The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 147: Temple Worship (2023)

Episode Date: May 27, 2023

Fr. Mike reinforces the power of God's presence in the Temple, and the importance of worshipping God the way he desires to be worshipped. We also begin to hear how Solomon starts disobeying God and setting himself up for idolatry. Today's readings are 1 Kings 5, 2 Chronicles 7-8, and Psalm 66. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.

Hi, my name is Father Mike Schmitz, and you're listening to the Bible in a Year podcast, where we encounter God's voice and live life through the lens of Scripture. The Bible in a Year podcast is brought to you by Ascension. Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 147. We're reading from 1 Kings chapter 5, 2 Chronicles chapters 7 and 8. We're also praying today, Psalm 66. As always, the Bible translation that I'm

reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition, and I am using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. To download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you have not yet subscribed to this podcast, you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking subscribe. Very simple, very easy. As I said, it's day 147. And that means not only does it mean that we're almost to day 150, which means halfway to day 300, which means closer to day 365. But it also means that shortly after this, and maybe I would say roughly, I don't know, let's say give or take seven days from now, we're going to be having our second Messianic checkpoint in seven days from now. So one week from today, we're having our second Messianic checkpoint with

the gospel of Mark. You would know this if you had downloaded the Bible in your reading plan, but if you didn't, now you do. And it is awesome because we're going to get the chance, just like we did a while back with the gospel of John. we're going to get the chance, just like we did a while back with the Gospel of John. We're going to be able to walk through this gospel in the middle of this whole story, right? With Solomon and the temple and Solomon and building things and Solomon's wisdom. We're going to take a break and we're going to jump ahead to Jesus and see how he is the

fulfillment of everything that God has wanted his people to know and not just to know, but to be. So that's where we're at now. And that's where we're going to know and not just to know, but to be. So that's where we're at now. And that's where we're going to be in just a week from today. But as I said, it's day 147. We're reading 1 Kings 5, 2 Chronicles 7 and 8 and Psalm 66. The first book of Kings chapter 5. Preparations and materials for the temple.

Now Hiram, king of Ty Tyre sent his servants to Solomon when he heard that they had anointed him king in place of his father, for Hiram always loved David. And Solomon sent word to Hiram, You know that David my father could not build a house for the name of the Lord his God because of the warfare with which his enemies surrounded him, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God has

given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. And so I propose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord said to David my father, your son, whom I will set upon your throne in your place, shall build a house for my name. Now therefore command that cedars of Lebanon be cut for me, and my servants will join your servants, and I will pay you for your servants such wages as you set. For you know that there is no one among us who knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians. When Hiram heard the words of Solomon, he rejoiced greatly and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, who has given to David a wise son to be over this great people.

And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have heard the message which you have sent to me. I am ready to do all you desire in the manner of cedar and cypress timber. My servants shall bring it down to the sea from Lebanon, and I will make it into rafts to go by sea to the place you direct. And I will have them broken up there, and you shall receive it, and you shall meet my wishes by providing food for my household. So Hiram supplied Solomon with all the timber of cedar and cypress that he desired, while Solomon gave Hiram 20,000 cores of wheat as food for his household and 20,000 cores of beaten oil. Solomon gave this to Hiram year by year, and the Lord gave Solomon wisdom as he promised him. And there was peace between Hiram

and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty. King Solomon raised a levy of forced labor out of all Israel, and the levy numbered 30,000 men. And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in relays. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the levy. Solomon also had 70,000 burden bearers and 80,000 hewers of stone in the hill country, besides Solomon's 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried out the work. At the king's command, they quarried out great costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. So Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders and

the men of Gabal did the hewing and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house. The Second Book of Chronicles, Chapter 7. The Consecration of the Temple. When Solomon had ended his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. And the priests could not enter the house of the Lord because the glory of the Lord filled the Lord's house. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the Lord upon the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the earth on the pavement and worshipped and gave thanks to the Lord, saying, For he is good, for his mercy endures forever.

Then the king and all the people offered sacrifice before the Lord. King Solomon offered as a sacrifice 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated the house of God. The priests stood at their posts. The Levites also with the instruments for music to the Lord, which King David had made for giving thanks to the Lord for his mercy endures forever. Whenever David offered praises by their ministry opposite them, the priests sounded trumpets and all Israel stood and Solomon consecrated the middle of the court that was before the house of the Lord. For there he offered the burnt offering and the fat of the peace offerings,

because the bronze altar Solomon had made could not hold the burnt offering and the cereal offering and the fat. At that time, Solomon held the feast for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great congregation from the entrance of Hamath to the brook of Egypt. And on the eighth day, they held a solemn assembly, for they had kept the dedication of the altar seven days and the feast seven days. On the twenty-third day of the seventh month he sent the people away to their homes, joyful and glad of heart for the goodness that the Lord had shown to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people. The Lord's second appearance to Solomon.

Thus Solomon finished the house of the Lord and the king's house. All that Solomon had planned to do in the house of the Lord and in his own house he successfully accomplished. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon in the night and said to him, I have heard your prayer and have chosen this place for myself as a house of sacrifice. When I shut up the heavens so that there is no rain or command the locusts to devour the land or send pestilence among my people, if my people who are called by my name humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven and will forgive their sin and heal their land. Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer that is made in this place. For now I have chosen and consecrated this house

that my name may be there forever. My eyes and my heart will be there for all time. And as for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I have commanded you and keeping my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish your royal throne, as I covenanted with David your father, saying, There shall not fail you a man to rule Israel. But if you turn aside and forsake my statutes and my commandments which I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them. Then I will pluck you up from the land which I have given you, and this house which I have consecrated for my name I will cast out of my sight, and will make it a proverb and a byword among all the peoples. And at this house, which is exalted, everyone passing by will be astonished and say, Why has the Lord done thus to the land and to this house?

Then they will say, Because they forsook the Lord the God of their fathers, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them. Therefore he has brought all this evil upon them. Chapter 8. Solomon Builds Many. At the end of 20 years, in which Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, Solomon rebuilt the cities which Haram had given to him and settled the sons of Israel in them. And Solomon went to Hamath-Zobah and took it.

He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the store cities which he built in Hamath. He also built upper Beth-haran and lower Beth-haran, fortified cities with walls, gates, and bars, and Baalath, in all the store cities that Solomon had, in all the cities for his chariots and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and Lebanon and in all the land of his dominion. All the people who were left of the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel, from their descendants who were left after them in the land whom the sons of Israel had not destroyed, these Solomon made a forced levy, and so they are

to this day. But of the sons of Israel, Solomon made no slaves for his work. They were soldiers and his officers, the commanders of his chariots and his horsemen. And these were the chief officers of King Solomon, 250 who exercised authority over the people. Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house which he had built for her. For he said, my wife shall not live in the house of David, king of Israel, for the places to which the ark of the Lord has come are holy. Then Solomon offered up burnt offerings to the Lord upon the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the vestibule, as the duty of each day required, offering according to the commandment of Moses for the

Sabbaths, the new moons, and the three annual feasts, the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tabernacles. According to the ordinance of David his father, he appointed the divisions of the priests for their service, and the Levites for their offices of praise and ministry before the priests as the duty of each day required, and the gatekeepers in their divisions for the several gates. For so David the man of God had commanded. And they did not turn aside from what the king had commanded the priests and the Levites, concerning any matter and concerning the treasuries. Thus was accomplished all the work of Solomon from the day the foundation of the house of

the Lord was laid until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed. Then Solomon went to Ezion-Geber and Eloth on the shore of the sea in the land of Edom, and Haram sent him by his servants, ships and servants familiar with the sea. And they went to Ophir together with the servants of Solomon, and fetched from there four hundred and fifty talents of gold, and brought it to king Solomon. Psalm 66. Praise for God's goodness to Israel. To the choir master, a song, a psalm. They sing praises to you, sing praises to your name. Come and see what God has done. He is awesome in his deeds among men.

He turned the sea into dry land. Men passed through the river on foot. There did we rejoice in him who rules by his might forever. Whose eyes keep watch on the nations. Let not the rebellious exalt themselves. Bless our God, O peoples. Let the sound of his praise be heard, who has kept us among the living and has not let our feet slip. For you, O God, have tested us.

You have tried us as silver is tried. You brought us into the net. You laid affliction on our backs. You let men ride over our heads. We went through fire and through water. Yet you have brought us forth to a spacious place. I will come into your house with burnt offerings. I will pay you my vows, that which my lips uttered and my mouth promised when I was in trouble. I will offer to you burnt offerings of fatlings. With the smoke of the sacrifice of rams, I will make an offering of bulls and goats. Come and hear all you who fear God, and I will tell him what he has done for me. I cried aloud to him, and he was extolled with my tongue. If I had cherished iniquity in my heart, the Lord would not have listened, but truly God has listened. He has given heed to the voice of

my prayer. Blessed be God, because he has not rejected my prayer or removed his merciful love from me. Father in heaven, we give you praise. You do hear our prayers. God, I mean, every time we talk to you, Lord, you hear our voices. You know the longing of our hearts. You know the depth of our prayer. You also know our distraction. You know how easily we can be distracted from loving you with our whole heart, with our whole mind, with our whole strength. You know how easily it is that we are turned aside from you. And so we thank you for being able to hear through all the noise, cutting through all of the distraction, cutting through all of the turmoil that our hearts can experience because you know our hearts. You not only know the peace in our hearts, you know the troubled hearts that live in our chests. And so we ask you,

please, once again, let your ears be open, let your eyes be open to see who we are, to see us truly and to hear our voice and to hear our prayers this day and every day. You make this prayer in Jesus' name. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. So, okay. This is one of those kind of moments where, yes, clearly 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, they're connected, but they're a little bit disconnected, right? In the sense that they're talking about some of the same things, but we're just on a little bit of a different timeline. Yesterday, we had King David dedicate the great prayer. The temple is dedicated. The Ark of the Lord is there. This is what we're going to be worshiping. And today in 1 Kings chapter 5, we're back with him getting the cedars and the cypress trees for building the temple. And so it's one of those

things where we just kind of remember, oh, that's right. 1 Kings are a little bit behind 2 Chronicles. They're a little bit ahead and they're looking back over this history and recounting what had gone down then. And so just keep that in mind as we move forward, because it can be at times a little bit difficult to like, wait, where are they? How about they built the temple? Yes, that is in Second Chronicles where the temple has already been built and dedicated and they're trucking right along there. But in First Kings, here is Solomon who is still establishing that temple, which I think is really helpful for us because it reminds us of the importance and the centrality of the temple. Why? Not only because that is where God's presence would abide. I mean, oh my gosh, what a gift to be able to hear in second Chronicles chapter seven, that here's the prayer of dedication

at the very beginning of this. And Solomon finished praying and fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offerings and the sacrifices and the glory of the Lord filled the temple. This is, oh my goodness, this demonstrates the power of God's presence. And the temple is essential because God's presence would abide there. Absolutely. That's absolutely clear, but it's also essential because that is where the people would offer their worship. And this is just so critical for us. It's so critical for us to understand the importance and the necessity of worshiping God as he has asked us to worship him. And it's just, so as I said, in 1 Kings 5, preparations for building the temple,

and Solomon's working with this man Hiram. Hiram was good buddies with King David, and he praises the Lord, which is so interesting. Hiram is not a Jew, but he's praising the Lord. He gives praise to God that David has such a wise son, and he helps him out with the cedars from Lebanon and everything that he needs with a bunch of people as well to have the labor that goes into building the temple. But then also we have just something interesting, a couple of things interesting about

second Chronicles seven and eight. And what are we talking about? What we're talking about is the fact, not only that in the beginning of Chronicles chapter seven, Solomon ends his prayer, fire comes down from heaven and the glory of the Lord fills the place. So, so, so beautiful and powerful. But also we have a couple notes. In chapter seven, Solomon finishes the house of the Lord and his own house, the king's house. And the Lord appears to Solomon by night. He appears to him once again in the way that he appeared to him before saying, ask me anything and I'll give it to you. And this time he doesn't say, you know, what do you want? He says, here's what I need you to know. He says, I need you to know

that if my people who are called by my name, humble themselves and seek my face, then I will hear from heaven. I'll forgive their sins. I'll heal their land. Like I basically, here's God saying, whenever you're not faithful, just remember, I am faithful. Turn back to the temple worship, turn back to this place. Turn back to my presence. Turn back to worship. Turn back to obedience of my commandments, and I will hear your prayers. But then he says, but as for you,

and this is so critical, as for you, if you walk before me as David your father walked, doing according to all that I've commanded you, keeping the statutes, and also saying, he says, I'll be with you, as I was with your father David. But if you turn aside and forsake my commandments and statutes, and saying, he says, I'll be with you as I was with your father, David. But if you turn aside and forsake my commandments and statutes and go and serve other gods and worship them,

then I will pluck you from the land. Now, God has given King Solomon a clear, clear commandment. He's given him wisdom. Solomon knows stuff, right? He's also given him a direct, direct warning saying that just stay faithful to me and stay close to me and I'll be with you. What we know is that Solomon will not. In fact, in chapter eight, what happens in chapter eight, verse 11, it says, Solomon brought Pharaoh's daughter up from the city of David to the house, which he had built for her. He said, my wife will not live in the house of David, the King of Israel for the places to which the ark of the Lord have come are holy. So you think, oh, yeah, no, he's making it separate. He's keeping Pharaoh's daughter away because she's not part of the covenant. She's not part of that. She's part of the alliance, right, between Israel and Egypt,

but she's not part of the covenant in terms of belonging to the Lord God. But what is this? We noted before, when Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter, he was opening himself up for idolatry. And this is what's going to happen. Rather than Pharaoh's daughter being brought into the people of Israel, rather than Pharaoh's daughter being brought into the covenant, rather than Pharaoh's daughter learning about the Lord God, the one God, the God above every other God, Solomon just says, well, you know what? She's just going to live outside of the city of David because she's not part of the covenant. And so just going to keep her outside as opposed to why not? Why don't you bring her in? Why don't you, rather than let her worship her false gods of Egypt, why not bring her in to the worship of

the one true God, the Lord God, but Solomon doesn't do this. And also, we noticed that the fact that he has a lot of stuff, whatever the word in English is for that, that Solomon has thousands and thousands of chariots, thousands of horses, thousands of horsemen. Solomon already, as we know, even though he's wise, even though God is speaking to him in his prayers, Solomon is doing what he was warned, what the kings were warned not to do, to not gather to themselves horses and chariots and horsemen, not to multiply for themselves these things. And yet that is what Solomon is doing. Remember, the place of the temple is a place of God's presence and also a place of worship. But remember the kind of worship

that God desires, the kind of sacrifice that God desires is obedience. And here are the chinks in Solomon's armor, that while he is wise and he knows more than anybody, he is not willing to be obedient. Maybe that's one of our downfalls as well. When we are like, oh, no, no, I know, I know, I know. I just don't want to. I know what God wants. I just don't want to do what God wants. And maybe there's a good reason. Well, you know, we have peace now, but maybe we won't have peace in the future. So let me get these horses around here. Yeah, we have good relations with the nations around us, but maybe we won't always. So I'm going to marry Pharaoh's daughter. And it could seem wise. Maybe it even could be wise in some ways, but it's not obedient.

If we want to love God, we have to be obedient to God. There's no other way to love God than to obey him. So the other way we love God, the two ways we love God, one is obedience and the other is by loving our neighbor. Here's Solomon and he's on the road away from obedience to God and away from God, even though he'd been warned. All of us, we've been taught as well. And so I just ask the Lord to help us, help us to be faithful, help us to be obedient to his commandments, even when it seems like, no, no, no, there's something wise over here. But yeah, but if it's not obedient, then I don't want to do it. And so I can't do that on my own

because I am just such, I have a rebellious heart and I have a disobedient heart and I want to do what I want to do. And so I need prayers. And so I'm asking for your prayers for me. I am praying for you. Let's pray for each other. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.