Jesus Is Rejected

John 10 ²²It was winter, and the Festival of the Dedication of the Temple was being celebrated in Jerusalem. ²³Jesus was walking in Solomon's Porch in the Temple, ²⁴when the people gathered around him and asked, "How long are you going to keep us in suspense? Tell us the plain truth: are you the Messiah?"
²⁵Jesus answered, "I have already told you, but you would not believe me. The deeds I do by my Father's authority speak on my behalf; ²⁶but you will not believe, for you are not my sheep. ²⁷My sheep listen to my voice; I know them, and they follow me. ²⁸I give them eternal life, and they shall never die. No one can snatch them away from me. ²⁹What my Father has given me is greater than everything, and no one can snatch them away from the Father's care. ³⁰The Father and I are one."
³¹Then the people again picked up stones to throw at him. ³²Jesus said to them, "I have done many good deeds in your presence which the Father gave me to do; for which one of these do you want to stone me?"
³³They answered, "We do not want to stone you because of any good deeds, but because of your blasphemy! You are only a man, but you are trying to make yourself God!"
³⁴Jesus answered, "It is written in your own Law that God said, 'You are gods.' ³⁵We know that what the scripture says is true forever; and God called those people gods, the people to whom his message was given. ³⁶As for me, the Father chose me and sent me into the world. How, then, can you say that I blaspheme because I said that I am the Son of God? ³⁷Do not believe me, then, if I am not doing the things my Father wants me to do. ³⁸But if I do them, even though you do not believe me, you should at least believe my deeds, in order that you may know once and for all that the Father is in me and that I am in the Father."
³⁹Once more they tried to seize Jesus, but he slipped out of their hands.
⁴⁰Jesus then went back again across the Jordan River to the place where John had been baptizing, and he stayed there. ⁴¹Many people came to him. "John performed no miracles," they said, "but everything he said about this man was true." ⁴²And many people there believed in him.

The Visit of the Queen of Sheba
(1 Kings 10.1-13)

2 Chronicles 9 The queen of Sheba heard of King Solomon's fame, and she traveled to Jerusalem to test him with difficult questions. She brought with her a large group of attendants, as well as camels loaded with spices, jewels, and a large amount of gold. When she and Solomon met, she asked him all the questions that she could think of. ²He answered them all; there was nothing too difficult for him to explain. ³The queen of Sheba heard Solomon's wisdom and saw the palace he had built. ⁴She saw the food that was served at his table, the living quarters for his officials, the organization of his palace staff and the uniforms they wore, the clothing of the servants who waited on him at feasts, and the sacrifices he offered in the Temple. It left her breathless and amazed.
⁵She said to the king, "What I heard in my own country about you and your wisdom is true! ⁶I did not believe what they told me until I came and saw for myself. I had not heard of even half your wisdom. You are even wiser than people say. ⁷How fortunate are those who serve you, who are always in your presence and are privileged to hear your wise sayings! ⁸Praise the LORD your God! He has shown how pleased he is with you by making you king, to rule in his name. Because he loves his people Israel and wants to preserve them forever, he has made you their king so that you can maintain law and justice."
⁹She presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons of gold and a very large amount of spices and jewels. There have never been any other spices as fine as those that the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
( ¹⁰ The sailors of King Hiram and of King Solomon who brought gold from Ophir also brought juniper wood and jewels. ¹¹Solomon used the wood to make stairs for the Temple and for his palace, and to make harps and lyres for the musicians. Nothing like that had ever been seen before in the land of Judah.)
¹²King Solomon gave the queen of Sheba everything she asked for. This was in addition to what he gave her in exchange for the gifts she brought to him. Then she and her attendants returned to the land of Sheba.

King Solomon's Wealth
(1 Kings 10.14-25)

¹³Every year King Solomon received over twenty-five tons of gold, ¹⁴in addition to the taxes paid by the traders and merchants. The kings of Arabia and the governors of the Israelite districts also brought him silver and gold. ¹⁵Solomon made two hundred large shields, each of which was covered with about fifteen pounds of beaten gold, ¹⁶and three hundred smaller shields, each covered with about eight pounds of beaten gold. He had them all placed in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon.
¹⁷The king also had a large throne made. Part of it was covered with ivory and the rest of it was covered with pure gold. ¹⁸Six steps led up to the throne, and there was a footstool attached to it, covered with gold. There were arms on each side of the throne, and the figure of a lion stood at each side. ¹⁹Twelve figures of lions were on the steps, one at either end of each step. No throne like this had ever existed in any other kingdom.
²⁰All of King Solomon's drinking cups were made of gold, and all the utensils in the Hall of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. Silver was not considered valuable in Solomon's day. ²¹He had a fleet of ocean-going ships sailing with King Hiram's fleet. Every three years his fleet would return, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and monkeys.
²²King Solomon was richer and wiser than any other king in the world. ²³They all consulted him, to hear the wisdom that God had given him. ²⁴Each of them brought Solomon gifts--articles of silver and gold, robes, weapons, spices, horses, and mules. This continued year after year.
²⁵King Solomon also had four thousand stalls for his chariots and horses, and had twelve thousand cavalry horses. Some of them he kept in Jerusalem and the rest he stationed in various other cities. ²⁶He was supreme ruler of all the kings in the territory from the Euphrates River to Philistia and the Egyptian border. ²⁷During his reign silver was as common in Jerusalem as stone, and cedar was as plentiful as ordinary sycamore in the foothills of Judah. ²⁸Solomon imported horses from Musri and from every other country.

Summary of Solomon's Reign
(1 Kings 11.41-43)

²⁹The rest of the history of Solomon from beginning to end is recorded in The History of Nathan the Prophet, in The Prophecy of Ahijah of Shiloh, and in The Visions of Iddo the Prophet, which also deal with the reign of King Jeroboam of Israel. ³⁰Solomon ruled in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years. ³¹He died and was buried in David's City, and his son Rehoboam succeeded him as king.

A Prayer for National Deliverance

Psalm 74 Why have you abandoned us like this, O God?
Will you be angry with your own people forever?
²Remember your people, whom you chose for yourself long ago,
whom you brought out of slavery to be your own tribe.
Remember Mount Zion, where once you lived.
³Walk over these total ruins;
our enemies have destroyed everything in the Temple.

⁴Your enemies have shouted in triumph in your Temple;
they have placed their flags there as signs of victory.
⁵They looked like woodsmen
cutting down trees with their axes.
⁶They smashed all the wooden panels
with their axes and sledge hammers.
⁷They wrecked your Temple and set it on fire;
they desecrated the place where you are worshiped.
⁸They wanted to crush us completely;
they burned down every holy place in the land.

⁹All our sacred symbols are gone;
there are no prophets left,
and no one knows how long this will last.
¹⁰How long, O God, will our enemies laugh at you?
Will they insult your name forever?
¹¹Why have you refused to help us?
Why do you keep your hands behind you?

¹²But you have been our king from the beginning, O God;
you have saved us many times.
¹³With your mighty strength you divided the sea
and smashed the heads of the sea monsters;
¹⁴you crushed the heads of the monster Leviathan
and fed his body to desert animals.
¹⁵You made springs and fountains flow;
you dried up large rivers.
¹⁶You created the day and the night;
you set the sun and the moon in their places;
¹⁷you set the limits of the earth;
you made summer and winter.

¹⁸But remember, O LORD, that your enemies laugh at you,
that they are godless and despise you.
¹⁹Don't abandon your helpless people to their cruel enemies;
don't forget your persecuted people!

²⁰Remember the covenant you made with us.
There is violence in every dark corner of the land.
²¹Don't let the oppressed be put to shame;
let those poor and needy people praise you.

²²Rouse yourself, God, and defend your cause!
Remember that godless people laugh at you all day long.
²³Don't forget the angry shouts of your enemies,
the continuous noise made by your foes.