I Kings 5, II Chronicles 2
From Solomon's Journals
Heralds were sent to all corners of Israel asking for workers who would go to Lebanon and help cut down the needed trees. Thirty thousand men volunteered to go. To prevent my workers from becoming weary, I sent ten thousand to Lebanon to work for one month while the twenty thousand rested for two months. The three groups rotated resting and working.
I appointed Adoniram as chief in charge of all the forced workers. First, I took a census of all the foreigners living in our land. There were 153,600 foreigners. These workers carried supplies, stone cutters in the hills and some were assigned to be foremen.
The foreigners removed large blocks of quality stone from the quarry to become a foundation for the temple.
Craftsman from Tyre and Israel, and Gebal worked together to cut and prepare the timber and stone for the temple.
Four hundred and eighty years after Israel escaped the bondage of Egypt, also the fourth year of my rule, the construction of the temple of the Lord began.
The location I chose was Mount Moriah in Jerusalem, where the lord had appeared to my father, David at the former threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite.
The Lord God of Israel then spoke to me saying, "If you follow my decrees, carry out my regulations, and keep all my commands and obey them, I will fulfill, through you, the promises I made to your father, David. And I will live among the Israelites, neve abandoning my people."
And so the project began. All of Israel, the foreigners living in our country, and the people of Tyre joined together to build a temple for the Lord. I am so excited to see the finished project.
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photo courtesy of visualbiblealive.com
1. Who did Solomon make a treaty with?
2. How did Solomon rotate the workers?
3. What did God tell Solomon He would do if Solomon kept the commandments.
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