God Deserves Our First, Our Best, and Our Most How much time we spend on our activities reveals our priorities King David longs to build a temple for God, but God says this is not to be. Another, a descendant of David, will attend to its...
Solomon, the wisest man who ever lived, wasn’t so wise with his love life. In all he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. Even worse, many of his wives were foreigners, something God prohibited because he feared they would distract his people from...
When Solomon dedicated the temple, the people praised God with much fanfare and then something strange happened. A cloud formed – inside the building. But there’s more. “The Glory of the Lord filled the temple.” It became so intense that the...
In the book of Ecclesiastes, King Solomon does a lot of whining. (Don’t get bogged down by his negativity, for he eventually provides some reliable insight in the book’s concluding verses.) Overall I find it easy to dismiss...
The word “quarrelsome” is almost exclusive to the book of Proverbs, occurring six times there and only one other time in the rest of the Bible. Quarrelsome means “given to quarreling, contentious, belligerent”; some of its...
The book of Proverbs in the Bible has 31 chapters. I see them organized as follows: Chapters 1 to 9: Solomon’s personal instructions to his son (or sons). [Proverbs 1:8] Chapters 10 to 24: More wise sayings (proverbs) of Solomon. [Proverbs...
Earlier I wondered if Job was real person or a fictional character. Despite support for both perspectives, my conclusion was that it doesn’t really matter. We can learn from him regardless if his life is a fictitious or historical account...
The young girl gazes out into the desert; something is coming towards her. It is Solomon, her lover, traveling by carriage. He is accompanied by a protective band of weapon wielding warriors, tested and poised for whatever threat awaits them...
In the Song of Songs, the girl reveals something personal. She is self-conscious about the dark tones of her skin (from spending too much time in the sun, she says). She doesn’t want others to stare. Yet the friends in this story want to do...
The Song of Songs (Song of Solomon) is a part of the Bible that is not often read. Even so, three phrases jump out as being very familiar. The first is “rose of Sharon.” It is a beautiful and valued flower. However, according to some...
