1 Kings 10:1-5 - The queen of Sheba

10:1

We are now gently on the downhill slope for Solomon. At this stage it is probably safe to say that it is the deceptiveness of wealth that is the snare for Solomon. Now remember that Solomon did not ask God for wealth, but for wisdom. This does raise the question, to which I don’t know the answer, as to why God gave him so much wealth, knowing it would be a snare for him. Perhaps it is a demonstration that we all need to be born again, otherwise we cannot handle God’s blessings. Whatever the case, the queen of Sheba heard about Solomon’s fame, “and his relationship to the Lord”. So the world sees a man of God, and the blessings of God, yet the man is actually heading for a fall. We do not know for sure where “Sheba” was, possibly near modern day Yemen. The queen may have been the ruling queen, or the king’s partner. Again, we do not know.

10:2-5

The queen went to Jerusalem to see if all the talk of Solomon was true. She went there with a great caravan and many precious items. She had come to test Solomon with questions, and he answered them all. The queen was mightily impressed with Solomon’s wisdom and his wealth, and also the burnt offerings he made at the temple.

Mark 13:7,8 - Wars, and rumours of wars

13:7

The AD 30-70 period was a time of relative peace, but even so there were a number of conflicts in that period. Every period in history has “wars” and “rumours of wars”, and our age is no different. Jesus tells us that these things must happen, but the end is still to come. There can be a natural tendency to view our own times as the most dangerous times there have ever been. This is natural because they are the risks that we face, and so are the most real to us. But Jesus tells us “do not be alarmed”. This does not mean that these things do not matter, but does affect how we are to react. We do not “head for the hill” in panic, but react calmly, seeking to help where we can.

13:8

“Nation will rise against nation”. This clearly goes beyond the immediate situation that the disciples would face. The world is unstable, for it is a world that has abandoned God,a world run on human lines, not godly lines. Today we see kingdom rising against kingdom. We see America, China and Russia rising against each other. We see Iran and Israel rising against each other. We see kingdoms like “wokism” seeking to exert its power, and we see counter kingdoms rising against “wokism”. We may rejoice when we see “wokism” being exposed for the nonsense that it is, but we should also be careful about what might be seeking to replace it. There are also natural disasters like famines and earthquakes. We must not be alarmed.

1 Kings 9:20-28 - Three times a year

9:20-23

The land had not been completely cleared of non- Israelites. Various groups of people are mentioned, though there is no mention of the Girgashites or Canaanites. These people were conscripted into slave labour. The text does note that “the Israelites could not exterminate” these people, though it does not say why they were unable to do so. It notes that no Israelites were enslaved, though they were appointed to other duties.

9:24-28

Pharaoh’s daughter came to the palace that Solomon had built for her, and he then constructed the terraces. We are then told that three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offering and fellowship offerings at the temple. So we see Solomon observing the form of religion, though his heart is drifting away. Solomon also established a navy, and it seems that the rift between Hiram and Solomon had been healed.

Mark 13:5,6 - Watch that no one deceives you

13:5

Jesus, as was often the case, took a slightly different tack. They needed to beware of being deceived. Throughout history there have been false predictions of the return of Christ, none of them proving to be accurate! We sometimes ask the wrong questions, or are concerned about the wrong things. Now look at the disciples' question. It was natural for them to want to know when these things would happen, even sensible for them to want to know. But in fact, that was not the most important thing, they had work to do in the meantime. We too can be concerned about the wrong things, when God has something different He wants us to be concerned about.

13:6

Jesus then goes on to warn them about the sorts of things that might seek to deceive them. It is worth noting that the things mentioned here did have a relevance to the immediate future, but also a much wider relevance. There were a number of false messiahs in the pre AD 70 times, Josephus mentions a few of them. And there have, of course, been many false prophets throughout the ages, and even today. We need to be careful who we listen to.

1 Kings 9:10-19 - At the end of twenty years

9:10-14

We now get a sign of things starting to not go well. Hiram had been on good terms with David, and then with Solomon, supplying him with much of the material for the building of the temple and the royal palace. However, things now start to break down. In return for his help, Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in Galilee. There is the question of whether Solomon had the right, in God’s eyes, to give away these towns. Whatever the case on that matter, Hiram was not pleased. The goods he had given to Solomon, including much gold, were truly valuable, but Hiram did not consider these twenty towns to be up to much at all. Hiram called the “Land of Kabul” (or Cabul, if you are reading ESV)., which means “good for nothing”. And they seem to have retained this title!

9:15-19

Solomon used a lot of forced labour in building the temple and the palace, along with other structures as well. Remember that Solomon had married Pharaoh’s daughter. Pharaoh gave his daughter Gezer as a wedding gift, after he had captured it and set it on fire. So Gezer doesn’t actually seem that much better than the towns of Galilee.  However, Solomon rebuilt Gezer. Solomon was a master planner.

Mark 13:1-4 - Not one stone

13:1,2

The disciples are leaving the temple, and one of them remarks on the “massive stones” and “magnificent buildings”. The buildings were probably other parts of the temple complex. Jesus does not deny that the buildings were magnificent. However, He then goes on to say that the buildings would be completely destroyed. This did indeed happen in AD 70.

13:3,4

What Jesus had just said was quite momentous, and Peter, James, John and Andrew all wanted to know when these things would happen. They also want to know what the sign would be that these things were about to happen. They appreciated the enormity of what would happen, and wanted warning of them being about to happen. 

1 Kings 9:6-9 - If you turn away from me

9:6,7

We then get the alternative, what will happen if they do not walk in obedience? This, of course, is what did happen. The kings, Solomon included, did not observe all God’s commands, and did go off to worship other gods. In that case, then Israel would be cut off from the land, and God would reject the temple. There was no permanent commitment to the temple. Israel, instead of being the head of nations, would become the tail.

9:8,9

The temple would become a heap of rubble. Jer 5:7 warned them against putting a superstitious hope in the temple. And Jesus warned that the temple (the second temple) would become a heap of rubble (Mark 13:2). Israel would become an object of scorn. The nations would also recognise that these terrible things had happened to Israel because Israel had forsaken her God. One way or another, Israel would be a  sign to the nations.