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Reading: 1Kings
3:1-28; 4:21-34; Psalm 46:4-7; Proverbs 12:19
Now Solomon made a treaty with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and
married Pharaoh's daughter; then he brought her to the City of
David until he had finished building his own house, and the
house of the LORD, and the wall all around Jerusalem. Meanwhile
the people sacrificed at the high places, because there was no
house built for the name of the LORD until those days. And
Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of his father
David, except that he sacrificed and burned incense at the high
places. Now the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there, for that
was the great high place: Solomon offered a thousand burnt
offerings on that altar. At Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon
in a dream by night; and God said, "Ask! What shall I give
you?"
And Solomon said: "You have shown great mercy to Your
servant David my father, because he walked before You in truth,
in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; You have
continued this great kindness for him, and You have given him a
son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. Now, O LORD my God,
You have made Your servant king instead of my father David, but
I am a little child; I do not know how to go out or come in. And
Your servant is in the midst of Your people whom You have
chosen, a great people, too numerous to be numbered or counted.
Therefore give to Your servant an understanding heart to judge
Your people, that I may discern between good and evil. For who
is able to judge this great people of Yours?" The speech
pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing.
Then God said to him: "Because you have asked this thing,
and have not asked long life for yourself, nor have asked riches
for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies, but have
asked for yourself understanding to discern justice, behold, I
have done according to your words; see, I have given you a wise
and understanding heart, so that there has not been anyone like
you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And I
have also given you what you have not asked: both riches and
honor, so that there shall not be anyone like you among the
kings all your days. So if you walk in My ways, to keep My
statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, then
I will lengthen your days."
Then Solomon awoke; and indeed it had been a dream. And he came
to Jerusalem and stood before the ark of the covenant of the
LORD, offered up burnt offerings, offered peace offerings, and
made a feast for all his servants.
Now two women who were harlots came to the king, and stood
before him. And one woman said, "O my lord, this woman and
I dwell in the same house; and I gave birth while she was in the
house. Then it happened, the third day after I had given birth,
that this woman also gave birth. And we were together; no one
was with us in the house, except the two of us in the house. And
this woman's son died in the night, because she lay on him. So
she arose in the middle of the night and took my son from my
side, while your maidservant slept, and laid him in her bosom,
and laid her dead child in my bosom. And when I rose in the
morning to nurse my son, there he was, dead. But when I had
examined him in the morning, indeed, he was not my son whom I
had borne."
Then the other woman said, "No! But the living one is my
son, and the dead one is your son." And the first
woman said, "No! But the dead one is your son, and the
living one is my son."
Thus they spoke before the king. And the king said, "The
one says, 'This is my son, who lives, and your son is the dead
one'; and the other says, 'No! But your son is the dead one, and
my son is the living one.'" Then the king said, "Bring
me a sword." So they brought a sword before the king. And
the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give
half to one, and half to the other." Then the woman whose
son was living spoke to the king, for she yearned with
compassion for her son; and she said, "O my lord, give her
the living child, and by no means kill him!"
But the other said, "Let him be neither mine nor yours, but
divide him." So the king answered and said, "Give the
first woman the living child, and by no means kill him; she is
his mother."
And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had
rendered; and they feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom
of God was in him to administer justice.
So Solomon reigned over all kingdoms from the River to the land
of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. They brought
tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
Now Solomon's provision for one day was thirty kors of fine
flour, sixty kors of meal, ten fatted oxen, twenty oxen from the
pastures, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, gazelles,
roebucks, and fatted fowl. For he had dominion over all the
region on this side of the River from Tiphsah even to Gaza,
namely over all the kings on this side of the River; and he had
peace on every side all around him. And Judah and Israel dwelt
safely, each man under his vine and his fig tree, from Dan as
far as Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.
Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots,
and twelve thousand horsemen. And these governors, each man in
his month, provided food for King Solomon and for all who came
to King Solomon's table. There was no lack in their supply.
They also brought barley and straw to the proper place, for the
horses and steeds, each man according to his charge. And God
gave Solomon wisdom and exceedingly great understanding, and
largeness of heart like the sand on the seashore. Thus Solomon's
wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the men of the East and all
the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men - than Ethan
the Ezrahite, and Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol;
and his fame was in all the surrounding nations.
He spoke three thousand proverbs, and his songs were one
thousand and five. Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree
of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he
spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of
fish. And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth
who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.
(1 Kings 3:1-28; 4:21-34)
WORSHIP:
There is a river whose streams shall make glad the city of God,
The holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High. God is in the
midst of her,she shall not be moved;God shall help her, just at
the break of dawn. The nations raged, the kingdoms were moved;
He uttered His voice, the earth melted. The LORD of hosts is
with us; The God of Jacob is our refuge. (Psalm 46:4-7)
WISDOM:
The truthful lip shall be established forever,
But a lying tongue is but for a moment. (Prov.12:19)
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