Lesson - The Peaceful Time of Solomon's Reign

VERSES:   1 Kings 4:20-34

MEMORY VERSE:   1 Kings 4;29  "And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much...."

BOOK TO REMEMBER:   1 Chronicles.   Write "1 Chronicles"  on small slips of paper and hand out to the students at the end of class.

PRAYER:   Thank God for His mercy and love towards us. We know when we do God's Will and not our own will that He loves us and cares for us.

SPECIAL SONG:   The Wise Man (see March - Songs We Sing In Bible Class #3 on this blog)

VISUAL AID:   Bible map showing Solomon's kingdom, a large Activity to keep in class to read (see below)

LESSON POINTS:

• When Solomon had asked God for wisdom instead of long life, riches, or death to his enemies, God was so pleased with Solomon's request that God had promised Solomon that he would be given wisdom, and also riches and honor. Long life was a conditional promise which meant that there was something Solomon had to do in order to receive long life and that was he had to walk in the ways of his father, David, and obey God's commandments. God always keeps his promises. Always! 
• The people of Judah and Israel were numbered like the sands on the seashore. They ate, drank, and were merry without fear of war anywhere. All nations brought Solomon presents, paid tribute to him, and served Solomon all the days of his life. 
• In one day, Solomon and his people ate 30 measures of flour, 18 measures of meal, 10 fat oxen, 20 oxen out of the pastures, 100 sheep, besides, deer, roebucks, gazelles, and fattened birds. 
• His kingdom was huge! (Look on map.) It included the land south of the Euphrates River, and down to the Gulf of Aqaba near the Red Sea. It was a great area. The best part was that Solomon had peace all around him. Solomon's reign was very different from King David's reign. There were no wars or battles all the days of Solomon's reign as king. It was a time of peace..
• God gave Solomon many riches. He gave him 40,000 stalls of horses for his chariots and 12,000 horsemen. He gave him officers who would prepare the food for Solomon and all that came to the king's table; they lacked nothing. Even the horses and camels had all they wanted to eat. 
• God gave Solomon much wisdom and understanding and compassion. Solomon's wisdom could compare with no one else's, no matter where the lived. He was the wisest man who ever lived and he was very famous.  
• He spoke 3,000 proverbs and he had 1005 songs. He spoke of the cedar trees in Lebanon, animals, birds and fish. People came from everywhere to hear Solomon's wisdom and paid him much honor and respect. God truly blessed Solomon.

"Older Student" Tips:

• What a wonderful time to live! During Solomon's reign there was peace and security, much food, and people were happy. During King David's reign as King Of Israel, they felt safe because he ,through God's care, protected them, but there was much unrest. There was war after war after war and much bloodshed. Which king would you have rather lived under, David or Solomon?
• Discuss the word "conditional" and what it means. 
• A 'measure' is about 6 bushels or 220 liters.

ACTIVITY:   "The Peaceful Times Of Solomon's Reign" Book
Materials needed:  five sheets of 9" x 12" construction paper--orange, green, red, purple, and yellow--for each student, stapler, staples, marker, crayons, scissors.   NOTE:  Due to more drawing than usual, it is helpful if the Bible teacher cuts all 9" x 12" in half for each student and staples ten different colored paper together for younger students. If this is done by the teacher, please skip to #5.)

1. Hand out five sheets of different colored construction paper to each student.
2. Cut all papers in half.
3. Stack ten papers.
4. Staple 'book' three times on edge of book.
5. On cover, write "The Peaceful Tim Of Solomon's reign" and "1 Kings 4:20-34."
   
6. Open to next page, write "There was food." at the top of the paper.
   
7. Open to next page, write "It was a huge kingdom." at the top of the paper.
   
8. Open to next page, write "There were no battles or wars." at the top of the paper.
   
9. Open to next page, write "Solomon was rich." at the top of the page.
   
10. Open to next page, write "Even the horses and camels had food." at the top of the page.
    
11. Open to next page, write "Solomon was the wisest man." at the top of the page.
    
12. Open to next page, write "Solomon had honor and respect." at the top of the page.
    
13. Open to next page, write "He spoke 3,000 proverbs and 1,005 songs." at the top of the page.
    
14. Open to next page, write "God blessed Solomon." at the top of the paper and "Solomon obeyed God" at the bottom of the paper.
    
15. After writing the words, the students may go back and draw simple pictures depicting the words at the top of each page.
16. This should be a nice book for the students to take home and read.