Why God Blesses People. (1 Kings 9: 1-28)

It really does appear that God exceptionally blesses some people. When you look through Scripture, you see it again and again. But perhaps no one illustrates this more vividly than Solomon. His life is marked by extraordinary blessings—wisdom, wealth, influence, peace, and the privilege of building the temple itself.

So, the question naturally arises: Why did God bless Solomon, and what did God say to Solomon that might reveal why He chooses to bless anyone? Furthermore do we have to do what Solomon did, and if we did, would we receive the same kind of blessing?

 These are the questions at the heart of 1 Kings 9.... So let's explore why God blesses some people—and what that blessing looks like for us today….

Transcript

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Hi friends, welcome to the Bible Project Daily Podcast. If you're new here or here for the first time, why not consider subscribing to this podcast wherever you get your podcast from? And that way you need never miss another single episode. That way you've made a decision to make the in-depth study of God's Word part of the rhythm of your daily life. Today we're continuing this amazing journey and we've reached 1 Kings chapter 9. And again, today we're going to cover a complete chapter and see what it can tell us, tells us about why God blesses people. Because you know it really does appear that God chooses to exceptionally, exceptionally bless some people. When you look through scripture, you'll see it again and again, but perhaps no one person illustrates this more vividly than Solomon. His life is marked by extraordinary blessings, that of wisdom, wealth, influence, and indeed peace, and the privilege of building the temple of God itself. So the question that naturally arises out of this is to ask why did God bless Solomon? And what did God say to Solomon that might reveal something about why he might choose to bless us, or anyone for that matter? And what can that mean for us? Do we have to do what Solomon did? And if we did, would we even receive the same kind of blessing? These are some of the questions that lie at the heart of 1 Kings chapter 9. So join me today and turn with me as we explore why God blesses some people and what that blessing might look like for us today. Welcome to today's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. I'll read the first three verses for you. When Solomon had finished building the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, and he had achieved all he had desired to do, the Lord appeared to him a second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. And the Lord said to him, I have heard the prayer and the plea you have made before me. I have consecrated this temple which you have built by putting my name there forever. My eyes and my heart will always be there. Now, this is only the second recorded time that we know God appeared to Solomon. And what he says here to him is deeply significant. God tells him that he's heard his prayer, he has consecrated this house, this temple he's built, and that his name will be there forever, his heart and his eyes will dwell there perpetually. In other words, this is God affirming three things to Solomon: His presence, his faithfulness, and his willingness to bless. And then comes Solomon's part in this, verse 4 and 5. As for you, if you walk faithfully before me with integrity of heart and uprightness, as David your father did, and do all I command and observe my decrees and law, I will establish your royal throne over Israel for ever, as I promised David your father when I said, You shall never fail to have a successor on the throne of Israel. Okay, there's a clear pattern emerging here. If you walk faithfully, then I will establish you. So this tells us that blessing is not just a random thing. Blessing is not accidental, it's not automatic, and it's not arbitrary. Blessing is here and is always tied to obedience. God promises Solomon that a descendant of David will sit on the throne forever, but note that promise will be connected to Solomon and the people's faithfulness. That is the principle that is set and runs throughout Scripture. That being obedience brings blessing, but there is of course that other side to the covenant, which is the consequences of disobedience or something else, discipline, and that's discussed next. Remember it's God speaking here, and God continues. But if you or your descendants turn away from me and do not observe the commands and decrees I have given you, and go off to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel from the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my name. Israel will then become a byword and an object of ridicule among all peoples. So the other side of this, the contrast is stark, isn't it? If you obey, I will bless you, but if you disobey, there will be discipline, and that discipline will be severe. In this case, Israel will be removed from the land, and the temple will be abandoned, and the nation will become a byword for ridicule. And tragedy, we know that is exactly what will happen, because in 586 BC, Nebuchadnezzar destroys the temple and carries the people into exile, just as God warned here. And then God adds another sobering detail, verses 8 and 9. The temple will become a heap of rubble. All who pass by will be appalled and will scoff and say, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and to this temple? People will answer, Because they have forsaken the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the Lord brought all disaster on them. So, again, God is faithful to bless us, but he's also faithful to discipline us when we wander astray. And both of these are expressions of his covenant love. That principle still exists for us today, and it's a simple one. Obey and you are blessed, disobey, and you will experience some form of divine discipline. Not because God is harsh, but because God is faithful in both aspects. He keeps his promises, both the promises of blessing and the promises of discipline when we need it. And that raises the question that we'll explore in the next section of the passage. What does God's blessing look like for us and what does disobedience look like in our lives? Now the first nine versions of this chapter tells us why God blesses people and how obedience brings blessing and disobedience brings discipline. But the rest of the chapter shows us what God's blessings can look like. Well, can look like in Solomon's life here, and the implication is unmistakable because the writer then immediately lists for us in the coming verses a series of remarkable accomplishments. Things Solomon achieved, but they're being positioned, they were achieved because God allowed them to be. So let's walk through these accomplishments and do keep the two questions in mind. What does this blessing look like and what might it mean for us in our context today? I'll read for you verses ten to fourteen. At the end of twenty years, during which Solomon built these two buildings, the temple of the Lord and the royal palace, King Solomon gave twenty towns in Galilee to Hiram, King of Tyre, because Hiram had supplied him with all the cedar and juniper and gold he wanted. 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 that you've given them to me, my brother? he asked. And he called them the land of Kabul, a name that they have to this day. Now Hiram had sent to the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold. Now, what this is saying is that after twenty years, remember it was seven years building the temple and thirteen years building the palace, Solomon had now completed both these great projects. And during that time this guy Hiram, King of Tyre, supplied Solomon with literally everything he needed. That alone is astonishing. Imagine having a business partner who never questions anything and gives you all the valuable resources, incredibly valuable stuff that you want. Well, in return, it says Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in Galilee. But when Hiram expected them, he's disappointed them. He calls them Kabul. Worthless that means, meaning of no good or little value. Why? Well, Bible experts say it like simply means that they weren't of any agricultural value. They weren't land that you could live off that could create an income in that way. And at the same time, verse 14 reminds us that Haram had actually given Solomon 120 talents of gold. Now let's be clear here, that's four and a half tons of gold. That is an enormous amount. That's a lorry load. That's a truckload. And this verse likely refers to what Haram had already given Solomon earlier, explaining that it is reasonable he might have expected better cities in return. Now, even here archaeology confirms all of this for us. Josephus, writing nearly a thousand years later, records that the archives of Tyre mention this very exchange of resources. And you know this tells me that sometimes the blessings of God don't necessarily always look neat or tidy in human terms. Sometimes it can look like very complicated, even fractured relationship, imperfect exchanges, people being disappointed, but still in all of that God is said to be overall at work and in control here. Then verse 15 onwards introduces us to another dimension of Solomon's accomplishments. Here it says is the account of forced labour of King Solomon, which he conscripted to build the Lord's temple, his own palaces, the terraces and the walls of Jerusalem, and Hazar, and Megedo and Gizer. Then in brackets it says Pharaoh, king of Egypt, had attacked and captured Gizer, he set it on fire, he killed its Canaanite inhabitants, and then gave it as a wedding gift to his daughter, who was Solomon's wife, and Solomon rebuilt Gizer. He built up Lower Bethheben, Balaath, and Tadmor in the desert within the land, as well as all his store cities and the towns for his chariots and for his horses, whatever he desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and throughout the whole territory that he ruled. So a little aside here, Solomon uses forced labour to build the temple, we knew that, and his palace, as well as this place called Milo, and the terraces. Now they were what would have strengthened Jerusalem's structure and and would have included the wall that was built around Jerusalem, as well as it mentions that he does similar for these other four to five cities of Hazar, Megido, and Gizer. Now these are major defensive and administrative centres been talking about here. And again, archaeology has covered the gates of these very cities. They were massive six-chambered gates, indicating a centralized government and a unified architectural design across these cities because they were all of the same design. But the text is adding another layer for us here. It tells us that Pharaoh had captured Geyser, burned it down, killed the Canaanites there, and then gave the city to Solomon as a sort of dowry gift when Solomon married Pharaoh's daughter. So cities are being exchanged here like wedding gifts, and yet we must remember that we know that Solomon shouldn't even have married Pharaoh's daughter. But even in Solomon's misstep, we are seeing God allowing him to gain further territory and influence. And then it goes on to describe the further fortified cities as well as what are called storage cities, chariot cities, and cavalry cities, basis for Calvary. And at Medico you can again still see the remains of Solomon's stables today. You know, blessing sometimes looks like us expanding our field of influence, our opportunity, and our influence, but it also we need to remember that that always comes with additional responsibilities, and sometimes that means people will compromise. The narrative continues, 20 and 21. There were still people left from the Amorites, Hittites, Perizites, Hivites, and Jebusites. These people were not Israelites. Solomon conscripted the descendants of all these people remaining in the land whom the Israelites could not exterminate to serve as slave labor as it is to this day. So this explains that Solomon uses those remaining Canaanite populations, those Israel had not yet fully driven out of the land, but they actually enrolled them as forced labour. Now God had commanded Israel, remember, to remove these nations completely, and they didn't. And now Solomon uses them to help complete his massive building project. Now this is not an endorsement of forced labour in any way. It can't be used to justify that. Remember, they were meant to be expelled, but it is simply a historical reality. And it also, I suppose, demonstrates that blessing can come through very ordinary civil means, through peoples, through systems, through structures of daily life that are not always perfect and sometimes are more than imperfect, they're even compromised and fallen. Yet still Solomon's accomplishments are enormous. But they of course are also costly because they required labour, forced labour, keeping these people in the land, and the organization behind that, and the diplomacy and leadership to be able to pull all of that off. Yet behind all of this, complications and compromises, we can still see the hand of God allowing Solomon to build, expand, fortify, and the kingdom flourishing. But what does that mean for us today? Solomon's blessings here are shown to be material, political, architectural even, national and international. Our personal blessings today may look very different to that, but in some respects the principles are the same. First of all, the underlying statement is, the underlying principle behind all of this is that God blesses obedience and disciplines disobedience. And God is always faithful in both of these things. The question is not whether God blesses us today, the question is what does that blessing, what might that blessing look like for us today in our lives? And that's where we're going to go to next, because the passage now shifts from these building projects of Solomon to the people who carried them out, and again the writer is showing us what God allowed Solomon to accomplish, to show us evidence of blessing, even if Solomon himself wasn't being perfectly obedient. Verses twenty two to twenty-three tell us but Solomon did not make slaves of any of the Israelites. They were his fighting men, his government officials, his officers, his captains, and his commanders of his chariots and charioteers. They were also chief officials in charge of Solomon's project, five hundred and fifty officials that supervised those who did the work. So he used the conquered people as forced labor, but notice it tells us he doesn't conscript the Israelites. They instead continued to serve as soldiers, officers and captains. They were also charioteers and commander of chariots, what we would today describe as cavalry leaders. The Israelites themselves are shown here to remain as the military backbone of the nation. They're not used for the labor force. So Solomon in doing that is not only ensuring security but preserving their dignity and status during this huge project. Five hundred and fifty officials are selected to supervise the work. This is one more glimpse into just how extraordinary the scale of this is and the extraordinary administrative ability of Solomon. Other passages confirm this. It says Solomon was not only wise, but he was organized, strategic, and gifted in leadership. And blessing can often look like that a God-given ability to organize, lead and to manage that which God has entrusted you to do. And then there's this little extra information in verse 24, and Pharaoh's daughter had come up from the city of David to the palace Solomon had built for her when he constructed the terrace. So this verse notes that Solomon had built a separate house for Pharaoh's daughter. This was one of the early politically motivated marriages that he had done. A marriage, remember, that was still outside the will of God, yet Solomon still was granted the resources to build her a home of her own, and he was able to provide, I would say, pretty lavishly for her. So this on one hand is a blessing, but it's also a warning. Blessing does not erase disobedience or discipline, if that's required also. It simply shows us that sometimes God is patient and faithful, even when we are not. Then verse 25, we're coming to the close here, that three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings, fellowship offerings of the altar he had built for the Lord, burning incense before the Lord along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations. So it mentions there are three major feasts, and those of course are Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles. Every Israelite man was required to attend these feasts in Jerusalem, and Solomon himself not only attended it saying he officiated. Now he wasn't a priest, but as king, he participated as the national figurehead in the national worship of God. Now there is a hint that Solomon at this stage of his life would still definitely appear to have a heart for the Lord. He's taking part in the religious faith life of the nation. His devotion was imperfect, but I think it's fair to say at this point it was real. Blessing can simply sometimes look like an opportunity for yourself and an opportunity to allow people and the community to worship in freedom and give them the freedom to serve. The freedom enabling people to have the freedom to follow a heart that is responding to God's unction in their lives. And another blessing at the end is Solomon's navy and international trade is mentioned. These are new things. Verse 26 it says, King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Gibber, which is near Elath and Eedom on the shores of the Red Sea. And Harem sent his men, sailors who knew the sea, to serve in the fleet with Solomon's men. They sailed to Opir and brought back four hundred and twenty talents of gold, a huge amount, which they delivered to King Solomon. So here Solomon now has a navy. Israel has a navy. That's another major national achievement. Israel has never been a naval power at any level before. And Hiram of Tyre, the guy with all those experienced sailors who helped build the temple and transport the trees down the coast, sends his sailors to work alongside Solomon's men, and together they bring back 420 talents of gold, an enormous amount. So there's multiple blessings going on here in the form of economic prosperity, international cooperation, the nation's expansion, more strategic influences. Solomon's accomplishments are wide-ranging and vast. He's built cities, he's surrounded them with walls, he's built palaces, fortresses, he's got stables, fleets of ships, trade routes being established. He is expanding Israel's borders and strengthening its defenses, and he's also accumulating the worldly evidence of that with wealth, influence, and prestige. And all of this, remember, is being allowed by God. Okay, so that's the text. So what do we make of all this? Now, when you ask people and say, What do you think, or what can you tell you about Solomon? I think most people, Christians certainly, just tend to focus on the books he wrote, or the fact that he was declared to be wise. He did in fact write those wisdom literature books, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. Maybe some of you think rather mischiefly about his seven hundred wives and concubines, but this chapter is meant to focus and remind us that Solomon was an extraordinary accomplished leader, and God blessed him with all these things. Yet here is the striking part. God blessed him, even though at times he was only partially obedient. He kept the feasts, yes, he worshipped, he prayed, he obeyed in many areas, but he disobeyed in some others, and yet still God's blessed him, because God is faithful to his promise, to keep his promises, and he's faithful to his people. But the blessing, of course, is not the whole story. The writer adds a little sobering thread through it. Solomon's building projects we will discover will drain the nation's wealth and will create a temporary wealth and what will become a temporary appearance of strength. You see, blessing, even blessing can be misused, and blessing can be squandered, which is the Which brings us back to the two big questions I asked at the opening. What do you have to do to be blessed? And what might that blessing look like? Well, Scripture's answer is simple in what to do. It is simply to obey God's word. And what does blessing look like? Well, it won't necessarily look like great cities and gold palaces for you, my friend. Not necessarily anything like what Solomon received, but you will be blessed nonetheless. Now that's where James, and particularly James chapter one, can become the bridge for us between Solomon's world and ours, that of the New Testament, the New Covenant. In that book, James writes this He who looks into the perfect law of liberty and continues in it, this one will be blessed in what he does. This is the New Testament version I'm suggesting of One Kings chapter 9. Blessing comes through observation, looking into the perfect law of freedom and liberty. Not a glance, not just paying at lip service, but a thoughtful, attentive look. Meditating on it, continuing in it, not rushing, not skimming, letting that word sink in, and then obedience, being doers, not just readers of the word, not hearing only, but doing. And James then says, This one, this type of person, the one who does this, is the one who is blessed in what he does. Now not blessed, of course, with Solomon's blessing, blessing with God's blessing, the blessing he chooses, the blessings that will fit your life, your calling, and your circumstances. The question we've been circling around all this chapter is simply, why does God bless some people and not others? Well, the Scripture's answer is equally clear. It's simple. Obedience, friends. Obey the Lord, and you are blessed. Discipline the Lord, and you will experience divine discipline. So again, let me say, point out to you the three steps involved here revealed in the New Testament. First of all, we must observe, look upon, study the perfect law of liberty, the word of God. And that word looks means to stoop down and examine closely. So it's not a glance here, it's not a daily Bible verse, it's not a hurried reading. It's meant to be a careful, thoughtful look at Scripture. And I hope that's what I try to do with you here every day. And it's about meditation. Meditation means about reflection and continuing in that, turning the verse over in your mind and asking yourself questions like what does this mean? What is the context? And how do I apply us? Psalm 1 actually tells it, Blessed is the man and the woman and the woman who delight in the law of the Lord, and in his law they meditate day and night. Meditation, you see, on the Word is that bridge, that connection between reading it and living it. You can read scriptures, you can understand scriptures, you can meditate on it, but you're not blessed until you take that extra step and obey and live it out in the world. As someone once said, this book the Bible is written for action, not for discussion. Blessing comes through obedience. So what kind of blessing does God give us if we're obedient? Are you going to get twenty cities? You're going to get a royal palace? Are you going to get seven hundred wives? Well, I think your wife might have something to say about that, man, if that's what you're hoping for. But the blessings of the New Testament, let me be clear, they're not primarily material. They are spiritual. Ephesians tells us that God blesses us with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenly places in Christ. Now in the Old Testament, granted, blessing was often physical, and it was related to land, to crops, to prosperity in that land that God had given them. But in the New Testament, blessing is primarily positioned as spiritual, character building, Christ-like maturity. James chapter 1 shows us what those blessings will look like and it lists them for us. It talks about blessings like giving us the ability to endure trials, maturity to complete us in our faith so that we lack nothing in the ability to overcome anything that life might throw at us. It also says we will be blessed with wisdom and actually tells us to ask God for it. And happiness, yes, even that, but deeper than happiness, joy. Blessed is the one who endures those things. And then finally, righteousness. We begin and become more and more enabled and actually live a life shaped by God's word. And then there is one other blessing, one we desperately all need today, the blessing of perfect peace. Isaiah 26, verse 3 is one of those great promises in Scripture of peace. You will keep him in perfect peace, he whose mind is stayed on you because he trusts in you. Perfect peace, not partial peace, not occasional peace, but perfect peace. And how do you get it? A mind that stays focused on the Lord, meditation, and a heart that trusts in the Lord, faith. In reality, friends, most of the things that you choose to worry about will not ever actually happen. And the difficult stuff, the stuff that does happen and challenge us, is always better handled by God than us anyway. And as long as you hold on to the problems in life, God will let you handle them. But when you give them to Him, the promise of Scripture is He will take them. You see, meditating on the Word leads us to that place of trust, and it is trusting in the Lord and leaving it to Him that gives us that state of perfect peace. The bottom line principle of this chapter is the principle that applies across the whole Bible. Obey the Lord and you are blessed, disobey the Lord and you will experience divine discipline. And one of the greatest blessings God gives his obedient children is that of perfect peace. A peace that grows deeper every day, a peace that steadies the heart, a peace that can quiet the mind in troubled times, a peace that carries you through trials, a peace that reflects the very character of Christ. And my prayer is that you may know that peace today. Thanks for being with me. God blesses obedience in your life, and he invites you and I into a life that is shaped by his word. Because in the next chapter, something extraordinary happens. Words of Solomon's wisdom and God's blessing will travel far beyond Israel's borders, so far, in fact, that a queen from what was described then as the ends of the earth decides she must see it for herself. And when she arrives, she discovers that everything she heard wasn't even half the story. So join me next time as we step into 1 Kings chapter 10 to meet the Queen of Sheba and watch how the blessings of God on One Man became a testimony to all the nations. That's in tomorrow's episode of the Bible Project Daily Podcast. If you want to follow or support this ministry, do that on Patreon. There's a link in the episode notes, and you have access to the whole back catalogue there, as well as early access at free to everything I'm producing across all my podcasts. 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