glory of the Lord filled the building. Solomon preached the first sermon in the temple and then offered the prayer of dedication and blessed all of the people. After the offering of thousands of animals in sacrifice, the people had a celebration feast that lasted for four teen days! How grateful they were that at last the beautiful temple had been completed! Because Solomon had trusted in the Lord with all his heart, God had wonderfully blessed his king dom. Sept. 28, 1952 THE PERIL OF The passages of today’s lesson de scribe the superb glory of Solomon’s kingdom. He had gained all sorts of material wealth, had made advanta geous political alliances, had built beautiful and expensive public build ings, and had extended his kingdom far beyond the former limitations. But nevertheless, we note in these passages also the presence of evil tendencies which ultimately undermined this glory and brought weakness to the kingdom. Abundant opportunity is afforded in this lesson to show the superficiality of mere material things and the folly of trusting in them. The Glory of Solomon’s Kingdom 4:20-25 In this section we see the blessing, extent, and security of Solomon’s king dom. There was unity in his kingdom. Judah and Israel were together and they were prosperous and happy (v. 20). God had multiplied them tremendously. Never was the kingdom more widely extended than at this time (v. 21). Solomon reigned from the Euphrates to Egypt. All the petty kingdoms be tween the Euphrates and the Mediter ranean were tributary to him. Much the same idea is expressed in v. 24. “ Tiphsah” was a flourishing town on the west bank of the Euphrates and “ Azzah” was the same as Gaza, located in the Philistine country. And so blessed was his reign that “he had peace on all sides round about him.” Thus Solomon was able to bring about a situation in his kingdom which was in harmony with the meaning of his name which is “ peace.” It was definitely a time of affluence for every one. Not only did the king and those associated with him have plenty (vv. 21-23),' but all of Judah and Israel “ dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree” (v. 25). Every man had security and was well provided for. The imagery is one of satisfaction and prosperity. Cf. Mic. 4:4; Zech. 3:10. An Ominous Factor in the Kingdom 4: 26 The fact that Solomon multiplied horses and chariots indicates that he WORLDLY GLORY 1 Kings 4:20-26; 11:4-8 Pointers on the Lesson
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