71 Now when Solomon's prayers were ended, fire came down from heaven, burning up all the offerings; and the house was full of the glory of the Lord. 2 And the priests were not able to go into the house of the Lord, for the Lord's house was full of the glory of the Lord. 3 And all the children of Israel were looking on when the fire came down, and the glory of the Lord was on the house; and they went down on their knees, with their faces to the earth, worshipping and praising the Lord, and saying, He is good; for his mercy is unchanging for ever. 4 Then the king and all the people made offerings before the Lord. 5 King Solomon made an offering of twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people kept the feast of the opening of the house of God. 6 And the priests were in their places, and the Levites with their instruments of music for the Lord's song, which David the king had made for the praise of the Lord whose mercy is unchanging for ever, when David gave praise by their hand; and the priests were sounding horns before them; and all Israel were on their feet. 7 Then Solomon made holy the middle of the open square in front of the house of the Lord, offering the burned offerings there, and the fat of the peace-offerings; for there was not room on the brass altar which Solomon had made for all the burned offerings and the meal offerings and the fat. 8 So Solomon kept the feast at that time for seven days, and all Israel with him, a very great meeting, for the people had come together from the way into Hamath and from as far as the river of Egypt. 9 And on the eighth day they had a holy meeting; the offerings for making the altar holy went on for seven days, and the feast for seven days. 10 And on the twenty-third day of the seventh month, he sent the people away to their tents, full of joy and glad in their hearts, because of all the good which the Lord had done to David and to Solomon and to Israel his people.
11 So Solomon came to the end of building the house of the Lord and the king's house; and everything which it was in his mind to make in the house of the Lord and for himself had been well done.
12 Now the Lord came to Solomon in a vision by night, and said to him, I have given ear to your prayer, and have taken this place for myself as a house where offerings are to be made. 13 If, at my word, heaven is shut up, so that there is no rain, or if I send locusts on the land for its destruction, or if I send disease on my people; 14 If my people, on whom my name is named, make themselves low and come to me in prayer, searching for me and turning from their evil ways; then I will give ear from heaven, overlooking their sin, and will give life again to their land. 15 Now my eyes will be open and my ears awake to the prayers made in this place. 16 For I have taken this house for myself and made it holy, so that my name may be there for ever; and my eyes and my heart will be there at all times. 17 And as for you, if you will go on your way before me as David your father did, doing whatever I have given you orders to do and keeping my laws and my decisions: 18 Then I will make strong the seat of your kingdom, as I gave my word to David your father, saying, You will never be without a man to be ruler in Israel. 19 But if you are turned away from me, and do not keep my orders and my laws which I have put before you, but go and make yourselves servants to other gods, giving them worship: 20 Then I will have this people uprooted out of my land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, I will put away from before my eyes, and make it an example and a word of shame among all peoples. 21 And this house will become a mass of broken walls, and everyone who goes by will be overcome with wonder, and will say, Why has the Lord done so to this land and to this house? 22 And their answer will be, Because they were turned away from the Lord, the God of their fathers, who took them out of the land of Egypt, and took for themselves other gods and gave them worship and became their servants: that is why he has sent all this evil on them.
81 Now at the end of twenty years, in which time Solomon had put up the house of the Lord and a house for himself, 2 He took in hand the building up of the towns which Huram had given him, causing the children of Israel to make living-places for themselves there. 3 And Solomon went to Hamath-zobah and overcame it. 4 And he put up the buildings of Tadmor in the waste land, and of all the store-towns in Hamath; 5 And of Beth-horon the higher and the lower, walled towns with walls and doorways and locks; 6 And of Baalath, and all the store-towns which Solomon had, and the towns where he kept his war-carriages and his horse men, and everything which it was his pleasure to put up in Jerusalem and in Lebanon and in all the land under his rule. 7 As for all the rest of the Hittites and the Amorites and the Perizzites and the Hivites and the Jebusites, who were not of Israel: 8 Their men who were still living in the land, and whom the children of Israel had not put an end to, these Solomon put to forced work, as is done to this day; 9 But Solomon did not make use of the children of Israel as servants for his work; they were men of war, his chiefs and his captains, and captains of his war-carriages and his horsemen. 10 Now these were the chief men in authority whom King Solomon had: two hundred and fifty of them, in authority over the people. 11 Then Solomon made Pharaoh's daughter come up from the town of David to the house which he had made for her; for he said, I will not have my wife living in the house of David, king of Israel, because those places where the ark of the Lord has come are holy.
12 Then Solomon made burned offerings to the Lord on the altar of the Lord which he had put up in front of the covered way, 13 Offering every day what had been ordered by Moses, on the Sabbaths and at the new moon and at the regular feasts three times a year, that is at the feast of unleavened bread, the feast of weeks, and the feast of tents. 14 And he gave the divisions of the priests their places for their work, as ordered by his father David, and to the Levites he gave their work of praise and waiting on the priests, to do what was needed day by day; and he gave the door-keepers their places in turn at every door; for so David, the man of God, had given orders. 15 All the orders given by the king to the priests and Levites, in connection with any business or stores, were done with care. 16 And all the work of Solomon was complete, from the day when he put the base of the Lord's house in position, till Solomon had come to the end of building the Lord's house. 17 Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth by the sea in the land of Edom. 18 And Huram sent him, by his servants, ships and experienced seamen, who went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir and came back with four hundred and fifty talents of gold, which they took to King Solomon.
91 Now the queen of Sheba, hearing great things of Solomon, came to Jerusalem to put his wisdom to the test with hard questions; and with her came a very great train, and camels weighted down with spices, and great stores of gold and jewels: and when she came to Solomon she had talk with him of everything in her mind. 2 And Solomon gave her answers to all her questions; there was no secret which he did not make clear to her. 3 And when the queen of Sheba had seen the wisdom of Solomon, and the house which he had made, 4 And the food at his table, and all his servants seated there, and those who were waiting on him in their places, and their robes, and his wine-servants and their robes, and the burned offerings which he made in the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her. 5 And she said to the king, The account which was given to me in my country of your acts and your wisdom was true. 6 But I had no faith in what was said about you, till I came and saw for myself; and truly, word was not given me of half your great wisdom; you are much greater than they said. 7 Happy are your wives and happy these your servants whose place is ever before you, hearing your words of wisdom. 8 Praise be to the Lord your God whose pleasure it was to put you on the seat of his kingdom to be king for the Lord your God: because, in his love for Israel, it was the purpose of your God to make them strong for ever, he made you king over them, to be their judge in righteousness. 9 And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great store of spices and jewels: never had such spices been seen as the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon. 10 And the servants of Huram and the servants of Solomon, in addition to gold from Ophir, came back with sandal-wood and jewels. 11 And with the sandal-wood the king made steps for the house of the Lord and for the king's house, and instruments of music for the makers of melody; never before had such been seen in the land of Judah. 12 And King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatever she made request for, in addition to what she had taken to the king. So she went back to her country with her servants.
13 Now the weight of gold which came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents; 14 And in addition to what he got from traders of different sorts, all the kings of Arabia and the rulers of the country gave gold and silver to Solomon. 15 And King Solomon made two hundred body-covers of hammered gold, every one having six hundred shekels of gold in it. 16 And he made three hundred smaller body-covers of hammered gold, using three hundred shekels of gold for every cover, and the king put them in the house of the Woods of Lebanon. 17 Then the king made a great ivory seat, plated with the best gold. 18 There were six steps up to it, and a foot-rest of gold fixed to it, and arms on the two sides of the seat, with two lions at the side of the arms. 19 And twelve lions were placed on one side and on the other side on the six steps: there was nothing like it in any kingdom. 20 All King Solomon's drinking-vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the Woods of Lebanon were of the best gold: no one gave a thought to silver in the days of Solomon. 21 For the king had Tarshish-ships sailing with the servants of Huram: once every three years the Tarshish-ships came back with gold and silver, ivory and monkeys and peacocks. 22 And King Solomon was greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom. 23 And all the kings of the earth came to see Solomon and to give ear to his wisdom, which God had put into his heart. 24 And everyone took with him an offering, vessels of silver and vessels of gold, and robes, and coats of metal, and spices, and horses and beasts for transport, regularly year by year. 25 Solomon had four thousand buildings for his horses and his war-carriages, and twelve thousand horsemen whom he kept, some in the carriage-towns and some with the king in Jerusalem. 26 And he was ruler over all the kings from the River to the land of the Philistines, as far as the limit of Egypt. 27 The king made silver as common as stones in Jerusalem and cedars like the sycamore-trees of the lowlands in number. 28 They got horses for Solomon from Egypt and from every land.
29 Now the rest of the acts of Solomon, first and last, are they not recorded in the history of Nathan the prophet, and in the words of Ahijah the prophet of Shiloh, and in the visions of Iddo the seer about Jeroboam, the son of Nebat? 30 Solomon was king over Israel in Jerusalem for forty years. 31 And Solomon went to rest with his fathers, and was put into the earth in the town of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his place.
111 Now a certain man named Lazarus was ill; he was of Bethany, the town of Mary and her sister Martha. 2 (The Mary whose brother Lazarus was ill, was the Mary who put perfumed oil on the Lord and made his feet dry with her hair.) 3 So the sisters sent to him, saying, Lord, your dear friend is ill. 4 When this came to his ears, Jesus said, The end of this disease is not death, but the glory of God, so that the Son of God may have glory because of it. 5 Now Jesus had love in his heart for Martha and her sister and Lazarus. 6 So when the news came to him that Lazarus was ill, he did not go from the place where he was for two days. 7 Then after that time he said to his disciples, Let us go into Judaea again. 8 The disciples said to him, Master, the Jews were attempting only the other day to have you stoned, and are you going back there again? 9 Then Jesus said in answer, Are there not twelve hours in the day? A man may go about in the day without falling, because he sees the light of this world. 10 But if a man goes about in the night, he may have a fall because the light is not in him. 11 These things said he: and after that he said to them, Lazarus our friend is at rest; but I go so that I may make him come out of his sleep. 12 Then his disciples said to him, Lord, if he is resting he will get well. 13 Jesus, however, was talking of his death: but they had the idea that he was talking about taking rest in sleep. 14 Then Jesus said to them clearly, Lazarus is dead. 15 And because of you I am glad I was not there, so that you may have faith; but let us go to him. 16 Then Thomas, who was named Didymus, said to the other disciples, Let us go so that we may be with him in death.
17 Now when Jesus came, he made the discovery that Lazarus had been put into the earth four days before. 18 Now Bethany was near to Jerusalem, about two miles away; 19 And a number of Jews had come to Martha and Mary to give them comfort about their brother. 20 When Martha had the news that Jesus was on the way, she went out to him, but Mary did not go from the house. 21 Then Martha said to Jesus, Lord, if you had been here my brother would not be dead. 22 But I am certain that, even now, whatever request you make to God, God will give it to you. 23 Jesus said to her, Your brother will come to life again. 24 Martha said to him, I am certain that he will come to life again when all come back from the dead at the last day. 25 Jesus said to her, I am myself that day and that life; he who has faith in me will have life even if he is dead; 26 And no one who is living and has faith in me will ever see death. Is this your faith? 27 She said to him, Yes, Lord: my faith is that you are the Christ, the Son of God, who was to come into the world.
28 And having said this, she went away and said secretly to her sister Mary, The Master is here and has sent for you. 29 And Mary, hearing this, got up quickly and went to him.
(Read John 11:1-6)
It is no new thing for those whom Christ loves, to be sick; bodily distempers correct the corruption, and try the graces of God's people. He came not to preserve his people from these afflictions, but to save them from their sins, and from the wrath to come; however, it behoves us to apply to Him in behalf of our friends and relatives when sick and afflicted. Let this reconcile us to the darkest dealings of Providence, that they are all for the glory of God: sickness, loss, disappointment, are so; and if God be glorified, we ought to be satisfied. Jesus loved Martha, and her sister, and Lazarus. The families are greatly favoured in which love and peace abound; but those are most happy whom Jesus loves, and by whom he is beloved. Alas, that this should seldom be the case with every person, even in small families. God has gracious intentions, even when he seems to delay. When the work of deliverance, temporal or spiritual, public or personal, is delayed, it does but stay for the right time.
(Read John 11:7-10)
Christ never brings his people into any danger but he goes with them in it. We are apt to think ourselves zealous for the Lord, when really we are only zealous for our wealth, credit, ease, and safety; we have therefore need to try our principles. But our day shall be lengthened out, till our work is done, and our testimony finished. A man has comfort and satisfaction while in the way of his duty, as set forth by the word of God, and determined by the providence of God. Christ, wherever he went, walked in the day; and so shall we, if we follow his steps. If a man walks in the way of his heart, and according to the course of this world, if he consults his own carnal reasonings more than the will and glory of God, he falls into temptations and snares. He stumbles, because there is no light in him; for light in us is to our moral actions, that which light about us to our natural actions.
(Read John 11:11-16)
Since we are sure to rise again at the last, why should not the believing hope of that resurrection to eternal life, make it as easy for us to put off the body and die, as it is to put off our clothes and go to sleep? A true Christian, when he dies, does but sleep; he rests from the labours of the past day. Nay, herein death is better than sleep, that sleep is only a short rest, but death is the end of earthly cares and toils. The disciples thought that it was now needless for Christ to go to Lazarus, and expose himself and them. Thus we often hope that the good work we are called to do, will be done by some other hand, if there be peril in the doing of it. But when Christ raised Lazarus from the dead, many were brought to believe on him; and there was much done to make perfect the faith of those that believed. Let us go to him; death cannot separate from the love of Christ, nor put us out of the reach of his call. Like Thomas, in difficult times Christians should encourage one another. The dying of the Lord Jesus should make us willing to die whenever God calls us.
(Read John 11:17-32)
Here was a house where the fear of God was, and on which his blessing rested; yet it was made a house of mourning. Grace will keep sorrow from the heart, but not from the house. When God, by his grace and providence, is coming towards us in ways of mercy and comfort, we should, like Martha, go forth by faith, hope, and prayer, to meet him. When Martha went to meet Jesus, Mary sat still in the house; this temper formerly had been an advantage to her, when it put her at Christ's feet to hear his word; but in the day of affliction, the same temper disposed her to melancholy. It is our wisdom to watch against the temptations, and to make use of the advantages of our natural tempers. When we know not what in particular to ask or expect, let us refer ourselves to God; let him do as seemeth him good. To enlarge Martha's expectations, our Lord declared himself to be the Resurrection and the Life. In every sense he is the Resurrection; the source, the substance, the first-fruits, the cause of it. The redeemed soul lives after death in happiness; and after the resurrection, both body and soul are kept from all evil for ever. When we have read or heard the word of Christ, about the great things of the other world, we should put it to ourselves, Do we believe this truth? The crosses and comforts of this present time would not make such a deep impression upon us as they do, if we believed the things of eternity as we ought. When Christ our Master comes, he calls for us. He comes in his word and ordinances, and calls us to them, calls us by them, calls us to himself. Those who, in a day of peace, set themselves at Christ's feet to be taught by him, may with comfort, in a day of trouble, cast themselves at his feet, to find favour with him.
