Hope From the Word

Guest (Male): Today on Hope From the Word, we'll get a timely reminder from Pastor Bill Luebkemann on the way God often works.

Bill Luebkemann: God's way of doing things can sometimes seem a little far out or weird. And sometimes, what God puts us through in our own lives may seem to be roundabout. Maybe what we're going through in our own lives to us seems to be the roundabout way of getting to the destination.

Do we really have to go through X, Y, and Z to get to A, B, and C? Why is it taking so long to do this or that or the other thing? Why does this have to happen in my life or that happen in my life?

Guest (Male): Thanks for being with us as we kick off another week of Bible studies here on Hope From the Word. Our teacher is Bill Luebkemann, senior pastor of Calvary Chapel of Marlton. We recently started to make our way through 1 Kings, and we have landed today in chapter three, where we find a rather interesting story laid out before us.

What begins as something a bit bizarre eventually becomes an incredible testament to love and sacrifice. We also catch a glimpse of the impressive wisdom of King Solomon. With today's teaching in 1 Kings chapter three, here is Pastor Bill.

Bill Luebkemann: Let's continue here back with 1 Kings chapter three, verse 16. Now, two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. One of them said, "My lord, this woman and I live in the same house. I had a baby while she was there with me. The third day after my child was born, this woman also had a baby. We were there alone; there was no one in the house but the two of us."

"During the night, this woman's son died because she lay on him. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I, your servant, was asleep. She put him by her breast and put her dead son by my breast. The next morning, I got up to nurse my son, and he was dead. But when I looked at him closely in the morning light, I saw it wasn't the son I had born."

The other woman said, "No, the living one is my son. The dead one is yours." But the first one insisted, "No, the dead one is yours; the living one is mine." And so they argued before the king. The king said, "This one says my son is alive and your son is dead, while that one says no, your son is dead and mine is alive." Then the king said, "Bring me a sword." So they brought a sword for the king.

He then gave an order: "Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other." The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, "Please, my lord, give her the living baby. Don't kill him." But the other said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two."

Then the king gave his ruling: "Give the living baby to the first woman. Do not kill him; she is his mother." When all Israel heard the verdict the king had given, they held the king in awe because they saw he had wisdom from God to administer justice. This is a very tough case here. By the way, this word for harlot in the Hebrew, zonah, is a word that can also mean innkeeper.

Some people feel that maybe they weren't prostitutes; maybe they were innkeepers. Or maybe they were both. But they were living in this same house here together, and they both had babies. The babies were very close in age, only three days apart. The one baby died during the night. The one woman laid on her son, whatever that means. I don't know how you can lay on your child and accidentally kill your child, but that's what it seems to say there.

Clearly, one woman accidentally killed her baby. In the middle of the night, there's no doubt about it, this woman killed her baby accidentally and then switched babies. The woman whose baby was alive woke up the next morning with a dead baby there. She knew that it wasn't her child because she could tell that it wasn't her child. She could recognize the child by a birthmark, perhaps, or some marking on the child.

She knew the truth, and the other woman knew the truth. The woman who was the real mother could tell it wasn't her child by recognition. The other woman knew the truth because she had pulled the switcheroo. But there was no one else there, no surveillance camera, no video footage, nobody there to tell what was going on, just the two women there. The one woman whose baby had died and who wanted a son bad enough that she had stolen the other woman's baby.

Some people feel that this may have gone to other judges before it got to the king. It's possible that they had gone to another judge first, and the other judge had not been able to make a conclusion because there were no witnesses and no one to testify. They both make a good case. They didn't have DNA evidence back then; there's no way to tell by looking at the child whose child it is.

This may have gone through some kind of appeals process and worked its way up to the king. It may not have been that they came straight to the king. However that worked, they get to the king there, and the king talks to them both, and he's perplexed. He comes up with this whole idea of bringing him a sword. I've also read that some commentators feel that the king might have known who the real mother was.

He talked to this one and he talked to that one. He may have had an idea who the real mother was, but nevertheless, he wanted to test his theory by going through this charade. He put them on the spot to see if his theory was going to be true or not. I like to watch police shows, and I was watching one last night where they were in someone's apartment.

The police felt like this woman had been in the apartment before, but she wasn't admitting it. They brought her there, and the one guy acted like he was thirsty and was looking for a glass to get a glass of water. Very quickly, he put the woman on the spot by saying he needed a glass. She said, "Right next to the fridge," without thinking. Then she realized she gave away the fact that she knew where the glasses were in that apartment.

In this case, the king may have had his suspicion about who the correct woman was, but nevertheless, he's going to test a theory when he says, "Bring me a sword." Put yourself into the position of those people who are watching this. They're standing around watching. "Bring me a sword? What's he going to do with a sword? Hey, Harry, get a sword in here. King wants a sword."

"What's he going to do with a sword? Got a baby here. What's he going to do? Cut the woman in half? Got a death penalty here? This is not a death penalty case." They brought the king in. "Hey, better come in here, this could be interesting. King's got a sword. Is he going to kill a lady?" He gives the order: "Cut the baby in two." Whoa! What's going on now? This could be really interesting.

God's way of doing things can sometimes seem a little far out or weird. Sometimes what God puts us through in our own lives may seem to be roundabout. Maybe what we're going through in our own lives to us seems to be the roundabout way of getting to the destination. We say, "Lord, are you trying to teach us patience or something? Do we really have to go through X, Y, and Z to get to A, B, and C?"

Why is it taking so long to do this or that or the other thing? Why does this have to happen in my life or that happen in my life? The real mother was standing here saying, "Why is he getting a sword? Is he going to kill me? Is he going to kill her? I hope he kills her. What if he kills me by accident?" The real mother must have been wondering what was going on.

All she did was go to sleep. She got up, had a dead baby there, and now she was in front of the king. He was getting a sword. "What's happening here? I hope he kills this other crook. But maybe he's going to kill me. What if he's wrong? What if I'm the one he's going to kill?" Then the king says, "Kill the baby." That's her kid! This was a real time of testing for her.

Maybe you're going through a time of testing in your life where it just doesn't make sense what God's doing. You say, "Whoa, God, what are you doing here?" This didn't last very long, thankfully, for this woman. She said, "Hey, wait a minute, please. Give the baby to her. Don't kill the baby." That's all the king wanted to hear.

The woman who was not the mother said, "Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two." The king immediately gave his ruling. It didn't take too long. The rest of Israel heard the ruling, and they said, "Wow, this king is something. Who would have ever thought of that?" They held him in awe. They could see that God was working in his life. Who would have ever thought of that?

King Solomon ruled over all Israel, and these were his chief officials: Azariah son of Zadok the priest. You remember Zadok? He was around during the reign of David, and now his son is one of the ruling officials under Solomon. Elihoreph and Ahijah, sons of Shisha, secretaries. I believe Shisha was the secretary to David, and now his sons are secretaries to Solomon.

Jehoshaphat son of Ahilud, recorder. I believe Jehoshaphat served under David, so now you see his son serving under Solomon. Benaiah son of Jehoiada, commander in chief. Benaiah had been around before. We've seen him serving under David, and we've seen him earlier serving under Solomon as well. Zadok and Abiathar the priests. They were around under David as well.

Abiathar in some ways was more of the lead guy, but remember now, he's been put out to pasture by Solomon because he had supported Solomon's brother as king. Solomon didn't kill him, and so he's basically been put out to pasture. He still has a title, perhaps, of priest, but he's not really serving. Zadok is now the guy that's serving.

Azariah son of Nathan was in charge of the district officers. Nathan was the prophet to King David, and his son had a position here. Apparently, Nathan had another son, Zabud, son of Nathan, a priest and personal adviser to the king. Ahishar was in charge of the palace. Adoniram son of Abda was in charge of forced labor. Apparently they had slaves as well.

Solomon also had 12 district governors over all Israel, who supplied provisions for the king and the royal household. Each one had to provide supplies for one month in the year. These are their names: Ben-Hur in the hill country of Ephraim. Ben-Deker in Makaz, Shaalbim, Beth Shemesh, and Elon Beth Hanan. Ben-Hesed in Aruboth; Sokoh and all the land of Hepher were his.

Ben-Abinadab in Naphoth Dor; he was married to Taphath daughter of Solomon. I make no claim that I'm pronouncing these names properly. Baana son of Ahilud in Taanach and Megiddo, and in all of Beth Shan next to Zarethan below Jezreel, from Beth Shan to Abel Meholah across to Jokmeam. Ben-Geber in Ramoth Gilead; the settlements of Jair son of Manasseh in Gilead were his.

The district of Argob in Bashan and its 60 large walled cities with bronze gate bars were also his. Ahinadab son of Iddo in Mahanaim. Ahimaaz in Naphtali; he had married Basemath daughter of Solomon. Baana son of Hushai in Asher and in Aloth. Jehoshaphat son of Paruah in Issachar. Shimei son of Ela in Benjamin. Geber son of Uri in Gilead, the country of Sihon king of the Amorites and the country of Og king of Bashan.

He was the only governor over the district. We have 12 governors over these 12 districts, and they were responsible for taxation. They were responsible for collecting the king's share of the grain, the crops, the animals, and what have you. Taxation was in the form of crops and grain, and we're going to see in the next section here what the taxation was in the form of.

The king's household had to eat and survive. These 12 guys who were from the 12 regions were each responsible for one of the 12 months of the year to provide for the king's household. The king's household ate a lot. He had a big household with all of the government workers and employees as well. Verse 20: The people of Judah and Israel were as numerous as the sand on the seashore. They ate, they drank, and they were happy.

Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the river to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt. These countries brought tribute and were Solomon's subjects all his life. It's a shame because all this peace that they had there was because of the Lord's promise to David and because David in large part was a man after God's own heart.

Solomon in large part was enjoying the fruits of his father's labor. He had everything handed to him on a silver platter. If Solomon had really continued to walk with the Lord the way his father David did, then some of this could have been passed down to future generations. But it all fell apart after Solomon died because Solomon did not walk with the Lord the way his father did.

These people here enjoyed this time of peace and prosperity, which was just fantastic. They ate, they drank, and they were happy. What better way can you describe the pleasant lifestyle that they had? He ruled not just over the land of Israel, but over all the kingdoms in that area as far as the Philistines and all the way down to the border of Egypt.

The other countries brought tribute to him. In other words, they brought him taxes. They paid money to him. They brought him grains and crops and things. They paid him off. They gave him stuff so he would leave them alone. They were Solomon's subjects all his life, and they were probably happy to be his subjects because they had peace.

There was peace in the land, peace in his land, peace in the surrounding lands. Everybody got to eat and drink and be happy, not just the Israelites, but all the surrounding lands as well. I would have been happy to send him his share of my crops so that I could be happy there and enjoy the fruits of my labors. Solomon's daily provisions were 30 kors of fine flour.

A kor was roughly equal to a 55-gallon drum. We're talking about a lot of flour every day. This is 30 kors of fine flour and 60 kors of meal daily. There were 10 head of stall-fed cattle. We're talking about cattle that were kept locked up in a pen somehow. There were 20 of pasture-fed cattle, and a hundred sheep and goats, as well as deer, gazelles, roebucks, and choice fowl.

This is per day. One day, each day, every day, daily. It says that. Daily. These are the daily provisions: 30 55-gallon drums of flour. I'm not a baker; I don't know how to make bread except that I have experimented with our bread machine. I know the way that works. You dump everything in and close the lid, and then you press the start button, and you come back in four hours and ten minutes, and it has a loaf of bread in it.

I have no idea what goes on inside there except you're not allowed to open the lid while it's working. Now, 30 55-gallon drums of flour and 60 of meal means 90 55-gallon drums of supplies. 90 drums! And then 30 head of cattle, 10 of the one kind and 20 of the other kind. 30 head of cattle and 100 sheep and goats. You add all that together, and that's 130 cattle plus sheep and goats.

Throw in a whole bunch of deer, gazelles, roebucks, and some fowl. The fowl was for the kids because they liked to have chicken fingers. This was per day. Estimates that I read were that this was enough to feed 15,000 to 36,000 people per day. This was his household, coworkers, the staff that ran the palace, the government, the army, the government workers, and the postal service. It was a lot of stuff.

He ruled over all the kingdoms west of the river from Tiphsah to Gaza and had peace on all sides. During Solomon's lifetime, Judah and Israel from Dan to Beersheba lived in safety, each man under his own vine and fig tree. You could grow your own crops, have your own vine, have your own fig tree. Nobody stole your stuff, or if they did, it was the exception to the rule; it was not the rule.

Solomon had 4,000 stalls for chariot horses. Some translations say 40,000 and 12,000 horses. Either way, it's a lot. According to Biblical Archaeology Review magazine, within the last few years, they've actually uncovered some of Solomon's stables. Until they did that, this number was questioned by some scholars who said this was ridiculous.

Nobody back in the year 1000 BC could possibly have that many horses. That is just insane. It's impossible for anybody to have that many horses. It couldn't have happened. They didn't have that many horses in the whole world. Solomon couldn't possibly have done it. No way, no how. Then they dug up his stables in one town and found rows and rows and rows of stalls where the horses were kept just in one town.

He didn't have all his horses in one town. He was no dummy. He had a lot of wisdom, and he had his horses spread out around his kingdom where the army outposts were. You have an army outpost here and here in different places, and he had his horses spread out in different places where he needed them. Unfortunately, he never read Deuteronomy 17:16, which says, "The king, moreover, must not acquire great numbers of horses for himself or make the people return to Egypt to get more of them."

He didn't read the next verse either, which says he must not take many wives, or his heart will be led astray. He must not accumulate large amounts of silver and gold. Solomon made lots of mistakes. He had 4,000 stalls for chariot horses and 12,000 horses. On the other hand, God told him in the previous chapter he was going to give him lots of riches. So maybe this was the Lord's blessing.

The district officers, each in his month, supplied provisions for King Solomon and all who came to the king's table. They saw to it that nothing was lacking. They also brought to the proper place their quotas of barley and straw for the chariot horses and the other horses. So everyone was taken care of as they had need. Verse 29: God gave Solomon wisdom and very great insight, and a breadth of understanding as measureless as the sand on the seashore.

Solomon's wisdom was greater than the wisdom of all the men of the East, and greater than all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than any other man, including Ethan the Ezrahite, wiser than Heman, Calcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol, and his fame spread to all the surrounding nations. He spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005.

He described plant life from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world who had heard of his wisdom. This guy was just wise and had insight and a breadth of understanding that was just measureless.

Guest (Male): You've been listening to Hope From the Word. We're currently in a study of 1 Kings. You can hear this message or more Hope From the Word with Pastor Bill Luebkemann by going to ccmarlton.org. Pastor Bill's messages can also be found by downloading the Hope FM app on your smartphone or tablet.

If you prefer to listen via podcast, you can find Hope From the Word wherever you find your podcasts. We'd love to have you join us at Calvary Chapel of Marlton either in person or online. Our Sunday service begins at 10:00 AM, and there's a Wednesday evening service at 7:00.

To catch us online, you can subscribe to our YouTube channel at Calvary Chapel of Marlton or just go to our website for the link: ccmarlton.org. If you would, take a moment to write to Pastor Bill. It would be such a blessing to us. We're thankful each and every time we hear what God is doing in our listeners' lives, and we want to pray for you too.

Either email us through the website at ccmarlton.org or call 856-983-1662. We're glad you could join us today, and we hope you'll be with us again tomorrow as we take a short break from 1 Kings to bring you a special Easter series.