[Ohio-Communities-of-Faith] DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY MAY 1

[Donnie Parrett]

DONNIE DAILY GEMS FOR SUNDAY MAY 1

DAILY BIBLE READING

2 Chronicles 7-9 New King James Version
Solomon Dedicates the Temple
7 When Solomon had finished praying, fire came down from heaven and consumed
the burnt offering and the sacrifices; and the glory of the Lord filled the
[a]temple. 2 And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord, because
the glory of the Lord had filled the Lord's house. 3 When all the children
of Israel saw how the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord on the
temple, they bowed their faces to the ground on the pavement, and worshiped
and praised the Lord, saying:

"For He is good,
For His mercy endures forever."

4 Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices before the Lord. 5
King Solomon offered a sacrifice of twenty-two thousand bulls and one
hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated
the house of God. 6 And the priests attended to their services; the Levites
also with instruments of the music of the Lord, which King David had made to
praise the Lord, saying, "For His mercy endures forever," whenever David
offered praise by their [b]ministry. The priests sounded trumpets opposite
them, while all Israel stood.

7 Furthermore Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was in front
of the house of the Lord; for there he offered burnt offerings and the fat
of the peace offerings, because the bronze altar which Solomon had made was
not able to receive the burnt offerings, the grain offerings, and the fat.

8 At that time Solomon kept the feast seven days, and all Israel with him, a
very great assembly from the entrance of Hamath to the[c] Brook of Egypt. 9
And on the eighth day they held a sacred assembly, for they observed the
dedication of the altar seven days, and the feast seven days. 10 On the
twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their
tents, joyful and glad of heart for the good that the Lord had done for
David, for Solomon, and for His people Israel. 11 Thus Solomon finished the
house of the Lord and the king's house; and Solomon successfully
accomplished all that came into his heart to make in the house of the Lord
and in his own house.

God's Second Appearance to Solomon
12 Then the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said to him: "I have
heard your prayer, and have chosen this place for Myself as a house of
sacrifice. 13 When I shut up heaven and there is no rain, or command the
locusts to devour the land, or send pestilence among My people, 14 if My
people who are called by My name will humble themselves, and pray and seek
My face, and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and
will forgive their sin and heal their land. 15 Now My eyes will be open and
My ears attentive to prayer made in this place. 16 For now I have chosen and
[d]sanctified this house, that My name may be there forever; and [e]My eyes
and [f]My heart will be there perpetually. 17 As for you, if you walk before
Me as your father David walked, and do according to all that I have
commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 18 then I will
establish the throne of your kingdom, as I covenanted with David your
father, saying, 'You shall not fail to have a man as ruler in Israel.'

19 "But if you turn away and forsake My statutes and My commandments which I
have set before you, and go and serve other gods, and worship them, 20 then
I will uproot them from My land which I have given them; and this house
which I have [g]sanctified for My name I will cast out of My sight, and will
make it a proverb and a byword among all peoples.

21 "And as for this [h]house, which [i]is exalted, everyone who passes by it
will be astonished and say, 'Why has the Lord done thus to this land and
this house?' 22 Then they will answer, 'Because they forsook the Lord God of
their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and embraced other
gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore He has brought all this
calamity on them.' "

Solomon's Additional Achievements
8 It came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the
house of the Lord and his own house, 2 that the cities which [j]Hiram had
given to Solomon, Solomon built them; and he settled the children of Israel
there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and seized it. 4 He also built
Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the storage cities which he built in
Hamath. 5 He built Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon, fortified cities
with walls, gates, and bars, 6 also Baalath and all the storage cities that
Solomon had, and all the chariot cities and the cities of the cavalry, and
all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the
land of his dominion.

7 All the people who were left of the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites,
Hivites, and Jebusites, who were not of Israel- 8 that is, their descendants
who were left in the land after them, whom the children of Israel did not
destroy-from these Solomon raised forced labor, as it is to this day. 9 But
Solomon did not make the children of Israel [k]servants for his work. Some
were men of war, captains of his officers, captains of his chariots, and his
cavalry. 10 And others were chiefs of the officials of King Solomon: two
hundred and fifty, who ruled over the people.

11 Now Solomon brought the daughter of Pharaoh up from the City of David to
the house he had built for her, for he said, "My wife shall not dwell in the
house of David king of Israel, because the places to which the ark of the
Lord has come are holy."

12 Then Solomon offered burnt offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord
which he had built before the vestibule, 13 according to the daily rate,
offering according to the commandment of Moses, for the Sabbaths, the New
Moons, and the three appointed yearly feasts-the Feast of Unleavened Bread,
the Feast of Weeks, and the Feast of Tabernacles. 14 And, according to the
[l]order of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for
their service, the Levites for their duties (to praise and serve before the
priests) as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers by their
divisions at each gate; for so David the man of God had commanded. 15 They
did not depart from the command of the king to the priests and Levites
concerning any matter or concerning the treasuries.

16 Now all the work of Solomon was well-ordered [m]from the day of the
foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of
the Lord was completed.

17 Then Solomon went to Ezion Geber and [n]Elath on the seacoast, in the
land of Edom. 18 And Hiram sent him ships by the hand of his servants, and
servants who knew the sea. They went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir,
and acquired four hundred and fifty talents of gold from there, and brought
it to King Solomon.

The Queen of Sheba's Praise of Solomon
9 Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to
Jerusalem to test Solomon with hard questions, having a very great retinue,
camels that bore spices, gold in abundance, and precious stones; and when
she came to Solomon, she spoke with him about all that was in her heart. 2
So Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing so difficult for
Solomon that he could not explain it to her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba
had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 4 the food on
his table, the seating of his servants, the service of his waiters and their
apparel, his cupbearers and their apparel, and his entryway by which he went
up to the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.

5 Then she said to the king: "It was a true report which I heard in my own
land about your words and your wisdom. 6 However I did not believe their
words until I came and saw with my own eyes; and indeed the half of the
greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You exceed the fame of which I
heard. 7 Happy are your men and happy are these your servants, who stand
continually before you and hear your wisdom! 8 Blessed be the Lord your God,
who delighted in you, setting you on His throne to be king for the Lord your
God! Because your God has loved Israel, to establish them forever, therefore
He made you king over them, to do justice and righteousness."

9 And she gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, spices in
great abundance, and precious stones; there never were any spices such as
those the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

10 Also, the servants of Hiram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold
from Ophir, brought [o]algum wood and precious stones. 11 And the king made
walkways of the [p]algum wood for the house of the Lord and for the king's
house, also harps and stringed instruments for singers; and there were none
such as these seen before in the land of Judah.

12 Now King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all she desired, whatever she
asked, much more than she had brought to the king. So she turned and went to
her own country, she and her servants.

Solomon's Great Wealth
13 The weight of gold that came to Solomon yearly was six hundred and
sixty-six talents of gold, 14 besides what the traveling merchants and
traders brought. And all the kings of Arabia and governors of the country
brought gold and silver to Solomon. 15 And King Solomon made two hundred
large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of hammered gold went
into each shield. 16 He also made three hundred shields of hammered gold;
[q]three hundred shekels of gold went into each shield. The king put them in
the House of the Forest of Lebanon.

17 Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with pure
gold. 18 The throne had six steps, with a footstool of gold, which were
fastened to the throne; there were [r]armrests on either side of the place
of the seat, and two lions stood beside the armrests. 19 Twelve lions stood
there, one on each side of the six steps; nothing like this had been made
for any other kingdom.

20 All King Solomon's drinking vessels were gold, and all the vessels of the
House of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Not one was silver, for this
was accounted as nothing in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king's ships
went to Tarshish with the servants of [s]Hiram. Once every three years the
[t]merchant ships came, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and [u]monkeys.

22 So King Solomon surpassed all the kings of the earth in riches and
wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to
hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. 24 Each man brought his
present: articles of silver and gold, garments, armor, spices, horses, and
mules, at a set rate year by year.

25 Solomon had four thousand stalls for horses and chariots, and twelve
thousand horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king
at Jerusalem.

26 So he reigned over all the kings from [v]the River to the land of the
Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as
common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedar trees as abundant as the
sycamores which are in the lowland. 28 And they brought horses to Solomon
from Egypt and from all lands.

Death of Solomon
29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not written
in the book of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shilonite,
and in the visions of Iddo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? 30
Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. 31 Then Solomon
[w]rested with his fathers, and was buried in the City of David his father.
And Rehoboam his son reigned in his place.

Footnotes
2 Chronicles 7:1 Lit. house
2 Chronicles 7:6 Lit. hand
2 Chronicles 7:8 The Shihor, 1 Chr. 13:5
2 Chronicles 7:16 set apart
2 Chronicles 7:16 My attention
2 Chronicles 7:16 My concern
2 Chronicles 7:20 set apart
2 Chronicles 7:21 Temple
2 Chronicles 7:21 Or was
2 Chronicles 8:2 Heb. Huram, 2 Chr. 2:3
2 Chronicles 8:9 slaves
2 Chronicles 8:14 ordinance
2 Chronicles 8:16 So with LXX, Syr., Vg.; MT as far as
2 Chronicles 8:17 Heb. Eloth, 2 Kin. 14:22
2 Chronicles 9:10 almug, 1 Kin. 10:11, 12
2 Chronicles 9:11 almug, 1 Kin. 10:11, 12
2 Chronicles 9:16 three minas, 1 Kin. 10:17
2 Chronicles 9:18 Lit. hands
2 Chronicles 9:21 Heb. Huram; cf. 1 Kin. 10:22
2 Chronicles 9:21 Lit. ships of Tarshish, deep-sea vessels
2 Chronicles 9:21 Or peacocks
2 Chronicles 9:26 The Euphrates
2 Chronicles 9:31 Died and joined his ancestors