Metaphysical Bible Interpretation of I Kings Chapter 9
Metaphysically Interpreting I Kings 9:1-14
9:1And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, 9:2that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. 9:3And Jehovah 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 my heart shall be there perpetually. 9:4And as for thee, 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 mine ordinances; 9:5then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel.
9:6But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; 9:7then 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 peoples. 9:8And though this house is so high, yet shall every one that passeth by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house? 9:9and they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath Jehovah brought all this evil upon them.
9:10And it came to pass at the end of twenty years, wherein Solomon had built the two houses, the house of Jehovah and the king's house 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. 9:12And Hiram came out from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him; and they pleased him not. 9:13And he said, What cities are these which thou hast given me, my brother? And he called them the land of Cabul unto this day. 9:14And Hiram sent to the king sixscore talents of gold.
November 15, 1896: I Kings 9:1-9
In the consciousness of Understanding, two great undertakings are accomplished, the “building of the house of the Lord” and “building of the king's house”; the former occupying “eleven years” (10+1) and the latter thirteen years (12+1). The “house of the Lord” is the ideal body. This perfect ideal is not attained at a bound: it is the result of faithfully applied thought, sufficient for the perfect development of the ideal, as indicated by the ten years of building, “ten” denoting sufficiency, and to Spirit there is no time.
The “King's house” is this ideal externalized in perfect bodily conditions; so that this “house” shall have beauty and completeness worthy of a king. The “building of the king's house” is demonstration. It requires the ten years for “building the house of the Lord,” and two for externalizing the ideal. The perfect ideal is essential to the demonstration. The whole process is indicated by twelve years, and “12” signifies completeness. The one year added to the ten, making “eleven,” and to the twelve, making “thirteen,” is as necessary to perfect results, as the eighth note added to the scale in music; it indicates continuance, or the practical working of the principle.
9:1And it came to pass, when Solomon had finished the building of the house of Jehovah, and the king's house, and all Solomon's desire which he was pleased to do, -- The “building of the house of the Lord and the King's house,” constitutes (“all 12 years”) “of Solomon's desires which he was pleased to do;” it is finished work of manifesting our ideal in bodily conditions. “In my father's house are many mansions;” in the ideal realm (“father's house”) is a “mansion” (“King's house”) for everyone who will make the demonstration of externalizing his ideal, in a perfect body.
9:2that Jehovah appeared to Solomon the second time, as he had appeared unto him at Gibeon. -- Right at this point of perfect demonstration the Spirit speaks to the heart a timely warning, for there is a natural tendency to rest after successful “finished” work, which leads to careless thought and consequent danger.
9:3And Jehovah 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 my heart shall be there perpetually. -- True prayer, which comes from the heart, the spiritual center of being, is always heard by the Father; because there spiritual man “meets God face to face,” and knows all his desires are granted. The externalizing of our ideal in perfect condition “hallows this house,” establishing Divine conditions (“puts my name there”), Divine understanding and Love (“eyes and heart”).
9:4And as for thee, 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 mine ordinances; 9:5then I will establish the throne of thy kingdom over Israel for ever, according as I promised to David thy father, saying, There shall not fail thee a man upon the throne of Israel. -- The perpetuity of this complete dominion will continue, if we continue to walk in integrity and righteousness, according to the perfect standard of the “David” consciousness, which is “after God's own heart.”
9:6But if ye shall turn away from following me, ye or your children, and not keep my commandments and my statutes which I have set before you, but shall go and serve other gods, and worship them; -- “But if ye all turn from following me,” (the Christ within) “and go and serve other gods,” (of sense and worldliness)
9:7then 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 peoples. -- Then will that very idolatry dissipate spiritual thought from the mind (“cut off Israel out of the land”); and “this {ideal} house,” which, through your Spiritual thought the Lord has built and hallowed, will disappear from consciousness, only carnal thought remaining, which will speak of the Spiritual only as a jest and a “by-word.”
9:8And though this house is so high, yet shall every one that passeth by it be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house? -- And this “high” ideal “house” will be in contempt; men will say, if God is good and omnipotent, “why hath he done this?” Why does he afflict with sickness, poverty, suffering and death?
9:9and they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and laid hold on other gods, and worshipped them, and served them: therefore hath Jehovah brought all this evil upon them. -- The answer must ever be: “Because they forsook the Lord their God, and have taken up with other gods” (of sense and worldliness); “ye cannot serve God and mammon.” The same impartial, holy “Law of the Lord,” which, through faithful obedience, brought peace, joy, and health, will, through disobedience, bring discord, wretchedness, disease and death, exactly according to your own thought. “He that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap Life Everlasting.”
- UNITY magazine.
May 6, 1945: I Kings 9:1-7
How can we be sure that we have entered into the consciousness of God? By experiencing the peace of mind and heart that surpasses the understanding of the natural or sense consciousness. The imperishable body is a spiritual body within the mind and heart, and it is there that God dwells. “I have hallowed this house ... and mine eyes and my heart shall be there perpetually.”
Is peace an easy, natural condition that comes of itself? Universal peace is always existent, but before we can enter into it we must learn to observe its conditions. This is not an easy task, for it calls for real thinking and tireless work. It requires us to be conscious of others as one with us and of ourselves as one with all life. To sense consciousness such a conception is foolishness.
May 6, 1945: I Kings 9:1-7
World peace will come automatically when all the nations and the citizens of every nation know peace individually. But peace need not wait so long. It has waited thousands of years already on the individual process. It need not wait until one side or the other in the warring nations has exhausted its resources and its military might and is forced to accept whatever terms are imposed on it. Reason is out of place in war, nevertheless it can be brought to bear on the struggle. Reason is as strong in the mental realm as armament is in the external one. The former must be made to prevail over the latter.
– UNITY magazine.
Metaphysically Interpreting I Kings 9:15-25
9:15And this is the reason of the levy which king Solomon raised, to build the house of Jehovah, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer. 9:16Pharaoh king of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. 9:17And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-horon the nether, 9:18and Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land, 9:19and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. 9:20As for all the people that were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the children of Israel; 9:21their children that were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Solomon raise a levy of bondservants unto this day. 9:22But of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondservants; but they were the men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains, and rulers of his chariots and of his horsemen.
9:23These were the chief officers that were over Solomon's work, five hundred and fifty, who bare rule over the people that wrought in the work.
9:24But 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.
9:25And three times a year did Solomon offer burnt-offerings and peace-offerings upon the altar which he built unto Jehovah, burning incense therewith, upon the altar that was before Jehovah. So he finished the house.
Metaphysically Interpreting I Kings 9:26-28
9:26And 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. 9:27And Hiram sent in the navy his servants, shipmen that had knowledge of the sea, with the servants of Solomon. 9:28And they came to Ophir, and fetched from thence gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to king Solomon.
Transcribed by Lloyd Kinder on 02-05-2014
