Bible Studies/King Solomon

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Expert: LEBoyd - 3/23/2008


Question
During the days that King Solomon was building the temple, his palace and the fortifications; did he use forced labor of the Israelites or was this forced labor from other nations?  I am unclear on this.  I know that they were only required to work so long and then they were sent home for a period?  Later on did they use whips on this forced labor and what they called scorpions?  What do you think God thought about all of Solomon's wives and concubines? Thanks for your time.

Answer
Valerie,

It's hard to know for sure, but it appears that most of the forced labor were from other nations.  However, I would suspect that some of the forced labor was from Israel, as it was not uncommon for Israelites to own Israelites as slaves.  There are many laws in the Old Testament that speaks of slavery amongst Israelites.

God has always been clear about the relationship between man and woman.  One man - one woman.  Many have suggested that God "tolerated" multiple wives, starting from Abraham, including David and Solomon and many others.  However, we see many terrible things that occurred because of this sin.

Some say we know God "tolerated" it because He didn't just kill David, Solomon or whomever.  But God doesn't just kill us when we sin, does He?  Is one sin worse than another?  Other than blasphemy of the Holy Spirit, sin is sin.  How does God handle those who sin?  We may have some punishment or consequences from our sin while we are alive, but the real punishment will come at the judgement.

Fortunately, for us Jesus came to take our place if we are obedient in confession, repentance, baptism, "walk in the light" and remain faithful until the end.

Hope this helps.

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LEBoyd

Expertise

I am available to answer questions on most subjects dealing with the Old and New Testaments. I have more than 30 years of detailed study in both Testaments. Additionally, I have studied the many facets of evolution, including a detailed study of Darwin's Origin of the Species. I am a fundamentalist, in that I believe that all Scripture is inspired, or God-breathed, (II Tim. 3:16). I believe that there are no contradictions in the Bible, and that the Bible is complete in telling us our purpose on earth, how to gain salvation and how we should live to obtain salvation. I believe in sin, Satan, heaven, hell, choice-immersion, grace as the free-gift of God and that one can fall from grace. I am a 'layman' in that I taught myself Hebrew (in the English alphabet) and Greek (in the Greek alphabet).

Experience

I have taught many adult classes on the Scriptures on many different subjects over the last 25 years. I have also debated many people (several at once) over subjects such as evolution, original sin, the Diety of Jesus, whether Jesus was perfect by choice, and so-called Biblical contradictions.

Education/Credentials
I am a layman, so I come as a self-trained "expert". I can provide copies of sermanets, classes and emails where I have debated Scripture with others. I do have a BBA and an MBA from a Top-10 MBA School. I also have several NASD/SEC licenses.

Awards and Honors
In Bibilical areas, I have scored the highest score, or in the top 10, with other adults in an all day annual test on specific Bible books. Some of these books were Luke, Revelation, Genesis, Exodus, Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronmy, Joshua, Judges, II Kings, and others. Currently, I am teaching an indepth study on the book of Judges.

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