Commuter Bible

Today’s episode is one of many prophets, some of whom remain unnamed. King Ahab of Israel goes to battle with Ben-Hadad of Aram. The Lord sends a prophet to alert Ahab that the Lord will win the battle for Israel so that Ahab will know that He alone is God over the earth. When Ahab spares Ben-Hadad instead of destroying him, the Lord sends a prophet to pronounce judgment. The prophet Elijah pronounces judgment upon Ahab after the king claim’s a murdered man’s vineyard, slaughtered by the schemes of Ahab’s wife Jezebel. Later, the prophet Micaiah shares a vision of the Lord’s throne room where God permits a lying spirit to bring about Ahab’s demise.

The string of men who reign as king over the ten tribes of Israel continue to get worse and worse, each king being more corrupt than the last. King Ahab should be worshipping the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God who brought Israel out of Egypt, but instead he marries a Baal worshiper, turns to serve Ball himself, then builds a temple to Baal in Samaria. Elijah boldly confronts the king in the name of the Lord of Armies. God works wonders through Elijah, and by God’s strength, Elijah performs miraculous signs. In a moment of weakness, Elijah runs from trouble, but in His kindness, the Lord pursues Elijah and cares for him.

Now that King Solomon has died, the prophecies of God spoken through his prophet Ahijah begin to come to fruition. In our last episode, Ahijah tore a new robe into 12 pieces and gave 10 pieces to Jeroboam, symbolizing the number of tribes he would rule over. Today, Solomon’s son Rehoboam insults Jeroboam, who formerly worked under Solomon as a supervisor over forced labor. Jeroboam leads an insurrection, and Israel turns away from the house of David. Despite the Lord’s kindness to Jeroboam, he also turns away from God and towards false gods.

Alright friends, today’s episode is the longest episode yet clocking in at just under 40 minutes, but it’s mainly because King Solomon gets long-winded while conducting the first worship gathering at the Lord’s temple. In fact, 1 Kings 8 is the second longest chapter in Scripture, with Psalm 119 being the longest. Though the tabernacle existed before the temple, this is the first permanent structure built for the worship of God, and as you can imagine, it’s a pretty big deal. While Solomon offers heartfelt praise to the Lord, his wives eventually turn his heart away to pursue foreign gods.

As always, the Lord God makes good on His promises, and Solomon flourishes under the Lord’s lavish provision. Blessed with peace on every side and abundant wealth, Solomon does not kick back and take easy; instead, he sets His mind on things above and gets to work. Knowing that the Lord had promised David that a son would come from his family that would establish God’s house forever, Solomon designs a center of worship for God that reflects the plans for the original tabernacle. In work, wealth, and worship, Solomon is a foreshadow of the Son of David who would establish a greater kingdom where God is worshipped and the people dwell with Him in peace.

With King David on his death bed, the royal family knows that the time to transfer power is drawing near. David’s oldest son, Adonijah, gains support for himself from leaders like Joab and Abiathar, calling Judah together for a feast to celebrate his bid for kingship. Nathan the prophet catches word, and teams up with Bathsheba to alert the king. Later, the Lord appears to King Solomon in a dream, and instead of asking for wealth or long life, he asks the Lord for wisdom to lead God’s people. This pleases the Lord, who promises blessing upon Solomon’s reign.

While in prison, Paul catches word from fellow workers in the Gospel that the church at Colossae is wrestling with some false teaching that had entered their church. While the heresy is not fully identified, we gather that it had an inferior view of Christ, involved worship of angels and asceticism, and promoted man-made traditions. Paul directs their hearts and minds to give glory to Christ. He is Lord over all Creation, and therefore, no elemental, created thing could be as glorious or as powerful as Him.

Now that the account of King David has essentially come to a close, the author recording the account looks back on David’s life to record some of the events that happened during David’s lifetime that were not included in the chronological story line. These accounts include the execution of members of Saul’s family, battles against the giant descendants of Goliath, a song of David, the exploits of David’s best warriors, and the census that David ordered to survey his kingdom. While imperfect, David is sensitive to his sin to the end, seeking repentance when he realizes his error.

On our last episode we followed the trajectory of David’s son Absalom, a handsome young man who had won the hearts of Israel by deception, telling those who came to King David that the king had no time for them. Absalom devises a coup to overthrow David, but his father catches wind of his plot and flees before he arrives. Today, Absalom pursues his father as he flees, fighting David’s troops in the forest of Ephraim.

After David slept with Bathsheba and had Uriah, her husband, killed in order to cover up her pregnancy, Nathan came to David with a word from the Lord. Because of his sin, the Lord said that he would take David’s wives and give them to another before all of Israel, and by the end of today’s reading, that prophecy comes true. Moreover, his wickedness is perpetuated throughout his household, as Amnon, one of his sons lusts after Tamar, his own half-sister. Sadly, when David discovers what happened, he is furious, but does nothing.