The Living Bible (138 page)
Authors: Inc. Tyndale House Publishers
Tags: #BIBLES / Other Translations / Text
Then King David turned to the entire assembly and said: “My son Solomon, whom God has chosen to be the next king of Israel, is still young and inexperienced, and the work ahead of him is enormous; for the temple he will build is not just another building—it is for the Lord God himself!
2
Using every resource at my command, I have gathered as much as I could for building it—enough gold, silver, bronze, iron, wood, and great quantities of onyx, other precious stones, costly jewels, and marble.
3
And now, because of my devotion to the Temple of God, I am giving all of my own private treasures to aid in the construction. This is in addition to the building materials I have already collected.
4-5
These personal contributions consist of millions of dollars of gold from Ophir and huge amounts of silver to be used for overlaying the walls of the buildings. It will also be used for the articles made of gold and silver and for the artistic decorations. Now then, who will follow my example? Who will give himself and all that he has to the Lord?”
6-7
Then the clan leaders, the heads of the tribes, the army officers, and the administrative officers of the king pledged huge sums of gold, silver, and foreign currency, also 675 tons of bronze and 3,750 tons of iron.
8
They also contributed great amounts of jewelry, which were deposited at the Temple treasury with Jehiel (a descendant of Gershom).
9
Everyone was excited and happy for this opportunity of service, and King David was moved with deep joy.
10
While still in the presence of the whole assembly, David expressed his praises to the Lord: “O Lord God of our father Israel, praise your name for ever and ever!
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Yours is the mighty power and glory and victory and majesty. Everything in the heavens and earth is yours, O Lord, and this is your kingdom. We adore you as being in control of everything.
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Riches and honor come from you alone, and you are the ruler of all mankind; your hand controls power and might, and it is at your discretion that men are made great and given strength.
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O our God, we thank you and praise your glorious name,
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but who am I and who are my people that we should be permitted to give anything to you? Everything we have has come from you, and we only give you what is yours already!
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For we are here for but a moment, strangers in the land as our fathers were before us; our days on earth are like a shadow, gone so soon, without a trace.
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O Lord our God, all of this material that we have gathered to build a temple for your holy name comes from you! It all belongs to you!
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I know, my God, that you test men to see if they are good; for you enjoy good men. I have done all this with good motives, and I have watched your people offer their gifts willingly and joyously.
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“O Lord, God of our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Israel! Make your people always want to obey you, and see to it that their love for you never changes.
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Give my son Solomon a good heart toward God, so that he will want to obey you in the smallest detail and will look forward eagerly to finishing the building of your Temple, for which I have made all of these preparations.”
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Then David said to all the people, “Give praise to the Lord your God!” And they did, bowing low before the Lord and the king.
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The next day they brought a thousand young bulls, a thousand rams, and a thousand lambs as burnt offerings to the Lord; they also offered drink offerings and many other sacrifices on behalf of all Israel.
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Then they feasted and drank before the Lord with great joy.
And again
*
they crowned King David’s son Solomon as their king. They anointed him before the Lord as their leader, and they anointed Zadok as their priest.
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So God appointed Solomon to take the throne of his father David; and he prospered greatly, and all Israel obeyed him.
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The national leaders, the army officers, and his brothers all pledged their allegiance to King Solomon.
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And the Lord gave him great popularity with all the people of Israel, and he amassed even greater wealth and honor than his father.
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David was king of the land of Israel for forty years; seven of them during his reign in Hebron and thirty-three in Jerusalem.
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He died at an old age, wealthy and honored; and his son Solomon reigned in his place.
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Detailed biographies of King David have been written in the history of Samuel the prophet, in the history written by Nathan the prophet, and in the history written by the prophet Gad.
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These accounts tell of his reign and of his might and all that happened to him and to Israel and to the kings of the nearby nations.
King David’s son Solomon was now the undisputed ruler of Israel, for the Lord his God had made him a powerful monarch.
2-3
He summoned all the army officers and judges to Gibeon
*
as well as all the political and religious leaders of Israel. He led them up the hill to the old Tabernacle
*
constructed by Moses, the Lord’s assistant, while he was in the wilderness.
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(There was a later Tabernacle in Jerusalem, built by King David for the Ark of God when he removed it from Kiriath-jearim.)
5-6
The bronze altar made by Bezalel (son of Uri, son of Hur) still stood in front of the old Tabernacle, and now Solomon and those he had invited assembled themselves before it, as he sacrificed upon it 1,000 burnt offerings to the Lord.
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That night God appeared to Solomon and told him, “Ask me for anything, and I will give it to you!”
8
Solomon replied, “O God, you have been so kind and good to my father David, and now you have given me the kingdom—
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this is all I want! For you have fulfilled your promise to David my father and have made me king over a nation as full of people as the earth is full of dust!
10
Now give me wisdom and knowledge to rule them properly, for who is able to govern by himself such a great nation as this one of yours?”
11
God replied, “Because your greatest desire is to help your people, and you haven’t asked for personal wealth and honor, and you haven’t asked me to curse your enemies, and you haven’t asked for a long life, but for wisdom and knowledge to properly guide my people—
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yes, I am giving you the wisdom and knowledge you asked for! And I am also giving you riches, wealth, and honor such as no other king has ever had before you! And there will never again be so great a king in all the world!”
13
Solomon then left the Tabernacle, returned down the hill, and went back to Jerusalem to rule Israel.
14
He built up a huge force of 1,400 chariots and recruited 12,000 cavalry to guard the cities where the chariots were garaged, though some, of course, were stationed at Jerusalem near the king.
15
During Solomon’s reign, silver and gold were as plentiful in Jerusalem as rocks on the road! And expensive cedar lumber was used like common sycamore!
16
Solomon sent horse traders to Egypt to purchase entire herds at wholesale prices.
17
At that time Egyptian chariots sold for $400 each and horses for $100, delivered at Jerusalem. Many of these were then resold to the kings of the Hittites and Syria.
Solomon now decided that the time had come to build a temple for the Lord and a palace for himself.
2
This required a force of 70,000 laborers, 80,000 stonecutters in the hills, and 3,600 foremen.
3
Solomon sent an ambassador to King Hiram at Tyre, requesting shipments of cedar lumber such as Hiram had supplied to David when he was building his palace.
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“I am about to build a temple for the Lord my God,” Solomon told Hiram. “It will be a place where I can burn incense and sweet spices before God, and display the special sacrificial bread, and sacrifice burnt offerings each morning and evening, and on the Sabbaths, and at the new moon celebration and other regular festivals of the Lord our God. For God wants Israel always to celebrate these special occasions.
5
It is going to be a wonderful temple because he is a great God, greater than any other.
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But who can ever build him a worthy home? Not even the highest heaven would be beautiful enough! And who am I to be allowed to build a temple for God? But it will be a place to worship him.
*
7
“So send me skilled craftsmen—goldsmiths and silversmiths, brass and iron workers; and send me weavers to make purple, crimson, and blue cloth; and skilled engravers to work beside the craftsmen of Judah and Jerusalem who were selected by my father David.
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Also send me cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees from the forests of Lebanon, for your men are without equal as lumbermen, and I will send my men to help them.
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An immense amount of lumber will be needed, for the temple I am going to build will be large and incredibly beautiful.
10
As to the financial arrangements, I will pay your men 20,000 sacks of crushed wheat, 20,000 barrels of barley, 20,000 barrels of wine, and 20,000 barrels of olive oil.”
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King Hiram replied to King Solomon: “It is because the Lord loves his people that he has made you their king!
12
Blessed be the Lord God of Israel who made the heavens and the earth and who has given to David such a wise, intelligent, and understanding son to build God’s Temple and a royal palace for himself.
13
“I am sending you a master craftsman—my famous Huramabi! He is a brilliant man,
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the son of a Jewish woman from Dan in Israel; his father is from here in Tyre. He is a skillful goldsmith and silversmith, and also does exquisite work with brass and iron and knows all about stonework, carpentry, and weaving; and he is an expert in the dyeing of purple and blue linen and crimson cloth. He is an engraver besides, and an inventor! He will work with your craftsmen and those appointed by my lord David, your father.
15
So send along the wheat, barley, olive oil, and wine you mentioned,
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and we will begin cutting wood from the Lebanon mountains, as much as you need, and bring it to you in log floats across the sea to Joppa, and from there you can take them inland to Jerusalem.”
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Solomon now took a census of all foreigners in the country (just as his father David had done) and found that there were 153,600 of them.
18
He indentured 70,000 as common laborers, 80,000 as loggers, and 3,600 as foremen.