GOD’S WORD FOR YOU
2 CHRONICLES 1:14-17
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14 Solomon accumulated chariots and charioteers. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 charioteers. He stationed them in chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
The Lord blessed Solomon, and he blessed his people through their king.
“Charioteers” is probably a better translation than “horsemen,” since Israelites did not ride on horseback at this time. Riding a horse was rare in the ancient world outside certain Asian tribes until the time of King Cyrus the Great. The art came late to Israel. We hear the Assyrian commander taunting the King of Jerusalem, “I will give you two thousand horses– if you can put riders on them!” (2 Kings 28:23; Isaiah 36:8). We don’t know where the chariot cities were. I think it’s likely that they were camps of tents and rough shelters which could be moved quickly from one location to another. The suggestion that Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer were the chariot cities (see 1 Kings 9:15) is not a certainty from the text. The chariot cities are also mentioned in that context (9:19), but there are other cities such as Lower Beth Horon, Baalath and Tadmore that are also mentioned in the same context (9:17), but it seems as if the chariot cities were set up in addition to those other building projects.
15 The king made silver and gold as common as stone in Jerusalem, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore trees of the Shephelah.
Another example of the king’s import strategy was the accumulation of cedar. There are 57 references to cedar in the Old Testament, not counting Haggai 1:4, and almost half of these come from the reign of Solomon. It was prized both as a building material and as a luxury item for paneling. It’s quite a statement to say that gold and silver were “like stone” in the city, but he means that the wealth of the king was not held in a monopoly. He paid the people for their services, and they had silver to spend on what they needed. The city was not a hovel, but a place of true prosperity.
16 And Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders would buy them from Kue at the market price. 17 They could import a chariot from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty. These dealers exported chariots in the same way to all the kings of the Hittites and of Aram.
One of Solomon’s great achievements was in trade. Israel was in the middle between Egypt in the south and the kingdoms of Aram, of the Hittites, and Kue (probably the same as Cilisia in Asia Minor mentioned often in the book of Acts). As Professor Paul Wendland says: “The profit in being a middleman comes from the markup: buying low and selling high.” Egypt made the best chariots, and Kue provided the best horses. Solomon’s Israelite traders made themselves a one-stop place to shop for military strength.
The Holy Spirit wants us to see that when our will is in line with his, he gives us everything we need to accomplish his will. Here in chapter 1, that means that the Lord shows us how he blessed Solomon with the raw materials for building the temple and the wisdom to secure his borders and bring prosperity to the nation. But that’s not his promise to every church, every school, and every family. I can’t dictate what the will of God will be when somebody stands up in a voter’s meeting to make a motion to double the size of our school building, or to put up a fifth preschool in our city. Instead, it is our desire and our goal to throw ourselves back into the word of God and to see our greatest treasure, which is the death of Christ and the power that this wielded in the universe over all things visible and invisible. One death = no sin. I am more concerned with that than with anything I have done or planned. “Therefore,” says Luther, preaching to the preacher, “begone, O Devil, with both my righteousness and my sin. If I have committed some sin, go and eat the dung; it’s yours (Luther said this in a funeral sermon). I’m not worrying about it, for Jesus Christ died. St. Paul bids me to comfort myself with this, so that I can learn to defend myself from the Devil and say, ‘Even though I have sinned, it doesn’t matter; I will not argue with you about what evil or good I have done. There’s no time to talk about that now. Go away and do it some other time when I have been a bad boy, or go to the impenitent and scare them all you please. But with me, who have already been through the anguish and throes of death, you’ll find no place now. This is not the time for arguing, but for comforting myself with the words that Jesus Christ died and rose for me.” David said: “Some trust in chariots and some in horses, but we trust in the name of the LORD our God” (Psalm 20:7).
God gives us gifts in this lifetime for this lifetime, to take care of us and to preserve us. It has to be said that this is most especially true of new parents. If God gives you a baby, he will also give you the means to take care of that baby. And if he places a child in your care, remember that he expects you to bring up that child in his word. “All your sons will be taught by the LORD, and great will be your children’s peace” (Isaiah 54:13). And Moses said: “Love the LORD your God, walk in his ways, keep his commands, and you will live and increase” (Deuteronomy 30:16). You may not always feel prosperous and you may never be what anyone would call rich, but you will have enough for you and for your family; enough to bring them, clothed and fed, to the feet of Jesus week upon week, so that you and they learn to love their Savior, and trust in him for all things.
In Christ,
Pastor Timothy Smith
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Pastor Smith serves St. Paul’s Lutheran Church, New Ulm, Minnesota
God’s Word for You – 2 Chronicles 1:14-17 Solomon’s wealth, and yours