1 Kings 9

Read 1 Kings 9 – The Lord appeared a second time – Beloved, we have the Holy Spirit residing in us.  In the New Testament, we are encouraged to come boldly to the throne of grace (Hebrews 4:16), but in the Old Testament, it was a rare and blessed occasion for the Lord to speak to people/prophets.  The Lord makes a conditional promise to establish Solomons throne of dynasty forever (9:5), providing he and his descendants not abandon or disobey the Lord (5:6-7).  Free-will can be such a dangerous thing, guard yours with integrity.  Next, we get a peek into Solomon’s relationship with his father-in-law, King Hiram.  I am under the impression that King Hiram liked King Solomon… vs 9:10-14 says Solomon gave 20 towns to Hiram for his support of lumber, which Hiram called worthless, yet paid Solomon 9,000 pounds of gold ($238,269,938 as of 9/3/2021).  Hiram also sent experienced sailors to assist Solomon with his fleet of ships(9:27).