Fr. Mike reminds us that, eventually, the world will forget us. He encourages us to keep our eyes fixed on heaven, focusing on surrender and trust in God rather than control. Today's readings are 1 Kings 10, Ecclesiastes 8-9, and Psalm 8. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of today's Bible readings?
Using the Great Adventure Bible Timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. Today is day 152, and we are reading from 1 Kings 10, Ecclesiastes 8-9, and Psalm 8.
As always, the Bible translation that I'm reading from is the Revised Standard Version, the Second Catholic Edition, and I'm using the Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can visit ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year, and you can subscribe to this podcast by clicking on Subscribe. And that you know the drill.
As I said, it's first Kings chapter 10 today. So we're getting closer and closer to the end of King Solomon's reign. We're going to see the queen of Sheba and we're going to see how everyone's coming to see Solomon because of all of his wisdom and because of Now he's just, man, the guys are wealthy. He is rich. He is super rich. We're also coming closer and closer.
The day after tomorrow, we're encountering our second messianic checkpoint. So just the day after tomorrow, we're going to begin Mark chapters one and two. So excited to go back to the gospels after it's been a while since. It's been a minute since we had the gospel of John. But the day after tomorrow, we are in the gospel of Mark. So good.
We're also, as I said, 1 Kings 10, Ecclesiastes 8 and 9, we're praying Psalm 8. The first book of Kings, chapter 10. Visit of the Queen of Sheba. Now, when the Queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to test him with hard questions. She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and very much gold and precious stones.
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Chapter 2: Who visited Solomon and why?
And when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. And Solomon answered all her questions. There was nothing hidden from the king which he could not explain to her.
And when the queen of Sheba had seen all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his cupbearers, and his burnt offerings which he offered at the house of the Lord, there was no more spirit in her.
and she said to the king the report was true which i heard in my own land of your affairs and of your wisdom but i did not believe the reports until i came and my own eyes had seen it and behold the half was not told to me your wisdom and prosperity surpassed the report which i heard happy are your wives happy are these your servants who continually stand before you and hear your wisdom
Blessed be the Lord your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel. Because the Lord loved Israel forever, he has made you king, that you may execute justice and righteousness. Then she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents of gold and a very great quantity of spices and precious stones.
Never again came such an abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.
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Chapter 3: What wisdom did Solomon share with the Queen of Sheba?
moreover the fleet of hiram which brought gold from ophir brought from ophir a very great amount of almagwood and precious stones the king made of the almagwood supports for the house of the lord and for the king's house lyres also and harps for the singers no such almagwood has come or been seen to this day
And King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all that she desired, whatever she asked, besides what was given to her by the bounty of Solomon. So she turned and went back to her own land with her servants.
Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was 666 talents of gold, besides that which came from the traders and from the traffic of the merchants and from all the kings of Arabia and from the governors of the land. King Solomon made 200 large shields of beaten gold. 600 shekels of gold went into each shield. And he made 300 shields of beaten gold.
Three minus of gold went into each shield. And the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. The king also made a great ivory throne and overlaid it with the finest gold.
The throne had six steps, and at the back of the throne was a calf's head, and on each side of the seat were armrests and two lions standing besides the armrests, while twelve lions stood there, one on each end of a step on the six steps. The like of it was never made in any kingdom.
All King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold. None were of silver. It was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. For the king had a fleet of ships from Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram.
Once every three years, the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Thus, King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And the whole earth sought the presence of King Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.
Every one of them brought his present articles of silver and gold, garments, myrrh, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year. And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen. He had 1,400 chariots and 12,000 horsemen whom he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem.
And the king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stone, and he made cedar as plentiful as the sycamore of the Shephelah. And Solomon's import of horses was from Egypt and Cu, and the king's traders received them from Cu at a price. A chariot could be imported from Egypt for 600 shekels of silver and a horse for 150.
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Chapter 4: How does Ecclesiastes discuss the nature of wisdom?
But there was found in it a poor wise man, and he by his wisdom delivered the city. Yet no one remembered that poor man. But I say that wisdom is better than might, though the poor man's wisdom is despised and his words are not heeded. The words of the wise, heard in quiet, are better than the shouting of a ruler among fools. Wisdom is better than weapons of war, but one sinner destroys much good.
Psalm 8 Divine Majesty and Human Dignity To the Choir Master According to the Gitteth A Psalm of David O Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth! You whose glory above the heavens is chanted by the mouth of babies and infants, you have found a bulwark because of your foes to steal the enemy and the avenger.
When I look at your heavens, the work of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have established, What is man that you are mindful of him and the son of man that you care for him? Yet you have made him little less than the angels and you have crowned him with glory and honor. You have given him dominion over the works of your hands.
You have put all things under his feet, all sheep and oxen, and also the beasts of the field, the birds of the air and the fish of the sea, whatever passes along the paths of the sea. Oh Lord, our Lord, how majestic is your name in all the earth.
Father in heaven, you are great and glorious.
How majestic is your name? Gosh, and you've revealed your name to us, which boggles the mind, Lord God, and fills our hearts today. You not only have the majestic name, not only do you have the glorified name, but you have revealed your name to us, and you've also revealed
what the psalmist says, what David says, that we can look at the world around us and the universe, the billions upon billions of stars, the space that you've created. And yet what is man that you care for him? Who are we that you're mindful of us, that you're constantly attentive to us. And yet you are God because you have made us in your image and likeness.
And in Christ, you have made us your children. And so we just thank you. Thank you so much for being attentive to us. Thank you so much for creating us. Thank you so much for
sustaining us and redeeming us please receive our thanks this day lord in jesus name in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy spirit amen okay so again a lot of review when it comes to solomon's life at the end of solomon's life the wisdom of solomon when he visits the queen of sheba or she visits him really and other kings that come to visit him him with hiram
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Chapter 5: What insights does Ecclesiastes provide about life and fate?
What it is, is an honest assessment of how life actually is. That God's ways are inscrutable. We don't know what happens. That here's a sinner who gets ahead and here's a righteous person who doesn't get ahead. And yet the same fate happens to them all. We all end up just dying. Remember, one of the big, big takeaways, one of the big lessons for the book of Ecclesiastes is
is this, if all there is is this world, if all there is is this life, it's meaningless. If all there is is this life, then this life is meaningless because it all ends in death. If all there is in this world is this world, this world is meaningless because it just ends in death.
Basically, if we choose to live a life apart from God and there's nothing after this, then it simply is meaningless because nothing actually matters. Nothing truly endures. And yet, We know that while time will erase all things, there is something more than time. That's that recognition as the author of Ecclesiastes brings up again and again, that the day will come when no one knows your name.
The day will come when you're completely forgotten. In fact, that's the last story that the wise one tells in chapter nine. He says, here's an example of wisdom under the sun. Great city, few men in it. Great king came against it, besiege it. It was going to destroy the city. But this poor wise man, his wisdom delivered the city. And yet I don't even know his name. Nobody knows this person's name.
And that is, man, so good for us to know. I remember years ago, I have a spiritual director and my spiritual director, he stopped and we were talking and he said, you know, you're going to be forgotten really soon. He was kind of out of nowhere. We were just talking about stuff. And he's like, you know, you're going to be forgotten really quickly. And I was like, oh, yeah, Father, I know.
He's a priest. He's a hermit. Basically lives up in northern Minnesota. And he meets with priests for spiritual direction, some other people for spiritual direction. And he just had that word that, you know, you're going to be forgotten pretty quickly. He said, you know, you're not Thomas Aquinas. And I was like, oh, Father, absolutely. I am very much aware of this.
And I don't have any problem with that at all. And I think it's because this wisdom of Ecclesiastes, you know, I think that any person who's living in this life has thought about their life and the impact of their life has already come to that place of, yeah, I get it. I get it. At some point, very soon, I will be completely forgotten, even by the people who are close to me.
That's just how life goes. And that recognition of being able to be at peace with this is such a gift. It's a gift to any one of us to be able to be at peace with this because I know and we know that, yes, if all there is is this life, then this life doesn't mean anything. But this life is not all there is. And this life matters. Your life matters.
One last note in chapter nine, verse 11, just so powerful. Again, I saw that under the sun, the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, nor favor to the men of skill, but time and chance happened to them all. Oh, so good. It is, again, it's not sometimes just a matter of you're the smartest in the room.
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