In 2 Chronicles 8, we have Solomon's building, his workmen, his wife's home, and his care for the temple and international trade. Hear now the word of Almighty God, inspired by his spirit and profitable for us. 2 Chronicles 8, starting at verse 1. And it came to pass at the end of 20 years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord and his own house, that the cities which Huram had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them and caused the children of Israel to dwell there. And Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and prevailed against it. And he built Tadmor in the wilderness, and all the store cities which he built in Hamath. Also he built Beth-horon the upper and Beth-horon the nether, fenced cities with walls, gates, and bars. And Baaloth and all the store cities that Solomon had and all the chariot cities and the cities of the horsemen, and all that Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and throughout all the land of his dominion. As for all the people that were left of the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites, which were not of Israel, but of their children, who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel consumed not, Them did Solomon make to pay tribute until this day. But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no servants for his work, but they were men of war and chief of his captains and captains of his chariots and horsemen. And these were the chief of King Solomon's officers, even 250 that bear rule over the people. And Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the city of David under the house that he had built for her. For he said, my wife shall not dwell in the house of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy where unto the ark of the Lord hath come. Then Solomon offered burnt offerings unto the Lord on the altar of the Lord, which he had built before the porch. even after a certain rate every day, offering according to the commandment of Moses on the Sabbaths and on the new moons and on the solemn feasts three times in the year, even in the feast of unleavened bread and in the feast of weeks and in the feast of tabernacles. And he appointed, according to the order of David his father, the courses of the priests to their service, and the Levites to their charge to praise and minister before the priests as the duty of every day required, the porters also by their courses at every gate. For so had David, the man of God, commanded. And they departed not from the commandment of the king, unto the priests and Levites concerning any matter or concerning the treasures. Now all the work of Solomon was prepared unto the day of the foundation of the house of the Lord, and until it was finished. So the house of the Lord was perfected. Then went Solomon to Ezion-Geber and to Eloth at the seaside in the land of Edom. And Huram sent him by the hands of his servants' ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea. And they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence 450 talents of gold, and brought them to King Solomon." Thus far the reading of God's inspired word in the book of Second Chronicles, chapter eight. May the Lord add his blessing to it. and now to the consideration of its teaching. Verses 1 through 6 of 2 Chronicles 8, we have the cities built by Solomon. We've considered this previously in 1 Kings chapter 9, specifically verses 10, 16 through 18, and 20 through 23. Verses 2 and 3 are unique to 2 Chronicles 8, another fragment gathered up. It says that the cities Huram had restored to Solomon. You'll recall this from 1 Kings 9. He called these the land of Kabul. He came to inspect them. They were gifts from Solomon to Hiram. And Hiram said they were unclean. He did not want them. And this is described for us in chapter 9 of 1 Kings verses 11 through 13. Solomon built them. Even though Hiram considered them unclean or filthy or disorganized, Solomon was willing to put in the extra work and cause the children of Israel to dwell there. This includes Hazor and Megiddo and Gezer in 1 Kings 9.15 mentioned specifically. Also verse three of note, Solomon went to Hamath Zobah and prevailed against it. Now ordinarily when you think of Solomon, you think of a man of peace. This is the only military campaign in the entire Bible where it describes Solomon actually going after a city. this one military expedition, and Hamath Zobah, and he prevailed. In fact, this land, some believe, was what David recovered in 2 Samuel 8, verse 3, and it appears that Israel lost control, and so Solomon is regaining it. Also, it mentions the store cities in verse 4. In 1 Kings 9, 19, it mentions the cities of store that Solomon had with cities for his chariots and for his horsemen. So he would have store, he would have things laid aside for the people for a time of famine or for trading, and he would also have horses and horsemen right by them. The upper Beth-Horon is mentioned in verse five, only the nether is mentioned in 1 Kings 9.17, another fragment gathered up. Verses seven through 10, we have the workmen that Solomon employed. It says that of these heathens who remained in the land, Solomon made them to pay tribute until this day. In 1 Kings 9 verse 21 we find out the type of tribute. It was a tribute of bond service. They were slaves to Solomon and to his people. They had forced labor put upon them. Now this is important to understand that Solomon would not employ the Israelites in this forced bondage. He would not cause them to work without paying and remunerating them. But of these other nations, as God had said in Leviticus 25 verse 39, you could take others as your slaves. But my people, he says, and your people, those who are your own kin, you cannot take them as your slaves. But the foreign nations, he said, you could, though they lived in the same land, and though they predated the Israelites dwelling there, they were not of the same people, and therefore God had discriminatory rules against them. Now this is very opposite of modern man who believes that all people are equal and we ought to treat everybody equally. They believe in communism, for example, that there's no such thing as a border, there's no such thing as a nation, there's no such thing as a people. They think that everything, we are citizens of the world, they say. Everything is one. Now, it is true that the Bible teaches one fact, that the whole race of men is one. There is one human race. Absolutely, 100% true, with one father and one mother, namely Adam and Eve. But for the globalist, he assumes that that means that there are no other families, that there are no lesser groups, that there are no distinctions among nations and among races. That is not true. just because there's ultimately one race does not mean that there aren't lesser races under that one human race. Just as if I may illustrate, if we were to say that the world is where we all live, does that mean the world isn't divided into nations? Well, of course not. God has clearly divided the world into nations with borders and their own boundaries. And among nations, does it mean that there can't be provinces or states among those nations? Well, of course not. Just because it's one nation doesn't mean it can't have several states. And in each state, we have counties. Do we deny the existence of counties because of the existence of the state? No, we don't. And because it's a county, does that mean people can't have individual property? Well, no, it doesn't. You can have individual property and also have a county and a state and a nation and the world. All these are facts and they are all true, but for a globalist, he cannot conceive of how you could have one fact and another fact. He only allows for the universality. He does not allow for particularity. We must not be deceived by this manner of thinking. We must understand that scripture requires things of the people of God that to modern man seem opposites. For example, you must love the stranger. He tells that to his people again and again. You have a foreigner who lives with you. You should treat him kindly. And also, God says, you can take him as a slave. People think that's, no you can't do that, it's one or the other. Well here Solomon, did he not love the stranger? Well he took them as forced laborers, he took them as slaves. So we see that in the Bible, ethics are more rounded with all of the ethical considerations on the table, not just one or two, but all of them. It's not this or that, it's both this and that. Solomon could favor his own people, while also loving the stranger who dwelt among them. There were 250, we're told, in verse 10, who were the chief of King Solomon's officers. We find that there were 550 total in 1 Kings 9, verse 23. The Dutch annotations believe that the total number available was 550, though during their shifts there would only be 250 working at a time. We have then verses 11 through 16, Solomon's care for his wife and for the temple. This is a more or less unique set of verses, fragments gathered up here. Notice that Solomon, though his wife had been married by him, he says that she shall not dwell in the house of David the king because the places are holy where unto the ark of the Lord hath come. Now consider this for a moment. Solomon is compromised. He's married a woman, presumably she's come to the faith or been a proselyte. But in actual fact, Solomon realizes that she is what? She is profane. She is not to be in a holy place where David was. So he's required to be respectful toward his dad and the holiness of David. But he must deal with the fact that he married a heathen woman who's unholy. And even if she's holy, her attendants are not likely to be converted. So there must be some recognition on his part of this compromised situation, which is what we see here. He removes her from the house of David. Matthew Henry comments and says, now though Solomon had not zeal and courage enough to suppress and punish what was amiss there, yet he so far consulted the honor of his father's memory that he would not suffer that place to be thus profaned where the Ark of God had been. and where holy David had prayed many a good prayer and sung many a sweet song. Let us beware of Solomon's example, Solomon's half measures. He should not have married a heathen without seeing to her entire devotion to God. He did not see her to a fullness of conversion, so to speak. He compromised. Then he made a vain gesture such as this, which is, well, she can't live in a holy place because she's not a holy woman. Rather, in fact, Solomon goes on from this compromise to build high places for his outlandish wives. So we must be aware of this spirit of half measures. We have Solomon's work of piety, including the daily, weekly, monthly, and annual ceremonies of worship in verses 12 and 13 mentioned. This is another fragment not mentioned in 1 Kings 9. It mentions that Solomon reiterated David's Levitical orders for worship and for sacred song. For so we're taught in verse 14, had David the man of God commanded. Now it could have referred to him as David the king. It could have referred to him as David his father. But here it refers to him not under those titles, but as a man of God. What Diodati calls a prophet guided therein by God's spirit. It is the law of God, in other words, spoken through David that he's abiding by. It says that the Levites departed not from the commandment of the king unto the priests and Levites. Now this is very important. They could cheerfully obey Solomon out of both religious and civil respects. He is telling them the truth, so they should obey. That's religious. And he's telling them as their king, so civilly they could submit themselves to their magistrate in a good conscience. Solomon had real authority. He had civil authority, but he was speaking to them of their duty in the church, in the worship of God. But he could point to the scriptures and say, here is what God requires you to do. And they could follow him because he spoke to them the word of God. Then verses 17 and 18, we have Solomon's trade with foreign countries. We've considered this in 1 Kings 9, 26-28 previously. It says that Huram in verse 18 sent him by the hands of his servants ships. Now if you're familiar with the geography of ancient Israel, if you were to try to get to Edom with ships, from Tyre, you'd have to go out through Gibraltar, all the way down the west coast of Africa, down to the Cape of Good Hope in South Africa, all the way back up the eastern side of Africa, and then you would get there. So it does not appear that he sent ships. but the materials, and the scripture usually uses this kind of language, the materials for the finished product. It's a figure of speech, a part for the whole. So it's very likely that what Huram sent was the wood, for example, and the workmen to help him build those ships down there in Ezion Gibir by Edom. Also notice that when they went and sailed out to Ophir, It says that they took 450 talents of gold and they brought them to King Solomon. In 1 Kings 9, verse 28, it says they fetched from thence 420 talents. Now, one, it is understood, is the whole revenue of the trip. The other is what we would call the profit. How much did they make after they paid for the building of the ship, for the sailors, for whatever they did to go and mine this gold? That's 30 of those talents. Then the other 420 are what are called the gain off of that. In any case, this represents wealth untold. If you recall from our prior studies, A talent of gold is about 60 pounds, 60 to 70 pounds of gold. Multiply a pound of gold by 60, you've got a lot of money on your hands. And then if you're talking about 420 profit of gold, you have quite a bit, billions of dollars in our modern currency. And thus far, the exposition of 2 Chronicles chapter 8. Let us join together in prayers and petitions to the Lord. Our Father in heaven, we thank you that as many as received the Logos, the word God in the flesh, that as many as received him, to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them that believe on his name, which were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God. And the word was made flesh and dwelt among us. And we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We thank you, O Lord, that you have caused us by your will to be brought forth as a kind of first fruits of your creatures. those regenerated through the word of God, through the power of your spirit, brought to faith by being born from above. We thank you that we have been born of God and that you caused your son, who is God, to be born in the flesh, to dwell among the people as the tabernacle of old. We thank you that the apostles were privileged and wrote for us in these memoirs the beholding of the glory, the glory of the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth. We thank you that in the record that they have written, we have a sufficient guide to eternal life, even the words of eternal life. We thank you that through faith in Jesus Christ, all of our sins are forgiven us and that we have an everlasting home, a habitation above, because God became man so that we might be partakers of the divine nature, that we might escape the corruption in the world by lust. So to that end, O God, of our everlasting salvation, we pray that you might build us up in the means of grace, that we may receive benefit from your word, from prayer, from the sacraments, from godly fellowship, from the singing of your praise. We pray that you would build us up in private in the reading and meditation on your word and praying to you and singing together with grace in our hearts to the Lord. We pray that you might move in us by your Holy Spirit and cause us to be a light to those surrounding us, whether family or friends or neighbors, or even those that we meet in our employments, in our recreations, that we might bring the gospel to others We pray for Annabel Fargo. We pray that you would turn her to yourself, that you would grant her a spirit of repentance, as well as Mark, who is protecting and defending evil, that you might move in his heart and convict him. We pray, Lord, that you would bless our local community, that you would draw those who do not know you into the faith of Jesus Christ. We pray for our governor, Mr. Yunkin, for our attorney general, Mr. Meares, for all delegates and judges and local magistrates, for our county sheriffs, that there may be a spirit of repentance, turning from our own ways and humbling ourselves and seeking your face, turning from all of our wicked ways, we who are called by your name. We pray for our president, that he would keep his oath of office and rule in righteousness, that he would crush the wicked and praise them that do well. We pray for a dissolution of all the wicked and all their evil plots, all those who bring in their conspiracies to turn us into communists in a nation of confused and deranged lunatics who hate God and who walk in their own ways. We pray that you might silence them and that you would remove their influence and impact, that you might raise up a generation that fears the Lord and that walks in your ways. We pray for repentance for the murder of the unborn, for all the sins that lead to that, such as drunkenness and whoredom, and then turning, as Chris Austin said, the chamber that produces life into a chamber that produces death. We pray that we might repent in the Commonwealth of Virginia and in the whole United States for the murder of the innocent. We pray that you might provide for those in our congregation, giving us our daily bread. Pray your hand of blessing on the Fargos for Casey's business to thrive, that he would get jobs he's bidding on, that you would continue your hand of healing on Mrs. Fargo and her vision, her memory, and her joints and her body, that you would heal her and strengthen her by your grace. We pray that you'd bless Leah's mother, that you would call her to yourself, that you would heal her body, We pray that you would bless, likewise, the Daniel Andrade household. Pray for safe travels for them in this coming week, that you might provide for their needs, that you would guide and direct them and continue your hand of healing on Mrs. Andrade. Bless them as they raise their little ones for your glory, that they would guide and direct them in good ways. We pray that you would bless Julio and Yvonne, that you would prosper and direct them, that you might call their girls into the fellowship of your son, that you would guide and direct their hands in all that you would have them to do. We pray that you would prosper and bless the efforts that Yvonne put in to assist Ernesto. We pray for your hand of healing. Pray for wisdom for all who are concerned with his care, that they would know what they ought to do. Pray for the Brink household for your continued hand of healing, that you would bless those who are infirmed or sick with healing. that you would protect and provide for us and all of our clients, that they might prosper in their ways. We pray that you'd be with Gideon, that you would give him wisdom and direction, that you give him success in his work, that you grant repentance for his niece Lillian in troubled times in her life. and for his friend Basil, that he might come to you in humility and readiness to hear your word, and that you would keep him from all the evils that tend to befall those in the military. We pray for the Andrade's neighbor, Connie Simmons, for her healing from her stroke, for Gary Gunter and his heart failure, that you would heal him up, for the Suarez family, that you might heal them from their many infirmities and allergies, We pray that you'd be with Mrs. Ensinger in Tennessee for healing from her cancer, and Mr. Jocelyn, who was shot mercilessly, that you would heal him and raise him up. We pray for all who have survived hurricanes or natural disasters or wildfires, that you'd help them to rebuild and to put their hope and confidence in you. We pray for Brainerd Hills Presbyterian Church, that you might heal the breaches in that congregation. Bless our brother, Pastor Black, that he would find opportunities to preach your word. We pray for all your saints under persecution in the West and throughout the world, that you would confound their adversaries, that you might build their faith in you, and that you might cause your kingdom to advance even through these trials and troubles. We pray all this in Jesus' name. Amen. Please open your Bibles for our New Testament reading to the Gospel of John, Chapter 2.