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Now King Solomon loved many foreign women. Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, he married women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon and from among the Hittites. The Lord had clearly instructed the people of Israel, “You must not marry them, because they will turn your hearts to their gods.” Yet Solomon insisted on loving them anyway. He had 700 wives of royal birth and 300 concubines. And in fact, they did turn his heart away from the Lord.

In Solomon’s old age, they turned his heart to worship other gods instead of being completely faithful to the Lord his God, as his father, David, had been. (vv. 1-4, NLT)

The Lord was very angry with Solomon, for his heard had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had warned Solomon specifically about worshiping other gods, but Solomon did not listen to the Lord’s command. So now the Lord said to him, :Since you have not kept My covenant and disobeyed My decrees, I will surely tear the kingdom away from you and give it to one of your servants. But for the sake of your father, David, I will not do this while you are still alive. I will take away the kingdom from your son. And even so, I will not take away the entire kingdom; I will let him be king of one tribe, for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, My chosen city.” (vv. 9-13, NLT)

When the queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s fame, which brought honor to the name of the Lord, she cam to test him with hard questions. She arrived in Jerusalem with a large group of attendants and a great caravan of camels loaded with spices, large quantities of gold, and precious jewels. When she met with Solomon, she talked with him about everything she had on her mind. Solomon had answers for al her questions; nothing was too hard for the king to explain to her. When the queen of Sheba realized how very wise Solomon was, and when she saw the palace he had built, she was overwhelmed. She was also amazed at the food on his tables, the organization of his officials and their splendid clothing, the cup-bears and the burnt offerings Solomon made at the Temple of the Lord.

She exclaimed to the king, “Everything I heard in my country about your achievements and wisdom is true! I didn’t believe what was said until I arrived here and saw with my own eyes. In fact, I had not heard that half of it! Your wisdom and prosperity are far beyond what I was told. How happy your people must be! Praise the Lord your God, who delights in you and has placed you on the throne of Israel, He has made you king so you can rule with justice and righteousness.” (vv. 1-9, NLT)

So Solomon finished building the Temple of the Lord, as well as the royal palace. He completed everyting he had planned to do. Then the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had done before iat Gibeon. The Lord said to him,

“I have heard your prayer and your petition. I have set this Temple apart to be holy-this place you have built whey My name will be honored forever. I will always watch over it, for it is dear to My heart.”

“As for you, if you will follow Me with integrity and godliness, as David your father did, obeying all my commandments, decrees, and regulations, then I will establish the throne of your dynasty over Israel forever. For I made a promise to your father, David: ‘One of your descendants will always sit on the throne of Israel.””

“But if your descendants abandon Me and disobey the commandments and Decrees I have given you, and if you serve and worship other gods, the I will uproot Israel from this land that I have given them. I will reject this Temple that I have made holy to honor My name. I will make Israel an object of mockery and ridicule among the nations. And though this Temple is impressive now, all who pass by will be appalled and will shake their heads in amazement. They will ask, ‘Why did the Lord do such terrible things to this land and to this Temple?”

“And the answer will be, ‘Because this people abandoned the Lord their God who brought their ancestors out of Egypt, and they worshiped other gods instead and bowed down to then. That is why the Lord has brought all these disasters on them.'” (vv. 1-9, NLT)

It was midspring in the moth of Ziv, during the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, that he began to construct the Temple of the Lord. This was 480 years after the people of Israel were rescued from their slavery in the land of Egypt.

The Temple that King Solomon built for the Lord was 90 feet long, 30 feet wide, and 45 feet high. The entry room at the front of the Temple was 30 fee wide, running across the entire width of the Temple. It projected outward 15 feet from the front of the Temple. (vv. 1-4, NLT)

Then the Lord gave this message to Solomon: “Concerning this Temple you are building, if you keep all my decrees and regulations and and obey all my commands, I will fulfill through you the promise I made to your father, David. I will live among the Israelites and will never abandon My people. (vv. 11-13, NLT)

Solomon loved the Lord and followed all of the decrees of his father, David, except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burnt incense at the local places of worship . The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon, so the king went there and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings. That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, and God said, “What do you want? Ask and I will give it to you!”

Solomon replied, “You showed faithful love to your servant my father, David, because he was honest and true and faithful to You. And You have continued Your faithful love to him today, by giving him as son to sit on his throne.”

“No, O Lord my God, You have made me king instead of my father David, but I am like a little child who doesn’t know his way around. And here I am in the midst of Your own chosen people, a nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted! Give me an understanding heart so that I can govern Your people well and know the difference between right and wrong. For who by himself is able to govern this great people of Yours?”

The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. So God replied, “Because you have asked for wisdom in governing My people with justice and have not asked for a long life or wealth or the death of your enemies-I will give you what you have asked for! I will give you a wise and understanding heart such as no one else has had or every will have! And I will also give you what you did not ask for-riches and fame! No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life! And if you follow Me and obey My decrees and My commands as your father, David, did, I will give you a long life.”

Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord’s Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and pease offerings. Then he invited all of his officials to a great banquet.” (vv. 3-15, NLT)

King David responded, “Call Bathsheba!” So she came back in and stood before the king. And the king repeated his vow: “As surely as the Lord lives, who has rescued me from every danger, your son Solomon will be the next king and will sit on my throne this very day, just as I vowed to you before the Lord, the God of Israel.” (vv. 28-30, NLT)

So Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, Benaiah son of Jehoiada, and the king’s bodyguard took Solomon down to Gihon Spring, with Solomon riding on King David’s own mule. There Zadok the priest took the flask of olive oil from the sacred tent and anointed Solomon with the oil. Then they sounded the ram’s horn and all the people shouted, “Long live King Solomon!” And all the people followed Solomon into Jerusalem, playing flutes and shouting for joy. The celebration was so joyous and noisy that the earth shook with the sound. (vv. 38-40, NLT)

But after he [David] had taken the census, David’s conscience began to bother him. And he said to the Lord, “I have sinned greatly by taking this census. Please forgive my guld, Lord, for doing this foolish thing.”

The next morning, the word of the Lord cam to the prophet Gad, who was David’s seer. This was the message: “Go and say to David, ‘This is what the Lord says: I wll give you three choices. Choose one of these punishments, and I will inflict it on you.”

So Gad came to David and asked him, “Will you choose three years of famine throughout our land, three months of fleeing from your enemies, or three day of sever plague throughout your land? Think this over and decide what answer I should give the Lord who sent me.”

“I’m in a desperate situation!” David replied to God. “But let us fall into the ands of the Lord, for His mercy is great. Do not let me fall into human hands.”

So th Lord sent a plague upon Israel that morning that lasted for three days. A total of 70,000 people died throughout the nation, from Dan to the north to Beersheba to the south. As an angel was preparing to destroy Jerusalem, the Lord relented and said to the death angel, “Stop! This is enough!” At that moment, the angel of the Lord was by the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

When David saw the angel, he said to the Lord, “I am the one who has sinned and done wrong! But these people are as innocent as sheep-what have they done? Let Your anger fall against me and my family.” (vv 10-17, NLT)

These are the last words of David:

“David, the son of Jesse, speaks-David, the man who was raised up so high,
David, the man anointed by the God of Jacob,
David, the sweet psalmist of Israel.”

“The Spirit of the Lord speaks through me; His words are upon my tongue.
The God of Israel spoke.
The Rock of Israel said to me: ‘The one who rules righteously, who rules in the fear of God, is like the light of morning at sunrise, like a morning without clourds, like the gleaming of the son on new grass after rain.'”

“Is not my family God has chosen?
Yes, He has made an everlasting covenant with me.
His agreement is arranged and guaranteed in every detail.
He will ensure my safety and success.
But the godless are like thorns to be thrown away,
for they tear the hand that touches them.
One must chop them down;
they will be totally consumed by fire.” (vv. 1-7, NLT)

When David had gone a little beyond the summit of the Mount of Olives, Ziba, the servant of Mephibosheth, was waiting there for him. He had two donkeys loaded with 200 loaves of bread, 100 clusters of raisins, 100 bunches of summer fruit, and a wineskin full of wine.

“What are these for?” the kin asked Ziba.

Ziba replied, “The donkeys are for the kings people to ride on, and the bread and summer fruit are for the young men to eat. The wine is for those who become exhausted in the wilderness.

“And where is Mephibosheth, Saul’s grandson?” the king asked him.

“He stayed in Jerusalem, ” Ziba replied. “He said,’Today will get back the kingdom of my grandfather Saul.'”

In that case,” the king told Ziba, “I give you everything Mephilbosheth owns.”

“I bow before you, ” Ziba replied. “May I always be pleasing to you, my lord the king.” (vv. 1-4, NLT)