Today's Readings And Stuff --- Wednesday, 30 May 2018

Sad to report that today is the last Wednesday in May.  Sad because May is my very favorite month of the year, one of the few I like at all, and it's drawing to an end.  In like fashion, we have only a few weeks of Spring left.  Our "day" is now 14 hours 54 minutes long, gaining slightly over a minute by tomorrow.  I'd like it to remain there year-around, but we don't get to vote on that.

Wife was over next door with the great-niece and great-nephew.  Mom was at work.  Dad was doing some work, some under-the-table stuff I believe, since he lost his job (and insurance and all that) several weeks ago.  They're not in great shape financially; we're not great either but we're helping in other ways as we are able.

And a "song of the day" in mind all day.  Sitting At The Feet Of Jesus.  Yes, that is where we long to be.  And, in Eternity, will be.

Lyrics

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
Oh, what words I hear Him say! 
Happy place! so near, so precious! 
May it find me there each day; 

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
I would look upon the past; 
For His love has been so gracious, 
It has won my heart at last. 

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
Where can mortal be more blest? 
There I lay my sins and sorrows, 
And, when weary, find sweet rest; 

Sitting at the feet of Jesus, 
There I love to weep and pray; 
While I from His fullness gather 
Grace and comfort every day. 

Bless me, O my Savior, bless me, 
As I sit low at Thy feet 
Oh, look down in love upon me, 
Let me see Thy face so sweet; 

 Give me, Lord, the mind of Jesus, 
Keep me holy as He is; 
May I prove I’ve been with Jesus, 
Who is all my righteousness.

as the old preacher used to say, "Can I get an AMEN! on that?"  Sure can.

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Today, the beginning of the construction of the 1st Temple, sometimes called Solomon's Temple.

1st Kings 5

1  And Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants unto Solomon; for he had heard that they had anointed him king in the room of his father: for Hiram was ever a lover of David.

2  And Solomon sent to Hiram, saying,

3  Thou knowest how that David my father could not build an house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet.

4  But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent.

5  And, behold, I purpose to build an house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son, whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name.

6  Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

7  And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people.

8  And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir.

9  My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

10  So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire.

11  And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year.

12  And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

13  And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men.

14  And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy.

15  And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains;

16  Beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work.

17  And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house.

18  And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.

1st Kings 6

1  And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord.

2  And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits.

3  And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house.

4  And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

5  And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about:

6  The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house.

7  And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither: so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building.

8  The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third.side: Heb. shoulder

9  So he built the house, and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar.

10  And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar.

11  And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying,

12  Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father:

13  And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel.

14  So Solomon built the house, and finished it.

15  And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir.

16  And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the walls with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place.

17  And the house, that is, the temple before it, was forty cubits long.

18  And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen

19  And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord.

20  And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar.

21  So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold.

22  And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house: also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold.

23  And within the oracle he made two cherubims of olive tree, each ten cubits high.

24  And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits.

25  And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubims were of one measure and one size.

26  The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub.

27  And he set the cherubims within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubims, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.

28  And he overlaid the cherubims with gold.

29  And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, within and without.

30  And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without.

31  And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part of the wall.

32  The two doors also were of olive tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubims and palm trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubims, and upon the palm trees.

33  So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part of the wall.

34  And the two doors were of fir tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding.

35  And he carved thereon cherubims and palm trees and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work.

36  And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar beams.

37  In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif:

38  And in the eleventh year, in the month Bul, which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

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Psalm 108

A Song or Psalm of David.

 

1  O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and give praise, even with my glory.

2  Awake, psaltery and harp: I myself will awake early.

3  I will praise thee, O Lord, among the people: and I will sing praises unto thee among the nations.

4  For thy mercy is great above the heavens: and thy truth reacheth unto the clouds.clouds: or, skies

5  Be thou exalted, O God, above the heavens: and thy glory above all the earth;

6  That thy beloved may be delivered: save with thy right hand, and answer me.

7  God hath spoken in his holiness; I will rejoice, I will divide Shechem, and mete out the valley of Succoth.

8  Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;

9  Moab is my washpot; over Edom will I cast out my shoe; over Philistia will I triumph.

10  Who will bring me into the strong city? who will lead me into Edom?

11  Wilt not thou, O God, who hast cast us off? and wilt not thou, O God, go forth with our hosts?

12  Give us help from trouble: for vain is the help of man.

13  Through God we shall do valiantly: for he it is that shall tread down our enemies.

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Acts 19

1  And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper coasts came to Ephesus: and finding certain disciples,

2  He said unto them, Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed? And they said unto him, We have not so much as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.

3  And he said unto them, Unto what then were ye baptized? And they said, Unto John's baptism.

4  Then said Paul, John verily baptized with the baptism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they should believe on him which should come after him, that is, on Christ Jesus.

5  When they heard this, they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.

6  And when Paul had laid his hands upon them, the Holy Ghost came on them; and they spake with tongues, and prophesied.

7  And all the men were about twelve.

8  And he went into the synagogue, and spake boldly for the space of three months, disputing and persuading the things concerning the kingdom of God.

9  But when divers were hardened, and believed not, but spake evil of that way before the multitude, he departed from them, and separated the disciples, disputing daily in the school of one Tyrannus.

10  And this continued by the space of two years; so that all they which dwelt in Asia heard the word of the Lord Jesus, both Jews and Greeks.

11  And God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul:

12  So that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them.

13  Then certain of the vagabond Jews, exorcists, took upon them to call over them which had evil spirits the name of the Lord Jesus, saying, We adjure you by Jesus whom Paul preacheth.

14  And there were seven sons of one Sceva, a Jew, and chief of the priests, which did so.

15  And the evil spirit answered and said, Jesus I know, and Paul I know; but who are ye?

16  And the man in whom the evil spirit was leaped on them, and overcame them, and prevailed against them, so that they fled out of that house naked and wounded.

17  And this was known to all the Jews and Greeks also dwelling at Ephesus; and fear fell on them all, and the name of the Lord Jesus was magnified.

18  And many that believed came, and confessed, and shewed their deeds.

19  Many of them also which used curious arts brought their books together, and burned them before all men: and they counted the price of them, and found it fifty thousand pieces of silver.

20  So mightily grew the word of God and prevailed.

21  After these things were ended, Paul purposed in the spirit, when he had passed through Macedonia and Achaia, to go to Jerusalem, saying, After I have been there, I must also see Rome.

22  So he sent into Macedonia two of them that ministered unto him, Timothy and Erastus; but he himself stayed in Asia for a season.

23  And the same time there arose no small stir about that way.

24For a certain man named Demetrius, a silversmith, which made silver shrines for Diana, brought no small gain unto the craftsmen;

25  Whom he called together with the workmen of like occupation, and said, Sirs, ye know that by this craft we have our wealth.

26  Moreover ye see and hear, that not alone at Ephesus, but almost throughout all Asia, this Paul hath persuaded and turned away much people, saying that they be no gods, which are made with hands:

27  So that not only this our craft is in danger to be set at nought; but also that the temple of the great goddess Diana should be despised, and her magnificence should be destroyed, whom all Asia and the world worshippeth.

28  And when they heard these sayings, they were full of wrath, and cried out, saying, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

29  And the whole city was filled with confusion: and having caught Gaius and Aristarchus, men of Macedonia, Paul's companions in travel, they rushed with one accord into the theatre.

30  And when Paul would have entered in unto the people, the disciples suffered him not.

31  And certain of the chief of Asia, which were his friends, sent unto him, desiring him that he would not adventure himself into the theatre.

32  Some therefore cried one thing, and some another: for the assembly was confused; and the more part knew not wherefore they were come together.

33  And they drew Alexander out of the multitude, the Jews putting him forward. And Alexander beckoned with the hand, and would have made his defence unto the people.

34  But when they knew that he was a Jew, all with one voice about the space of two hours cried out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians.

35  And when the townclerk had appeased the people, he said, Ye men of Ephesus, what man is there that knoweth not how that the city of the Ephesians is a worshipper of the great goddess Diana, and of the image which fell down from Jupiter?

36  Seeing then that these things cannot be spoken against, ye ought to be quiet, and to do nothing rashly.

37  For ye have brought hither these men, which are neither robbers of churches, nor yet blasphemers of your goddess.

38  Wherefore if Demetrius, and the craftsmen which are with him, have a matter against any man, the law is open, and there are deputies: let them implead one another.

39  But if ye enquire any thing concerning other matters, it shall be determined in a lawful assembly.

40  For we are in danger to be called in question for this day's uproar, there being no cause whereby we may give an account of this concourse.

41  And when he had thus spoken, he dismissed the assembly.