1 Kings 5
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1 Kings 5:13-18, King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel—thirty thousand men. He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workers. At the king’s command they removed from the quarry large blocks of high-grade stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and workers from Byblos cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.
Now that there is peace in Israel, Solomon decides that it is time to begin work on the temple. As you might recall, David had wanted to build a temple for the Lord but God had declined. Instead, God simply wanted David to lead the people. God also made a covenant with David that one of his descendants would be on the throne forever. In the covenant (refer to 2 Samuel 7), God also mentions that one of David’s descendants “will build a house for my name.” That descendant is Solomon.
Thus, Solomon hatches a plan. He makes an alliance of sorts with the King of Tyre who can provide labor and lumber. As we see from today’s focus verses, the men of Israel also had to play a role in the manual labor required for the massive undertaking. Solomon enlists the very unpopular practice of conscription, forced labor, but he does not make slaves of the people. They work in shifts. This required tremendous coordination, management, and skilled labor.
I was trying to think of a more modern equivalent to compare this to, maybe the making of some of the larger cathedrals. What kinds of massive undertakings do you know of that humans have taken to please the Lord?
Let’s pray…Lord, We truly want to please you. While I don’t believe you are calling us to build you a temple or a cathedral, we know you are calling us to make sacrifices and do hard things for you. Give us wisdom and discernment so that we know what our next steps look like. In Your Name, Amen.