Solomon’s Investment

Synopsis     1Kings 5:22-30     3/12/2019 

Solomon desired to build a temple. And so, he requested the raw materials from King Hiram. Hiram’s kingdom controlled vast amounts of materials, especially cedar trees. So, he began sending the provisions that Solomon had requested.  

The relationship between the two kings went on for many years. And Solomon paid for the resources with vast amounts of grain and hand-pressed oil  

Additionally, Solomon pressed Israelite workers into forced labor in order to help process Hiram’s wood, as well as to build the temple itself.  

Solomon’s Investment 

Solomon invested large amounts of grain and valuable oil in order to obtain the materials he needed to build the temple. And he also took the labor of Israelite men. And as taxes go, forced labor is perhaps the most personal form of taxation.  

All of this Solomon saw as a necessity. The price to build the temple was extremely high. Even so, the clarity of his vision drove him.   

Value and Investment 

It’s a Sunday School answer – “I am a temple of the Holy Spirit”. It’s not wrong thing to want. In fact, it’s a good thing to want. I should want to be a temple of the Holy Spirit. 

Even more than that, I should want it as much Solomon wanted the first temple in Jerusalem. Accordingly, I should want to invest what Solomon was willing to invest. This is the House of God after all. 

You are the house of God. 

“Which of you wishing to construct a tower does not first sit down and calculate the cost to see if there is enough for its completion? Otherwise, after laying the foundation and finding himself unable to finish the work the onlookers should laugh at him and say, ‘This one began to build but did not have the resources to finish.” Luke 14:28