Daily Prayer Devotional for Women and Men | OnlinePrayerJournal

Pray

Read

For additional translations of the passage, use this link to Bible Gateway.

² Chronicles ²Chronicles 8 ¹At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built the temple of the LORD and his own palace, ²Solomon rebuilt the villages that Hiram had given him, and settled Israelites in them. ³Solomon then went to Hamath Zobah and captured it. ⁴He also built up Tadmor in the desert and all the store cities he had built in Hamath. ⁵He rebuilt Upper Beth Horon and Lower Beth Horon as fortified cities, with walls and with gates and bars, 6 as well as Baalath and all his store cities, and all the cities for his chariots and for his horses -whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled. ⁷All the people left from the Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), 8 that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites had not destroyed-these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. ⁹But Solomon did not make slaves of the Israelites for his work; they were his fighting men, commanders of his captains, and commanders of his chariots and charioteers. ¹⁰They were also King Solomon’s chief officials-two hundred and fifty officials supervising the men. ¹¹Solomon brought Pharaoh’s daughter up from the City of David to the palace he had built for her, for he said, “My wife must not live in the palace of David king of Israel, because the places the ark of the LORD has entered are holy.” ¹²On the altar of the LORD that he had built in front of the portico, Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings to the LORD, 13 according to the daily requirement for offerings commanded by Moses for Sabbaths, New Moons and the three annual feasts-the Feast of Unleavened Bread, the Feast of Weeks and the Feast of Tabernacles. ¹⁴In keeping with the ordinance of his father David, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their duties, and the Levites to lead the praise and to assist the priests according to each day’s requirement. He also appointed the gatekeepers by divisions for the various gates, because this was what David the man of God had ordered. ¹⁵They did not deviate from the king’s commands to the priests or to the Levites in any matter, including that of the treasuries. ¹⁶All Solomon’s work was carried out, from the day the foundation of the temple of the LORD was laid until its completion. So the temple of the LORD was finished.

Meditate

Consider

Think Further

Building projects can become addictive. Solomon and, later, Herod, who built the Second Temple, found that they wanted to keep on building. It had taken twenty years to build the temple and the palace. Solomon now refurbished some of the old cities and guarded them. He also built new cities, storage cities, and garrison cities for his army. Again, conscription was used to ensure an adequate labor force. Non-Israelites who were among the original residents of the land were used for building, while the Israelites were drafted or volunteered to do the fighting and supervise the labor force. All this would sow seeds of resentment that would later erupt after Solomon’s death.

In addition to prestigious projects, Solomon entered into a prestigious marriage. He was conflicted, however, knowing that Pharaoh’s daughter, a pagan, and the temple could not coexist. She had to live outside the capital, and Solomon had to manage divided loyalties. Another seed of destruction had been sown, as the nation learned from their king that you can live a double life—but they and he were wrong. While outwardly he prospered, his family saw the contradictions between his faith and his life. To build a house for Pharaoh’s daughter outside the Holy City was to open its gates, sooner or later, to Pharaoh’s gods.

The nation watched as Solomon publicly took the lead and maintained an active interest in, and support for, the new temple. He ensured its smooth running and that it was well-ordered. It was now a fully functioning institution. The chronicler uses his editorial pen throughout to ensure that Solomon’s life was centered on the nation’s worship, to help convey an image of an ideal age. We can divide our lives into public and private, but unfortunately, we leak.

Apply

Pray