SPEAKER_01: 0:02

Welcome to the Boundless Bible. My name is David Shapiro. Hey, I'm Javi Marquez. And I'm Jason Holloway. There's a man who had everything and still wanted more. Today we're going to be talking about Solomon. And as you can tell, today it's just me and Jason. Unfortunately, Javi has this flu that's going around that's kind of getting the entire country right now. Yeah. So he is out today, but we are very excited to bring you the story of Solomon. Not the entire story, but part of his story. So we're excited to be here.

SPEAKER_00: 0:34

Yeah, you started out with there's a man who wants everything, had everything and wanted more. And I thought you were talking about me. Or most everybody, actually. That's that's one of the most common stories. First, first of all, Javi, get well soon. He's one but one person who doesn't want any more. He's got plenty right now. But yeah, I mean, Solomon, what an what an interesting character. I'm excited to see what you have to say about it. You know, it's Old Testament, and you're you're the old testament guru. So excited to see where you go with it. But but he's such an interesting character. He is the wisest man who ever lived. He he's I'm sure you'll say this, but he's the one person when God asked him what he wanted from him as a gift, he said, I want wisdom. I don't want riches, I don't want my enemies to be felled, I don't want any of those things. I want wisdom. And because he got wisdom, he got all the other things too. And it's it's that's it's kind of the beginning of the story, right? To a certain extent. It is.

SPEAKER_01: 1:24

I I what I'll say is first of all, because I love this, his name was Shlomo in Hebrew. Uh, and shlomo means peace. It comes from shalom, and it means peace. And what's really cool about Solomon is he reigned during the most peaceful time in Israel's history, but he was not peaceful internally. Um, it's a really cool way that they named him. But kind of piggybacking on what you said about you know, God coming to him and asking him what he wanted, this was interesting because it wasn't just that he wanted wisdom. He said very specifically, I want the wisdom to govern people. Yeah. And we look at that as something very honorable, and we go, Yeah, he wants wisdom so he can be a better ruler, a better king than his father, King David, was. But it it is very specific because what God does, and it's funny, we know this from movies, when a genie asks you what you want, and you get what you want, you get exactly what you want. Yes, and what he got was the wisdom to govern others, and not the wisdom that was going to fulfill him in his heart. And we see that through his entire story.

SPEAKER_00: 2:31

Yeah, I mean, yeah, I think we forgot to say that Solomon is the the son of David, you know, and and that's an that's an important part of this story because God made the covenant with David that he was going to you know take care of Israel through him and through his sons. There's a little bit of of a there's a little bit of a battle, right? And how how Solomon becomes becomes the king, or a little bit of a you know, kind of a story behind that. But Solomon, Solomon ultimately does, and uh he asks for what he asks for, and then he gets what he asks for. And again, it's something something that we all know. We have to be careful what we ask for because you just might get it.

SPEAKER_01: 3:06

Yeah. I mean, listen, the the specificity of of even prayer, our prayer life, you know, we're told to prayer for something very to pray for something very specific. And, you know, this is kind of what's used all the time is hey, I'm praying for more patience. So God's gonna put people in your way that's gonna build up your patience, and then you go, whoa, whoa, whoa, okay, God, never never mind. Don't don't give me the patience. Uh, I'm okay right now.

SPEAKER_00: 3:26

I'm okay. I'm okay.

SPEAKER_01: 3:27

Um, yeah, and this is exactly it's incredible because you know, we'll we'll get into Solomon's writings and and just kind of where they went, but to watch somebody who truly is known as the wisest, and some people also say the richest, that he had the most wealth of anybody ever. If you compare dollar to dollar of what it was worth then to now, um, this is somebody who probably pretty much had it all. He had the money, he had the wisdom, he had peace in his land. There is no reason.

SPEAKER_00: 3:59

He had the respect of everyone around, too, right? Like you have the story of the of the Queen of Sheba, you have the his own, I guess, the people who he was ruling over, who came to him with crazy questions that he was able to answer in really unique and and discerning ways. I mean, he really had it all. And and he was able to do something historically significant, which is build the temple that that was, you know, the first time that the the temple had been built in the place that that it that it was said that it was going to be built, which was a I forget the word I'm looking for here, but it was it was fulfilling the prophecy or the or the you know statements that God had made to David previously. So I mean, he really had done everything. He had already built his legacy. He had already, you know, he had a good ruling class of people, or he was a good, a good ruler. He even ruled the people around him well. I mean, that's why he had peace was because he was able to, you know, make deals with the surrounding countries or surrounding areas in order to make them profitable as well as he being profitable. And I mean, he had everything. Except, except and and you know, so this might bring kind of one of the first points. I find it really interesting, is like there's a couple times when when God talks to to Solomon and He says, as long as you walk in my ways, and as long as you are as faithful as your father was, I will stay, stay by your side, and I will be with you, and I will be, you know, take care of you and all these things. But he but then God says something really interesting. But if you don't, I will tear this land from your hands. So for me, I think it was really interesting that it's it's a very clear story of if you do this, you will get the benefit. And I will be there with you, I will, I will comfort you, I will take care of you, I will protect you. But if you don't, if you don't, I will tear it from your hands. Yeah. There is a conditional statement there. And there's two of them, by the way, if I'm not mistaken. There's two prayers when God talks to him, and at least in 1 Kings anyway, there's there's two statements that he makes, and he says the same thing, similar things, if not the same thing, both times. And this is exactly how the story goes. As long as he is being faithful, as long as he is doing those things, he he does have that protection, he does have that peace, he does have that discernment. But eventually, at the very, very end of Solomon's story, and maybe we're we're spoiler alerting a bit, but at the very, very end of the story, he ends up taking wives as he was not supposed to from other lands. He ends up and and God told him, or God maybe could maybe call God told previously, I don't remember where this was, don't marry women from other lands, because eventually you will howtow to their religion. You will do what they want you to do, which is exactly what he did. So near the end of his life, he started praying to the wrong, to other gods, he started to worship other gods, he started to adore and and give credence to other to other religions or other gods. And this is when God tore it from his hands, not from his. So the story, the story to be clear, is that he he says, I won't take it from your hands, but I will take it from your son. I will tear this country and I will tear this land from your son's hands, and he does. So I don't know if you have anything to add to this whole if-then statement, but I I think that this is a big deal for me, is realizing that look, God's promises are promises, but there's an there's something that you have to do in order to to receive that promise. You can't just go, God doesn't say I'm gonna give you everything, and then you wait for him to give you everything. There's a there's a condition involved.

SPEAKER_01: 7:25

Yeah. Yeah, the only thing I would add to that, and and uh you just said it phenomenally, so I'm not even gonna try to restate it. That was perfect, is is the difference between David and Solomon. And the biggest one is David was all heart, Solomon was all brains. And this is religion, how we struggle. And we go, listen, his dad had nothing but his heart. And God even says, Man after my own heart. This was all that he cared about. God saw in David's heart, and even all the sins and mistakes he made, he knew that he was after him. And then you have Solomon, who's all brains, who he said, you know, listen, I need you to follow me in this way. And it shows the failure on both sides. It shows the failure of the heart and then the failure of the mind. And both of them ultimately, you know, if you look at David, you go, well, David had this great, you know, kingdom as well, and he reigned very successfully and is known as one of the greatest kings ever. Um, but he wasn't told by God, you can't make my temple. You're not the one who's gonna make it. And then you have Solomon, who, I don't know, maybe the the architecture was too complex for a normal mind. I don't know. Right. But he said, you know, this guy with the brains, he's gonna be the one building it. Yeah, um, but then you have him who falls with his heart. His mind was never the issue. Even when he was following other religions and other women, it was his brain that was intact with God. It was his heart that went away. So it's just it really to me is interesting, especially us talking, you and I, because we talk an awful lot about research and using our mind and trying to figure things out logically and all those things. But when you start to look at that, we go, you know, I I look and I go, Am I am I Shlomo? Am I am I Solomon? Am I using all brains and forgetting the testimony, forgetting the heart that God put on me? And was that the great mistake? Because listen, David made mistakes and God didn't yank it from him at the moment. That was the point.

SPEAKER_00: 9:25

That's the point I was gonna I was follow up with right there. Is I I think you have an answer to your own question right there. Like if if you're going to be brains versus heart, you know, choose heart. Choose heart. Because and there, and I think there's two reasons to say that. Number one is like you said, David screwed up tremendously and probably way worse than Solomon in many ways. I mean, he had a man killed for, you know, to so he could get his woman. He he did some pretty terrible stuff. I won't even go in there, there's even more than that, but you know, he he does he does a lot of really, really terrible stuff, but he still got God's favor because he continued to seek out God, right? This might not even be the brains versus versus heart thing. This might just be simple, this kind of point right here. He continued to seek after he failed. Solomon, there's no indication that he continued to seek. In fact, he stopped seeking because he started seeking other things. And this is where God ripped it away from him. This is where God tore it away from him. By the way, I also thought it's funny because if you read these lines correctly, he says, I will tear it away from you, which means if you don't follow me, God will fight you. God will throw hands, God will tell you, you either listen, look, you follow me and you're good. You're gonna screw up, you're a sinner, you're human, you're going to mess up. But as long as you follow me, you're still in my grace. You're still in my good graces. Good things can still happen. It's not until you fully walk away that you fully turn around, which some might even call blaspheme, right? Maybe that's where the the ultimate sin, blaspheme, where when you stop seeking me, this is when the blessing stops. Yeah. This is when the condition ends, and this is when you are on to the second part of the condition. If you do not follow me, your lands will be ripped from you. So I found that kind of interesting. But I'll also follow that up by by by Hebrews 11, you know, one of my new favorite, you know, chapters. It's the it's the faith chapter. We talked so much last year about what faith is, that faith isn't necessarily a feeling, faith is an action. And faith is continuing to do the thing even when you struggle, even when you don't understand, even when you don't may not even believe, right? It's continuing the actions. And that's what David did. David did continue. David did continue to seek, even though he knew he was a failure in certain ways. Um, and so I think there's a lesson to be learned from that.

SPEAKER_01: 12:25

Yeah. I and also, you know, we talk about Solomon, he's he was given everything. I mean, he was honestly given everything. We know when he had the the wisdom and he had the lands and he had the respect and he had the women and he had all these things, he still always wanted more. Yeah. And I think that that human condition, when I think about it, go if I had everything right now that I'm saying in my mind, I want all these things, would that be enough? And the answer I know is gonna be no. It wouldn't be. I'm always gonna want to be more. So I I I look at at the first book that he wrote, which would have been Proverbs, Ecclesiastes we'll get to, but when he wrote Proverbs, again, this is somebody who who had written, who knew 3,000 different Proverbs, but not one of them actually talks about him walking humbly with God. And it's really interesting because again, the wisdom he asked for was the wisdom to rule. Um, but he doesn't talk about being humble and walking with God. And when I start looking at Proverbs, and I have a couple here right now, there's one that's really interesting, and it's this is practical warnings. This is Proverbs 6, 10. A little sleep, a little slumber, a little folding of hands to rest, and poverty will come upon you like a robber. Okay. This is listen, you know, no no rest for for the weary, and this is the early, you know, the early rise get the worm, whatever the saying is. I apologize. Early bird. Um, early bird, thank you. And if you go through it, that you know, there's warnings against adultery and there's the blessings of wisdom. And he talks about it and he says, you know, blessed is the one who listens to me, watching daily at my gates, waiting beside my doors. He is talking about God. He is talking about even God's creation of him, saying, Hey, I was there in your mind in the beginning. Not I was there like I was alive, but I was in your brain from the very beginning. All of it talks about God almost like Job did. Here's this faraway God, and which is crazy because he interacted with him, got wisdom from him, got everything from God, but still kept him the faraway God that he was trying to mentally figure out versus the God in his heart that was very close. The lips of the righteous feed many, but fools die for lack of sense. Um these are just such a beautiful language, written better than anybody could have possibly written, and absolutely to me, empty of God. Yeah, the humility, I should say, not of God, empty of the humility of God.

SPEAKER_00: 14:59

I can see that.

SPEAKER_01: 15:00

And and and that's the part where I'm I'm that's the part where I look at, I go, when you're given everything and you still feel empty, yeah. This this had to have been what Solomon was feeling. Everyone around him is going, what could you possibly want more of? Yeah. And he's going, I I this isn't right. This isn't right. And and and like I said, we'll we'll get into Ecclesiastes and how he responds to that. But here this is.

SPEAKER_00: 15:27

I mean, I look, I I just nailed my microphone. I I find this so interesting because when you read through Proverbs, it speaks to things that are timeless, universal, and can be understood by any person at any stage of life, and understood differently at any person, any stage of life, in any era or epoch that that might be. And I find that to be fascinating. And I and I think that it's wisdom. I've been playing a lot with this word wisdom lately, but I don't think wisdom is the same as a rule, right? A rule is a hard and fast thing that you get once and it always stands, regardless of what happens. I think wisdom is the existence of two different guideposts in which you need to guide yourself through to identify wisdom. And it it there's tension there. There has to be tension. There's there's a little bit of ambiguity left right in between these two points that you as a human have to find your way through to find the answer. That's wisdom. And so you talk about this person who was given these gifts from God, but it's never enough. I have everything, but why doesn't it feel like everything? I know everything, but it doesn't feel like enough. I've done everything, but I want to do more. What bigger human condition is there than that? Like what is that feeling between the delta, the delta, as you would say in business, between where I am and where I want to be always exists. There's never a time when you close the distance. There's always a separation between those two. And so I think Solomon's the perfect character to do this because he knows what it's like to be at the very, very top and also simultaneously at the very, very bottom. He knows what it's like to be both fulfilled and entirely empty. And so that's where proverbs come from. It's the it's it's the understanding of both sides simultaneously. And the way that he expresses these things, you know, obviously he talks about how your actions will have consequences. He talks about it in some proverbs as good actions having good consequences, bad con, you know, bad having having the opposite. He talks about how your, you know, the character that you build in yourself will become your destiny. And again, that's in a positive and a negative. He talks about how your own life and who you become is based on the discipline you have or don't have. And again, it's it's so interesting to me that this kind of tension is the only way you can get there. Like he doesn't say, if you want to be really good, do this thing. Rule, you know, rule number two make sure that you always say hello with a smile on your face. No, it's not that. It's the fool who does blank has this, the you know, best of the best does blah blah. I'm I don't have any proverbs on hand right now, but you know, if they clearly, and also I'm not one who should be writing proverbs if it starts with rule one. But I mean you you get the idea, like the way that he writes these, if you go back and read them and you read that he's read he's writing simultaneously from from the the most ascended place and the most descendant place simultaneously. It's just such a brilliant book.

SPEAKER_01: 18:44

Yeah, yeah. I you know what's interesting is you just said you you've been going kind of over the word wisdom. Yeah, and what's what's also interesting, you started with with it's you know, it's not a set of rules, and you said rule one, but I'm not wise.

SPEAKER_00: 18:56

Exactly.

SPEAKER_01: 18:56

There you go. Um, but the word the two words I've been really struggling with and researching lately has been joy and peace. And in Deuteronomy, it's really interesting because God actually says that man will be cursed by one thing, and it's not idolatry and it's not non-belief in him, it's actually serving him without joy. And I'm going, well, why would that be? If I'm not having joy in serving the Lord, what what is about that statement? I'm thinking, I'm going, why would God curse me? I don't understand. And then I jumped into my and I realized this is one of those self-fulfilling prophecies of if I don't have joy in serving the Lord, that means I have joy somewhere else, serving somewhere else. And that is ultimately going to be a curse. And I'm going, man, there it is. It's self-fulfilling. God said it because it's truth. If I'm not getting joy out of God, I'm getting joy somewhere else. And the peace that I want to feel, and the joy that I want to feel, it's not happiness. That's different, that's conditional. But if I want to feel this, this joy and this peace, that's something that is received, not achieved. And for me, I'm going, the self-fulfilling prophecy that that is that God is already saying in Deuteronomy, because he's, you know, infinitely wiser than Solomon ever will be. Um Solomon now is learning very quickly that his life without God, true God, God being in relational and taking joy out of that, he's finding, trying to find joy in the money and the women and the power and all the other things. It's this self fulfilling prophecy of I'm cursed now with this wisdom that is not. Not leading me to Christ, not leading me to God at this point. And and man, it just, like I said, my research as well, going through it, yours and wisdom, it all leads to the same thing, which is not that it's not important. And I don't I don't want our listeners to think that wisdom and and you know the research and the logic isn't important, but sometimes you it needs to give way to your heart.

SPEAKER_00: 21:03

Well, it's where you d it's where you direct your I mean, if I'm searching for wisdom and the wisdom is to be self-serving, if if I'm just trying to be wiser for my purposes, that's not going to, I mean, I've I've seen what happens when I search myself out. The the bottom of that hole is dark and dangerous and dirty. So, you know, I I don't want to be there. I've been there. That's one of the one of the benefits of being older is having made a whole lot of mistakes and realizing what's at the what's at the end of those cultus acts and realizing that they're cultus acts at all and not long lasting roads. But you know, the when but if you seek out wisdom and you s and you read through Proverbs and you realize that what he's trying to teach you, whether he knows it or not, I'll never know. But what you find if you're seeking out God in that wisdom book of Proverbs is you'll find God. That's that's what you find. And so I I think maybe that's the maybe that's another point to throw on top of your point is that if you're gonna read Proverbs, don't read Proverbs to make your life better for you. Read Proverbs to understand yourself better so that you can serve God better, so that you can be a better servant, so that you can be a better, so you you can be a better, what's the word I'm looking for? I don't know. You can be the the vision of God that God wants you to be. And that's good. You know, and I I think there's that. Now maybe that's a good time to switch over to to Ecclesiastes because uh the the journal of the broken king.

SPEAKER_01: 22:28

Oh, is that wow, that was a big that that is that is actually the journal of the broken king, is how it's known in in some Jewish scholars. They call it the journal of the broken king.

SPEAKER_00: 22:40

Are you sure that's not the next Game of Thrones novel?

SPEAKER_01: 22:43

It might be, but yes, some of them know it as the journal of the broken king. And I couldn't think of a more fitting you know title for it because this is now uh so he he he has a word in there, it's called Heavel. And scholars try to yeah, scholars try to understand truly what heavel is, and again, it's one of those words that really has no translation. So if you hear it, it's smoke, it's vapor, it's uh different things. Really, what it is is it's something you can't touch, but it it's just meaningless. And what he's saying is everything in life that I have touched, everything that I thought was important is all vapor, it's all untouchable, it all doesn't matter, it's meaningless. The only thing that means anything in this world is God. And he's writing this journal of a broken king, going, I just spent a lifetime pursuing all of these meaningless, worthless things. And the only thing that's worth anything is you, God.

SPEAKER_00: 23:45

Yeah. Well, I mean, that that's the answer to what we just said, right? When you when you seek wisdom and you're looking for wisdom in yourself, you won't find it. And then you get to Ecclesiastes right after. So you you mentioned that word heavel. I don't know if you mentioned on here or uh some other time, but it that word opened my eyes to something because when you read Ecclesiastes, it says blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, is vanity. And the word vanity took me quite a bit to to fix. And I thought at first I thought vanity, like, oh, it makes you look pretty, right? That was the that was the way that I that I I worked out vanity. It's something that, you know, it's it's a it's a pretty thing that doesn't really matter. And I got that. I got that it was, you know, to be vain, uh, to to be vain is to think highly of yourself with no particular, you know, no particular useful output. However, when you explained it to me another way, because vanity and in vain, vain means with no purpose. I mean, if some if you do something in vain, you wasted your time, right? Yeah that was like the the twist, twist, twist. Like the final twist was like the opening of the lock for me. I was like, oh, wait. So what he's saying is like, if you seek out these things, it's a waste of your time. If you seek out this thing, it's a waste of your time. And and he goes through some stuff that's kind of harsh. I mean, there's things, there's things that when you're reading through it, you're like, oh, this is the one he's gonna say isn't in vain. Oh, wait, that's in vain too. And then, oh wait, no, this is the one. This is the one he's gonna say is totally worth it. Nope, nope, in vain. And and what you get to by the end is that basically everything is in vain. And and and whether explicit or implicit, the message you are left with at the end is that if it's not for God, if it is not for a purpose bigger than yourself, it is in vain. Yep. It is a waste of your time, it is a waste of your life. You might as well be throwing pebbles into the ocean and expecting the water level to rise. Like it's it's a waste of time, it's a waste of effort, and and you're chasing something. You're you're like you said, Hebel, you're chasing a ghost. You're chasing a plume of smoke which cannot be caught. Yep. Yep. Is that a is that a fairly decent explain explanation of Hebel? Correctly, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 25:56

Yeah, it's it's a perfect definition of it. And it's I want to be careful with my words here because I don't want somebody to think that, you know, Bible translation of what we have is wrong. But words do change meaning and severity over time. And the word heavel that we use now is vanity. A lot of people read that and they have the exact same conclusion that you came to, which is, you know, listen, this is me looking in the mirror and I'm being vain right now because I'm looking at all the pretty that I am and all that. And and I get that the translation of the word is vanity, that's what we have today. Sure. So I don't want to say that the the translation was done incorrectly, so I want to be careful my words. Um, but there's a severity to the word that when you truly see yes, I would say I would say it's a connotation.

SPEAKER_00: 26:43

Like van vanity, we just live in such a vain society that when you see vanity, you think makeup or yes, you know, putting two inch risers in your shoes, or you know, you you see like these little things that are meant to make you feel better. And so vanity just has this very, I don't know, superficial feel to it. What you don't think is that vanity comes from the word vain. And when you do something in vain, to do something in vain is to do something pointlessly. And and it's just it, it's just a it's just a modern connotation. So I I don't intend to say that it was that it was translated incorrectly, it's just that our modern interpretation is off putting.

SPEAKER_01: 27:19

It is, and and like you said, I think we've watered down words to a degree where you know, listen, you know the the the thing of I love God and I love pizza, but I don't love them the same way. Um this is this is exactly the same. So but but I think that when you describe, and I love the ending of your description of the smoke that you can't grab, you know, Solomon never says, hey, it is bad to want to eat. It's bad to want a big house. It's bad. What he's saying is it's not gonna work. It doesn't matter if you have a big house, a small house, no house at all. The only thing that really matters is God. And I think that, you know, as humans, when we're going through tough times, we're like, yeah, Solomon, shut it. You don't know what I'm going through. You don't know what it's like. You know, poor Solomon in a rich mansion as a king, you know, you're really gonna tell me that it doesn't matter. But this is somebody who I think on purpose actually had all of the finest things in life. All of them. He he literally goes through the list and said, I've tried every single thing and none of them fulfill me. I think you've brought up on another show. I think it was Jim Carrey who said, I, you know, I hope you get everything you ever watched. I I think you mentioned that in another show.

SPEAKER_00: 28:30

It's not there, yeah.

SPEAKER_01: 28:32

Yeah, and that's and that's exactly what he's saying. But this is now, if you want to talk about wisdom, and people look at, you know, I'm the old guy with the beard, but they look at old people with the beard and going, I can't believe I'm the old guy with the beard. I just said that and realized that that's me. Look at the old guy with the beard, and they go, here's the guy who's lived life and he has the wisdom of life, and this is the person I want to get my suggestions and what I should do from. And this is Solomon at the end of his life, the old man with the beard who was the wisest person ever, who has the most wisdom from God ever. And he is saying, all of this stuff, don't go after it. These are all false gods. These are all, this is the self-fulfilling prophecy of if you are not 100% joyous in serving God, you're, you're, you're gonna be you're gonna be cursed. It's nothing is gonna live up to it.

SPEAKER_00: 29:23

Yeah, and I just looked at, I mean, the the final line of Ecclesiastes is fear God and keep his commandments. Like it's not it's not inexplicit. Like he he's saying, look, you're gonna search all this stuff out. I love what you just said, and it's romantic by the way, I'm also an old man with a beard, I think, so don't get me dumb. The the the idea I don't know, I'm just trying to like posit this into or like position this into one statement, which is that you're right, he doesn't say any of those things are bad. He just says don't expect to be fulfilled by them. Like you're not sinning by seeking them, but you are wasting a chance to get any sort of actual satisfaction if you're seeking if you're seeking the satisfaction through those. Which again, I I just love the fact that I can pick up Ecclesiastes several thousand years after it was written and see myself written in it as well. I mean, there's there's nothing there's nothing in it that doesn't feel true today. I have sought out happiness in a million different things, and guess what? It ain't there. The only thing it is in is when you pray and you get close to God and you get it to be a part of his community, to his actual church, which is the community and the body of the body of Christ outside, you know, that that lives within each of us. I don't know. I I just find it really, really beautiful.

SPEAKER_01: 30:49

So so David, just comparing David and Solomon again, say David wrote Psalms, and a lot of people look at Psalms and they go, Well, you know, all of the good parts of Psalms, you know, of course, he's the king, he's this, but you have to realize the Psalms was written while he was, you know, on the run, alone, miserable, having a uh, you know, a hard time before King and all that, before he was king. And you you hear about yes, laments are him crying out to God, but then you hear what he talks about God and how beautifully he loves God and and all these amazing David had nothing on the run alone and loved God. And then you have Solomon who had everything, and he's saying, Everything I had means nothing. You need God. And I I don't think that it's a mistake, because God doesn't make mistakes, but I don't think it's a mistake that this is father and son, that we literally get to see back to back somebody who had nothing but God, and write this beautiful tale of the love of God and how great his life is because of God, and then somebody who has everything and not God and goes, Man, all this is worthless and meaningless and smoke and vapor without God. And I just love I love how God positioned these stories next to each other, these relatives next to each other. It's just to me, like I said, uh God is obviously infinitely more wiz wise than Solomon and his scriptures putting these together, just it it I absolutely love this.

SPEAKER_00: 32:18

So, yeah, I mean, look, Solomon is such an interesting character. He was the son of David, he was the fulfillment of the prophecy of building the temple. There's quite a lot of information about the actual temple in 1 Kings and I think First Chronicles as well, like down to the qubit as to how big things were created and what materials they were created of. Pretty, pretty interesting stuff. But just just more proof that he was both a capable person, he was an intelligent person, he was a person who was following the will of God because God told him to build it like this, and he built it like this. And also that he I think the book is very clear that he does have everything. So us saying in here that he has everything is not uh it's not a stretch. The book is very clear. He's got gold beyond gold, he has every material under the sun, he has millions of work or you know, hundreds of thousands of workers, and and so uh the the book is there to teach you that he everything we're saying he was, he was. He's got the respect of the surrounding areas, and and at the end, he doesn't do what he should have done, and it gets taken away from him. So I think you know, we from that we get Proverbs and Ecclesiastes, which are still two of my favorite books in the Bible and probably always will be. But we also get a heck of a lesson that if you don't do what God is asking you to, when you do what God is asking you to do, the promise will be fulfilled. And when you don't, God will fight you. There you go. And you and you earned it. So, you know, and yet, and I should I joke about that, but I should also clarify yet, God will God will not necessarily bless the things that you don't act towards, but the repentance can always bring it back. You know, you you can screw up, but you can always you can always come back to him and ask for that forgiveness and and recommit your actions in your life and your motivations to him, and and you can get that blessing back too. I think that's an important one because it's easy to get stuck on the no love.

SPEAKER_01: 34:20

Love his blessing, love his knowledge, love his strength, but always love him. Uh never just love his blessing without loving him.

SPEAKER_00: 34:27

Yeah. And and be be like David, don't be like Solomon. Be follow God with all your heart, even when it is hard. Follow God, God's commandments towards you, follow Jesus, follow what you know that the Bible asks you to do, even when it's hard, and it's worth it because you'll find God at the end. So, as always, we we I love these conversations. We have missed Javi tremendously today. Hopefully, he will be back next week. And what we appreciate you being with us, and we will talk to you guys soon. Thanks a lot. See ya. Thanks. Bye.