Bible Study Notes 7/1/2025​

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(Much gratitude is given to Dr. Carol Kaminski for her Old Testament Survey course at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and the study materials that accompany and inform this teaching.)

 

Nathan lets David know that his son will die, because he has dishonored O’s name, but in O’s grace, Nathan announces that O has taken away David’s sin.

David was worthy of death on 2 accounts:

1. Mosaic law tells us that a person who commits adultery was to be stoned to death.

2. A murderer was to be killed

David praises O for his Grace. David and Bathsheba’s baby dies, but she conceives again and Solomon, also called Jedidiah, is born.

David’s remaining years are plagued with family troubles:

• His daughter, Tamar, is raped by her half brother, Amnon.

• David’s son, Absalom, tries to take the throne, forcing David to flee Jerusalem.

• This conflict leads to a civil war, at which time Absalom is killed.

• David is restored to the throne.

There is further conflict but David acknowledges that O has given him a victory and that the Lord alone is O.

Toward the end of his life, David instructs his commander to number the people in order to ascertain the size of his army.

His commander reports that there were 800,000 valiant men vs Judah’s 500,000

David should have known that trusting in the strength of the army was not relevant in whether a war would be won or not – trusting O was relevant to winning.

So David is struck with guilt and confesses his sin

• O allows David to choose his own punishment: three years of famine, three months of fleeing his enemies, or three days of pestilence from the Lord.

• David has experienced the grace and mercy of O throughout his life, so he says, “Let us fall into the hands of the Lord, for his mercy is great; but let me not fall into the hands of a man”.

• With O’s judgement, David’s sin cost thousands of people their lives.

After thousands are killed by a plague, David pleads with O that he relent, acknowledging that he himself was the one who had sinned.

A prophet instructs David to build an altar so that the plague might be held back from the people.

O’s instructions were to build an altar on a threshing floor belonging to a Jebusite man named Araunah.

Araunah is willing to give the threshing floor to David, but he insists on paying for it, for he will not offer to the Lord what costs him nothing.

David buys the threshing floor and oxen for 50 shekels and builds an altar, offers burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord, and the plague is done.

What is the significance of all this? This is where the temple will be built.

When David is about to die, his son, Adonijah, sets himself up as the King.

Zadok, the priest, and Nathan, the prophet, are concerned about this and tell Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother.

She speaks to David and he confirms his earlier promise that Solomon will be King.

• David commands Zadok and Nathan to anoint Solomon as King that very day.

Before he dies, David exhorts his son, Solomon, to serve the Lord wholeheartedly:

• He warns him that obedience is required for O’s promises to be confirmed through him.

David dies and is buried in the city of David after Solomon becomes King.

Solomon is aware that O has appointed him to rule over I in fulfillment of his promise to David.

In I Kings Chapter 2 we see Solomon organizing his Kingdom and putting supportive people around him.

Amongst those he put to death were people who treated his father David poorly.

In 1 Kgs 3:3, we see that Solomon loved the Lord and walked according to God’s statutes.

BUT…he also offered incense at the “high places” (open air-platforms or shrines where sacrifices and other religious activities took place before building the temple).

The Lord was worshipped at these high places, but so were other deities.

 *High places became illegitimate after the temple.

Because Solomon feels too young for the responsibilities of King, he prays for wisdom and knowledge so that he might lead O’s people.

• Solomon asked for these things when O appeared to him in a dream.

• O answers Solomon’s prayer and gives him riches and honor – things of which Solomon did not ask.

• O blesses: the kingdom flourishes and administrative districts are established throughout the land.

• Solomon accrues great quantities of precious gold and silver, and he imports prized horses from Egypt and southern Anatolia, Turkey.

• O promises Solomon, “If you walk in my ways, keeping my statues and my commandments, as your father David walked, then I will lengthen your days.

• At this point, Solomon wakes up and realizes he had been dreaming.

Solomon becomes famous for his wisdom, even among people from surrounding nations.

• He records ~3,000 proverbs, knows many songs, and his wisdom surpasses all the wisdom of Egypt.

• He also very likely wrote the book of Ecclesiastes.

Under Solomon, the kingdom of Isreal is extended and the surrounding nations bring tribute to him.

There is peace in the land! So Solomon decides to begin construction on the temple in accordance with O’s prior word that David’s son would build O’s house.

 

Solomon builds the temple in Jerusalem

Solomon embarks on an extensive construction project over the next 20 years –

• He builds his royal palace and magnificent temple in Jerusalem.

• Temple work began 480 years after I’s came out of Egypt in the 4th year of his reign in 966 BC

Thousands of laborers bring massive stones to Jerusalem.

Solomon made a covenant with the King of Tyre, who agrees to provide wood from Lebanon, so prized cedars are transported on cargo ships by Phoenician maritime traders who live along the Mediterranean coast.

Skilled artisans from Phoenicia are employed for their craftsmanship.

Expensive golden vessels elaborately decorated sacred furniture fills the temple.

Richly colored fabric adorns the sacred space.

On the large bronze altar, thousands of sacrifices will be offered by Isreal’s priests.

O makes a promise to Solomon while he is in the construction phase: Read 1 Kgs 6:12-13.

This shows us that covenantal framework established at Mount Sinai is the governing structure defining I’s relationship with the Lord.

After seven years, the temple is finished in 959 BC and Solomon dedicates it to the Lord.

• Many sheep and oxen are sacrificed on that day, but the climax of the celebration occurs when the priest-Levites-bring the ark of the covenant into the Holy of Holies.

• As the priests came out of the holy place, the glory cloud fills the temple.

• Solomon then says,” The Lord has said that he would dwell in thick darkness. I have indeed built you an exalted house, a place for you to dwell in forever”.

2 things to remember…

1. O promised Solomon that he would dwell with his people, only if Solomon and his sons walked in O’s ways.

2. O promised the I’s under the Mosaic covenant that he would dwell with them if they obey his laws.

Looking forward a bit, we will see during the days of Ezekiel, just before the destruction of Jerusalem, idols will be worshipped in the very temple that Solomon built – ABOMINATION!

• Departure of O’s presence.

For now:

The completion of the temple in Jerusalem under Solomon marks a climatic moment in I’s history.

But the departure of O’s presence and the destruction of the temple will mark the lowest point in I’s history.

If O’s presence is to remain with his people, the problem of sin must be dealt with first- this truth leads us to the cross, as the full restoration of divine presence will be accomplished through the person and work of Jesus – for he is Immanuel.

 

God’s Glorious Presence Fills the Temple

At the temple dedication, Solomon offers a prayer as he kneels before the alter on a raised platform with uplifted hands.

• He acknowledges that the Lord has been faithful to fulfill his promises and has kept his covenant with David.

• In his prayer he rehearses a variety of adverse circumstances that might come upon O’s people due to their sin; yet on such an occasion, they are to pray, confess their sin, and return to the Lord.

Solomon implores O to hear from heaven and forgive, and bring his people back to the land.

• O responds by telling Solomon that if his people pray, seek his face and turn from their evil ways, he will hear, forgive their sin, and heal their land.

• O warns Solomon that his kingdom will endure, but only if he follows O’s commands.

• If the king forsakes the Lord and serves other gods, judgment will surely be forthcoming and the temple will become a heap of ruins.

After the temple dedication, O appears to Solomon a second time in a dream, letting him know that his prayer has been heard.

• O also gives him a sober warning: If Solomon follows O’s ways his throne will be stablished forever; O warns that if Solomon or his sons do not keep their commandments, Isreal will be cut off from the land, the temple will become a heap of ruins and the people will become an object of scorn among the nations.

Solomon continues to expand the kingdom, building and fortifying cities, amassing horses, chariots, and horsemen, accruing an abundance of gold, and even importing exotic animals.

• His wealth increases; tribute from other nations flows; Solomon’s fame increases.

 

Solomon is wise but he has many wives

After the temple dedication, Solomon is honored by a visit from the queen of Sheba, who travels far w an entourage to hear his wisdom.

But Solomon has many foreign wives, against O’s commands, who sacrificed to their gods — this is a means by which Solomon secures political alliances with the surrounding nations.

Not only that…
He joins them in their idolatry, worshipping gods such as Ashtoreth, Milcom, Chemosh, and Molech.

• He has 700 wives and 300 concubines and many of them are foreigners.

As Solomon became older, he forsake the Lord, not following his laws, worshipping those false gods and building high places for sacrificing to them.

God is angry! Doing what is “evil in the sight of the Lord”, so the kingdom will be torn away from him…actually, his son, Rehoboam.

God will graciously preserve the line of Judah because of the promise he made to David – the temple will remain over the next few hundred years.

But the temple will be tragically destroyed in 586 BC.

While Solomon is still alive, the prophet Ahijah speaks to the military leader named Jeroboam, who oversees Solomon’s labor force.

• Ahijah has a garment in his hand and tears it into 12 pieces and gives 10 pieces to Jeroboam then explains to him the significance of the 10 pcs of the garment.

• Ahijah is prophesying about what will shortly take place: there will be a division in the kingdom, and 10 tribes will move to the north whole 2 tribes remain in the south.

O tells Solomon that he will tear the kingdom away from him.

After this judgment, “the Lord raised up an adversary against Solomon, Hadad the Edomite.

We saw this pattern during the period of the judges:

• I’s worship other gods

• O raises up an enemy army to afflict them.

We see this pattern over the period of the kings, which culminates in the Assyrian defeat of the northern kingdom in 722 BC and the Babylonian defeat of the southern kingdom in 586 BC.

In the meantime, Solomon reigns for 4o years over I in the United Kingdom — then he dies and the period of the united monarchy ends.