If you walk before Me as your father David walked, in integrity of heart and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and if you keep My statutes and My judgments, 5 then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, 1 Kings 9:4
God’s response to Solomon’s prayer: 1 Kings 9:1-9:2; 2 Chronicles 7:11-22. This is the second time God appears to Solomon. God tells the young king that his prayer has been heard. God has consecrated the temple by his very presence. But Solomon s exhorted to “walk before me in integrity of heart and uprightness.” (9:4). God warms that if his people fail to observe the law, and turn aside to worship other gods, they will be stripped of their glory and become objects of ridicule, scattered throughout the word.
But if you or your sons at all turn from following Me, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods and worship them, 7 then I will cut off Israel from the land which I have given them; and this house which I have consecrated for My name I will cast out of My sight. Israel will be a proverb and a byword among all peoples. 8 And as for this house, which is exalted, everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will hiss, and say, ‘Why has the Lord done thus to this land and to this house?’ 9 Then they will answer, ‘Because they forsook the Lord their God, who brought their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have embraced other gods, and worshiped them and served them; therefore the Lord has brought all this calamity on them.‘ “
Solomon’s many projects: 1 Kings 9:10-28, 2 Chronicles 8:1-18. The first 20 years of Solomon’s rule are productive and active. He starts ambitious building projects. He keeps the annual festivals prescribed by the law. He reaches out in varied trading ventures. Solomon also puts the descents of the Canaanites who are left in the land to slave labor. In all his projects Solomon is a great success. During these years Solomon’s reputation spreads worldwide.
–> God’s command to us is so easy to understand. It’s spoken plainly and repeatedly by God Himself. King Solomon was also told two times what he needed to do.
We don’t need to read books written by human authors to understand. We don’t even need to do “Bible Study” to dig deeper. It just requires a simple response on our part.
