1 Kings 4

Even though the front portion of this chapter simply listed Soloman's officials and governors, I had many different small thoughts toward the latter portion.

"sand on the seashore"
Notice how this phrase is used twice in this chapter to describe two different things - the people of Judah and Israel, and Soloman's "largeness of heart" (v20, 29). I was pondering over the reason for the use of the sand as an analogy. What is so significant about the sand on the seashore?

Just some brief and shallow analysis here. Perhaps further deeper study can be done on the sand on the seashore and a sermon may even be written on it? Anyway, it came to me that the sand on the seashore is always in contact with the water that comes onto shore. When a wave breaks at the shoreline, the swash may beat against the sand, unsettle them and the backwash may even pull them along back into the waters. But we see that, the sand on the seashore stays where they are.

Similarly, the people of God should be as resilient as the sand on the seashore. No matter how the tides of the world may beat against us, unsettle us and even pull us, we must stay rooted to our positions. From another angle, I also see that God's wisdom is eternal and does not fade away. No matter how the world may attempt to change and twist His word, His truth stands firm, unchanged.

Next, this phrase intrigued me as well. "each man under his vine and his fig tree" (v25). I remembered that in Micah 4:4, this same phenomenon was also mentioned. What a lovely thought, to have every man seated under his own tree and enjoy the peace of God! I really cannot wait for that day. Micah 4:4 never fails to plaster a big smile on my face every time I read it. It's like kind of cute... :X

Finally, the last verse caught my attention.

1Ki 4:34
And men of all nations, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom, came to hear the wisdom of Solomon.

If people were so attracted by Soloman's wisdom, how much more would they be attracted to God, if they knew about the wisdom of God! Sigh.. But man often only trust in what they can see. They failed to see that the wisdom of Soloman was given by God. But imagine the day when people flock from all over the world just to hear the wisdom of God.. how marvelous a thought that is to me. (:

Oh. and actually I am kind of envious of Soloman when I read the following verse.

1Ki 4:33
Also he spoke of trees, from the cedar tree of Lebanon even to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he spoke also of animals, of birds, of creeping things, and of fish.

I hope that in time to come, my writing skills can also improve such that I can talk about anything I want!

Writer's note: Sorry that I did not stick to the one-bible-verse-a-day format for today's entry :S