  31  For he was wiser than all other men, wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.  32  He also spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs were 1,005.  33  He spoke of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of the wall. He spoke also of beasts, and of birds, and of reptiles, and of fish.  34  And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom. I can’t wait to meet Solomon someday.   I know he wasn’t perfect.   Far from it, in fact.   But God ga...

November 22, 2024 1 Kings 4:20-28 20  Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy.  21   Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. 22  Solomon's provision for one day was thirty cors of fine flour and sixty cors of meal,  23  ten fat oxen, and twenty pasture-fed cattle, a hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.  24  For he had dominion over all the region west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, over all the kings west of the Euphrates. And he had peace on all sides around him.  25  And Judah and Israel lived in safety, from Dan even to Beersheba, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, all the days of Solomon.  26  Solomon also had 40,000 st...

November 21, 2024 1 Kings 4:1-19 4  King Solomon was king over all Israel,  2  and these were his high officials: Azariah the son of Zadok was the priest;  3  Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha were secretaries; Jehoshaphat the son of Ahilud was recorder;  4  Benaiah the son of Jehoiada was in command of the army; Zadok and Abiathar were priests;  5  Azariah the son of Nathan was over the officers; Zabud the son of Nathan was priest and king's friend;  6  Ahishar was in charge of the palace; and Adoniram the son of Abda was in charge of the forced labor. 7  Solomon had twelve officers over all Israel, who provided food for the king and his household. Each man had to make provision for one month in the year.  8  These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;  9  Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elonbeth-hanan;  10  ...

November 20, 2024 1 Kings 3:16-28 16  Then two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.  17  The one woman said, “Oh, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth to a child while she was in the house.  18  Then on the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth. And we were alone. There was no one else with us in the house; only we two were in the house.  19  And this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him.  20  And she arose at midnight and took my son from beside me, while your servant slept, and laid him at her breast, and laid her dead son at my breast.  21  When I rose in the morning to nurse my child, behold, he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning, behold, he was not the child that I had borne.”  22  But the other woman said, “No, the living child is mine, and the dead child is yours.” The first said, “No, the dead child is your...

November 19, 2024 1 Kings 3:3-15 3  Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father, only he sacrificed and made offerings at the high places.  4  And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that was the great high place. Solomon used to offer a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.  5  At Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night, and God said, “Ask what I shall give you.”  6  And Solomon said, “You have shown great and steadfast love to your servant David my father, because he walked before you in faithfulness, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart toward you. And you have kept for him this great and steadfast love and have given him a son to sit on his throne this day.  7  And now, O Lord my God, you have made your servant king in place of David my father, although I am but a little child. I do not know how to go...

November 18, 2024 1 Kings 3:1-2 3  Solomon made a marriage alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He took Pharaoh's daughter and brought her into the city of David until he had finished building his own house and the house of the Lord and the wall around Jerusalem.  2  The people were sacrificing at the high places, however, because no house had yet been built for the name of the Lord. So in these two short verses we are made aware of King Solomon’s behavior and that of the Israelites. They were not to make marriage alliances with any other nation. They were not to worship in high places as that was generally the location of idol worship. Think about your worship of God. Is it for the right reasons? Do we honor God only in our worship? Worshiping God on our own terms instead of God’s is dangerous. Let us always be mindful of honoring God in our worship. Debbie Walker

November 17, 2024 1 Kings 2:28-38 28  When the news came to Joab—for Joab had supported Adonijah although he had not supported Absalom—Joab fled to the tent of the Lord and caught hold of the horns of the altar.  29  And when it was told King Solomon, “Joab has fled to the tent of the Lord, and behold, he is beside the altar,” Solomon sent Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, saying, “Go, strike him down.”  30  So Benaiah came to the tent of the Lord and said to him, “The king commands, ‘Come out.’” But he said, “No, I will die here.” Then Benaiah brought the king word again, saying, “Thus said Joab, and thus he answered me.”  31  The king replied to him, “Do as he has said, strike him down and bury him, and thus take away from me and from my father's house the guilt for the blood that Joab shed without cause.  32  The Lord will bring back his bloody deeds on his own head, because, wi...

November 16, 2024 1 Kings 2:26-27 26  And to Abiathar the priest the king said, “Go to Anathoth, to your estate, for you deserve death. But I will not at this time put you to death, because you carried the ark of the Lord God before David my father, and because you shared in all my father's affliction.”  27  So Solomon expelled Abiathar from being priest to the Lord, thus fulfilling the word of the Lord that he had spoken concerning the house of Eli in Shiloh. King Solomon chose not to put Abiathar to death because he knew this priest has served King David well. However, King Solomon also knew that Abiathar was involved in the plan that Adonijah had hatched to be the next king of Israel. Abiathar had lived most of his life as a loyal servant of God. However, he did not finish strong. He allowed earthly matters to become his focus, which cost him the priestly office. I pray for each of us today that we may finish strong in...

November 15, 2024 1 Kings 2:13-25 13  Then Adonijah the son of Haggith came to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon. And she said, “Do you come peacefully?” He said, “Peacefully.”  14  Then he said, “I have something to say to you.” She said, “Speak.”  15  He said, “You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel fully expected me to reign. However, the kingdom has turned about and become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord.  16  And now I have one request to make of you; do not refuse me.” She said to him, “Speak.”  17  And he said, “Please ask King Solomon—he will not refuse you—to give me Abishag the Shunammite as my wife.”  18  Bathsheba said, “Very well; I will speak for you to the king.” 19  So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her and bowed down to her. Then he sat on his throne and had a seat brought for the king's mothe...

November 14, 2024 1 Kings 2:1-12 2  When David's time to die drew near, he commanded Solomon his son, saying,  2  “I am about to go the way of all the earth. Be strong, and show yourself a man,  3  and keep the charge of the Lord your God, walking in his ways and keeping his statutes, his commandments, his rules, and his testimonies, as it is written in the Law of Moses, that you may prosper in all that you do and wherever you turn,  4  that the Lord may establish his word that he spoke concerning me, saying, ‘If your sons pay close attention to their way, to walk before me in faithfulness with all their heart and with all their soul, you shall not lack a man on the throne of Israel.’ 5  “Moreover, you also know what Joab the son of Zeruiah did to me, how he dealt with the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner the son of Ner, and Amasa the son of Jether, whom he kill...

November 13, 2024 1 Kings 1:49-53 49  Then all the guests of Adonijah trembled and rose, and each went his own way.  50  And Adonijah feared Solomon. So he arose and went and took hold of the horns of the altar.  51  Then it was told Solomon, “Behold, Adonijah fears King Solomon, for behold, he has laid hold of the horns of the altar, saying, ‘Let King Solomon swear to me first that he will not put his servant to death with the sword.’”  52  And Solomon said, “If he will show himself a worthy man, not one of his hairs shall fall to the earth, but if wickedness is found in him, he shall die.”  53  So King Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and paid homage to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him, “Go to your house.” When Adonijah feared for his life, he ran for the horns of the altar for one primary reason—safety. No one would dare kill a person at the same place where offerings were made to ...

November 12, 2024 1 Kings 1:38-48 38  So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites and the Pelethites went down and had Solomon ride on King David's mule and brought him to Gihon.  39  There Zadok the priest took the horn of oil from the tent and anointed Solomon. Then they blew the trumpet, and all the people said, “Long live King Solomon!”  40  And all the people went up after him, playing on pipes, and rejoicing with great joy, so that the earth was split by their noise. 41  Adonijah and all the guests who were with him heard it as they finished feasting. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, “What does this uproar in the city mean?”  42  While he was still speaking, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came. And Adonijah said, “Come in, for you are a worthy man and bring good news.”  43  Jonathan answered Adonijah, “No,...

November 11, 2024 1 Kings 1:32-37 32  King David said, “Call to me Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.” So they came before the king.  33  And the king said to them, “Take with you the servants of your lord and have Solomon my son ride on my own mule, and bring him down to Gihon.  34  And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet there anoint him king over Israel. Then blow the trumpet and say, ‘Long live King Solomon!’  35  You shall then come up after him, and he shall come and sit on my throne, for he shall be king in my place. And I have appointed him to be ruler over Israel and over Judah.”  36  And Benaiah the son of Jehoiada answered the king, “Amen! May the Lord, the God of my lord the king, say so.  37  As the Lord has been with my lord the king, even so may he be with Solomon, and make his throne greater than the throne of my lord King Davi...

November 10, 2024 1 Kings 1:28-31   28  Then King David answered, “Call Bathsheba to me.” So she came into the king's presence and stood before the king.  29  And the king swore, saying, “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of every adversity,  30  as I swore to you by the Lord, the God of Israel, saying, ‘Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne in my place,’ even so will I do this day.”  31  Then Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground and paid homage to the king and said, “May my lord King David live forever!”   David was weak and near death but roused himself to fulfill his promise to Bathsheba and God and named Solomon as king.  Bathsheba responded with gratefulness.   David was faithful to the end to keep his word and perform is responsibility of naming the new king.  We often become weary with our daily tasks, our work/job and even our dutie...

  November 9, 2024 1 Kings 1:11-27 11  Then Nathan said to Bathsheba the mother of Solomon, “Have you not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith has become king and David our lord does not know it?  12  Now therefore come, let me give you advice, that you may save your own life and the life of your son Solomon.  13  Go in at once to King David, and say to him, ‘Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying, “Solomon your son shall reign after me, and he shall sit on my throne”? Why then is Adonijah king?’  14  Then while you are still speaking with the king, I also will come in after you and confirm your words.” 15  So Bathsheba went to the king in his chamber (now the king was very old, and Abishag the Shunammite was attending to the king).  16  Bathsheba bowed and paid homage to the king, and the king said, “What do you desire?”  17  She said to him, “My lord, you swore to your servant b...