2 CHRONICLES 5-12 FROM RICHES TO RAGS2012 Teaching by Jerry B Simmons

Teaching Transcript: 2 Chronicles 5-12 From Riches To Rags

You are listening to FerventWord, an online Bible study ministry with teachings and tools to help you grow deeper in your relationship with God. The following message was taught by Jerry Simmons in 2012. Well, this evening we're in 2 Chronicles chapter 5. We'll start in chapter 5 and we'll head through chapter 12.

As we look at the book of Chronicles, we're looking at something that was compiled by Ezra, which we're going to get to his book in just a little bit, just a couple weeks. We'll be looking at the book of Ezra. But Ezra, as he came back to the land of Israel, he put together this...

resource, this historical account of the kings of Judah. And this particular book, 2 Chronicles, covers from about 970 BC to about 560 BC. So about 400 years of history we have here in the book of 2 Chronicles. Now as we look at this book, it

goes along with and it actually covers the same time period that we've seen previously as we went through 1 and 2 Samuel and then 1 and 2 Kings. That was one consecutive historical account. The books of Chronicles, 1 and 2 Chronicles, go back and revisit those same time periods and cover many of the same events with slightly different details and perspectives as the

The resources that Ezra was compiling was slightly different than 1 and 2 Kings. But we get a slightly different perspective and we get to remember and revisit some of those things that we've already seen take place. And here's how that looks on the timeline. David...

has reigned. He passed on the scepter to his son Solomon, who is on the throne. In the chapters that we're reading today, we have kind of the climax of Solomon's reign, the end of Solomon's reign, and then on into his son. And so we're seeing the kingdom now passed on to Solomon. And so we'll be looking at here in the book of Chronicles, Solomon all the way through the end of the nation of Judah, when Babylon conquers Jerusalem. And

and carries away all the inhabitants of Jerusalem captive. So that's what we're looking at this evening, the beginning part of this, and then we'll be zooming through the rest of it over the next week or so as we continue on in the book of Chronicles.

Here's what it looks like on the map. The geography on the left-hand side here, you have the map of Solomon's kingdom. Solomon reigned over the most territory of all the kings of Israel. David, of course, expanded the borders greatly. Solomon maintained that with peace treaties. And he ruled over this great expanse of territory from the Euphrates River all the way up at the top, all the way down to the river of Egypt.

down in the south. And so this was, you know, the height of Israel's glory and the height of their power. But the divided kingdom, you see on the right-hand side, we'll see this take place in our chapters this evening. It was not very long after Solomon's death that the nation is divided. And so all those other nations that were paying tribute, that Solomon was ruling over,

they defected pretty quickly. And then the kingdom itself, the nation of Israel, was split in two. The northern kingdom became Israel, and the southern kingdom became the nation of Judah. And so we'll be seeing that unfold in our chapters this evening.

Now, as we go through our chapters this evening, I'm going to just kind of touch on the, you know, the basics of the chapters. We'll go through them, uh, as we usually do, but I won't be going as in depth as normal because, uh, we did cover these things in the book of Kings already. And so instead, uh, what I want to do is we'll go through these things and then we'll come back in each chapter and revisit a verse or two and consider some application that, uh,

that we could, you know, apply to our own lives and consider for our own hearts and situations. And so we'll be kind of visiting those things and doing it a little bit different this evening. But in 2 Chronicles chapter 5, we start out here in this chapter. The key verse is verse 5. It says, Then they brought up the ark, the tabernacle of meeting, and all the holy furnishings that were in the tabernacle. The priests and the Levites brought them up.

In verses 1 through 10, we have the priests bringing the ark into the temple, along with the other furnishings from the tabernacle. We finished up last week with Solomon having built the temple and put everything out there, set everything in its proper order. Now this is the final step.

The tabernacle had been set up and now they're transporting the furnishings from within the tabernacle into the temple to begin the work of the temple and to begin using the temple as the place to meet with God. And so the Ark of the Covenant is brought into the temple.

Here in verses 1 through 10, this of course is where the presence of God dwelt. And so in verses 11 through 14, now the glory of the Lord fills the temple.

As the Ark of the Covenant is brought in, now the glory of the Lord consumes the temple. It's completely filled with the glory of God, so much so that the priests are not able to serve within the temple because the glory of God is consuming it. It's concentrated glory there within the temple. Now you can also see the parallel for this in 1 Kings 8 if you want to get a little bit more insight on the events that took place.

As a reminder, this is the Ark of the Covenant. This is the same Ark of the Covenant that God instructed Moses to build back in the wilderness at Mount Sinai in the book of Exodus. It was made of acacia wood. It was covered in gold.

It wasn't very big. It was three and three quarters feet long, two and a quarter feet wide, and two and a quarter feet high. And then there was the lid on it, which was called the mercy seat that was made out of pure gold. And it had those cherubim on it. And it was within that that God put the tablets of the law. And then he also...

later on put the rod that Aaron had that budded and the pot of manna that he instructed them to put in there. So it was an empty box that they were able to put these things in. They put the lid on and then the Lord said that he would meet them between the wings of the cherubim. That's where his presence would dwell.

And so that's why this is so significant as they bring the Ark of the Covenant into the temple. They're putting it in its, you know, permanent resting place in the house that they have built. And it would go inside the temple. You might remember this from the times that we've looked at the diagrams. So it would go in the Holy of Holies or also known as the holiest of all.

So you had the holy place where the priests would go. There was the candlesticks, the tables of showbread, the incense altar where they would burn incense. But the holy of holies, they wouldn't go in there except for one time a year the high priest would go in because that's where the presence of God dwelt. And so that's where the Ark of the Covenant goes within the temple.

And now the glory of God fills the temple and it's beginning the service of the temple. And now the temple will be the place where people come to meet with God and to worship God from here on out in Judah's history. Now, as we consider all of these things, I want to highlight for you or look at verse 13 here in 2 Chronicles chapter 5. And it says this,

It says,

But it's interesting to me as I look at this, and this is where I want to just spend a couple seconds here, a couple moments, considering what is going on here. As the Ark of the Covenant is brought in, there's this worship that is going on. The presence of God is being brought into the temple. The place where God said, I'm going to meet you there, it's being brought into the temple. And it's interesting because last week we studied the temple. We saw all the details about the temple.

The many millions of dollars that were included in the materials of the temple with all of the gold, with all of these extravagant things. This temple that Solomon built was glorious. It was decked in gold from top to bottom, from front to back. I mean, it was just gold galore. Tons and tons and tons of gold. It was fancy. It was expensive. It was large.

But what stood out to me as I considered this verse today is that this great, impressive, fancy, expensive temple was empty without God's presence. Think about that. They could spend 10 years building the temple, investing all of these resources in it and sparing no expense. And it's just so elaborate and so incredibly beautiful.

But it's empty and it's meaningless without the presence of God. And it's when they bring the presence of God, they bring the Ark of the Covenant where God said, I will meet you there. When they bring the Ark of the Covenant into the temple, well, that's when the temple has meaning. And that's when it has great value. It doesn't have great value because of all of the gold that Solomon put into it.

But it has great value because that is where God would meet His people. And it's interesting to me that all of this begins to take place as the people are worshiping together. They're praising and they're thanking the Lord. They're using instruments and trumpets and lifting up their voices. And the scriptures tell us that God inhabits the praises of His people.

And so not only did God say that he would meet them there between the wings of the cherubim, you know, with the Ark of the Covenant. And so the presence of God was there. But also as the people are worshiping and praising and thanking God and God is inhabiting the praises of his people. It's then that the presence of the Lord and the glory of the Lord fills the temple. It was empty. It was meaningless really before that. But now...

Well, it has great value because God is there. And I point that out to remind you that you are a temple, that you are the temple of God as a believer in Jesus. It's a great reminder for us that no matter how good you look, no matter how well you dress up, no matter how much you invest in yourself, you are empty without God's presence.

You're empty, just like the temple was. Without God's presence, we could dress it up. We can make it look really nice. But the real value comes with the indwelling of God, being the temple of God's presence. And I think we should consider this as well, as we kind of expand and consider our own lives. Think about it as well. Your home is empty without God's presence.

And you might invest great materials in it, lots of money in it. But it's empty if you do not fill it with the presence of God. Or if you prohibit God's presence from filling it. There's a need for the presence of God to be consuming your self, your home, your job. It's empty if it does not have the presence of God.

You say, well, I don't have much control over that. You know, my boss isn't a Christian. The owners aren't Christians. No, no, no. You got to understand. You take the presence of God with you. If you're just there to make money, then that's empty.

But if you're there taking the presence of God with you to be a light, to be a witness, to look for opportunities to minister, to represent God, to be his agent there in the place that you work, you take the presence of God with you

well, then is the great value. And so how can you tell if your home is empty or filled with God's presence? How can you tell if your job is empty or filled with God's presence? Well, I would suggest to you that it's always going to be connected to worship whenever God's presence is there. So if your job, if what you do is an act of worship to God,

Well, then you can be assured that God's presence is there. The Apostle Paul told us to do all things unto the Lord. Do all things as unto the Lord. That we're to live our lives as an act of worship. There's an old song. We don't sing it very often anymore. But I really like the lyrics of the song where the chorus says, Let my life be like a love song to you.

And that is really the heart here. That is what the Lord was encouraging me and challenging me with today. Let your life be like a love song. Let your actions be acts of worship. Take God's presence because without it, it's meaningless. If it's not unto the Lord, it's empty. It doesn't have value. Pastor Chuck always quotes the thing that ministered to him as a youth. Only one life to live. It will soon be passed.

Only the things that are done for Christ will last. I kind of butchered it a little bit, but you get the point. If it's not unto the Lord, if it's not consumed with the presence of God, it might be really good looking. It might be really expensive. It might be, you know, just luxurious, but it's empty without the presence of God. And so I want to encourage you this evening to be filled with the presence of God, to live your life as an act of worship to God, wherever you're at,

wherever you might be. And so we see here the temple begins its service. And God fills the temple. And now we go on into chapter 6 of 2 Chronicles. Verse 40 is the key verse. It says, Now my God, I pray, let your eyes be open and let your ears be attentive to the prayer made in this place. In verses 1 through 11, Solomon blesses the assembly. Everybody's gathered together as they begin this inauguration of the temple.

And so Solomon blesses those who have gathered together. In verse 12 through 17, now Solomon turns his direction to the Lord and he asks God to keep his word. God said, hey, you're going to build my house. You're going to be on the throne of your father, David. And Solomon says, Lord, keep your word. Establish us. Keep us safe. Keep us in peace. And then he asked God in verses 18 through 42 to hear the prayers that are offered at the temple.

And he goes through this list, really, of all of these different situations. God, hear and forgive when people come and ask for forgiveness. He says, when people come and make oaths here, you know, when there's a situation where they're trying to determine, you know, hey, did you do this or did you not do this? And people are making oaths, enforce the oaths that are made here. But he also says, when your people are defeated because of sin,

And they turn and they pray to you here at this place. Forgive them and bring them back. When there's no rain because of sin, He says, forgive them and send them rain when they pray to you here. When there's famine and they call out to you, forgive and provide for them. When they go out to battle but they cry out to you here, hear and maintain their cause.

When they get caught up in sin and they repent and turn to you, forgive them. You know what stood out to me as I was looking at this prayer of Solomon is the main purpose of the temple and the presence of God in the temple was the forgiveness of the people. That was the main purpose. That was the main thing being accomplished here. That they would be forgiven. That they would have a place to come and

Be forgiven of their sin to be restored into right relationship with God. It was their main need and so it was the main purpose of the temple. Important to remember how much we need forgiveness. That we can't just, you know, take it for granted. We don't have God in our lives just, you know, so that we could have awesome, amazing lives with no problems. No, that's not the main reason that we need God in our lives.

We need God in our lives for forgiveness. We need the work of Jesus Christ so that we are forgiven of our sins and that we have the hope of eternity, that we be washed, that we be cleansed. It's the main purpose of what God wants to do in us. He wants to forgive us and then he takes us from there. But without that, there's nothing else.

It's not just so that we don't have problems in life because, well, the reality is we are going to have problems in life. And we'll have more problems than if we weren't believers. But we have forgiveness. And that is our biggest need. That is our greatest need. Verse 18 is interesting to me. Solomon, he's built this glorious temple.

I mean, we looked at it, we saw it, it's like, whoa, this is pretty amazing what has been invested in this. But in verse 18, Solomon says, but will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain you, how much less this temple which I have built. Solomon here recognizes, all right, God, I built you a temple. It's pretty impressive to us, but I realize it's nothing compared to you.

This is not going to be able to contain you. You don't fit in the temple. The heaven of heavens can't contain you. You're not going to fit in this little temple that I have built for you. Important thing to recognize and remember, how big is God? I did a look around just real quick to see, you know, how big is the heaven of heavens? Talking about the extent of our universe. And of course, nobody knows for sure, but

The best estimates that I could find was that our universe is about 93 billion light years across. That cannot contain God. And there's more beyond that that we can't see. That cannot contain God. The temple can't contain Him. The heaven of heavens can't contain Him. Our God is big, infinite. He rules on high. So important to remember that our God is much bigger than we understand.

In 2 Chronicles 6, verse 8, another verse that really stood out to me, Solomon, as he's addressing the people, he's recounting how David wanted to build the temple. In verse 8, it says, He's remembering David wanted to build the temple. God said, no, you're not going to build the temple. Your son Solomon's going to build the temple.

And so you remember we talked about last week, David made all of these preparations. He gathered all the materials. He laid out the plans. He did everything he could except for build the temple because God said, no, you're not going to build the temple. But it was good that it was in your heart. You get credit for that, David. It was good that was in your heart, but that's not part of my plan for you. And it caused me to consider, and I would ask you to consider, that every good thing in your heart is not part of God's plan for you.

We might have to wrestle with this for a little bit. So maybe wrestle with it, you know, throughout the week. But consider, every good thing in your heart is not necessarily part of God's plan for you. It's good that it's in your heart. You get credit for that. But every good thing that you have, that you want to do for the Lord, every good thing that you want to do for God, for His glory, to worship Him, to honor Him, to accomplish His purposes,

Just because it's a good thing and just because it's in your heart doesn't mean that it's part of God's plan for you. As we see with David, it was a good thing to build the temple. It was good that it was on his heart, but it wasn't part of God's plan. Now, on the other hand, we also need to understand that, well, those good things that are on your heart that are part of God's plan, when you don't do them, John tells us that's sinful.

If you know the good that you ought to do, but you don't do it, that's sin. So if it's a good thing and it's on your heart, it's not necessarily part of God's plan. But if it's a good thing, it's on your heart, it's part of God's plan. If you don't do it, that's sin. Does it sound kind of tricky? Well, how do I know that? Well, I say that's the point. That's the key. You got to walk with God. You got to walk with God. You got to check out those things that are on your heart with the Lord. You need to learn to walk with Him, to hear from Him so that you could say,

Lord, I have this thing on my heart. I know it's something that's good. It's for your glory. It's for your kingdom. But Lord, is it what you want? Is it part of your plan for my life?

It reminds me of what Paul said in Ephesians 2.10 when he said that you are his workmanship. You're his work of art created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them. And the picture here is there's this path ahead of you. There's all these good works that God has laid out before you. It's part of his plan for your life. And so our job then is to walk in them. There's other good things that God hasn't called you to do.

But you need to connect with the Lord, to walk with Him so that you fulfill the good works that He has set before you. Something to consider, something to wrestle with in our own lives. Every good thing that's on your heart is not necessarily part of God's plan for your life. Let's move on to chapter 7 now. 2 Chronicles 7 verse 15 is the key verse.

Now my eyes will be open and my ears attentive to the prayer made in this place. In verses 1 through 3, the Lord answers with fire. What an incredible sight that must have been. Solomon there prays to the Lord, Lord hear the prayers. And then fire comes down from heaven. Lights up the altar that they have set up.

And this fire was maintained there at the altar. It would be burning continually. So for the next 400 years, this fire is going to be burning as they continue to maintain it until Babylon comes and conquers Jerusalem and destroys the temple. So this is a great work of God as he answers with fire. Then verses 4 through 11, Israel keeps a seven-day dedication feast.

Here, Solomon offers 22,000 bulls and 120,000 sheep to begin the dedication and to dedicate the temple in this time and this place to the Lord. And so there's this great feast. Now, these animals that are being sacrificed, they're being put to death, of course, and they're

Part of them are being burned on the altar, but the rest is for consumption. That is that the people who are participating in this feast are consuming. They're eating. They're having just a great big barbecue, in other words, to celebrate the beginning of the work of God here at the temple.

And so this dedication feast really is a feast with 120,000 sheep and 22,000 bulls that are being offered to the Lord and also partaken of by the people.

Then in verses 12 through 18, God tells Solomon that he heard his prayer. And so he's answered it. He is, you know, going to honor the prayers that are made there in this place. And then verse 19 through 22, God warns Solomon against turning away from God.

So he appears to Solomon for the second time. The first time he said, Solomon, what do you want? I'll do it for you. Solomon asked for wisdom. This time he appears to Solomon. He says, I've heard your prayer. I'm going to honor the prayers that are offered here at the temple. But watch out that you don't turn away from me. I'm going to uphold my promises as long as you continue to walk with me. Charles Spurgeon had an interesting thought. And I...

I want to read it for you because I believe that what God wants to remind you and speak to you about this. Here's what Spurgeon says. Brethren, we want renewed appearances, fresh manifestations, new visitations from on high. And I commend to those of you who are getting on in life. We have a couple of those, right?

I commend to those of you who are getting on in life that while you thank God for the past and look back with joy to his visits to you in your early days, you now seek and ask for a second visitation of the Most High.

God appeared to Solomon the second time. Spurgeon says, hey, this is something really important for us, that we don't just look back to that one time or that previous time when God worked in us, He spoke to us, He met with us. There was that great work of God in our lives, that we don't just look back to that moment, that we look for a new moment of God working and speaking and moving in us once again.

And I want to encourage you. It doesn't necessarily mean that you have to be an old person, but you've been walking with the Lord. That don't just look back to some pastime, but look forward and ask God to visit you once again to do a fresh, new, incredible work in your life. Chapter 8, verse 16 is the key verse.

Now all the work of Solomon was well ordered from the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was completed. Here in verses 1 through 6, we have the record of Solomon's buildings. I think what Wiersbe pointed out was really appropriate. David was known for his battles.

Solomon was known for his buildings. He was a genius designer. He built this incredible temple, his own house, and these other buildings that he built. And so these were things that he was known for. In verses 7 through 10, it describes for us the labor force that was involved in the actual work of putting all these buildings together. Verse 11 mentions Solomon's wife from Egypt and the house that he moved her into.

Then verses 12 through 16, you have the priests and the Levites now begin to serve according to the order that David set. Remember, David gave Solomon all the plans for the temple, including the schedule. All right, these priests will serve at this time period. These Levites will serve in that time period because there was too many of them to serve all at once. And so he scheduled them rotation by family. They were scheduled throughout the year.

And then we also have in verse 17 and 18, Hiram sends ships to Solomon and they begin to go out and to explore and to trade and bring back resources and wealth to Solomon and to the nation of Israel. Here's a map of what that looks like.

Israel is this area here. It says Canaan. You can see the Sea of Galilee, the Dead Sea there. They went down south to Ezean Geber, which is there at the tip of the Red Sea. And so that's where they made a port. And so they began to sail down.

Ophir, we don't know for sure exactly if that's where it's at, but that's what scholars believe is the location of Ophir. And so they go down the Red Sea to there, they trade there, they bring back the goods, and we'll see some of that in the next chapter as well as it recounts some of the things that are brought back. So that is the journey that they would take by ship down the Red Sea, that Solomon's men and the men of Hiram, which was the king of Tyre.

Before we go into actual chapter 9, I want to look at 2 Chronicles 8, verse 11 with you and remember what that says. It says, Solomon disregarded the word of God in a lot of ways.

He had a godly father who also messed up and, you know, didn't fully comply with all the things that God had instructed. Solomon went overboard with his, you know, hundreds of wives and concubines, a thousand altogether. He went a little bit overboard with his amassing of horses and chariots. God had instructed kings of Israel not to do that, but Solomon did it even though God had instructed them not to.

One of the things here, though, that I think is interesting for us to consider for ourselves is Solomon recognized that something wasn't right. This wife, who is the daughter of the Pharaoh of Egypt, she's there in Jerusalem with Solomon until now the ark has been brought into the temple and the temple service has begun. And Solomon starts to think, you know, she doesn't really belong here.

Because the Ark of God, the Temple of God, these are holy places. She doesn't really belong here. And so he moves her out away from that because she doesn't quite belong. Now we don't know much about this relationship or this woman. Many people think that the book Song of Solomon is written regarding this wife from Egypt. We don't know for sure. But here's what I would suggest for us to consider this evening. I would ask you,

Do you have things in your life that you have to keep separate from the things of the Lord? And I would suggest to you that's a warning sign. That we may not come to terms with it and look at it face on, but sometimes there's things in our lives that, well, we keep them separate on purpose because we know they don't quite fit together.

So there's that person that you're hanging out with. You don't bring them to church and introduce them to people. You have to keep it separate. Why do you have to keep it separate? I would ask you to consider, do you have things in your life that

That you have to keep separate from the things of the Lord. And if so, I would suggest to you there's a problem. And you need to, well, probably do more than just, okay, well, let me take some steps to keep these things separate. I would suggest to you, hey, if you have to keep it separate, you have to keep it hidden. You have to keep it, you know, from those who know the things of the Lord or those who know you in the Lord.

then it's an area of repentance that is needed. That you need to turn from the things that have to be kept separate from the Lord. The Lord, as we saw in the temple, needs to consume you. Your whole life needs to be an act of worship to God. And if you have those things, well, I got to keep this separate. I can't, you know, well, that's an indication that you understand this isn't right. I shouldn't be involved in this. This isn't, this really doesn't belong in my life.

But I'm just going to keep it separate. You see, there's an issue here that Solomon is indicating he understands, but he's not really dealing with it. He's just removing it so that he's keeping it separate from the things that are holy. Something to consider and something to challenge yourself with. All right. 2 Chronicles 9, verse 2 is the key verse. It says, So Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing so difficult for Solomon that he could not explain it to her.

In verses 1 through 12, we have the Queen of Sheba. And she comes from a great distance to visit Solomon. It was a long trip. It was estimated to be about 1,500 miles for her to travel to Jerusalem where Solomon was. And so it was a great distance that she came. She'd heard about his wisdom and she came to test it out. And so she came prepared with hard questions.

You know, like people call in pastor's perspective. You know, can I stump them? You know, can I give them a question they don't know the answer to? And that's not too difficult to do. But for the Queen of Sheba, she came to Solomon with hard questions and he had answers for all of them because he had this great wisdom from God. And so she is blown away at Solomon's wisdom, at just the great luxuries and glories there in Israel and in Jerusalem.

And so she considers it worth the trip and she goes there. Verse 13 through 28, Solomon surpassed all kings in riches. And so here it describes all of the wealth that Solomon had and all of the wealth that was coming in. And at that time, it was more glorious. It was more wealth than all the other nations.

So, you know, think about Egypt, think about Assyria, think about Babylon, think about, you know, all of the surrounding nations around Israel, even Tyre where King Hiram was. Some of these were really impressive nations. Some of them grow to become world dominating powers later on. But at this point in history, Israel is the wealthiest. Israel is the one with the power.

With the great wealth and riches. This is the peak. The pinnacle of Israel's history. Their most glorious.

The temple of God is built. They have the most territory and they have this great wealth as Solomon is reigning. But then in verse 29 through 31, we have the end of Solomon's reign and his death that takes place. Now, there's a lot of things that aren't mentioned here in the book of Chronicles. And again, you can refer back to the book of 1 Kings to revisit some of those things. But Solomon later in his life,

or maybe even not so much later, but after building the temple, his heart is turned away from the Lord by his many wives, and he begins to worship these false gods. We don't really get into that here in the book of Chronicles. And so although Israel is brought to its great glory here,

From here, it begins to go down as Solomon's heart turns from the Lord and he begins to set up altars for other gods and people in Israel begin to worship at those altars. And so there's this right away, this quick turning from the Lord that begins to happen during Solomon's reign. And so we're going to be seeing now kind of the downward spiral from here as Israel continues to go on into rebellion against the Lord.

The Queen of Sheba, down there in the southern area of Arabia, is where the location of Sheba is believed to be. And so the Queen of Sheba traveled up the Red Sea. Of course, we don't know. She might have gone by ship of the Red Sea and went to Ezion Geber, just like Solomon's ships did, and then went by land from there, or she might have went by land. We don't know for sure. But she traveled again about 1,500 miles or so to get there to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

Here's a quick look at Solomon's wealth and how that would translate as far as today's values of the gold and things that were coming in. So the Queen of Sheba gave him 120 talents of gold. And so that works out to about $202 million worth of gold. So quite an impressive gift. That doesn't count all of the spices and other things that she brought as well. There's not really a measurement or a way to value those things.

But it does say that annually Solomon received 666 talents of gold. It's just a little bit over a billion dollars worth of gold. A talent is about 70 to 80 pounds of gold. And so, you know, that's where the value comes from is just great weight of gold.

He made 200 large shields. It talks about that here in chapter 9. These are not used for battle. They're just used for display. It's just decoration. Each of them contained about 600 shekels of gold. And so it works out to be about $67 million worth of gold shield decorations.

And then he also made 300 smaller shields, which were three minas each. That works out to be about $25 million. Again, these are just decorations that he has on his buildings. And then he also had about 1,400 chariots worth about 600 shekels each, so $270,000. So it just gives us a little bit of a picture, a little snapshot of the

The wealth that Solomon had and what was continually coming in. And then it also says on top of that, you know, all of his traders and merchants, they were bringing back money as well. So this is kind of the, you know, the 666 talents was kind of like the base, you know, salary. And then all the commission from the merchants and the tradings would be coming in as well. And it says in verse, where is it?

Verse 27, the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones and he made cedar trees as abundant as sycamores which are in the lowland. So the idea of silver being as common as stones again gives us a picture of the great wealth. I mean, they're just, there's an abundance here. God has blessed them greatly under the reign of Solomon. He surpassed the riches of all the kings. They reached the pinnacle.

They reached the height. And yet it's there in the midst of that blessing that now they begin to turn and to walk away from the Lord. I think it's something that you and I have to consider as we look at the life of Solomon. It's something that should cause us to stop and take heed and consider our own heart. The Apostle Paul said, hey, if you think you stand, take heed lest you fall.

Because here is Solomon at the height of the glory of Israel, but his heart is turned away and he begins to pursue after these false gods. He's, you know, the richest, the wealthiest, the wisest of all the kings of the world. I mean, this is an impressive guy. This is an impressive position.

And yet his heart turns away from the Lord. And as his heart turns away, he begins to lead the nation away from the things of God. And it's amazing to me. Keep in your mind these amounts. Keep in your mind the picture here. Silver as common as the stones. This great glorious kingdom. This great amazing wealth. In just a few short years, it's all going to be gone.

We'll see that over the next couple of chapters. But let's move on now to chapter 10. Verse 17. So Solomon has died. He's passed on the throne to his son Rehoboam. And in verses 1 through 5, Jeroboam, who is a leader amongst the nation of Israel, he...

leads a group of people to ask Rehoboam to lighten their burdens. Now we've seen throughout Israel's history, even though Israel was one nation with King Saul and King David and King Solomon, there's always been throughout Israel's history this distinction between the northern tribes and then the tribe of Judah.

And there's always been a difference. And we saw it in the book of Judges. We saw it throughout Israel's earlier history in the book of Samuel and the beginnings of the nations that there was always this little bit of difference. In fact, you remember David ruled over the tribe of Judah in Hebron for seven years. And then he ruled in Jerusalem over the whole nation for 33 years. There's always been that little bit of division, that distinction between them.

Well, now Jeroboam is representing the whole northern part of Israel. And he comes to Rehoboam and he says, hey, your dad was a great king, but he laid heavy burdens upon us to, you know, bring in all this gold and this wealth. Lighten the burdens and we will continue to serve you.

So verses 6 through 11, now Rehoboam seeks counsel. He says to the elders who are with his dad, hey, what do you guys think I should do? They said, well, he's right. You should lessen their load so that they don't have such heavy taxes and then they will be your servants. They will love you. They'll be with you for the rest of your life.

But Rehoboam doesn't like that counsel. And so he goes to the younger guys and says, hey guys, what do you guys think? Well, here's what we should do. We should tax them even more, make it harder on them, lay down a heavier burden upon them.

Rehoboam likes that answer. And so verses 12 through 15, he answers Israel roughly when Jeroboam comes back and he says, no, I'm going to lay a heavier burden on you. And so verses 16 through 19, then Israel rebels against Judah. And now we have what we refer to as the divided kingdom, where Israel led by King Jeroboam now is

is the northern part, the northern ten tribes of Israel. And Judah becomes its own separate nation. And it's the tribe of Judah as well as Benjamin. And so this is the division now, the splitting up of the kingdom under Rehoboam's reign. What's interesting to me, what I want to consider for a moment with you is verse 8.

where it says that Rehoboam rejected the advice which the elders had given him and consulted the young men who had grown up with him, who stood before him. And we've pointed this out before, we've dwelt on it before, but it's important to look at again. Before Rehoboam ever heard the advice of the younger guys, he already had rejected the advice of the older guys. So he said, hey guys, what do you think I should do? Here's the situation, here's what they're saying, what do you think I should do?

And the elders say, all right, here's what we think you should do. He says, I don't like what you have to say. He already rejects it. Then he goes to the younger guys and he says, hey, what do you guys think I should do? And we, well, we can take up this same type of example where, well, we ask someone, what do you think? You know, it's biblical to seek counsel, to seek out wisdom from others. What do you think I should do? Say, well, this is what I think you should do. I don't like what you think. I'm going to go talk to somebody else. What do you think I should do?

I don't like what you have to say either. What do you think I should do? I don't like what you have to say. What do you think I should do? Oh, I like what you have to say. It's very dangerous. Rehoboam chooses a foolish path because he, well, he takes in the counsel that he wants to hear as opposed to the counsel that he needed to hear. And so instead of doing the wise thing, he listens to his foolish advisors, which is what he wanted to do in the first place.

They agreed with him. He says, all right, I think you're pretty wise because you agree with me. Sometimes that's how we evaluate wisdom, huh? If you agree with me, you're wise. If you don't agree with me, you're a fool. But that's not really the case. And we need to, well, humble ourselves a little bit more than that.

That we recognize, hey, maybe these other people who, well, they have a grasp of the Word of God. I'm not saying just do what anybody says, but they have a grasp of the Word of God. It's godly counsel that they're providing. Even if I don't like it, it's godly counsel. I need to consider. I need to take it before the Lord. I need to evaluate it and not just reject it because it's not what I want to hear.

But Rehoboam rejects it. He goes on, he finds someone who will tell him what he wants to hear. He says, all right, I like that. And so he goes on with his foolish decision. And now the kingdom of Israel is split in two. Chapter 11 now, verse 5 is the key verse. It says, so Rehoboam dwelt in Jerusalem and built cities for defense in Judah. And verses 1 through 4, the Lord tells Rehoboam not to battle Israel.

So the kingdom split. It's kind of funny the way it describes it. It's kind of like Rehoboam didn't really take it seriously. Like, oh yeah, you guys are splitting. You know, that's funny. So he sends his tax collector in. All right, here's the heavier burden, guys, you know, that I told you I was going to bring. He sends in the tax collector. They kill the tax collector. And then Rehoboam realizes, oh, I'm in trouble.

I'm in the northern area. I'm in Shechem, you know, in their territory. They really have revolted. And so he flees to Jerusalem. But when he gets to Jerusalem, he's like, all right, guys, call in the army, call in the reserves. Let's get everybody together. We're going to go attack Israel. We're going to go force them to be united with us. But God sends a messenger.

He sends a prophet and he says, don't do this. This is of the Lord. Don't go to battle against your brethren. And so instead, verses 5 through 12, Rehoboam fortifies the strongholds of Judah. He builds up the defenses and these are the southern areas of Judah. And so we can see a little bit later on, there's a threat from Egypt. And so he's

preparing for that threat. He's recognizing there's going to be some attacks and some difficulty. And so he begins to build up his defenses at that time. Verse 13 through 17, the priests and the Levites moved to Judah as well as those who are faithful to the Lord in the northern area. So the kingdom split. Jerusalem, where the temple is, where the worship of God is, that's in Judah in the southern kingdom.

So the people in the northern kingdom who are faithful to the Lord, they move from the northern kingdom to the southern kingdom. They pack their bags, they move, they head south so that they can continue to be faithful to God, to worship God at the temple in the way that they are called to. Then in verses 18 through 23, you have Rehoboam's family listed there and his sons and his wives and such.

Here you have a quick map and a reminder. It doesn't go into detail here in Chronicles, but when Jeroboam split the kingdom, he realized, hey, people are moving down to Judah to worship God. What are we going to do about that? And so he sought counsel, got some bad advice as well, things he wanted to hear. And so he set up altars and idols in Bethel and

and in Dan, so that he told the people, hey, these are your gods. Worship these gods. Don't go down to Jerusalem to worship God at the temple. And so he set these things up. He set up his own line of priests and Levites. And that's why those who are faithful in the land moved down to Jerusalem so that they could continue to worship the Lord in the way that he had called them to. Well, that brings us now to chapter 12, finally, verse 1.

It says, Now it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. In verses 1 through 4, we have the account of Egypt attacking Judah. The kingdom is split. Remember the map of Solomon's kingdom? I mean, the height of glory. Then it's divided and, well, their borders are greatly decreased. The kingdom is split. Now here's Egypt attacking.

attacking Judah, conquering all of those strongholds that Rehoboam had built up. He thought he was really smart. Build up all these fortresses. Egypt conquers them and begins to take territory from the land of Judah. But then verse 5 through 8, Judah humbles themselves. It's very clear here in verse 1, it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom and

that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with them. And as a result, their disobedience has led to now the attacks of Judah. I'm sorry, the attacks of Egypt upon Judah. And Judah begins to recognize, they begin to realize, this is because we've turned away from the Lord. And so they humbled themselves before the Lord. In verses 9 through 12, Egypt goes on to take treasures from the temple,

So they're conquering Judah. Judah's humbling themselves before the Lord. Egypt continues to invade the land and they actually take treasures out of the temple treasury. And then in verse 13 through 16, you have the death of Rehoboam and now he's going to pass on the kingdom to his son. But what's interesting here in chapter 12, look at verse 1 and then we'll look at verse 7.

Again, now it came to pass when Rehoboam had established the kingdom, had strengthened himself, that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. Verse 7. Now when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah saying, They have humbled themselves, therefore I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak, who is the king of Egypt. So here's the picture here.

Rehoboam at first was faithful to the Lord. And it says in the previous chapter, for three years they walked with the Lord. But when he was established, it's really the same picture that we see of Israel as a whole. When the nation is established as a whole under Solomon's reign, and it reaches the height of its glory, the height of its prosperity, the height of its wealth. When the nation was established,

it began quickly to turn away from God. Rehoboam, as he sits on the throne, he seeks the Lord. He's wanting to worship God and honor the Lord. But when he had established the kingdom and strengthened himself, so now he no longer felt the need to really rely upon God. He had established the kingdom and he strengthened himself. And so he reached the pinnacle of his rule as king. Things are going good.

We're the strongest we've ever been. At that time, it says that he forsook the law of the Lord and all Israel along with him. So it's his own personal issue, but also he's involved in leading the nation away from the things of God. It's a pattern that we can continue to look at over and over and over again throughout history. That people, when they're established and strengthened and blessed,

Well, it's at that time when we're the most vulnerable for turning away from the Lord. Again, the Apostle Paul said, hey, when you think you stand, take heed lest you fall. These are important things for us to consider. Paul the Apostle in the book of Corinthians, he said, look, these things are written as our examples that we might learn not to lust after things as they lusted, not to follow in their footsteps. You have Solomon, the wealthiest, the wisest,

And yet he was susceptible to turning away from God, forsaking the Lord. His son desired to seek after God, was obedient. God said, hey, don't go do it. So he didn't go do it. All the faithful to the Lord came to him. They walked with the Lord for three years. Everything's going great. They're strengthened. They're established. But then they fall away. Then they forsake the Lord. You and I, we have to take heed.

As Paul said to Timothy, watch your life and your doctrine closely. We have to take heed, guys. You can't set it in cruise control or autopilot and just coast through life. We have to take heed. We have to be engaged in our relationship with God. This is why, going back a little bit earlier, Solomon realized, hey, she doesn't really belong here. She's not holy. You got to keep her separate from the holy things. This is why those kinds of things in our lives are so dangerous.

Rehoboam is king for three years and they're walking with the Lord. But then they forsake the Lord. At five years into his reign, Egypt is invading. They're conquering strongholds. They're taking from the temple treasury. Remember all of the wealth that Solomon had? It's very quickly dispersed. The kingdom split. So half the nation's gone. So now they just have this little part.

The little part that they have now, Egypt invades. They're conquering. They're taking away land. They're taking away treasures. At the height of the kingdom, it would have appeared, we would have thought it could never happen. But five years after Solomon's death, it's all gone. It's just vanished. We get strong. We get established. We think, I can coast. I don't really got to worry about things. I don't really have to work to maintain because we forget how quickly things

it all can just vanish and fall apart. Listen, it's so important for you and I to take heed, to be zealous, to be passionate in our walk with God, to be diligent and disciplined. This is why, hey, don't take a week off and just kind of, you know, not spend time with God because it doesn't take very long. This is why we need to be on guard because Satan, our adversary, he seeks us

Those that he might devour. He's looking for an opportunity, looking for a reason, looking for a chink in the armor. Something he can grasp hold of, take advantage of. He wants to destroy our lives. And what we have here in Rehoboam and Solomon is a really great reminder that we are super vulnerable and we need to be on guard. Now, it doesn't mean that we need to be, you know, fearful and timid and never do anything.

Because, oh no, I might, you know, fall. No, no, no. We need to be strengthened in the Lord, but we must not slack off in our relationship with the Lord. That's the thing. That we have boldness, we have strength, we have power from on high in Christ with Him. We begin to think like Rehoboam thought. He established, he strengthened himself. And so he forsook the Lord. I don't need to rely on the Lord anymore. I've got strength and quickly strength.

They began to fall apart. Now, here's the great news. Because I think you and I all understand Rehoboam's position. You've probably, I've experienced that. I don't know if you have, but you probably have. When you begin to think, okay, okay, I've got it. I've got it. I've got it. And then boom, here comes the attack. Here comes the fall. But here's the great news. Verse 7. Now, when the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, then the Lord said, hey, they humbled themselves and

I will not destroy them, but grant them some deliverance. My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by the hand of Shishak. If they had not humbled themselves, the indication here is Egypt would have conquered Judah altogether. God says, oh no, they humbled themselves. Okay, they're going to experience some of the consequences still. They're still going to invade. They're still going to plunder the treasures of the temple. But I'm going to withhold the full extent of the consequences for their turning away from me.

I'm going to withhold the full extent of the consequences of their sin. I'm going to show them grace. I'm going to show them mercy. And I'm going to maintain them. So even when you and I, we have relied upon ourselves and we've blown it, the lesson here for us is to humble ourselves before God, to repent, to call out to Him once again, to rely upon Him. And He, well, He shows mercy and grace as we humble ourselves before Him.

Even as God said in 2 Chronicles 7, if my people who are called by my name will humble themselves and pray, humble yourself before the Lord. Repent. Turn from sin. Those things that you know they don't really belong and so you're trying to keep them separate. Repent. Turn from sin. Don't entertain those things because Satan will seek to use those things to destroy your life. And so this evening I want to encourage you, learn the lesson from Solomon, from Rehoboam. Learn the lesson.

Lean in. Press towards. Give your heart completely over to walking in relationship with God. Amen? Let's pray. Heavenly Father, I pray that you would help us not to rely upon past experiences with you, but Lord, I pray that you would call us forward.

And Lord, that we would have new experiences with you, that you would appear to us and lead us and guide us and speak to us. Lord, that you would work in us and that we would be pursuing you with all of our heart and soul and mind and strength, just as you've called us to. Help us, God, not to rely upon ourselves. And God, I pray that you would reveal if there are those issues that

We don't quite recognize yet. We haven't seen it, but we're trying to keep those unholy things separate from the holy things in our life. If we're depending upon ourselves or relying upon ourselves, if we're forsaking you and turning to our own things, God, I pray that you would show us

And Lord, as you reveal these things to us, I pray that you would help us to repent. Lord, that we would not continue in them. Lord, that we would consider and understand the seriousness, the gravity of these things, these issues. There's great danger. We have the potential to turn away from you and be destroyed. And God, we don't want that.

And Lord, as we began looking at your temple and the prayer that Solomon prayed, our greatest need is forgiveness. And so, Lord, we thank you for providing forgiveness through your son, Jesus. And Lord, we look to you and we ask that you would pour out your grace and your mercy. You would cleanse us of our sin. You would draw us near to yourself and help us, God, to thirst for you, to pursue you, to continue to draw near to you, that we would walk closer and closer to

and so much the more as we see the day approaching. In Jesus' name I pray, amen. We pray you have been blessed by this Bible teaching. The power of God to change a life is found in the daily reading of His Word. Visit ferventword.com to find more teachings and Bible study resources.