Wednesday, August 4: 1Kings 7- A subtle blemish

Chapter 7 opens with an interesting insertion into the Temple building/dedication story. The inserted story is the building of Solomon’s palace, which the recorder deftly notes, took almost twice as long as building the temple. Verse 1, It took Solomon thirteen years, however, to complete the construction of his palace. The ‘however’ seems to portray the building of the palace in a subtly negative light, inferring that Solomon’s attention was diverted from the things of God to the things of self. This understanding seems to be corroborated by its omission in Chronicles (see tidbit below).

This subtle insertion, about the interests of self invading our work for God, sparked my devotional meditations this morning. How easily sin and selfishness can creep into our lives. I (we) can even be in the midst of a great work for God when selfishness sneaks in through a crack and begins wedging its way into our life. The results of these subtle failures may not become evident for some time but the seeds of trouble have been planted.

The Lord is reminding me to look inside regularly, to see if I have allowed sin or selfishness to enter my life. Hmmm, this will take some meditating.

O, God, I am thankful for forgiveness. The writer of Hebrews urges, “let us throw off everything that hinders and the sin that so easily entangles, and let us run with perseverance the race marked out for us” (12:1). Sin does so easily entangle me, and I am grateful that when You, Lord, bring it to my attention, I can be forgiven because of the atonement of Jesus, my Lord… blessed be the name of the Lord…

Lord, expose my sin that I might have no blocks between You and me… In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.

 

Interesting Tidbit

1 & 2Chronicles records the period of Israel’s kings from Saul through the divided kingdom. This is essentially the same time period covered in the two books of Samuel and the two books of Kings. Chronicles, however, seems to be recorded from a perspective emphasizing the greatness-of-David-and-his kingdom. David is clearly the major focus of Chronicles, filling most of the chapters of 1Chronicles. Chronicles has an intense interest in the Temple including the many preparations David made for its building. Chronicles also leaves out a number of the unpleasant episodes of David’s life, like Bathsheba and the rebellions of sons Absalom and Adonijah.

In reading 2 Kings 7, the insertion about Solomon taking almost twice as long to build his palace as he took to build the Temple, seems to have a gentle negative to it.  Interestingly, the length of time to build the palace verse the Temple is also omitted in Chronicles.