1 Kings 5:1 King Hiram of Tyre sent his emissaries to Solomon when he heard that he had been anointed king in his father’s place, because Hiram had always been friends with David.
1 Kings 5:2 Solomon sent this message to Hiram:
1 Kings 5:3 “You know my father David was not able to build a temple for the name of Yahveh his God. This was due to the warfare all around him until Yahveh put his enemies under his feet.
1 Kings 5:4 Yahveh my God has now given me rest on every side; there is no enemy or crisis.
1 Kings 5:5 So I plan to build a temple for the name of Yahveh my God, according to what Yahveh promised my father David: ‘I will put your son on your throne in your place, and he will build the temple for my name.’
1 Kings 5:6 “Therefore, command that cedars from Lebanon be cut down for me. My servants will be with your servants, and I will pay your servants’ wages according to whatever you say, for you know that not a man among us knows how to cut timber like the Sidonians.”
1 Kings 5:7 When Hiram heard Solomon’s words, he rejoiced greatly and said, “Blessed be Yahveh today! He has given David a wise son to be over this great people!”
1 Kings 5:8 Then Hiram sent a reply to Solomon, saying, “I have heard your message; I will do everything you want regarding the cedar and cypress timber.
1 Kings 5:9 My servants will bring the logs down from Lebanon to the sea, and I will make them into rafts to go by sea to the place you indicate. I will break them apart there, and you can take them away. You then can meet my needs by providing my household with food.”
1 Kings 5:10 So Hiram provided Solomon with all the cedar and cypress timber he wanted,
1 Kings 5:11 and Solomon provided Hiram with one hundred thousand bushels of wheat as food for his household and one hundred ten thousand gallons of oil from crushed olives. Solomon did this for Hiram year after year.
1 Kings 5:12 Yahveh gave Solomon wisdom, as he had promised him. There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them made a treaty.
1 Kings 5:13 Then King Solomon drafted forced laborers from all Israel; the labor force numbered thirty thousand men.
1 Kings 5:14 He sent ten thousand to Lebanon each month in shifts; one month they were in Lebanon, two months they were at home. Adoniram oversaw the forced labor.
1 Kings 5:15 Solomon had seventy thousand porters and eighty thousand stonecutters in the mountains,
1 Kings 5:16 not including his thirty-three hundred deputies in charge of the work. They supervised the people doing the work.
1 Kings 5:17 The king commanded them to quarry large, costly stones to lay the foundation of the temple with dressed stones.
1 Kings 5:18 So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders, along with the Gebalites, quarried the stone and prepared the timber and stone for the temple’s construction.
1 Kings 4:2 and these were his officials: Azariah son of Zadok, priest;
1 Kings 4:3 Elihoreph and Ahijah the sons of Shisha, secretaries; Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, court historian;
1 Kings 4:4 Benaiah son of Jehoiada, in charge of the army; Zadok and Abiathar, priests;
1 Kings 4:5 Azariah son of Nathan, in charge of the deputies; Zabud son of Nathan, a priest and adviser to the king;
1 Kings 4:6 Ahishar, in charge of the palace; and Adoniram son of Abda, in charge of forced labor.
1 Kings 4:7 Solomon had twelve deputies for all Israel. They provided food for the king and his household; each one made provision for one month out of the year.
1 Kings 4:8 These were their names: Ben-hur, in the hill country of Ephraim;
1 Kings 4:9 Ben-deker, in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth-shemesh, and Elon-beth-hanan;
1 Kings 4:10 Ben-hesed, in Arubboth (he had Socoh and the whole land of Hepher);
1 Kings 4:11 Ben-abinadab, in all Naphath-dor (Taphath daughter of Solomon was his wife);
1 Kings 4:12 Baana son of Ahilud, in Taanach, Megiddo, and all Beth-shean which is beside Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth-shean to Abel-meholah, as far as the other side of Jokmeam;
1 Kings 4:13 Ben-geber, in Ramoth-gilead (he had the villages of Jair son of Manasseh, which are in Gilead, and he had the region of Argob, which is in Bashan, sixty great cities with walls and bronze bars);
1 Kings 4:14 Ahinadab son of Iddo, in Mahanaim;
1 Kings 4:15 Ahimaaz, in Naphtali (he also had married a daughter of Solomon– Basemath);
1 Kings 4:16 Baana son of Hushai, in Asher and Bealoth;
1 Kings 4:17 Jehoshaphat son of Paruah, in Issachar;
1 Kings 4:18 Shimei son of Ela, in Benjamin;
1 Kings 4:19 Geber son of Uri, in the land of Gilead, the country of King Sihon of the Amorites and of King Og of Bashan. There was one deputy in the land of Judah.
1 Kings 4:20 Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand by the sea; they were eating, drinking, and rejoicing.
1 Kings 4:21 Solomon ruled all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines and as far as the border of Egypt. They offered tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.
1 Kings 4:22 Solomon’s provisions for one day were 150 bushels of fine flour and 300 bushels of meal,
1 Kings 4:23 ten fattened cattle, twenty range cattle, and a hundred sheep and goats, besides deer, gazelles, roebucks, and pen-fed poultry,
1 Kings 4:24 for he had dominion over everything west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza and over all the kings west of the Euphrates. He had peace on all his surrounding borders.
1 Kings 4:25 Throughout Solomon’s reign, Judah and Israel lived in safety from Dan to Beer-sheba, each person under his own vine and his own fig tree.
1 Kings 4:26 Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.
1 Kings 4:27 Each of those deputies for a month in turn provided food for King Solomon and for everyone who came to King Solomon’s table. They neglected nothing.
1 Kings 4:28 Each man brought the barley and the straw for the chariot teams and the other horses to the required place according to his assignment.
1 Kings 4:29 God gave Solomon wisdom, very great insight, and understanding as vast as the sand on the seashore.
1 Kings 4:30 Solomon’s wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the people of the East, greater than all the wisdom of Egypt.
1 Kings 4:31 He was wiser than anyone– wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman, Calcol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. His reputation extended to all the surrounding nations.
1 Kings 4:32 Solomon spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005.
1 Kings 4:33 He spoke about trees, from the cedar in Lebanon to the hyssop growing out of the wall. He also spoke about animals, birds, reptiles, and fish.
1 Kings 4:34 Emissaries of all peoples, sent by every king in the land who had heard of his wisdom, came to listen to Solomon’s wisdom.
1 Kings 3:1 Solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying Pharaoh’s daughter. Solomon brought her to the city of David until he finished building his palace, Yahveh ‘s temple, and the wall surrounding Jerusalem.
1 Kings 3:2 However, the people were sacrificing on the high places, because until that time a temple for Yahveh ‘s name had not been built.
1 Kings 3:3 Solomon loved Yahveh by walking in the statutes of his father David, but he also sacrificed and burned incense on the high places.
1 Kings 3:4 The king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there because it was the most famous high place. He offered a thousand burnt offerings on that altar.
1 Kings 3:5 At Gibeon Yahveh appeared to Solomon in a dream at night. God said, “Ask. What should I give you?”
1 Kings 3:6 And Solomon replied, “You have shown great and faithful love to your servant, my father David, because he walked before you in faithfulness, righteousness, and integrity. You have continued this great and faithful love for him by giving him a son to sit on his throne, as it is today.
1 Kings 3:7 “Yahveh my God, you have now made your servant king in my father David’s place. Yet I am just a boy[1] with no experience in leadership.
1 Kings 3:8 Your servant is among your people you have chosen, a people too many to be numbered or counted.
1 Kings 3:9 So give your servant a receptive heart to judge your people and to discern between good and evil. For who is able to judge this great people of yours?”
1 Kings 3:10 Now it pleased Yahveh that Solomon had requested this.
1 Kings 3:11 So God said to him, “Because you have requested this and did not ask for long life or riches for yourself, or the throat of your enemies, but you asked discernment for yourself to administer justice,
1 Kings 3:12 I will therefore do what you have asked. I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that there has never been anyone like you before and never will be again.
1 Kings 3:13 In addition, I will give you what you did not ask for: both riches and honor, so that no king will be your equal during your entire life.
1 Kings 3:14 If you walk in my ways and keep my statutes and commands just as your father David did, I will give you a long life.”
1 Kings 3:15 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He went to Jerusalem, stood before the ark of the Lord’s covenant, and offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings. Then he held a feast for all his servants.
1 Kings 3:16 Then two women who were prostitutes came to the king and stood before him.
1 Kings 3:17 One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I had a baby while she was in the house.
1 Kings 3:18 On the third day after I gave birth, she also had a baby, and we were alone. No one else was with us in the house; just the two of us were there.
1 Kings 3:19 During the night this woman’s son died because she lay on him.
1 Kings 3:20 She got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while your servant was asleep. She laid him in her arms, and she put her dead son in my arms.
1 Kings 3:21 When I got up in the morning to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. That morning, when I looked closely at him I realized that he was not the son I gave birth to.”
1 Kings 3:22 “No,” the other woman said. “My son is the living one; your son is the dead one.” The first woman said, “No, your son is the dead one; my son is the living one.” So they argued before the king.
1 Kings 3:23 The king replied, “This woman says, ‘This is my son who is alive, and your son is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead, and my son is alive.'”
1 Kings 3:24 The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought the sword to the king.
1 Kings 3:25 And the king said, “Cut the living boy in two and give half to one and half to the other.”
1 Kings 3:26 The woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she felt great compassion for her son. “My lord, give her the living baby,” she said, “but please don’t have him killed!” But the other one said, “He will not be mine or yours. Cut him in two!”
1 Kings 3:27 The king responded, “Give the living baby to the first woman, and don’t kill him. She is his mother.”
1 Kings 3:28 All Israel heard about the judgment the king had given, and they feared the king because they saw that God’s wisdom was in him to carry out justice.
1 Kings 2:1 As the time approached for David to die, he ordered his son Solomon,
1 Kings 2:2 “As for me, I am going the way of all of the land. Be strong and be a man,
1 Kings 2:3 and keep your obligation to Yahveh your God to walk in his ways and to keep his statutes, commands, ordinances, and decrees. This is written in the law of Moses, so that you will have success in everything you do and wherever you turn,
1 Kings 2:4 and so that Yahveh will fulfill his promise that he made to me: ‘If your sons guard their way to walk faithfully before me with all their heart and all their throat, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Israel.’
1 Kings 2:5 “You also know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me and what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s army, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether. He murdered them in a time of peace to avenge blood shed in war. He spilled that blood on his own waistband and on the sandals of his feet.
1 Kings 2:6 Act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head descend to Sheol in peace.
1 Kings 2:7 “Show kindness to the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite and let them be among those who eat at your table because they supported me when I fled from your brother Absalom.
1 Kings 2:8 “Keep an eye on Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim who is with you. He uttered malicious curses against me the day I went to Mahanaim. But he came down to meet me at the Jordan River, and I swore to him by Yahveh: ‘I will never kill you with the sword.’
1 Kings 2:9 So don’t let him go unpunished, for you are a wise man. You know how to deal with him to bring his gray head down to Sheol with blood.”
1 Kings 2:10 Then David rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David.
1 Kings 2:11 The length of time David reigned over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Jerusalem.
1 Kings 2:12 Solomon sat on the throne of his father David, and his kingship was firmly established.
1 Kings 2:13 Now Adonijah son of Haggith came to Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother. She asked, “Do you come peacefully?” “Peacefully,” he replied,
1 Kings 2:14 and then asked, “May I talk with you?” “Go ahead,” she answered.
1 Kings 2:15 “You know the kingship was mine,” he said. “All Israel expected me to be king, but then the kingship was turned over to my brother, for Yahveh gave it to him.
1 Kings 2:16 So now I have just one request of you; don’t turn me down.” She said to him, “Go on.”
1 Kings 2:17 He replied, “Please speak to King Solomon since he won’t turn you down. Let him give me Abishag the Shunammite as a wife.”
1 Kings 2:18 “Very well,” Bathsheba replied. “I will speak to the king for you.”
1 Kings 2:19 So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him about Adonijah. The king stood up to greet her, bowed to her, sat down on his throne, and had a throne placed for the king’s mother. So she sat down at his right hand.
1 Kings 2:20 Then she said, “I have just one small request of you. Don’t turn me down.” “Go ahead and ask, mother,” the king replied, “for I won’t turn you down.”
1 Kings 2:21 So she said, “Let Abishag the Shunammite be given to your brother Adonijah as a wife.”
1 Kings 2:22 King Solomon answered his mother, “Why are you requesting Abishag the Shunammite for Adonijah? Since he is my elder brother, you might as well ask the kingship for him, for the priest Abiathar, and for Joab son of Zeruiah.”
1 Kings 2:23 Then King Solomon took an oath by Yahveh: “May God punish me and do so severely if Adonijah has not made this request at the cost of his throat.
1 Kings 2:24 And now, as Yahveh lives– the one who established me, seated me on the throne of my father David, and made me a dynasty as he promised– I swear Adonijah will be put to death today!”
1 Kings 2:25 Then King Solomon dispatched Benaiah son of Jehoiada, who struck down Adonijah, and he died.
1 Kings 2:26 The king said to the priest Abiathar, “Go to your fields in Anathoth. Even though you deserve to die, I will not put you to death today, since you carried the ark of Yahveh God in the presence of my father David and you suffered through all that my father suffered.”
1 Kings 2:27 So Solomon banished Abiathar from being Yahveh ‘s priest, and it fulfilled Yahveh ‘s prophecy he had spoken at Shiloh against Eli’s family.
1 Kings 2:28 The news reached Joab. Since he had supported Adonijah but not Absalom, Joab fled to Yahveh ‘s tabernacle and held strongly to the horns of the altar.
1 Kings 2:29 It was reported to King Solomon: “Joab has fled to Yahveh ‘s tabernacle and is now beside the altar.” Then Solomon sent Benaiah son of Jehoiada and told him, “Go and strike him down!”
1 Kings 2:30 So Benaiah went to the tabernacle and said to Joab, “This is what the king says: ‘Come out! ‘” But Joab said, “No, for I will die here.” So Benaiah took a message back to the king, “This is what Joab said, and this is how he answered me.”
1 Kings 2:31 The king said to him, “Do just as he says. Strike him down and bury him in order to remove from me and from my father’s family the blood that Joab shed without just cause.
1 Kings 2:32 Yahveh will bring back his own blood on his head because he struck down two men more righteous and better than he, without my father David’s knowledge. With his sword, Joab murdered Abner son of Ner, commander of Israel’s army, and Amasa son of Jether, commander of Judah’s army.
1 Kings 2:33 The responsibility for their deaths will come back to Joab and to his descendants forever, but for David, his descendants, his dynasty, and his throne, there will be peace from Yahveh forever.”
1 Kings 2:34 Benaiah son of Jehoiada went up, struck down Joab, and put him to death. He was buried at his house in the wilderness.
1 Kings 2:35 Then the king appointed Benaiah son of Jehoiada in Joab’s place over the army, and he appointed the priest Zadok in Abiathar’s place.
1 Kings 2:36 Then the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Build a house for yourself in Jerusalem and live there, but don’t leave there and go anywhere else.
1 Kings 2:37 On the day you do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die. Your blood will be on your own head.”
1 Kings 2:38 Shimei said to the king, “The sentence is fair; your servant will do as my lord the king has spoken.” And Shimei lived in Jerusalem for a long time.
1 Kings 2:39 But then, at the end of three years, two of Shimei’s slaves ran away to Achish son of Maacah, king of Gath. Shimei was informed, “Look, your slaves are in Gath.”
1 Kings 2:40 So Shimei saddled his donkey and set out to Achish at Gath to search for his slaves. He went and brought them back from Gath.
1 Kings 2:41 It was reported to Solomon that Shimei had gone from Jerusalem to Gath and had returned.
1 Kings 2:42 So the king summoned Shimei and said to him, “Didn’t I make you swear by Yahveh and warn you, saying, ‘On the day you leave and go anywhere else, know for sure that you will certainly die’? And you said to me, ‘The sentence is fair; I will obey.’
1 Kings 2:43 So why have you not kept Yahveh ‘s oath and the command that I gave you?”
1 Kings 2:44 The king also said, “You yourself know all the evil that you did to my father David. Therefore, Yahveh has brought back your evil on your head,
1 Kings 2:45 but King Solomon will be blessed, and David’s throne will remain established before Yahveh forever.”
1 Kings 2:46 Then the king commanded Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and he went out and struck Shimei down, and he died. So the kingdom was established in Solomon’s hand.
1 Remember now thy Creator in the days of thy youth, while the evil days come not, nor the years draw nigh, when thou shalt say, I have no pleasure in them; 2 While the sun, or the light, or the moon, or the stars, be not darkened, nor the clouds return after the rain: 3 In the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble, and the strong men shall bow themselves, and the grinders cease because they are few, and those that look out of the windows be darkened, 4 And the doors shall be shut in the streets, when the sound of the grinding is low, and he shall rise at the voice of the bird, and all the daughters of musick shall be brought low; 5 Also when they shall be afraid of that which is high, and fears shall be in the way, and the almond tree shall flourish, and the grasshopper shall be a burden, and desire shall fail: because man goeth to his long home, and the mourners go about the streets.
Growing older is a strange experience.
One day you’re young and energetic, and the next day you make a noise when you stand up— a noise you didn’t practice, a noise you didn’t choose, a noise that happens because your joints have decided to speak in tongues.
But aging is not a punishment. It’s a privilege. It’s a long, winding testimony of God’s patience, provision, and sense of humor.
And if we’re wise, we learn to laugh along the way.
Solomon’s final chapter in Ecclesiastes gives us a blunt, unvarnished look at the so‑called “golden years.” He doesn’t soften the reality of aging with polite euphemisms or sentimental language. Instead, he offers a painfully accurate allegory—one only an older man could write. Every image, every metaphor, every fading sense and trembling limb reflects a stage of decline Solomon now knows firsthand. He doesn’t call them the golden years. He calls them the evil days.
This is Ancient Near Eastern humor. Solomon walks us through the slow unraveling of the body: the dimming eyes, the shaking hands, the failing teeth, the stooped back, the sleepless nights, the shrinking appetite, the fear of falling, the loss of desire. It is a house slowly collapsing, a once‑strong structure now creaking under the weight of time. Solomon is not mocking old age; he is describing his own.
Solomon’s honesty is not meant to depress us but to awaken us. He wants the young to understand what he did not: life is precious because it is temporary. Enjoy it while you have it. Honor God while your strength is still intact. Live fully, gratefully, and wisely before the days come when desire fades and opportunities close.
Old age is not a failure; it is a reminder.
A reminder that we are creatures, not gods.
A reminder that our days are numbered.
A reminder that the One who gave us life is the only One who can give it again.
Solomon’s final chapter is not just a description of aging—it is an invitation to live well now, while the light still shines.
Solomon contrasts the fading years of old age with the bright, energetic prime of life—when everything works, everything is clear, and everything feels possible. He has lived those years. He was a sprite young prince, courting a beautiful young shepherd girl. We have that story in the Bible, too. It’s Solomon’s song. We also have a book Solomon wrote in his middle years. It’s his magnum opus, his collection of proverbs. But this book of Ecclesiastes is Solomon’s last. It’s his final reflection.
In it, he teaches us that when we’re young, our eyes look out their windows and see the world in sharp detail. But as the years pass, the days grow dimmer. The world doesn’t change, but our ability to take it in does.
Our bladders become like rain clouds that fill up again almost as soon as they empty.
Our once‑strong legs—the guardians of our bodies, the pillars of our houses—turn soft and unsteady.
Our teeth become few and idle, no longer grinding our food with youthful strength.
Our doors of opportunity close; we no longer venture far from home.
We miss the sound of business and busyness, the hum of life we once took for granted.
We wake at the slightest chirp of a bird, yet we don’t hear nearly as much as we used to.
It is a portrait, both honest and compassionate. Solomon is not mocking old age; he is describing the slow unraveling of a body that was never designed to be immortal in its present form.
And that is his point. Life is short—don’t waste it. We shouldenjoy it fully, especially while we are young and able to savor its gifts. But as we enjoy the gift, we should remember the Giver. The Creator who gave us life is the One who will remain when everything else fades. Our relationship with Him is the one joy that does not diminish with age.
We do not possess endless life in ourselves. Our strength, our senses, our opportunities—all of them are temporary. We live because God gives life, and we will live again only because God gives life again.
So Solomon urges us to use our time wisely.
Don’t squander our prime years.
Don’t drift through life as if our days are unlimited.
Enjoy the world God made, but anchor our joy in the God who made us.
Not only is it appropriate for us to remember our creator in the days of our youth. It is also quite proper for us to remember God when we cannot seem to remember anything else.
Remember God when you can’t remember where you put your glasses, your phone, where you left your keys, or where you parked your car.
Remember God when you can’t remember why you walked into the kitchen, or why you opened the refrigerator.
Remember God when you can’t remember that you already told that story… twice.
Remember God when you cannot remember the name of that person you have known for 20 years, and the one you just met 20 seconds ago.
Remember God when you cannot remember that birthday, that anniversary, that doctor’s appointment, or what day it is.
Remember God when you cannot remember whether you have taken that pill or taken out the garbage.
And don’t get me started on punchlines to jokes, or travel directions, whether you locked the front door, or how to turn off notifications that won’t stop dinging. We are now living in the evil days when everything slips away. But the LORD is the One who remains—and the One who can give life that truly lasts.
Let’s pray:
LORD, thank you for life. Thank you for the air we breathe and the lives you have given us to live. Thank you that no matter where we are, you are there. Thank you also for no matter what point we are in our lives, you are with us and for us. Praise your holy name. Amen.
jeffersonvann 