25 Three times a year Solomon sacrificed burnt offerings and fellowship offerings on the altar he had built for the LORD, burning incense before the LORD along with them, and so fulfilled the temple obligations.
The three annual festivals were Passover, Pentecost and Tabernacles (Deuteronomy 16). The Lord commanded that “No man should appear before the Lord empty-handed” at these feasts (Deuteronomy 16:16), and our author shows that Solomon himself made sure that there were enough sacrifices made. The verse before us does not necessarily mean that Solomon himself made the offerings in person (a priest would have done that), but that he provided sacrifices for himself and very probably for many other people as well.
When we remember that the author of Kings was writing or compiling this book many years later, toward the end of the divided kingdom or even during the exile, this verse could well have been written as a judgment and a comparison with more recent kings, who were so terribly unlike Solomon. Too many of Judah’s kings led the people astray into pagan idolatry; too many of those kings did not support the Temple worship at all. So many of those kings were negligent in their duty as anointed kings that the Book of the Law itself was lost until Josiah began to repair Solomon’s decrepit building (2 Kings 22:8). Those kings could hardly be said to have “fulfilled the temple obligations.”
The second half of the verse is difficult to understand because it is written in a terse, clipped style. The final clause, veShillam et-ha-bayit, can mean “So he finished the house” (KJV, RSV), or “he fulfilled the (obligations) of the house” (NIV). Most commentators today take the meaning as the NIV has it (Davis, Wiseman, etc.).
26 King Solomon also built ships at Ezion Geber, which is near Elath in Edom, on the shore of the Red Sea. 27 And Hiram sent his men—sailors who knew the sea—to serve in the fleet with Solomon’s men. 28 They sailed to Ophir and brought back 420 talents of gold, which they delivered to King Solomon. (NIV)
In the parallel section in 2 Chronicles, Hiram is said to have provided (“sent”) ships as well. Since Ezion Geber is on the Gulf of Aqaba, far to the east of Egypt beyond the Sinai Peninsula, how are we to understand this cooperation on the part of Hiram? There was no sea route from the Mediterranean to the Red Sea or any other part of the Persian Gulf or Indian Ocean (the first sailors to circumnavigate Africa successfully were Portuguese, two years after Martin Luther was born). There are legends of an Egyptian Pharaoh sending ships around, perhaps the Shishak of 1 Kings 11:40, but it seems unlikely that the author of Kings would so casually imply that Hiram had made the nearly impossible journey first.
There are many accounts in both ancient and modern times of ships being transported overland, in pieces or intact, especially where Africa was concerned. But it seems more likely that Hiram sent the materials for vessels as well as experienced sailors (officers) for Solomon’s magnificent trading fleet. The location of Ophir is unknown to us and it may have been a secret even in Solomon’s time. The guesses at Ophir’s location range from Eastern Africa to India to Peru to the guessingly-named “Solomon Islands” in the Pacific. Wherever Ophir was, Solomon’s fleet brought back a huge amount of gold; another reminder that he did everything he could to provide for the building and upkeep of God’s temple.
This is a good way to end this part of the book, as we turn next to the visit from the Queen of Sheba. Solomon gave his best to the Lord, and he took the idea of “best” quite seriously. Solomon arranged his life so that the best he gave could far outstrip anything anyone would have imagined when he first became king. Like the servant in the parable who took one mina and turned it into ten (Luke 19:16), Solomon gave God a stunning return. What God wants from us is not a certain amount of gifts, of course, but he wants us to be faithful, and wants our devotion and our worship. So many people think about Solomon’s gold from Ophir and become greedy; they want to find it so they can have it for themselves. A Christian’s attitude should be something more like: If Solomon even plundered Ophir to give gifts to God, what does that say about what I give? Solomon gave gold because he could. What can I give? How could I give back to the Lord, not just with my treasure, but with my time and my abilities and creativity or honesty or integrity?
We should fear, love and trust in God above all things.
Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church in New Ulm, Minnesota. His wife, Kathryn, attended Chapel from 1987-1990 while studying Secondary Education (Theater and Math) at UW-Madison. Kathryn’s father, John Meyer, was also the first man to serve as a Vicar at Chapel.
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