Life # 59
59. The statements made in 55 above about the proclamation, holiness, and power of the law may be found in the following passages in the Word: Jehovah came down in fire upon Mount Sinai and the mountain smoked and shook; and there was thunder, lightning, thick clouds, and the sound of a trumpet (Exodus 19:16, 18; Deuteronomy 4:11; 5:22-23). Before Jehovah came down, the people spent three days preparing and sanctifying themselves (Exodus 19:10-11, 15). The mountain was fenced off so that no one would approach and come near its base and die; not even priests were allowed near; Moses alone was allowed (Exodus 19:12-13, 20-23; 24:1-2). The law was proclaimed from Mount Sinai (Exodus 20:2-17; Deuteronomy 5:6-21). The law was written on two stone tablets by the finger of God (Exodus 31:18; 32:15-16; Deuteronomy 9:10). When Moses brought the tablets down from the mountain the second time, his face shone (Exodus 34:29-35). The tablets were placed in an ark (Exodus 25:16; 40:20; Deuteronomy 10:5; 1 Kings 8:9). On top of the ark there was a mercy seat, and on the mercy seat were placed angel guardians made of gold (Exodus 25:17-21). The ark, with the mercy seat and the angel guardians, formed the very heart of the tabernacle, while the golden lampstand, the golden altar of incense, and the gilded table for the showbread were placed just outside [the veil], and all these objects were surrounded in turn by the ten curtains of fine linen and purple and scarlet [thread] (Exodus 25:1 to the end; 26:1 to the end; Exodus40:17-28). The area set aside for the ark was called "the most holy place" (Exodus 26:33). The whole Israelite population camped around the dwelling, in a set arrangement tribe by tribe, and traveled behind it in a set sequence (Numbers 2:1 to the end). There was a cloud above the tabernacle in the daytime then, and fire above it at night (Exodus 40:38; Numbers 9:15-16 to the end; 14:14; Deuteronomy 1:33). The Lord spoke with Moses from above the ark, between the angel guardians (Exodus 25:22; Numbers 7:89). Because it contained the law, the ark was called "Jehovah" there: when the ark would set out, Moses would say, "Rise up, Jehovah, " and when it would come to rest he would say, "Return, Jehovah" (Numbers 10:35-36; see also 2 Samuel 6:2 and Psalms 132:7-8). Because of the holiness of the law, Aaron was not allowed to go behind the veil without sacrifices and incense (Leviticus 16:2-14 and following). David brought the ark into Zion with sacrifices and rejoicing (2 Samuel 6:1-19). At that time Uzzah died because he touched the ark (2 Samuel 6:6-7). [Solomon] placed the ark at the center of the Jerusalem temple, where he had made an inner sanctuary for it (1 Kings 6:19 and following; 8:3-9). Because of the Lord's presence and power in the law that was in the ark, the waters of the Jordan were cut off; and as long as the ark rested in its midst, the people crossed over on dry ground (Joshua 3:1-17; 4:5-20). The walls of Jericho fell because the ark was carried around them (Joshua 6:1-20). Dagon, the god of the Philistines, fell to the earth before the ark and later lay on the threshold of the shrine with its head broken off (1 Samuel 5:1-4). Tens of thousands of the people of Beth-shemesh were struck down because of the ark (1 Samuel 6:19).
1 Kings 9
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It happened, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Yahweh, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do,
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that Yahweh appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared to him at Gibeon.
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Yahweh said to him, "I have heard your prayer and your supplication, that you have made before me. I have made this house holy, which you have built, to put my name there forever; and my eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.
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As for you, if you will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
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then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, according as I promised to David your father, saying, 'There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel.'
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But if you turn away from following me, you or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them;
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then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have made holy for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all peoples.
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Though this house is so high, yet shall everyone who passes by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, 'Why has Yahweh done thus to this land, and to this house?'
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and they shall answer, 'Because they forsook Yahweh their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold of other gods, and worshiped them, and served them. Therefore Yahweh has brought all this evil on them.'"
10
It happened at the end of twenty years, in which Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Yahweh and the king's house
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(now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire), that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee.
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Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they didn't please him.
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He said, "What cities are these which you have given me, my brother?" He called them the land of Cabul to this day.
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Hiram sent to the king one hundred twenty talents of gold.
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This is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Yahweh, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.
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Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites who lived in the city, and given it for a portion to his daughter, Solomon's wife.
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Solomon built Gezer, and Beth Horon the lower,
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and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land,
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and all the storage cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.
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As for all the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel;
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their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants to this day.
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But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
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These were the chief officers who were over Solomon's work, five hundred fifty, who bore rule over the people who labored in the work.
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But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David to her house which [Solomon] had built for her: then did he build Millo.
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Three times a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar which he built to Yahweh, burning incense therewith, [on the altar] that was before Yahweh. So he finished the house.
26
King Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion Geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom.
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Hiram sent in the navy his servants, sailors who had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon.
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They came to Ophir, and fetched from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
