The Bible in a Year (with Fr. Mike Schmitz) - Day 148: Solomon's Wealth (2023)

Episode Date: May 28, 2023

Fr. Mike explains the purpose behind the beauty and extravagance of the Temple Solomon built for the Lord. On the other hand, he also points out the issue with the image of power and strength Solomon is trying to portray by gathering so much wealth as King. Today's readings are 1 Kings 6, 2 Chronicles 9, and Psalm 4. 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 148. We're reading from 1 Kings chapter 6, 2 Chronicles chapter 9, and we are praying Psalm 4, going all the way back to the beginning of the book of Psalms.

As always, the Bible translation that I am reading from is the revised standard version, the second Catholic edition. I am using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. You can also subscribe to this podcast by clicking on subscribe in wherever, whatever app or whatever application you are listening to this Bible today. One thing to keep in mind is the fact that today we are going in first Kings. We're going to look at King Solomon building the temple. And there's a lot of dimensions, a lot of cubits involved in

this. And so if you want to have kind of a, a little more accurate sense of like how to picture this, if you are anywhere near a computer, it might be helpful for you to pull up something like King Solomon's temple or dimensions of King Solomon's temple. They might, and it would probably give you some images people have recreated that would say probably look something like this. That could just be helpful because chapter six is very detailed. It's great. It's awesome. But it's sometimes it's hard to picture because is hard to picture because I'm going to be giving you a word picture from the Bible, from 1 Kings chapter 6. And if you want to have an actual picture, just Google something like King Solomon's temple, dimensions of King Solomon's temple,

images of King Solomon's temple, and it will give you a dimension and images and picture of King Solomon's temple. As I said, today is day 148. We're reading 1 Kings 6, 2 Chronicles 9. We're praying Psalm 4. The first book of Kings, chapter 6. Solomon builds the temple. In the 480th year after the sons of Israel came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month of Ziv, which is the second month, he began to build the house of the Lord. The house which King Solomon built for the Lord was 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 cubits high. The vestibule in front of the nave of the house was 20 cubits long, equal to the width of the

house, and 10 cubits deep in front of the house. And he made for the house windows with recessed frames. He also built a structure against the wall of the house running around the walls of the house, both the nave and the inner sanctuary, and he made side chambers all around. The lowest story was five cubits broad, the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. For around the outside of the house he made offsets on the wall in order that the supporting beams should not be inserted into the walls of the house. When the house was built, it was with stone prepared at the quarry, so that neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron was heard in the temple while it was being built. The entrance for the lowest story was on the south side of the house, and one went up by stairs to the middle story, and from the middle story to the third. So he built the house and finished it.

And he made the ceiling of the house of beams and planks of cedar. He built the structure against the whole house, each story five cubits high. And it was joined to the house with timbers of cedar. Now the word of the Lord came to Solomon concerning this house, which you are building. If you will walk in my statutes and obey my ordinances and keep all my commandments and walk in them, then I will establish my word with you which I spoke to David your father, and I will dwell among the children of Israel and will not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house and finished it. He lined the walls of the house on the inside with boards of cedar from the floor of the house to the rafters of the ceiling. He covered them on the inside with wood and he covered the floor of

the house with boards of cypress. He built 20 cubits of the rear of the house with boards of cedar from the floor to the rafters and he built this within as an inner sanctuary, as the most holy place. The house that is the nave in front of the inner sanctuary, was forty cubits long. The cedar within the house was carved in the form of gourds and open flowers. All was cedar, no stone was seen. The inner sanctuary he prepared in the innermost part of the house to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. The inner sanctuary was twenty cubits long, twenty cubits wide, and twenty cubits high, and he overlaid it with pure gold. He also made an altar of cedar, and Solomon overlaid the inside of the house with pure

gold, and he drew chains of gold across in front of the inner sanctuary and overlaid it with gold. And he overlaid the whole house with gold, until all the house was finished. Also, the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold, until all the house was finished. Also, the whole altar that belonged to the inner sanctuary he overlaid with gold. Furnishings of the Temple In the inner sanctuary he made two cherubim of olive wood, each ten cubits high. Five cubits was the length of one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the length of the other wing of the cherub. It was ten cubits from the tip of one wing to the tip of the other.

The other cherub also measured ten cubits, but with cherubim had the same measure and the same form. The height of one cherub was ten cubits, and so was that of the other cherub. He put the cherubim in the innermost part of the house, and the wings of the cherubim were spread out, so that a wing of one touched one wall, and a wing of the other cherub touched the other wall. Their other wings touched each other in the

middle of the house, and he overlaid the cherubim with gold. He carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm trees and open flowers in the inner and outer rooms. The floor of the house he overlaid with gold in the inner and outer rooms. For the entrance to the inner sanctuary he made doors of olive wood. The lintel and the doorposts formed a pentagon. He covered the two doors of olive wood with carvings of cherubim, palm trees, and open flowers. He overlaid them with gold and spread gold upon the cherubim and upon the palm trees. So also he made for the entrance to the nave doorposts of olive wood in the form of a square, and two doors of cypress wood. The two leaves of the one door

were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. On them he carved cherubim in palm trees and opened flowers, and he overlaid them with gold evenly applied upon the carved work. He built the inner court with three courses of hewn stones and one course of cedar beams. In the fourth year, the foundation of the house of the Lord was laid in the month of Ziv. And in the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, the house was finished in all its parts and according to all its specifications. He was seven years in building it. The second book of Chronicles chapter nine,

the visit of the queen of Sheba. Now, when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon, she came to Jerusalem to test him with hard questions, having a very great retinue and camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones. When she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from Solomon

which he could not explain to her. And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seatings of his officials, and the attendance of his servants and their clothing, his cupbearers and their clothing, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord,

there was no more spirit in her. And she said to the king, The report was true, which I heard in my own land of your affairs and of your wisdom. But I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. And behold, half the greatness of your wisdom was not told me. You surpassed the report which I heard. Happy are your wives, happy are these your servants who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom. Blessed be the Lord your God who has delighted in you and set you on his throne as king for the Lord your God. Because your God loved Israel and would establish them forever,

he has made you king over them that you may execute justice and righteousness. Then she gave the king 120 talents of gold and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones. There were no spices such as those which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. Moreover, the servants of Haram and the servants of Solomon, who brought gold from Ophir, brought algem wood and precious stones. And the king made of the algem wood steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, lyres also, and harps for the singers. There never was seen the like of them before in the land of Judah. And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked

besides what she had brought to the king. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants. Solomon's Wealth and Wisdom Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. Besides that, which the traders and merchants brought, and all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land brought gold and silver to Solomon. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold, 600 shekels of beaten gold went into each shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold, 300 shekels of gold went into each shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold.

300 shekels of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with pure gold. The throne had six steps and a footstool of gold, which were attached to the throne. And on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing beside the armrests, while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the sixth steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom. All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the force of Lebanon were pure gold. Silver was not considered as

anything in the days of King Solomon. For the king's ships went to Tarshish with the servants of Haram. Once every three years, the ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Thus, King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the kings of the earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind. Every one of them brought his present, articles of silver and of gold,

garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. And Solomon had 4,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. And he ruled over all the kings from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone and cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah.

And horses were imported for Solomon from Egypt and from all the lands. The Death of Solomon Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, from first to last, are they not written in the history of Nathan the prophet and in the prophecy of Ahijah the Shillanite, and in the visions of Edo the seer concerning Jeroboam the son of Nebat? Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years, and Solomon slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David his father, and Rehoboam his son reigned in his stead. Psalm chapter 4. Confident plea for forgiveness from enemies. To the choir master with stringed instruments. A psalm of David.

Answer me when I call, O God of my right. You have given me room when I was in distress. Be gracious to me and hear my prayer. O sons of men, how long will you be dull of heart? How long will you love vain words and seek after lies? But know that the Lord has set apart the godly for himself. The Lord hears when I call to him. Be angry, but sin not. Commune with your own hearts on your beds and be silent.

Offer right sacrifices and put your trust in the Lord. There are many who say, Oh, that we might see some good. Lift up the light of your countenance upon us, O Lord. You have put more joy in my heart than they have when their grain and wine abound. In peace, I will both lie down and sleep for you alone, O Lord. Make me dwell in safety.

Father in heaven, we thank you and give you praise. We thank you so much for the gift of your word. We thank you for the gift of peace and deliverance. Lord God, because you do, you deliver us from our enemies. Now, even when we're in distress, even when it seems like the world is crashing around us, even when it seems like there are obstacles, and truly there are obstacles in our lives,

you make us lie down and sleep. Lord God, when we can't sleep, when we cannot find rest, when our minds are so busy, are so scattered, and we feel so stretched, so thin, then we can realize that we need to rely upon your grace and your mercy. God, when we pray, deliver me from this thorn, deliver me from this trial, you speak to us the words you spoke to St. Paul. My grace is sufficient for you.

Power is made perfect in weakness. And so we acknowledge our weakness so we can accept your power. And we know it's true. Your grace is sufficient for every one of our days, for every one of our moments. And so we give you praise. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Amen. Okay. So we have the tale of in 2 Chronicles 9, which is a little FYI. We're taking a little break from 2 Chronicles for the next number of days. In fact, maybe roughly about two weeks. Tomorrow, we're starting Ecclesiastes, which is one of the readings of the wisdom of Solomon, right? And so that's going to take us about five days or so to get through Ecclesiastes. And so we're taking a break from 2 Chronicles. This is a big moment.

Why? Because this is the end of Solomon's life. We begin with 2 Chronicles chapter 10 with the beginning of Rehoboam as being the new king. And that's going to be pretty much disaster. But we're taking a little break because we're going to join 1 Kings 12, which is Rehoboam and that whole story, and 2 Chronicles 10 and 11, that's Rehoboam and that story. So we're kind of going to match up the timelines a little bit by taking a quick little break for the next five days. Again, tomorrow we're starting Ecclesiastes for the next five days, and then we're jumping into Mark chapter one, all the way through chapter 16 for the days after that.

So just kind of FYI of what's coming up because we just heard today in second Chronicles nine of the end of Solomon's life. And one of the things that is noted to us and really is pointed out so clearly to us about Solomon's life is that he did a lot of building, right? Solomon's known as the great builder. In fact, one of the things that Jeff Cavins always reminds us of when we're in Israel is that Solomon was the builder. He doesn't just build, he amasses this incredible, incredible wealth for the people of Israel and for the temple of the Lord.

Gosh, if there is anything we heard, any one word we heard in 1 Kings chapter 6 about the building of the temple, it's the word gold. The other word is cubits, but the two words being gold and cubits, that recognition of everything was, so here's stone. Oh my gosh, okay, let's stop. Hopefully you had a chance to look up what the temple of Solomon might've looked like. Kind of an artist's rendering using their best imagination to say, okay, this is probably what it could look like. It could be really helpful for you to go back and even re-listen to that section while, or re-read it in your Bible while looking at those images and realizing, okay, that's how high this is.

That's how wide this is. That's what the stones look like. And this is kind of remarkable. Well, everything's remarkable, my gosh. But what was one of the commandments that Solomon had given to the workers? He said, okay, you're going to quarry the stones for the building of the temple, and you're going to cut those quarried stones at the quarry. You're not going to let a hammer or chisel, you're not going to be banging away at these stones at the site of the temple. And this is just one of the, oh gosh, it's one of those small things that if we miss it, we miss it.

If we just, we don't know what we're looking for, it's really easy to overlook it. Because what is Solomon saying? He's basically saying, okay, this is not my house. This is not your house. This is going to be God's house. And so because of that, there is a certain kind of sacred silence. I mean, I can't imagine that it was silent at the construction site of the temple for seven years there, but we recognize that the banging away or the chipping away, the sawing away or however you cue stone, that did not happen there to highlight the fact that the foundation underneath all the gold, underneath all the cedar in Cyprus was stone that was dedicated to the Lord. There's something about the fact that it came there somewhat silent and it was just put into place, ready to go. And that's just,

you know, St. Peter later on says, you've been living stones, living stones in the temple of the Lord. And we're not put in place, ready to go, but we are put into place to be that living temple of the Lord. It goes on from there to talk about how everything gets overlaid then with wood. So not one piece of stone was seen. Everything was overlaid with wood on the inside and then overlaid by that wood with gold, hence the gold. Why? Because this is for the Lord. In fact, people wouldn't really see the inside of the temple. If you were coming to worship, you'd worship on the outside. The outer court, that's where you'd more or less stay. The priests were the ones who go into the temple. And so we recognize all this gold, all this artwork, all these carved fruits and palm trees

and the cherubim that were massive and incredibly impressive, 10 meters high, basically, I think is what that amounts to. We recognize that all of that was more or less unseen by the people. And what does that highlight? One of the things that highlights is that all of this effort, all this work was simply for God himself. All this beauty, all this gold, all this wealth was put into place so that his house, right? So that the temple of the Lord would be extraordinary for the Lord. Now we make churches

now that can be beautiful. Or I mean, there was an era where churches were remarkably beautiful and sometimes they're built now that they are remarkably beautiful as well. And one of the things that we can criticize and say, oh my gosh, like, look at all this extravagance, look at all this beauty. That seems like maybe a waste. And yet we recognize that this is a place not only for the Lord. Like when we walk into a church, I mean, there's a guy, his name's St. John Vianney. And St. John Vianney was, I mean, he was so poor. He didn't keep hardly any money for himself. St. John Vianney for the last, I don't know, 40 years of his life, something like this, he subsisted on a half a boiled potato and a cup of milk every day. I mean, he just, that's it. And the Eucharist, that's all, that's all he ate. He didn't buy anything hardly for himself,

but all of his wages that he got for being a priest, he spent on just buying stuff for the church, have beautiful vestments and beautiful, like, you know, things, whether they were overlaid with gold or just looked like they were gold, I'm not sure. But he wanted to make the church beautiful. But in this case, we recognize in the new covenant, people actually enter into the church, right? We actually get to enter into the Holy of Holies. We actually get to approach the sanctuary and we get to see into that house of God. And so not only now are churches for God, right? So the beauty is there for him, but it's also there for us to have access to that. We actually get to be a part of, we get to participate in the beauty of the churches that we're invited into, not to stand outside worship, but enter into worship. And so our churches are meant to be beautiful as well for God, of course,

but also so that we can participate in that beauty. We can enter into that beauty and therefore enter into worship. It's something remarkable. Again, this is really telling about what it was to live in the kingdom under King Solomon. Now, what's also going to be true is that not everyone got to experience the joy of the king being so wealthy and the joy of the king having so many business deals with all these kingdoms around him. But there's something remarkable about this heyday, right? Of the reigns of King David and the reign of King Solomon.

One last note. It says that in Chronicles chapter nine, it talks about examples of Solomon's wealth and prosperity. And one of the examples that King Solomon made 200 large shields of hammered gold. So this is pure gold, right? Hammered gold is pure gold. It's not overlaid wood with wood overlaid with gold. This is 200 large fields of hammer gold, 600 shekels of hammered gold went into each shield and then 300 shields of gold with 300 shekels of gold going into each shield.

There's two things about this. Just to keep in mind. I came across a website that talked about how the large shield would be roughly equivalent of maybe $150,000 a piece. Maybe not a modern equivalent, but $150,000 a piece for each one of these shields. And the smaller shields would be worth about $77,000 a piece, which is interesting for those 300, 200 large shields and 600 or 200 large shields and 300 small shields, it would be roughly $53 million for these shields. And someone had pointed out that, yes, that was, it's decorative and it's meant to kind of put on display the, uh, the beauty, the power of the kingdom and of the king himself. But also those shields would be useless in battle.

This person pointed this out, this would be useless in battle. This person pointed this out. These shields be useless in battle. And you kind of have the sense of, oh, so this is just for show. So when King Solomon is assembling and building the temple, he is doing it for the Lord because it is not just for show. I mean, you have the sense that through and through King Solomon is doing this for God himself. David has said, do this, and his son is doing it, and he's doing it for God. But all these amassing of other things, so much gold that it says that gold counted for or silver counted for nothing in the days of King Solomon. You have the sense that, huh, who is King Solomon amassing all these other things for?

Who is he building these, who is he creating these 500 shields of hammered gold for? Just be hung up in the house of the forest of Lebanon. You think, huh, is this a little bit posturing, right? Especially when it comes to shields. Again, as I mentioned before, shields be useless, gold shields be useless in battle because they're too heavy and they're too soft. And I wonder, is that what Solomon is becoming? Is Solomon becoming an image of strength, but who's not strong, right? Because King David, he was strong, image of strength. But is King Solomon becoming an image of strength, but not actually strong, like 500 shields of gold, images of strength, but not actually strong. And this is where we kind of begin to get to ask the questions and not the question

to condemn King Solomon or to condemn anyone else, but to really expose our own hearts is where do I want to give off an image of goodness or holiness or wisdom or strength where it's because I don't believe that I'm wise or holy or good or strong. And we want to be truly wise. We want to be truly good and truly holy and truly strong and truly belonging to the Lord. And that's a key thing. What I want to do is I don't just want to give off for the Lord or for anyone else an image of something if that's not who I actually am. And also there's times, right? Of course, where we are weak and we are not as holy as we ought to be or good as we ought to be or wise as we ought to be.

In that case, we say, okay, God, make my desire, make my internal reality match up with the desire of my heart, which is help me to become a holy person, a good person, a wise person, and a strong person in your sight for my family, for my friends, for your church, and for your glory. That's a great prayer. Well, if I do say so myself, that's a great prayer to be able to pray. And so let's pray for each other for that exact thing. I am praying for you. Please pray for me.

Please pray for each other. My name is Father Mike. I cannot wait to see you tomorrow. God bless.