Study Desk

Obed Edom's son was Shemaiah. Shemaiah also had sons. His sons were leaders in their father's family because they were brave soldiers.

David decided to count the men in Israel. There were very many people because the Lord had promised to make the Israelites as many as the stars in the sky. So David counted only the men who were 20 years old and older.

But God said to me, ‘No David, you must not build a house for my name. You must not do that because you are a soldier, and you have killed many men.'

He said to me, ‘David, your son Solomon will build my Temple and the area around it, because I have chosen Solomon to be my son, and I will be his father.

"And you, my son Solomon, know the God of your father. Serve God with a pure heart. Be happy to serve him, because the Lord knows what is in everyone's heart. He knows what you are thinking. If you go to him for help, you will get an answer. But if you turn away from him, he will leave you forever.

David also said to his son Solomon, "Be strong and brave and finish this work. Don't be afraid, because the Lord God, my God, is with you. He will help you until all the work is finished. He will not leave you. You will build the Lord 's Temple.

I am making a special gift of gold and silver things for my God's Temple. I am doing this because I really want the Temple of my God to be built. I am giving all these things to build this holy Temple.

The people were very happy because their leaders were willing to give so much. The leaders had given freely to the Lord from good hearts. King David was also very happy.

Greatness, power, glory, victory, and honor belong to you, because everything in heaven and on earth belongs to you! The kingdom belongs to you, Lord ! You are the head, the Ruler over everything.

Solomon, the son of David, became a very strong king, because the Lord his God was with him and made him very great.

The people of Israel and the captains, generals, judges, leaders, and heads of the families were all gathered together. Solomon spoke to them, and then they all went to the high place at Gibeon. They went there because God's Meeting Tent was there. The Lord 's servant Moses made this tent when he and the Israelites were in the desert.

"I will build a great temple because our God is greater than all the other gods.

I will need lots of wood because the Temple I am building will be very large and beautiful.

The priests could not continue to serve because of the cloud, because the Glory of the Lord filled the Temple.

"Your people will sin against you. I know this because everyone sins. And you will be angry with your people. You will let their enemies defeat them. Their enemies will make them prisoners and carry them to some faraway land.

The priests could not enter the Lord 's Temple because the Glory of the Lord filled it.

King Solomon also dedicated the middle of the courtyard, the part that is in front of the Temple of the Lord . There he offered burnt offerings, grain offerings, and the fat from the animals that were used as fellowship offerings. He did this because the bronze altar he had built was too small to hold all these offerings.

On the eighth day, they had a holy meeting because they had celebrated for seven days. They made the altar holy and it was to be used only for worshiping the Lord. And they celebrated the festival for seven days.

On the 23rd day of the seventh month, Solomon told the people to go home. All the people thanked the king, said goodbye, and went home. They were happy because of all the good things that the Lord had done for David his servant and for his people Israel.

People will say, ‘This happened because they left the Lord , the God of their ancestors. He brought them out of Egypt, but they decided to follow other gods. They began to worship and to serve those gods. That is why he caused all these bad things to happen to them.'"