Info on King Solomon

I got most of the content from wikapedia, by typing in King Solomon. The reference to the bird is from a Rabbinical account (e.g Targum Sheni)

King Solomon's Death

King Solomon is said to have died of natural causes at the age of 80. His son Rehoboam succeeded him as King. Historical evidence other than the Bible is minimal for King Solomon. Josephus, citing Tyrian records and Menander in Against Apion, give a specific year in which Hiram 1 of Tyre sent materials to Solomon for his Temple.

In Feb 2010 an archaeologist announced a dig at the site she claims is the wall of the famous Temple.

In reference to the Queen of Sheba: King Solomon was said to have been given power over all living things. He would often have them dance and perform for him. One day he noticed that the mountain cock was missing so Solomon summoned the Bird. The Bird told him that he had been searching for someplace new and found a land of great wealth and riches. The land was Kitor who's ruler was the Queen of Sheba. Solomon sent the bird to request the Queen of Sheba. The Queen arrived with many riches and riddles. Solomon is said to have answered all she desired and she left satisfied. The Queen of Sheba is never mentioned by name and there is no historical record of her.

What happened to King Solomon's Temple?

The question was asked so I did a little research to try and find out why we have never found the Temple. We can't talk about the Temple without reference to the Ark. Let's start with the journey of the Ark of the Covenant. We know the David wanted to build the Temple but because he angered the Lord by taking a count of his people God let the task of building the Temple fall to David's son Solomon. Solomon went into dept so bad that he sold 20 villages to help pay for the construction. The Temple is/was to be a final resting ground for the Ark. That place is Mt Moria in Jerusalem. It is the highest point in the city and also is said to be the place where Abraham almost sacrificed Isaac, where Jesus is said to have been crucified, and also it is holy to the Muslims because they say Mohammad ascended from there. The center of the temple was called the Holy of Holies because it is where the Ark rested. Some deeply religious people will not even set foot on the Mount for fear of stepping on the actual place the Ark sat. In 587 BC the temple was over run by King Nebuchadnezzar of the Babylonians. Babylonians kept carefully detailed notes of what they looted and the Ark was not there. Speculations swirl from the Queen of Sheba's son sneaking it out, (Queen of Sheba is said to have had a son with Solomon named Menelick), to priests arranging to hide it, to it being hidden in the tunnels under the original Temple. Anyway, King Nebuchadnezzar built a second temple over the first one which was destroyed by the Romans in around 70 CE. There is a religious group devoted to reconstructing the temple exactly as Solomon had built it down to the last nail. They are waiting for the return of the Ark to do this. The return of the Ark will fall in line with the second coming of Christ and they want to be ready. Some say the return of this religious artifact will also spark WW3. There is strong reason to believe that the Ark is housed in a church Our Lady Mary of Zion in Ethiopia. It is the only country in the world to base it's entire existence around a single religious artifact. Every church contains a replica od the Ark. I tried to add pictures but they are apparently copyrighted. Fascinating stuff!

God's smile

More Lost Books?

2 Chronicles 12:15 refers to the records of Shemaiah, 2 Chronicles 13:22 refers to the annotations of of the prophet Iddo, 1 Chronicles 29:29 refers to the records of Samuel the seer, Nathan the prophet and Gad the seer. I am curious who these people are and what, in Biblical times, seer and prophet refered to. I haven't had much time to research but will submit my findings once I have.

Kingdom of Judah vs Kingdom of Israel

I am not sure I get where the separation of kingdoms starts. I guess I started to notice the differences in kingdoms in Judges, but never really put much thought into it because I was trying so hard to follow the people and the stories and glean what I could out of what the books where trying to say that I missed why there even was such a separation. I thought it was "one for all all for God" kinda thing.

BGOTB: Woman at the Well, John 4

I find it interesting that the writer picked another no named woman as a vessel to convey a message. I find it even more interesting that this was the start of a lengthy conversation the longest found in Scripture between Jesus and anyone, as the writer says.
Most of what the book reviews of the conversation lost me until the "what lessons can we learn from the woman at the well" section. Never be afraid to ask questions. Hadn't thought about it that way, but she does have a point. Sometimes we are afraid to tread more deeply into theology with someone more knowledgeable because we don't want to appear foolish by the questions we ask. If the Lord has provided a teacher, be a willing student. James 1:5 If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him. I like it. I am always praying that God grant me wisdom to make wise choices in my everyday life and relationships I have with co-workers, friends and passing acquaintances and that those "wise" choices reflect God's work in me. So this part really hit home for me.

The only other thing I have to comment on is that the last lesson was: water is meant to be shared, not hoarded. I don't think I need to go into detail on that, especially if you have been following along. Acts 20:24 I consider my life worth nothing to me, if only I may finish the race and complete the task the Lord Jesus has given me-the task of testifying to the gospel of God's grace.
No group next week, I have to close down at work. The next bad girl is Delilah. Judges 13-16. I love it, I blogged earlier this year on him and her, I can't wait....

The lineage of kings

Here is a link that could prove to be very useful in sorting out the kings of goodness and badness and who's kingdom they belong to: www.biblestudy.org/prophecy/israel-kings.html.

The Book of the Law (2 Kings 22)

2 Kings makes several references to The Book of the Law, I was wondering if it referring to a lost book of the Bible or if it is referring to Deuteronomy.

Stonybrook's Sermon

Today I went to Stonybrook United Methodist Church and really enjoyed the sermon and I really gave me so much food for thought that I decided to blog about it. The sermon title was "Resurrection Victory: Now What?" To be completely honest, I usually go to church and hope that I don't have lipstick on my teeth when I smile broadly at complete strangers, I try not to let my mind wander so far that I lose track of the message and start the head bob that signals I didn't get enough sleep, and I definitely try not to be too judgemental of anyone with a microphone. Today I didn't have to worry about any of that. The pastor was definitely on to something. Where do we go now that Christ is risen? Usually it's a build up until Easter, then we tend to not bring it up again until next year. I especially liked his timeline leading up to Christ's death: Jesus and the disciples enter Jerusalem under grand terms, then Jesus kicks butt at the temple. You gotta think that the disciples where high-fiving themselves. Then they get to the last supper, do you think they had any idea of what was going to happen? They are kinda having this great week, then Jesus gets arrested and we all know what happened. On Saturday, what do you think the disciples did? What were they thinking? Were they scared? What or where were they going to go without their teacher? And then we have the 40 days until the ascension. This is a fantastic story. I started thinking about how Jesus had been preparing the disciples for this moment. I think Jesus' death was definitely a catalyst to push the disciples in the direction they needed to go on and preach the word without Jesus. I think all of this gave them the confidence they needed to go on. The sermon definitely generated alot of thought for me, not to mention that most of the diciples became martyrs themselves. I hope I am not losing something in my paraphrasing. I went to the church's website but the sermon wasn't uploaded yet. When it is, I will post it.