1 Kings 9:10

First of all we have the general truth that all human undertakings come to nothing unless the Lord is with us in them, guiding, controlling and sustaining us — unless we are simply carrying out His purposes and plans. It was well for Solomon to be deeply filled with this conviction. Half of his reign — twenty years — was taken up with putting up the house of the Lord and his own house. But he failed to remember the divine principle he had been given to record. You can see that in the comment attached to the statement that he was seven years building the Lord's house. "But Solomon was building his own house thirteen years" — nearly twice seven.

It had taken Solomon seven years to build the house of the Lord. We see in this his promptness at this work. It took Herod forty-six years to build his temple (John 2:20). At the start of his career the service of the Lord came before everything else in the king's heart. His own house, certainly less important than the temple, cost him thirteen years of labour.

We learn from the book of Kings that he took seven years to build the house of the LORD and thirteen years to build his own house. This has been called a failure on Solomon's part, but I have seen it instead as a picture. His own house, I suggest, is a picture of the assembly, the Church. Almost double the work went into the assembly compared with what went into the creation pictured in the temple. The assembly came into being through the twofold work of redemption and of new creation. And just as Solomon's own house would be the most intimate circle in which he moved, so we today are in the most intimate circle in which Christ moves.

The temple is a picture of the Father's house in glory. Solomon's house is a picture of the Church in her condition and circumstances on earth, where God's order is to be kept among His saints.

Both the temple and the house of Solomon took a long time to build, but both were finished in the end. The work was not wasted, as it sometimes is with those who have not first counted the cost. What God builds is always perfectly finished.

So ends this part of Solomon's history. The rest of 1 Kings 9 and 1 Kings 10 deals with his relations with the nations. It is the external history of his reign.

Note, too, that our own houses often come into competition with the Lord's house. Very solemn instruction is given on this by the prophet Haggai. "You looked for much, and behold, it came to little. And when you brought it home, I blew it away. Why? declares the LORD of hosts. Because of My house that lies in ruins, while each of you busies himself with his own house." (Haggai 1:9.) We need, therefore, to think much on this truth: all our "building" is completely in vain unless we are doing the Lord's work.