Study Desk

Do this so that your people will fear and respect you all the time that they live in this land that you gave to our ancestors.

So there at the Temple, King Solomon and all the people of Israel celebrated the festival. People came from as far away as Hamath Pass in the north and the border of Egypt in the south. This huge crowd of people ate, drank, and enjoyed themselves together with the Lord for seven days. Then they stayed for another seven days. They celebrated for a total of 14 days.

So Solomon finished building the Lord 's Temple and his own palace. Solomon built everything that he wanted to build.

The Lord said to him, "I heard your prayer and what you asked me to do. You built this Temple, and I have made it a holy place. So I will be honored there forever. I will watch over it and think of it always.

Hiram supplied Solomon with all the cedar, pine and gold that he wanted, so Solomon gave him 20 cities in Galilee.

So Hiram traveled from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him. But Hiram was not pleased when he saw them.

The queen of Sheba heard about Solomon, so she came to test him with hard questions.

She saw the food at the king's table. She saw his officials meeting together. She saw the servants in the palace and the good clothes they wore. She saw his parties and the sacrifices that he offered in the Lord 's Temple. She was so amazed, she could hardly breathe!

All of Solomon's cups and glasses were made of gold, and all the dishes in the building called the Forest of Lebanon were made from pure gold. Nothing in the palace was made from silver. There was so much gold that in Solomon's time people did not think silver was important.

Solomon had a great number of chariots and horses. He had 1400 chariots and 12,000 horse soldiers. He built special cities for these chariots. So the chariots were kept in these cities. King Solomon also kept some of the chariots with him in Jerusalem.

When Solomon was old, his wives caused him to follow other gods, so he did not follow the Lord completely as his father David did.

So Solomon did what the Lord said was wrong. He did not follow the Lord completely as his father David did.

So Solomon did not remain faithful to the Lord , the God of Israel, even though God had appeared to him twice. The Lord became angry with him.

So the Lord said to Solomon, "You have chosen to break your agreement with me. You have not obeyed my commands. So I promise that I will tear your kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants.

But I loved your father David, so I will not take your kingdom away from you while you are alive. I will wait until your son becomes king. Then I will take it from him.

Pharaoh liked Hadad so much that he gave Hadad a wife. She was Pharaoh's sister-in-law. (Pharaoh's wife was Queen Tahpenes.)

In Egypt Hadad heard that David had died and that Joab, the commander of the army, was dead. So Hadad said to Pharaoh, "Let me go home to my own country."

Jeroboam was a free man. Solomon saw that this young man was a skilled worker, so he made him the supervisor over all the workers from the tribes that descended from Joseph.

So I will take the kingdom away from Solomon's family. I chose David because he obeyed all my laws and commands. So for my servant David, I will let Solomon be the king for the rest of his life.

I will let Solomon's son keep one tribe to rule over. I will do this for my servant David, so he will always have someone to rule near me in Jerusalem, the city that I chose to be my own.