DAVID

David was Jesse’s son and Israel’s second king.  One day, Samuel the prophet was told by God to go to Jesse’s house to look at his sons.  God had chosen another king for Israel, someone better than King Saul.  So seven of Jesse’s sons were presented to Samuel, but he asked if these were all the sons.  One, the youngest, was out in the fields looking after his father’s sheep.  His name was David.  He came before Samuel and God told him to anoint David as Israel’s new king.

David was then taken to the palace to play the harp for King Saul to soothe his troubled spirit, and Saul loved him. One day, as David brought food to his brothers, who were in the army, he heard the challenge of a giant Philistine warrior, Goliath, who was well over 9 feet tall!  David wondered why no one went to fight him and so he bravely declared that he would go up and defeat Goliath.  The Spirit of God was with David and he fought Goliath with only five stones and a sling.  This was David’s first victory over the enemy.  When Saul heard of this, he asked David to stay at the palace and he was not allowed to go back to his father’s house.

God was with David and he was very victorious.  One day as he returned from fighting the Philistines, the women of the city began to sing “Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”  Saul became very jealous of David even to the point of wanting him dead.  Once he threw a javelin at David as he played the harp, but missed him.

David had to run away from the palace and hide out in caves and in the wilderness because he was declared an enemy of Israel by Saul.  He had been anointed king, but yet he was as if he was a criminal in hiding.  He had the opportunity to kill Saul on several occasions but he said, “The Lord forbid that I do this thing unto my master, the Lord’s anointed, to stretch forth mine hand against him.”  Here we see David’s character.  His kindness and also how he was afraid to displease God.  We must remember that he would always consult God before he would go somewhere or do something.  We must learn from David and always go to God in prayer and consult Him before we make a decision in our life.

Many of the beautiful psalms we read today were written by David while he was in hiding, running for his life.

Once Saul had died, David was able to return to the palace and reign as Israel’s second king.  God was still with David and he was a great warrior.  But as it happened, David once stayed behind from battle and he became idle.  He was not busy, so he got into trouble.  He committed several sins because of his idleness; murder, adultery, and deceit, etc.  David was punished by losing four of his children and he deeply repented of his sin.

David is truly one of the greatest examples of true repentance and forgiveness from God.  When pleading with God for forgiveness he wrote this beautiful psalm.  “Have mercy upon me, O God, according to Thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of Thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions. Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin. Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.” Psalm 51:1–2, 10

God in His great mercy forgives us when we don’t deserve it.  It is my wish and prayer that we may truly repent of our sins and be forgiven by the grace of God.  Let us ask God to give us a new heart and to renew a right spirit within us. AMEN.

Stephen Newby

 

SOLOMON                                                                           

Solomon was born to David and one of his wives, named Bathsheba. Not long after Solomon was proclaimed king he had a miraculous dream. In his dream God asked him what he wanted. Solomon could have asked for money or land or a new chariot, but instead he asked for wisdom that he may lead the Israelites wisely. Then God said that because he hadn’t asked for anything for himself, He would give him wisdom and much more.

One of Solomon’s greatest acts of wisdom happened when two women came rushing into the palace, screaming and yelling at one another, each one claiming that the child was hers. Solomon’s wisdom allowed him to determine who was the real mother of the child. “And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged; and they feared the king: for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do judgment.” 1 Kings 3:28

News about what happened in his palace reached people far and wide. Solomon began to build the temple. Before David had died he had gotten some supplies but Solomon knew that they would need more to build the magnificent temple that David had dreamed of building while he was yet alive. So Solomon sent a letter to David’s old friend, Hiram, king of Tyre, asking him for cedar and fir trees out of the forests of Lebanon. Solomon said he would pay him back by giving him 20,000 measures of wheat and 20,000 measures of pure oil per year.

All the walls and ceiling of the temple were made out of cedar. The floor was made out of planks of fir wood. Then Solomon overlaid all the wood with gold. On the golden walls Solomon engraved Cherubims. Finally, after seven years of building, the temple of God was finished and dedicated to God.

News of the temple and Solomon’s wealth reached people near and far. One of those people was the Queen of Sheba. When she heard how wealthy and wise Solomon was, she did not believe it. She wanted to find out for herself all that her messengers had told her. So she left her country and set out for Jerusalem, bringing with her spices, gold, silver and precious gems. When she arrived at Jerusalem she spoke with Solomon. She asked him many hard questions and Solomon answered them all. Then she rejoiced and praised the God of Solomon which made Solomon rise as king and Israel prosper. She then gave Solomon 120 talents of gold and other gifts.

More and more kings and rulers came to Solomon, each bringing their own gifts. With some of his wealth he made a throne of ivory and overlaid it with the best gold. His throne had six steps with golden lions on either side of each step. He also had two more beside the seat of his throne. All of his words of wisdom can be found in the books of Proverbs, Songs of Solomon, and Ecclesiastes. As the years went by, wisdom flowed out of Solomon. He wrote 3000 proverbs and 1005 songs.  Two examples of his proverbs are as follows: “Turn not to the right hand nor to the left: remove thy foot from evil.” Proverbs 4:27. “As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool. As the bird by wandering, as the swallow by flying, so the curse causeless shall not come. A whip for the horse, a bridle for the ass, and a rod for the fool’s back. Answer not a fool according to his folly, lest thou also be like unto him.” Proverbs 26:1–4

One of the first self-confident mistakes Solomon made was to marry an Egyptian princess, going against the word of God which the Lord gave to Israel. After losing his hold upon God and in order to keep the peace with other nations, Solomon married the daughters of the other nation’s kings. He also married them to increase trade with these heathen countries. This is what God told the kings of Israel not to do. God had warned Solomon numerous times not to add riches to his already great wealth, because if he did he would destroy the temple that Solomon had built. After so many warnings, people would think that Solomon would quickly turn back from his erroneous ways but he didn’t. Instead of going closer to God he drifted farther and farther away, valuing his own ideas as supreme. Soon Solomon had completely turned away from God and started to worship idols. He started to send his children through the fire and make unnecessary sacrifices to heathen idols such as Molech and Baal.

Solomon nearly lost his salvation but in his old age he turned back to God. He then wrote these verses in Ecclesiastes. “The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun?” Ecclesiastes 1:1–3. “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.” Ecclesiastes 12:1. “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep His commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Ecclesiastes 12:13. In these verses Solomon explains to us that riches, wealth, fancy clothes and costly things are all vanity. They all mean nothing. Thus the wisest and richest man who ever lived died in Christ. It is my wish and prayer that we may know that all is vanity and that we may ask for wisdom as Solomon did, but unlike Solomon that we may never falter from the path of righteousness. AMEN.

Michael.C.Newby