“10 At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings—the temple of the LORD and the royal palace— 11 King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted. 12 But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. 13 “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day. 14 Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.
15 Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build the LORD’s temple, his own palace, the supporting terraces, the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. 16 (Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife. 17 And Solomon rebuilt Gezer.) He built up Lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, and Tadmor in the desert, within his land, 19 as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses—whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.
20 All the people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites (these peoples were not Israelites), 21 that is, their descendants remaining in the land, whom the Israelites could not exterminate—these Solomon conscripted for his slave labor force, as it is to this day. 22 But Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites; they were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and the commanders of his chariots and charioteers. 23 They were also the chief officials in charge of Solomon’s projects— 550 officials supervising the men who did the work.
24 After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces.
25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.
26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men. 28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.”
You got to do something. In 1993, Michael Jordan retired from the NBA with $30 million. You could do nothing for a long, long time with $30 million but you got to do something so Jordan decided to play minor league baseball for the White Sox. The next year he returned to the NBA. He took to the Bulls to three championships in a row and then retired again. You got to do something though and so he became part owner of the Washington Wizards. Then in 2001 he started playing for the Wizards. In 2003, twenty years after his first retirement, he retired again, again. You got to do something, though, and so he became part owner of the Charlotte team and got involved with motorsports.
Many people assume that if they were rich enough, they’d do nothing. That’s not the case. They, like Michael Jordan, would find something to do. We have to do something and what we do reveals something about us. Jordan played minor league baseball after retiring the first time because his father always wanted him to try it. He missed basketball and so returned to that sport. When his coach and fellow players’ contracts with the Bulls were up, he retired again rather than starting over. He thought he could help the Wizards more by playing than by owning and so he played.
You got to do something too and you, like Michael Jordan, have reasons for what you do. So it is for Solomon who finds himself in a Michael Jordan like situation. He had enough to do nothing for a long, long time. He didn’t. He did something. Jordan is doing something. You’ll do something. This passage teaches us that we’d be wisest to do it as unto the Lord; that’s the claim of this sermon.
We will study this in four points. First: a surprising souring. Second: a perpetual problem. Third: a devotion division. Fourth: an advantage arrangement. First, in verses 10-14, a surprising souring. Second, in verses 15-23, a perpetual problem. Third, in verses 24-25, a devotion division. Fourth, in verses 26-28, an advantageous arrangement.
We see Solomon ignore that wisdom in our first point: a surprising souring. This section gives us a summary of Solomon’s activities—an overview of many years. We send out a Christmas letter summarizing what we’ve done over the past year. It’s amazing how much you can pack into a year. This is section is like a letter of Solomon’s activities only it covers decades not just one year.
This list has to do with desire which we considered last week. Solomon’s desires seem to be getting out of control; they are malfunctioning and are now causing trouble; that’s verse 11, “King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram king of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and pine and gold he wanted.”
Solomon had desired cedar and gold for the building projects we studied before. Now Solomon pays up for those desires with twenty towns and so twenty communities which used to be part of the Promised Land are now part of Lebanon. The people who lived in these towns were apparently currency to be used in trades. A move like that is unbridled power. It would cause a fuss in the plains if suddenly North Dakota was given to Canada; that’s what’s going on here. This doesn’t seem to be the consensus building king we saw earlier. Solomon is changing.
He’s changing toward Hiram as well; verse 12, ‘But when Hiram went from Tyre to see the towns that Solomon had given him, he was not pleased with them. “What kind of towns are these you have given me, my brother?” he asked. And he called them the Land of Cabul, a name they have to this day.’ Hiram had delivered his side of the bargain. Solomon hadn’t. Hiram is the junior partner and so his rebuke of Solomon here is quite seriously. He leans into it calling Solomon, “my brother,” and asking why Solomon was taking advantage of him.
Hiram considered the towns worthless—as if Solomon had promised him a fleet of trucks and none of them ran. So it seemed centuries later as well. When Nathanael found out that Jesus was from this same region, he asked, “can anything good come from there?” Jesus would have been among the population swapped as junk from a senior partner to his junior partner. Power politics has no idea what’s at stake in God’s economy. Solomon is starting to have no idea what’s at stake in God’s economy.
The author of 1 Kings can barely believe the betrayal; that’s the exasperation of verse 14, “Now Hiram had sent to the king 120 talents of gold.” This might be as much as 9,000 pounds of gold for which Hiram received junk land in return. Solomon’s partnership with Hiram was a bright spot in his early reign. Solomon seemed generous and helpful; he was a friend. Now he’s taking advantage of his friend. Is that wise? We’re considering wisdom with Solomon—is this behavior wise? Manipulative people would say, “buyer beware,” and they, like Solomon here, seem to come out ahead in the short run, but not for long. The fact that this is in the Bible reminds us that God is watching. The King of Kings is watching how His installed king treats his junior partner. Solomon is not doing unto Hiram as God has done unto him. We disciples are to do unto each other as King Jesus does unto us. Praise him that he doesn’t treat us like Solomon treats Hiram. We are gathered here this evening to praise him for that. Solomon’s treatment of Hiram is surprising; his next problem is perpetual and that’s our second point: a perpetual problem.
It’s not hard to know what this passage we are studying tonight is about. The word “build” occurs in verses 1, 3, 10, 15, 17, 19, 24, 24 again, and 25. You got to do something with your time and Solomon builds, but who does the labor? Verse 15, “Here is the account of the forced labor King Solomon conscripted to build…” This forced labor had built the temple and Solomon’s palace; now they built terraces, walls, cities, store cities, “whatever he desired to build,” as verse 19 puts it. On Solomon’s to do list, it’s always construction time.
Solomon wasn’t focused on his workers’ well-being; they were as good as slaves. Does that sound like any other situation in the Bible—a king enslaving a people group to build up his nation? That sounds like the Pharoah we studied with the Exodus and not-coincidentally we find Pharaoh in verse 16, “Pharaoh king of Egypt had attacked and captured Gezer. He had set it on fire. He killed its Canaanite inhabitants and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.” Solomon was trading towns like Pharaoh—you never want to be like Pharaoh in the Bible. The Lord told them that the Exodus experience should teach them this; “The foreigner residing among you must be treated as your native-born. Love them as yourself, for you were foreigners in Egypt.” Solomon was betraying the Exodus. Solomon was busy betraying the salvation story by becoming like Pharoah. Be aware of what you are becoming.
These building projects might not seem impressive to us because we aren’t part of that time, but this list would be like the US and our interstate system, Hoover Damn, cell network, and One World Trade Center. This list in 1 Kings is big but the question is, “was it worth it?” Is it worth it to gain the whole world but forfeit your soul? King Solomon—at this point—thinks it’s worth it. King Jesus thinks it’s not. Which king are you following?
We as a church are part of King Jesus’ building project. King Solomon has this list in 1 Kings 9. King Jesus has his list of people; “in him the whole building is joined together and rises to become a holy temple in the Lord.” King Solomon’s list has fortresses and chariot depots. King Jesus’ list has you and me. He’s putting his energy into us. Be happy that you are under king Jesus. It’s good news that you are under king Jesus; it’s the good news.
King Jesus is not a user. King Solomon was using people. You see that with this slave labor—the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, which is to say the Canaanites. But as Israel was using these Canaanites for slave labor, the Canaanites were rotting Israel’s soul from within. That’s the Canaanites’ revenge. Israel took Canaanite land. The Canaanites took Israelite souls. They allured the Israelites to their gods and so the Israelites were no longer the sort of people who had faith in the Lord and so loved their neighbor as themselves; they came to treat them the way we see here. That’s hard to see, though, with all these public works that dazzle. “O let me feel Thee near me,” as John Bode put it, “the world is ever near; I see the sights that dazzle, the tempting sounds I hear; my foes are ever near me, around me and within; but, Jesus, draw me nearer, and shield my soul from sin.” Solomon and Israel in their golden age would have done well to ask that. You and I would do well to ask that.
Instead, Solomon pushed people around with his desires; verse 19, “whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon and throughout all the territory he ruled.” He didn’t just build in his own territory; he built in Hiram’s. That’s bold. Try building a shed on your neighbor’s land and you’ll find how welcome it is. Solomon does it. He’s like his father-in-law, Pharaoh, capturing Gezer, burning it to the ground, and giving it to his daughter and Solomon for a wedding present. Solomon is learning from Egypt. Some lessons aren’t worth learning.
This will come back to haunt Israel. It will come back to haunt Solomon’s son who loses ten of tribes by throwing his weight around like his dad. It will haunt Israel when Babylon comes and rips down their walls and then the Canaanites come out like vultures and pick Israel’s corpse clean. King Solomon’s way with the nations doesn’t prove as wise as King Jesus’ way of sending out messengers into the nations. King Jesus knows what he’s up to. We would do well to trust him. We see Solomon’s divided trust in our third point: a divided devotion.
One of the ways you identify importance in Scripture is by frequency. In our last point we saw that the word “build” was used nine times. Now we see a second mention in a short space of Pharaoh’s daughter; “After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her, he constructed the supporting terraces.” Notice that this, like the comment about her up in verses 16-17 are parenthetical. Up in 16-17, the grammatical focus was the cities with the side comment about Pharaoh’s daughter. Here in verse 24, the grammar is about these terraces with Pharoah’s daughter again on the side; “After Pharaoh’s daughter had come up from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her.” Interestingly, the side comments are what’s actually important.
Pharaoh’s daughter slides in almost unnoticed to the grammar but takes over the focus; that’s how it was in Solomon life too. This is the art of the author imitating the life of Solomon. His marriage to Pharoah’s daughter was supposed to secure peace with Egypt and launch Israel to grown-ups table in international relations. She was to learn to be an Israelite woman. She was to follow the Lord. She didn’t. Solomon followed her. She looms ever larger in his life.
She came up “from the City of David to the palace Solomon had built for her,” because she wasn’t allowed to live in David’s place because that’s where they kept the ark of the covenant until the temple was built. Solomon started his marriage with that good sense—a sense of devotion to the Lord. We see remnants of that in verse 25, “Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.”
In Solomon, you see a man divided. He really does love the Lord. The three times mentioned here are likely the three festivals. Solomon doesn’t want to leave the Lord. He also doesn’t want trouble with his wife or her father who were just told saw no trouble burning a city to the ground and giving it to his daughter as a wedding present. Solomon was pulled in two directions. He could have heard Jesus say, “No one can serve two masters. Either you will hate the one and love the other, or you will be devoted to the one and despise the other,” and said, “Amen!” and still not have known what to do. Don’t put yourself in his situation. That’s Paul, “Do not be yoked together with unbelievers. For what do righteousness and wickedness have in common? Or what fellowship can light have with darkness?” Only agree to go in the same direction as those who are already walking toward the Lord. Don’t agree to divided devotion. We continue in and conclude these works of Solomon in our final point: a beneficial bond.
We’ve seen that you can gauge importance by frequency and the sea is usually connected with trouble in Scripture. There’s Noah’s ark, there’s Jonah, there’s the sea of Galilee out of control, there’s the sea of chaos. You rarely, rarely find positive mentions to the sea. Israel was wary of the sea and so the population must have been surprised by the developments we see in verse 26, “King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea.” That’s like Michael Jordan playing baseball—what is he thinking? It must have confused the Israelites but also amazed them. “If we remember that Israel, only two generations before, was a disadvantaged hill country with a peasant population, the work of Solomon must necessarily be received as exotic and astonishing,” as one scholar put it. This is not your father’s Israel.
Solomon will need help as he learns the ropes in this new endeavor and yet again it’s Hiram who saves the day. “And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men.” Hiram’s nation, unlike Israel, was a seafaring people. They felt at home out there. They taught these Israelites the ropes. Why? Why would Hiram do this after being taken advantage of? First, he had to. He’s the junior partner. Second, Hiram still has a nation to feed and employ. Yes, he’ll be taken advantage of by Solomon but his people will get something and something is better than nothing. There’s no sense, though, that Solomon and Hiram were friends like before. There’s no warmth. There’s no magic to their relationships. It’s business. Solomon’s betrayal made it just business.
You don’t need to perform such cost-benefit analyses when it comes to working with King Jesus. He doesn’t betray you. He doesn’t use you. He’s the sort of king Hiram wishes he could work with. Is he the sort of king that you’re happy to work with? Is that what you are doing with your life? You got to do something. Make sure you are doing it as unto the Lord.
Solomon does come out ahead humanly speaking here; that’s verse 28, “They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon.” So Hiram got a cut but only a cut. This passage begins and ends with Hiram. It does so to show us the changes in Solomon. The king is becoming consumed by desires and has begun to consume everyone and everything around him by his desires. He’s increasingly a danger even to former friends.
But it’s hard to argue with success—right? Israel is more powerful than before. They are richer. They are more cultured. They are a success story among the nations by the metric of the nations. What about God’s metric? Well, “if [the law of Moses] has to do with love of God and love of neighbor, then the massive expansionist enterprise of Solomon is to be judged harshly as a deep failure,” as one author put it. Solomon had to do something with the second half of his reign. He’d have been far wiser to do it unto the Lord. You got to do something with your life. What will you do? Amen.