I Kings Chapter 9 "Second
Appearance of Yehovah [1-9]." This Bible
Study is written by Roger Christopherson, and it's
transcription is provided with written permission by http://www.theseason.org Solomon's Temple and buildings are different than the Millennium Temple and dimensions because the Millennium Temple has an "hand-breath" added to the measurements. If you enjoy the symbology of those dimensions of the Temple, and other finds dealing with the Temple, then the book "King Solomon's Temple", by E. Raymond Capt would be worth your time. The ISBN # 0-934666-05-9. Some of the sketches of this book were taken from that book. It will be well worth your time spent. So this chapter starts at the time of the completion of the Temple and the other houses of residence for King Solomon and the rest of his family. I Kings 9:1 "And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of the Lord, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do," This completion included not only the Temple and other buildings, but the walls of the city, and the streets also. I Kings 9:2 "The the Lord appeared to Solomon the second time, as He had appeared unto him at Gibeon." The Lord appeared to Solomon that first time in a dream, as stated in I Kings 3:5. God asked Solomon what he wanted from Him, and God promised that He would fulfill his request. In that first dream, Solomon asked for wisdom: I Kings 3:9 "Give therefore Thy servant an understanding heart to judge Thy People, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is about to judge this Thy so great a People." I Kings 3:10 "And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing." Because Solomon sought God's wisdom to lead his people, God gave him riches for himself and peace from his enemies, as well as the understanding to discern judgment. In addition to this, there were honors and great riches; "so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days." So now the Lord God is appearing again to Solomon in another dream. I Kings 9:3 "And the Lord said unto him, "I have heard thy prayer and thy supplication, that thou hast made before Me: I have hallowed this house, which thou hast built, to put My name there for ever; and Mine eyes and Mine heart shall be there perpetually." This is God speaking to Solomon in this dream and giving His instructions as to what should be taught in that house of worship. Remember that when a house is set aside for the Father, and you call that house by His name (a church by whatever the name); than it must be our Father's Word that must be taught there. This is what is being said here; if it is my house, than My laws and commandments must be taught here." I Kings 9:4 "And if thou wilt walk before Me, as David thy father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded thee, and wilt keep My statutes and My judgments:" Pay attention to this verse, for God is placing a condition to the promises that He is making to Solomon here. God did promise David that, "he would never want for a man to sit upon his throne (no gender intended), but if he fell away, he will correct their ways." God loves all of His children, and discipline is an important part of love. At the close of chapter eight is the lineage of David to Queen Elizabeth II, so we can see that God was faithful to David in this promise. I Kings 9:5 "Then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom upon Israel for ever, as I promised to David thy father, saying, `There shall not fail thee a man a man on the throne of Israel.' " When the Assyrians scattered the ten tribes of the house of Israel several centuries after the death of Solomon, those ten tribes carried the name of Israel with them. These people were not the Jews as many teach, but later became know by many other names, as they fragmented in their migrations. Names such as Gauls, Brits, Saxon, Cimerons, Scythians, and so on, but all the tribes had the identity of Celtic nations. The people's of the house of Israel carried a bonding that remained with them to this day. This event was their passing through the Caucasus mountains, to become known as "Caucasians", which has nothing to do with the color or a race of people, but the identity of the ten tribes of the ancient House of Israel in their migrations. When the migrations into the United States was at its highest a century and two ago, if you were a Caucasian, you were given priority by the immigration service. It did not matter what nation you came from, but only that you identified yourself as being Caucasian. Most all nations guard their inheritance, and are proud that the blood lines of their Royals that came from David, and of the lineage of their people, however, here in America the people's minds seems to have turned to mush. However this is also a trait of the people of the tribe of Manasseh. Even to this day, the thrones of most of the Celtic nations of western Europe can be directly traced to David and Solomon, and those traces of lineage will be given at the end of this chapter. That lineage by God to David is what this promise to Solomon is all about in this dream given in this verse. This is why the first duty of the king or queen of any nation descended from the Israel, is "the keeper and defender of the faith of the nation". So notice the conditions of God's promises given in the next verse. I Kings 9:6 "But if ye shall at all turn from following Me, ye or your children, and will not keep My commandments and My statutes which I have set before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them:" This promise that God made with Solomon, did not stop with his children, but it continues down from generation to generation to our day. By not keeping of God's commandments and statutes is the most serious offence that you can commit against God. If you think that you can create your own traditions and serve other religious forms that go against God's ways, than you can also expect correction from God. I Kings 9:7 "Then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house, which I have hallowed for My name, will I cast out of My sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a byword among all people:" After Solomon's death the "house of Israel" sinned greatly and took on every form of religious practice, and God cut them off. He divorced that nation and scattered them by the Assyrians across the face of the earth. This is what the book of Hosea is about, the scattering of the house of Israel, and what would become of them in the time of the end. Jesus addressed this verse in Matthew 10:6, when He sent forth His disciples to go and preach the Gospel to those lost souls of the ten tribes of the House of Israel. Matthew 10:5 "These twelve Jesus sent forth, and commanded them, saying, "Go not into the way of the Gentiles, and into any city of the Samaritans enter ye not." Matthew 10:6 "But rather to the lost sheep of the house of Israel." The lost sheep of the House of Israel are lost alright, for most of them have no idea at all who they are or where their forefather's came from. They know that the House of Israel and the house of Judah would become as numerous as the sand of the sea, and the stars of the heavens, yet they like to place the identity of Israel as a small tribe out in the sand dunes somewhere. They even try to pin all Israel into the tribe of Judah, and that just won't do, for it would be calling God a liar. God divorced the house of Israel, not the house of Judah. God deals with each of these two nations individually, yet most Christians would rather listen to the traditions of men, and let God be a liar in their little minds. Hosea tells us that this lost house of Israel would be lost even to themselves, however there would be one way that all of them would be identified in the latter days. Hosea 1:10 "Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered; and it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, `Ye are not My People,' there it shall be said unto them, `Ye are the sons of the living GOD'." The "Living God" is Jesus Christ, the Promised Messiah that rose from the dead, and He is our intercessor before the Father in Heaven. This is why we pray "in Jesus Name". Those nations that are from the lineage of "the House [nation] of Israel", are those that call themselves "Christian nations". Sure we are in that day when it is said that the Jews represent God, however they are not part of the house of Israel, but the house of Judah. Most Jews deny that Jesus Christ ever exist, unless it is necessary for the sake of their cash registers at Christmas time. Even then they mess up the true time of the season with all their fairy-tales, to put Christians on an emotional trip over everything but the conception and birth of Jesus Christ. I Kings 9:8 "And at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, `Why hath the Lord done thus unto this land, and to this house?" " There that Temple of God stood, right there on top of Mount Moriah and visible to all that approached Jerusalem from any direction. We know that this hissing did take place after Solomon's death. The nation of Israel split into two separate nations with two different kingdoms. These two nations or houses became know as the house of Judah, comprising the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin with part of Levi scattered amongst them. The house of Israel to the north were made up of the other ten tribes, also with Levi scattered amongst all the tribes. King Jereboam listened to the tribe of Dan that refused to go to Jerusalem to worship, and he had two golden calves made. Those idols were the start of many forms of idolatry that took over the house of Israel. Because of their sins and idolatry, God allowed the Assyrians to take the house of Israel, not the Jews, and God uproot them. These Assyrians move them in massive numbers to a location in northern Iraq, and from there, the house of Israel was scattered into many other locations. It would be a century later that the House of Judah would be uprooted from their lands because of the same forms of idolatry that had taken hold. Then the house of Judah was hauled into Babylon by king Nebuchadnezzar. After seventy years of bondage in Babylon, many Jews mixed with Kenites returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, and try to set up the old forms of worship. I Kings 9:9 "And they shall answer, `Because they forsook the Lord their God, Who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them: therefore the Lord brought upon them all this evil.' " Friend, any time you allow something to come between you and God, it is an idol. Because Israel placed their idols and their other things before the worship of God and His ways, God dealt with them harshly. You may have a lot of responsibility in your life, but God expects you to place His ways number one in your life. We are to live according to God's Ways, and keep His commandments, statutes and judgments that are placed within His Word. God has truly blessed our nation, our people, and each of us and the least that we can do is to thank Him for those blessings and try to keep His commandments, and judgments in our daily lives. This of course requires that we read His Word for understanding, and try to live up to the conditions that God expects of us, when we claim to be Christians. As you read and study His Word, you can even find out why your prayers go unanswered. This is directed to those that like to forget the conditions that God places on his promises, such as those named in this chapter. Many people start their salvation with a little sip of spiritual milk that leads to their repentance, and then that is all the spiritual nourishment that they take the rest of their lives. It is no wonder that many claiming to be Christians are spiritually dead. The more you take of the spiritual nourishment from God's Word, the closer your walk with Christ will be. I Kings 9:10 "And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, when Solomon had built the two houses, the house of the Lord, and the king's house," This verse is directed to twenty years after the start of the temple, for the dedication was ten years prior. Notice that the next verse is in parentheses. I Kings 9:11 "(Now Hiram the king of Tyre had furnished Solomon with cedar trees and fir trees, and with gold, according to all his desire,) that then king Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee." I Kings 9:12 "And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not." In payment for all the men and materials that Hiram and the people of Tyre gave to Solomon for the building of the Temple, Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities that were on His border with Israel. This may sound like a great payment, however when Hiram took a closer look at those cities and their condition, old king Hiram of the Kenites was not happy with his gift of payment. Down through history there is much confusion by the scholars as to the cities and the reasons for Hiram's discontent. I Kings 9:13 "And he said, "What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother?" And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day." The confusion comes in the interpretation of the word "Cabul". "Cabul" has been suggested as being "worthless" because of what Josephus writes; "not to my taste", However the word is a Phoenician word meaning "good for nothing", and in the Septuagint Version of the Hebrew Old Testament, "frontier". Yet some of the deeper scholars say that the word Cabul means "pawn", like you would pawn a watch at the pawn shop. It is believed that these border cities were used as a pawn for gaining money to build armies and run the government. Because of Solomon giving them over to king Hiram, there was a lot of gold that flowed into Jerusalem. This is now leaving the subject of how the Temple, the city and all the other buildings were built, and focusing on how Solomon financed the projects that he undertook. It required much gold and fine woods to go into the construction of the Temple and the other buildings. There were many heavy stones that had to be cut and transported to the site on mount Moriah. And all the other expenses for the walls, water passages, and other construction needs also were expensive and had to be paid for. This is what the subject has now turned to. Hiram put up much of the money, and took these twenty cities as collateral for the loan, and he was not pleased with the condition of the goods that Solomon gave him. This is also discussed in II Chronicles 8:2. II Chronicles 8:1 "And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the house of the Lord, and his own house," II Chronicles 8:2 "That the cities which Huram [Hiram] had restored to Solomon, Solomon built them, and caused the children of Israel to dwell there." Hiram did not want those cities, and gave them back to Solomon. Hiram and the Kenite clan from Tyre were traders and sea fearing people, and they were not interested in the building of cities and the working of the land. Remember that the sons of Cain, the Kenites made their living by merchandising goods from all over the world. It is no different today than what it was in Solomon's day. That same land that we are talking about here is the place where our Lord Jesus Christ grew up. It was the land of Galilee. Remember what they said of the Galileans, that nothing good ever came from Galilee. Nazareth was a city in Galilee. I Kings 9:14 "And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of Gold." This was the advance on which the cities were held for security. Keep in mind also that Hiram and David were very close friend, as close a brothers in friendship, and Solomon was the son of Hiram's friend. Though cities and gold is being exchanged here, Hiram really wanted to please Solomon for the sake of his friendship with Solomon's late father David. The gold would flow into Jerusalem whether Hiram like the twenty cities or not. I Kings 9:15 "And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer." Each of these cities were built to fortify Jerusalem, and each of them were walled and manned with troops. In most cases here, the housing for the troops were build right into the walls of the cities. I Kings 9:16 "For Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a present unto his daughter, Solomon's wife." This is telling us how Solomon came to have possession of some of these cities. Pharaoh's army took it for Solomon and gave it to his daughter for a wedding gift. Gezer and Millo in particular, were part of that gift. Even though this is history of the events from three thousand years ago, when you open your spiritual eyes, that when some times people are doing great things, they can make some long lasting errors in the process. Solomon is about to make one of those mistakes that will have long-lasting problems. I Kings 9:17 "And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether," I Kings 9:18 "And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land." Again, each of these cities are to fortify the land to secure the people of Israel. I Kings 9:19 "And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion." Solomon is not just building many fortified cities, and structures, but he is also building an army at the same time. This is the levy or tax that Solomon brought on the people to pay for all these improvements and protection that Israel shall have. I Kings 9:20 "And all the people that were left of the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel," These peoples had mixed Kenites, of the lineage of Cain from the Garden of Eden. They were from the sexual union between Satan and Eve in the garden of Eden, and would become the negative part of the plan of God. We see that these Kenites were well bedded amongst the Israelites even to the point of taking over the duties of the priests and scribes, by the time the house of Judah came out of captivity in Babylon, some four hundred years later. I Chronicles 2:55 "And the families of the scribes [Sopherim] which dwelt at Jabez [Jerusalem]; the Tirathites, the Shimeathites, and Suchathites. These are the Kenites that came of Hemath, the father of the house of Rechab." I Kings 9:21 "Their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel also were not able utterly to destroy, upon those did Solomon levy a tribute of bondservice unto this day." Remember that God told the Israelites that when they entered into the promise land, they were to utterly destroy all the people, man, woman, and child of the heathen that possessed the land. The Israelites did not do as God instructed them to, and thus down through the years, Israel has had to contend with these sons of Satan, and other heathen mixtures since those times. In Ezra 2:43 through 57 lists all the families of these Nethinims that were the strangers given over to the service of the temple. About half of the people returning from the captivity of Babylon, were not of Israel, but these Nethinims. They had taken over completely the duties of the Levites, and injected their forms of traditions instead of the laws, statutes and judgments that God gave to Moses. Ezra 2:55 "The children of Solomon's servants: the children..." This is all part of the deal that Hiram and Solomon worked out in payment for the favors to build the Temple, and here some four hundred years later they are well embedded in the duties of the Levite priests, even to the point of taking over the priesthood. Ezra 2:58 "All the Nethimins, and the children of Solomon's servants, were three hundred ninety and two." We know that these "Nethimins", those given to service, were Kenites, and that Solomon had established them into their scribe duties of taking over for the Levites in their bonded duties by God. So when Ezra stopped to take account of just how many Levite priests were going back to establish the priesthood in Jerusalem, we see how many Levites were with them. Ezra 8:15 "And I gathered them together to the river that runneth to Ahava; and there abode we in tents three day: and I viewed the People and the priests, and found there none of the sons of Levi." So if the sons of Levi and the Levitical priests are gone and to lazy to do the work of the priesthood, just who is going to be standing at the altar of God, and performing the duties of the Levites? God assigned the Levitical priesthood to do those duties, and here we see that of the 392 priests and scribes returning, not one is of the Levitical priesthood. Do you see the mess that Solomon had started when he turned those duties over to Hiram and his Kenites scholars and scribes? What was done in innocence, and as part of a favorable deal at the beginning, turned out to have another end. However all things were allowed by God in the fulfillment of His eternal plan. It was the Kenite Jewish leaders that plotted and sought to kill Jesus and at their hand and commitment, the Romans put Jesus to death. The High priest position was an appointed position and it was selected at the hand of Rome. The office was held for one year, and a change would come, so the position was nothing more than a political position at the time of Jesus' crucifixion. The religious forms they taught were traditions, and those things that Jesus taught were completely foreign to the ways and traditions of the Kenites in charge. Do you see how the traditions of the Kenites and of men crept in and the spiritual things of God took the back seat. By the time Jesus started His ministry, all the high priests and scribes could think of, was the ways they could kill Jesus Christ. They plotted Jesus' murder from the first time Jesus spoke after His baptism. Jesus told them exactly who they were, and identified them in John 8:44. John 8:43 "Why do ye not understand My speech? even because ye cannot hear My word." John 8:44 "Ye are of your father the devil, and the lust of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him. When he spake a lie, he speaketh of his own: for he is a liar, and the father of it." Most people that call themselves Christians today, have no idea what happened in the Garden of Eden, nor do they desire to know. Thy continue to tell their kids that Eve ate an apple, and she put an mask over her face to cover her mouth or of the sorts. Does that sound realistic? Of course not. The sin was the sexual union that brought forth a son to Satan, called Cain. The Kenites are of the lineage of Satan, through his son Cain, and they know it, but you don't. As long as you remain ignorant, than you will buy their fairy tales, and believe their lies. Jesus knew them for their lies, and that is the basis of understand the parable of the "fig tree". The apron of Genesis 3:7 was made out of "fig leaves", to cover their private parts. Adam and Eve knew the sin they did, and they covered themselves with aprons of fig leaves. Genesis 3:7 "And the eyes of both [Adam and Eve] were opened, and they knew that they were naked; and they sewed fig leaves together, and made themselves aprons." Understanding the sin that took place, is the start of understanding the parable of the fig tree. Wake up my friend, for if you do not understand what happened in the garden of Eden, you will never understand many of the parables, and a lot of the other teaching of the Scriptures. These Nethinims or Kenites were all made of, from the lineage of those mixed Kenites "of the Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, which were not of the children of Israel." Solomon bonded those Kenites into service and many of the Levites were put out of the service of levitical priesthood service. The real sad part of this whole mess is the fact that Ezra and Nehemiah were so close to the problem that they did not recognize the fact that these Kenites had no business in the duties of the scribes and priests, and they considered it normal and of God. Solomon even gave these heathen over for "liturgical service", that is service before the altar of God, from the cutting of the fire wood, to the service of the priests. In the end, from top to bottom they had taken over the control of the entire priesthood. These actual children of Satan, the Kenites, were controlling what was to be taught, and given as the laws and statutes of God. All this happened because of the carelessness of Solomon, while he sought to build the house of God. This is happening today, as the one world system of religious order is one by one taking over God's church houses, and bringing them into their Kenite world religious system. There is plenty of documentation that it is happening today, just as it happened in Solomon's day. Though Solomon desired to make these foreigners do the hard work, in the end, they had taken over all the work and the house of God. God has just stated that if we leave the Word we are sunk, and that is just what happened within a few generations after Solomon assigned the work to these Nethinim heathen. It was the priest's themselves that allowed their duties of the robe to be passed on to the people that had no business anywhere near the altar of God. In the end, the priesthood was lost except to those that get into the Word for themselves, and allow the Spirit of God to open their mind with understanding; Rather than listening to the traditions of men as put forth by the Nethenim even in our generation. I Kings 9:22 "But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots, and his horsemen." At least Solomon was wise enough to place the security and protection of the nation over to the men of Israel, instead of hiring mercenaries to fight for Israel's protection. At least Solomon did allow these heathen to erode the protection of the country. He kept them out of the armed forces. I Kings 9:23 "These were the chief of the officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, which bare rule over the People that wrought in the work." Solomon saw to it that there was maintained good discipline while all the work was being done. I Kings 9:24 "But Pharaoh's daughter came up out of the city of David unto her house which Solomon had built for her: then did he build Millo." No doubt this daughter was of the shepherd kings of Egypt, for they were of the offspring of Abraham, and not of the heathen mixture of the Kenites. I Kings 9:25 "And three times in a year did Solomon offer burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar which he built unto the Lord, and he burnt incense upon the altar that was before the Lord. So he finished the house." Solomon finished the house of God, and three times a year without fail, Solomon went to the house of God and offered burnt offerings and peace offerings on the altar of God. Solomon loved God, and he was faithful to Him. However there is a point that must be made at this time. Sometimes you get so busy in the work of the Lord, and in those times we must be careful of how we allow Satan the enemy, into that work. Remember that those same peoples that God ordered killed, Solomon put in the very position of the Levites within the Temple. It was all done in innocence, however it was done. If Solomon's forefathers had faithfully carried out God's plan it never would have happened. Solomon made the Kenites Temple slaves, and in the end they completely took control over the Temple, God's house. Today, most preachers and teachers that are suppose to know these historical events, and be able to relate them in light of the end times have no knowledge of the Kenites, nor how they have taken over the church houses of our day. Most teachers simply cannot separate traditional thought that has nothing to do with the ways and plan of God, for the truths of the Scripture. These events are given to us a examples of what we can expect in these end times, as Paul wrote us this warning. I Corinthians 10:10 "Neither murmur ye, as some of them also murmured, and were destroyed of the destroyer." I Corinthians 10:11 "Now all these things happened unto them for ensamples: and they are written for our admonition, upon whom the ends of the world are come." Each event that happened in the Old Testament whereby Satan was allowed to do his work, and the people were destroyed showed us another method of Satan's operation. It allowed us to see exactly how Satan will use people and change those things of God to his advantage. They were "ensamples" or "examples" for us today, even in this end generation. They are examples to you and I living in these end times, as to what we should expect to happen before our eyes, and to be a witness of. These are all part of the eight woes of Matthew 23, that Jesus taught, concerning the Kenites, and negative part of God blessing. These same offspring of Satan, the Kenites are the ones responsible for the death of all the other prophets, and even in the end times. Jesus stated in Matthew 23:2 "Saying, The scribes and the Pharisees sit in Moses's seat." This is saying that these Kenite Scribes and Pharisees sit in Moses's seat of responsibility taking over the duties and changing the law to their traditions. There is nothing new under the sun, for that is exactly what is going on today. Study the Word and check it out for yourself, and ask God to show you the error in the ways of others, so that you do not fall in those same ways. I Kings 9:26 "And king Solomon made a navy of ships in Ezion-geber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red sea, in the land of Edom." This means that the navy of Solomon, and the ships that they sailed were both build and trained by the Kenites, the sailors of Hiram's fleet. I Kings 9:27 "And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had know of the sea, with the servants of Solomon." I Kings 9:28 "And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon." Ophir is the location and source of the finest of all gold. In II Chronicles 8:18 it reads; "And Huram [Hiram] sent him by the hands of his servants ships, and servants that had knowledge of the sea; and they went with the servants of Solomon to Ophir, and took thence four hundred and fifty talents of God, and brought them to king Solomon." The name Ophir, was the son of Joktan, of Genesis 10:29, and this land is what is refered to as Rhodesia, later changed to Zimbawe. It is in the heart of Africa, and the name "Africa" originally came from "O (A) ph (f) ir ( ri-ca)", (ca) identifies the people. Over five hundred ruins are scattered over a large area of Zimbawe today, the evidence of gold smelting in the great Zimbawe buildings. The ruins of Zimbawe resemble closely the Syrian's ruins, of temple and fortress being combined. Hiram and Solomon's navy fetched four hundred and twenty talents of pure gold, the finest in the world. Remember that one talent was about 156 pound troy weight, so by our standards today, they smelted some 66,360 pounds of pure gold from Ophir, in central Africa. Then they brought the gold to Solomon to be used in the Temple and other building projects. Solomon was wise enough to have those men that knew the sea, and the ways of smelting to train his own people to do those things that were foreign to them.
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