1 Kings 5

Today’s reading in our daily plan is 1 Kings 5. Take a moment to pray, asking God to speak to you from this passage. Then read, using the following notes and questions to help you get everything out of the passage.

SAY WHAT? (What is the passage saying?)

  • Hiram was king of Tyre from 978-944 B.C. He had provided wood and workers for the building of David’s palace (see 2 Samuel 5:11).
  • 5:3, David wanted to build a temple, but God told him no (see 2 Samuel 7:1-17 and 1 Chronicles 28:2-3).
  • Solomon keeps saying he wants to build a temple for the “Name” of God. In the Bible we see this idea of someone’s “name” representing the person or, especially, God. This has carried over to today. For instance, you might hear someone pray, “in God’s Name” or “in the Name of Jesus.”
  • “conscripted laborers” (verse 13) – Solomon forces people to do the labor of building the temple.  We see in verse 14 that he tried to do this in the kindest way possible, drafting three times the number of workers needed so they could rotate and wouldn’t have to be away from their families for too long of a period of time.

SO WHAT? (What are the underlying principles?)

  • Solomon has incredible wisdom and even (seemingly) the right intentions, but even still he makes the wrong decision of basically putting people into slavery by forcing them to work for him. This decision has consequences. We’re going to see later in this book (in 1 Kings 12:1-18) that after Solomon’s death there is a uprising because of this forced labor which leads to the division of the kingdom. We see in Solomon’s example that even the wisest man can make stupid decisions. No one is bullet proof.

NOW WHAT? (How will you personally apply this passage?)

  • You may have and be gaining godly wisdom. You may have the right intentions. But, even still, you can still make wrong decisions, and they can have dire consequences. Think over your life: 
    • Where might you be making an unwise decision? 
    • Is there a “blind spot” in your life you’ve been unaware of?
    • Is there something friends have mentioned to you, but you’ve ignored?
    • Where is the “hurt” in your life? (In your marriage? Your finances? Your job? With your kids?) Is it possible that this hurt is the consequence of some bad decisions you’ve been making?
    • Ask God to help you see where you are not living out His wisdom.