King Solomon gave Hiram twenty towns in the region of Galilee. Hiram went to see them, and he did not like them. So he said to Solomon, “So these, my brother, are the towns you have given me!” For this reason the area is still called Cabul. Hiram had sent Solomon almost five tons of gold.
It’s good to remain friends even when business deals don’t correspond to expectation. 😊
(The king of Egypt had attacked Gezer and captured it, killing its inhabitants and setting fire to the city. Then he gave it as a wedding present to his daughter when she married Solomon, and Solomon rebuilt it.)
When a nice china set simply won’t do…
Using his forced labor, Solomon also rebuilt… the cities where his supplies were kept, the cities for his horses and chariots, and everything else he wanted to build in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and elsewhere in his kingdom.
*oops* Deuteronomy 17:16-17. May I never forget my dependence on you, Lord.
Three times a year Solomon offered burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built to the Lord. He also burned incense to the Lord. And so he finished building the Temple.
It served the purpose for which it was constructed; not as a security blanket (Jeremiah 7:1-15) nor as a profit center (Mark 11:15-19). How religion is misused.
King Solomon also built a fleet of ships… King Hiram sent some experienced sailors from his fleet to serve with Solomon’s men. They sailed to the land of Ophir and brought back to Solomon about sixteen tons of gold.
The value of collaboration. May the world return to that, Heavenly Father.