Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 208
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IMMERSE
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KINGDOMS
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| 9:15–10:5
This is the account of the forced labor that King Solomon conscripted to
build the Lord’s Temple, the royal palace, the supporting terraces, the
wall of Jerusalem, and the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. (Pharaoh,
the king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gezer, killing the Canaanite
population and burning it down. He gave the city to his daughter as a
wedding gift when she married Solomon. So Solomon rebuilt the city of
Gezer.) He also built up the towns of Lower B
eth-horon, Baalath, and
Tamar in the wilderness within his land. He built towns as supply centers
and constructed towns where his chariots and horses could be stationed.
He built everything he desired in Jerusalem and Lebanon and throughout
his entire realm.
There were still some people living in the land who were not Israelites,
including Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These were
descendants of the nations whom the people of Israel had not completely
destroyed. So Solomon conscripted them as slaves, and they serve as
forced laborers to this day. But Solomon did not conscript any of the Isra
elites for forced labor. Instead, he assigned them to serve as fighting men,
government officials, officers and captains in his army, commanders of his
chariots, and charioteers. Solomon appointed 550 of them to supervise
the people working on his various projects.
Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the City of David to
the new palace he had built for her. Then he constructed the supporting
terraces.
Three times each year Solomon presented burnt offerings and peace
offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord. He also burned incense to
the Lord. And so he finished the work of building the Temple.
King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, a port near Elath
in the land of Edom, along the shore of the Red Sea. Hiram sent experienced crews of sailors to sail the ships with Solomon’s men. They sailed to
Ophir and brought back to Solomon some sixteen tons of gold.
When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, which brought honor
to the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She
arrived in Jerusalem with a large group of attendants and a great caravan
of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels.
When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she
had on her mind. Solomon had answers for all her questions; nothing was
too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba realized
how very wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built,
she was overwhelmed. She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the
organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the c up-bearers,
and the burnt offerings Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord.