Conditional Promises (1 Kings 9)

What are the consequences of obedience and disobedience to God? Is obedience no longer required under a new covenant? Let’s look at 1 Kings 9.

What were the blessings Solomon would receive, if he would walk before God?

When Solomon had finished the building of Yahweh’s house, the king’s house, and all Solomon’s desire which he was pleased to do, Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon. Yahweh said to him, “I have heard your prayer and your supplication that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually. As for you, if you will walk before me as David your father walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’ (1 Kings 9:1-5 WEB)

What were the consequences if Solomon or his sons turned away from God?

However, if you or your sons turn away from following me and don’t observe the commands and regulations that I gave you, and go to serve other gods, and worship them, then I will remove Israel from the land I gave them and I will reject the temple that I dedicated for my name. Israel will become a joke, insulted by everyone. Everyone who passes by this temple, so lofty now, will be shocked and will whistle, wondering, Why has the Lord done such a thing to this land and this temple? The answer will come: Because they deserted the Lord their God, who brought their ancestors out of Egypt’s land. They embraced other gods, worshipping and serving them. That is why the Lord brought all this disaster on them.” (1 Kings 9:6-9 CEB)

What did Solomon give King Hiram to repay him for the cedar? Was he impressed or not?

It took 20 years for the Lord's temple and Solomon's palace to be built. Later, Solomon gave King Hiram of Tyre 20 towns in the region of Galilee to repay him for the cedar, pine, and gold he had given Solomon. When Hiram went to see the towns, he did not like them. He said, “Solomon, my friend, are these the kind of towns you want to give me?” So Hiram called the region Cabul [worthless] because he thought it was worthless. He sent Solomon only five tons of gold in return. (1 Kings 9:10-14 CEV)

Were the workers drafted like serfs for labor as a tax to the king?

And this is the account of the forced labor [tax in the form of labor] that King Solomon drafted to build the house of the Lord and his own house and the Millo and the wall of Jerusalem and Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer (Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up and captured Gezer and burned it with fire, and had killed the Canaanites who lived in the city, and had given it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon's wife; so Solomon rebuilt Gezer) and Lower Beth-horon and Baalath and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land of Judah, and all the store cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and whatever Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the people of Israel— their descendants who were left after them in the land, whom the people of Israel were unable to devote to destruction—these Solomon drafted to be slaves, and so they are to this day. But of the people of Israel Solomon made no slaves. They were the soldiers, they were his officials, his commanders, his captains, his chariot commanders and his horsemen. These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work: 550 who had charge of the people who carried on the work. (1 Kings 9:15-23 ESV)

What other activities was Solomon engaged in after the temple was finished?

Pharaoh’s daughter moved from the city of David to the house that Solomon had built for her; he then built the terraces. Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the Lord, and he burned incense with them in the Lord’s presence. So he completed the temple. King Solomon put together a fleet of ships at Ezion-geber, which is near Eloth on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. With the fleet, Hiram sent his servants, experienced seamen, along with Solomon’s servants. They went to Ophir and acquired gold there—16 tons—and delivered it to Solomon. (1 Kings 9:24-28 HCSB)