King Solomon's Shields of Faith and the Lessons of Wisdom
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King Solomon's Shields of Faith and the Lessons of Wisdom
- 2. SUNDAY 10 September 2017 COMMUNITY OF THE FAITHFUL
- 3. SHIELDS OF FAITH KING SOLOMON MADE 200 LARGE SHIELDS OF BEATEN GOLD, USING 600 SHEKELS OF GOLD ON EACH LARGE SHIELD. HE MADE 300 SHIELDS OF BEATEN GOLD, USING THREE MINAS OF GOLD ON EACH SHIELD, AND THE KING PUT THEM IN THE HOUSE OF THE FOREST OF LEBANON. 1 KINGS 10:16-17
- 4. In addition to all, taking up the shield of faith with which you will be able to extinguish all the flaming arrows of the evil one. EPH 6:16 So that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, 1 PETER 1:7 SHIELDS OF FAITH
- 5. KINGS AND THRONES • Solomon ruled through Oppression • Rehoboam ruled through Autocracy • Jeroboam ruled through Democracy • Others ruled through Policy or Selfishness
- 6. WISDOM TO WEALTH TO WIVES SO KING SOLOMON BECAME GREATER THAN ALL THE KINGS OF THE EARTH IN RICHES AND IN WISDOM. ALL THE EARTH WAS SEEKING THE PRESENCE OF SOLOMON, TO HEAR HIS WISDOM WHICH GOD HAD PUT IN HIS HEART. 1 KINGS 10:23-24
- 7. WISDOM TO WEALTH TO WIVES Now King Solomon loved many foreign women along with the daughter of Pharaoh: Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian, and Hittite women, from the nations concerning which the LORD had said to the sons of Israel, "You shall not associate with them, nor shall they associate with you, for they will surely turn your heart away after their gods." Solomon held fast to these in love. 1KINGS 11:1-2
- 8. GOLDEN WALLS • Faith causes Fruit • All is Vanity • The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person. ECC 12:13
- 9. LOST GOLD So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything; he even took the golden shields which Solomon had made. Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the door of the king's house. As often as the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the guards' room. 2 CHRON 12:9-11
- 10. • It takes Generations • Beware of Fool’s Gold LOST GOLD
- 11. GOLD IN THE HEART RATHER THAN GOLD ON THE WALL
Editor's Notes
- It is wonderful when your children get a bit older and mature how together you can celebrate the blessings you have as a family. We often have time as a family where we celebrate the house we have, or the great holidays or the love we have for each other etc. These are often times that we remind each other why we are blessed, we would directly link our blessings to our faith. We would say how God has taught us to tithe and be good stewards and because of that we can have a house. It would often be times where Natasja and I remind them of faith principles and then also of the fact that they will need to face their own tests so that they can also be protected by shields of faith. It is time like these that we polish our shileds. The building was named for its cedar pillars, which were imported from Mt. Lebanon and resembled a forest. R. de Vaux (Les Livres des Rois (1949), 48) believes that the house was used as a foyer for festive processions connected with court life, and that the royal guard was stationed there. They were made of fine gold, and at today's value one of those shields would be worth about $160,000 dollars. Three hundred shields, then, represented a fortune of approximately $50 million dollars. The golden shields might have been to Solomon a symbol of divine protection. The Hebrew word used here for shield is the same as that used in God's promise to Abram. "Do not be afraid, Abram: I am your shield, your exceedingly great reward" (Genesis 15:1). The meaning of the word is strength, protection, defense against an enemy. R Darke These shields spoke of how the Lord through His law protected and provided for God’s people. Solomon was saying that it was by them having faith in God and obeying His law that they have prospered. It appears that he wanted to display how he valued God’s law that he plated them with gold. But it is here where the irony lay because he was doing this because he amassed gold. He was using what men value to bestow worth on God. This is not wrong and it is often all we can do. But we must always remember that God’s treasure is not Gold on the walls but Gold in our hearts. This is why after Solomon dedicated the temple to the Lord He responded with a conditional blessing and said in 1 Kings 8 from verse 3 The Lord said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your cry to me. I have set apart this temple that you built, to put my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. 4 As for you, if you walk before me just as your father David did, with complete dedication and honesty, and if you do all that I have commanded, and keep my regulations and case laws, 5 then I will establish your royal throne over Israel forever, just as I promised your father David, ‘You will never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel.’6 However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don’t observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them, 7 then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone. 8 Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now,[a] will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this temple? 9 The answer will come: Because they deserted the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt’s land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.” Jesus said Give to Caesar what belongs to Caesar but to God what belongs to Him.
- God values our faith, to Him our faith is Gold and it is our faith that He rewards. Heb 11:6 And without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is and that He is a rewarder of those who seek Him. The life of Solomon and the story of these Gold shields illustrates this point very well. But to get the story we have to zoom out first and get a bit of the bigger picture.
- Kings begins with the end of David and the beginning of Solomon. Under David’s rule God established Israel, a government and a priestly system was set up. Israel became greatly blessed because of David. According to the Baker Illustrated Bible Handbook the audience for the book of 1 And 2 Kings were probably the Israelites that were carried of into exile in Babylonia. With Jerusalem burnt to the ground these people no doubt were struggling to make sense of it all and to maintain some kind of hope. Why did this happen? Is the Lord unfaithful, or just weaker than the gods of Babylon? First and second kings provide a clear answer by showing that the exile came as a result of Israel’s and Judea's continual obstinate disobedience to God’s law. The great tragedy is they only had themselves to blame. According to Dr. Constable one of the themes of the book focuses on thrones. The Throne of Heaven from where God rules His people with Justice and provides for them. There are also the thrones the kings of Israel and Judea. The stories of the thrones on earth where of disruption, disintegration and disaster that continued no matter which method of ruler ship they employed. In first Kings there are basically four earthly thrones that are highlighted. Solomon - Solomon's method of governing was oppression. He taxed the people greatly and conscripted them into government service. The result was material magnificence. He multiplied riches and manifested great displays in the temple, the palace, and throughout his kingdom. He increased the military strength of the nation. Nevertheless, in the process, he ground down the people. He kept them under his thumb. The state became more important than the people. The testimony to this appears in 12:4. The result was dissatisfaction with Solomon's method of government. Rehoboam - In reaction to this method, Rehoboam, in the south, chose a new method of government: autocracy. He decided to tighten his grip on the people so that he could control them (12:14). He believed the people should trust in their rulers, but he did not trust in God. Consequently, he failed. Autocracy led to revolution (12:16). Jeroboam - Jeroboam, in the north, chose a third method of government: democracy. He let the people determine how they would live. While this resulted in more pleasant conditions for the people, it also resulted in ultimate disaster for his nation. Notice what democracy produced in Jeroboam's day: idolatry (12:27-29). People cannot rule themselves effectively. We need God to govern us. Jeroboam believed rulers should trust in the people, but he, like Rehoboam, did not trust in God, either. Consequently, he failed. He made religion convenient, and the people became corrupt (12:30-31). Rehoboam's successors in Judah chose a method of government that we could call government by policy. That is, they chose to follow precedent, the pattern of their predecessors, rather than getting and following God's direction for their nation. There were some exceptions to this approach, but on the whole this was Judah's method of government. Jeroboam's successors in Israel, however, chose a different method of government: selfishness. The kings of Israel cared little for the people of Israel. What concerned them primarily was what they could get for themselves out of being king. That is why the story of the kingdom of Israel is a story of intrigue, assassinations, and much bloodshed. In summary, every form of human government results in disastrous failure if people do not acknowledge God's sovereignty. People cannot govern themselves effectively. The result is always decline, disruption, and disintegration. This is one of the great revelations of 1 Kings. However, there is another throne in view in this book: the throne in heaven. Whereas 1 Kings reveals that human government always fails, it also reveals that God's government never fails.
- How did it all go wrong? The life and reign of Solomon is particularly used in Kings to display the way things change. Often going from right to wrong over a period of time, it goes from light to grey to black. Solomon’s life shows us the process. Some parts of His life is difficult to understand because it is right there in the gray space. Wisdom 1Ki 10:9 "Blessed be the LORD your God who delighted in you to set you on the throne of Israel; because the LORD loved Israel forever, therefore He made you king, to do justice and righteousness.” 1Ki 10:14 Now the weight of gold which came in to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold. That’s about 25 tones of Gold about $1,2billion a year. With all that wealth he built the temple that took seven years a palace with many buildings that took 13 years, big houses for wives including one for Pharoah’s daughter. He built a big merchant navy, as well as an army with 1400 chariots and 12000 horseman. Because of his success in trade silver became as common as stones. He even got into arms dealing and imported horses and chariots from Egypt and sold them neighboring Kingdoms. On the surface 1 Kings 1- 10 seems to praise Solomon’s exploits however on careful reading we see that things are just not right. If we compare Solomon’s life to what God instructs in Deutoronomy we see several contradictions.
- It is noticeable that 1 Kings 10 and 11 highlight that which was prohibited for kings in Deuteronomy 17: 15 you shall surely set a king over you whom the Lord your God chooses, one from among your countrymen you shall set as king over yourselves; you may not put a foreigner over yourselves who is not your countryman. 16 Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, 'You shall never again return that way.' 17He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.
- Solomons life shows us that wisdom produces wealth. Wisdom is recognizing that God created this world and that He sustains it and then living in obedience to His law. It is living life the best way it can be lived. We all want to be successful and can be tempted by the fruit of faith. We can like Solomon become enticed by the Gold on the wall. Have you ever been envious of someone else's Gold? Have you ever seen someone else’s success and wondered how you can have it. It is easy to see the Gold on the wall, it is not easy to see the gold in the heart. We can see Steven Furtik’s Muscles, or hear Andy Stanley’s eloquence and think that is the key to their fruit. But what we can’t see is how their shields of faith have been formed. We can’t see how they have been tested and how their hearts have been refined to become a golden treasure that is pleasing to God. The Word says count it pure joy when you are tested, because the testing produces in you the chracter. The Word says every man’s work will be tested and only that which is of Gold will remain. Matt 6:1"Beware of practicing your righteousness before men to be noticed by them; otherwise you have no reward with your Father who is in heaven. Matt 6:19-21 19 "Do not store up for yourselves treasures on earth, where moth and rust destroy, and where thieves break in and steal. 20 But store up for yourselves treasures in heaven, where neither moth nor rust destroys, and where thieves do not break in or steal; 21 for where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. All is Vanity Ecc 1:2 "Vanity of vanities," says the Preacher, "Vanity of vanities! All is vanity.” Ecc 12:13 The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person.
- 2 Chron 12:1 When the kingdom of Rehoboam was established and strong, he and all Israel with him forsook the law of the Lord. 2And it came about in King Rehoboam's fifth year, because they had been unfaithful to the Lord, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem 3with 1,200 chariots and 60,000 horsemen. And the people who came with him from Egypt were without number: the Lubim, the Sukkiim and the Ethiopians. 4He captured the fortified cities of Judah and came as far as Jerusalem. 5Then Shemaiah the prophet came to Rehoboam and the princes of Judah who had gathered at Jerusalem because of Shishak, and he said to them, "Thus says the Lord, 'You have forsaken Me, so I also have forsaken you to Shishak.'" 6 So the princes of Israel and the king humbled themselves and said, "The Lord is righteous." 7When the Lord saw that they humbled themselves, the word of the Lord came to Shemaiah, saying, "They have humbled themselves so I will not destroy them, but I will grant them some measure of deliverance, and My wrath shall not be poured out on Jerusalem by means of Shishak. 8But they will become his slaves so that they may learn the difference between My service and the service of the kingdoms of the countries." 9So Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took the treasures of the house of the Lord and the treasures of the king's palace. He took everything; he even took the golden shields which Solomon had made. 10 Then King Rehoboam made shields of bronze in their place and committed them to the care of the commanders of the guard who guarded the door of the king's house. 11As often as the king entered the house of the Lord, the guards came and carried them and then brought them back into the guards' room. 12And when he humbled himself, the anger of the Lord turned away from him, so as not to destroy himcompletely; and also conditions were good in Judah.
- We are living in times of transition in the Charismatic move, many of the father’s have gone and the question is what’s next. Like Duane says the question is rather who’s next? Even in TCN it is a changing of generations. In many churches the second and third generation is now leading. Blessing is accumulated over generations, it even get’s multiplied when it moves from one generation to the next. But it can also easily get lost between generations. David paid the price for the shields, he faced Goliath and had to run from Saul, he conquered the Philistines and all the other enemies of Israel. He planned the Temple and got the resources in place. Solomon did well because He stuck with his father’s pattern. He kept his father’s law and served God but then the wealth caught up with him. He was so wealthy that silver became as common as stone in Israel. He could guild the shields and everything else. We see that he increased government and while the temple took 7 years to build, the palace took 13 years. Where David had a small government, Solomon built a big government and started over reaching. Rehoboam at first kept his heart right and strenghtened Judah but after three years he started wandering of and going after other gods. In the 5th year of His rule God allowed Shishak from Egypt to rise up against Judah. Rehoboam and the leaders of Judah showed some repentance so God gave them some relief and Shishak couldn’t totally destroy Judah, but he did plunder it and took much of the riches back to Egypt (s reversal of what happened under Moses, this happened because Solomon started using slave labour like Pharoah). The Gold shields were in the items carried of by Shishak. In order to keep some sense of the appearance of blessing Rehoboam had new shields made and covered them with bronze. They were not put on the walls again but locked away and placed under heavy guard. They were only taken out when the king went to the temple on Sabbath days. These shield were now worth about $5000 but Rehoboam wanted to keep up the appearance of value. He wanted to act like the same shields of faith were still in place. Rather than start again and let his own faith be tested and purified he held on to the appearance of his father. Each generation will have it s faith tested. Each generation must decide if they value gold on the walls or gold in the heart. It is not that they must squander or dishonor their inheritance, on the contrary they must value it dearly because they value the faith that procuced it.
- Gold in the heart rather than gold on the wall. Have you ever tried to get gum out of your hair or out of a rug, it’s hard because they get so intertwined, the gum gets in between the hair. It sometimes feels like that when we are trying to separate right from wrong in the affairs of men. Well this is what the tragic book of 1 and 2 Kings tell us.