The Work

 DEVOTION

1^ST KINGS

THE WORK

1 Kings 5:13-18

13 King Solomon conscripted laborers from all Israel — thirty thousand men. 14 He sent them off to Lebanon in shifts of ten thousand a month, so that they spent one month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the forced labor. 15 Solomon had seventy thousand carriers and eighty thousand stonecutters in the hills, 16 as well as thirty-three hundred foremen who supervised the project and directed the workmen. 17 At the king's command they removed from the quarry large blocks of quality stone to provide a foundation of dressed stone for the temple. 18 The craftsmen of Solomon and Hiram and the men of Gebal cut and prepared the timber and stone for the building of the temple.

NIV

That is a whole lot of men to cut timbers and stones, as well as the craftsmen who dressed the stone, or chiseled it into flat surfaces so it would all fit together. The idea presented to us within this passage is that it takes everyone involved to do their assigned task in order for the temple to be built. We also see Solomon as the visionary of what this temple should be like and how it is to be built. Although Solomon is being inspired by the LORD, as He is the ultimate visionary and gives the directions or inspiration for His plans. However, we should see that no one person can do everything, and so we each have our part within the body to accomplish the plan the Lord has for us as a church. We doubt if any, or at least only a few, churches could boast the numbers that Solomon had working toward building the temple. The major difference between the men that Solomon had was that they were forced laborers, or as the Hebrew voices it, a levy, or tax in the form of labor, and we serve our Lord from the love in our hearts. The Lord does not conscript us or force us to do anything. He will, however, inspire us or motivate us to accomplish his desires in our lives and in the life of the church. Another difference is that Solomon’s labors had supervisors and were told outright what each one’s task was. The Lord inspires us, but we must be diligent to hear his still small voice, instructing us in the way we should go. They did not have a choice as to how they should do what their instructions were, as we could make some changes by interjecting some of our “Good” ideas, although they would not be the perfect ideas of the Lord to accomplish the work.