WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:03.140 Ethan: Welcome to Immerse: the daily bible reading experience. 00:00:03.257 --> 00:00:04.397 Day 200 and 12 00:00:04.958 --> 00:00:09.118 solomon made an alliance with Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and 00:00:09.118 --> 00:00:10.558 married one of his daughters. 00:00:11.248 --> 00:00:14.728 He brought her to live in the city of David until he could finish building 00:00:14.733 --> 00:00:18.298 his palace and the temple of the Lord and the wall around the city. 00:00:19.478 --> 00:00:22.778 At that time, the people of Israel sacrificed their offerings 00:00:22.778 --> 00:00:23.778 at local places of worship. 00:00:24.868 --> 00:00:28.518 For a temple honoring the name of the Lord had not yet been built. 00:00:29.498 --> 00:00:33.658 Solomon loved the Lord and followed all the decrees of his father David, 00:00:34.128 --> 00:00:38.458 except that Solomon, too, offered sacrifices and burned incense 00:00:38.478 --> 00:00:40.008 at the local places of worship. 00:00:41.168 --> 00:00:44.398 The most important of these places of worship was at Gibeon. 00:00:44.998 --> 00:00:48.878 So the king went there and sacrificed one thousand burnt offerings. 00:00:49.798 --> 00:00:52.528 That night the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream. 00:00:53.093 --> 00:00:55.673 And God said, What do you want? 00:00:56.303 --> 00:00:58.093 Ask and I will give it to you. 00:00:59.393 --> 00:01:04.273 Solomon replied, You showed great and faithful love to your servant, 00:01:04.293 --> 00:01:09.613 my father David, because he was honest and true and faithful to you, 00:01:10.723 --> 00:01:14.813 and you have continued to show this great and faithful love to him today. 00:01:15.178 --> 00:01:17.458 By giving him a son to sit on his throne. 00:01:18.728 --> 00:01:24.188 Now, O Lord my God, you have made me king instead of my father David. 00:01:24.388 --> 00:01:27.548 But I am like a little child who doesn't know his way around. 00:01:28.138 --> 00:01:31.308 And here I am in the midst of your own chosen people. 00:01:31.828 --> 00:01:35.218 A nation so great and numerous they cannot be counted. 00:01:36.158 --> 00:01:41.178 Give me an understanding heart, so that I can govern your people well and know 00:01:41.178 --> 00:01:43.118 the difference between right and wrong. 00:01:44.148 --> 00:01:48.238 For who by himself is able to govern this great people of yours? 00:01:49.488 --> 00:01:52.578 The Lord was pleased that Solomon had asked for wisdom. 00:01:53.448 --> 00:01:58.428 So God replied, Because you have asked for wisdom in governing my 00:01:58.428 --> 00:02:02.808 people with justice, and have not asked for a long life, or wealth, 00:02:03.028 --> 00:02:04.428 or the death of your enemies. 00:02:05.068 --> 00:02:06.968 I will give you what you asked for. 00:02:07.978 --> 00:02:11.568 I will give you a wise and understanding heart, such as no 00:02:11.568 --> 00:02:13.978 one else has had or ever will have. 00:02:14.628 --> 00:02:19.378 And I will also give you what you did not ask for, riches and fame. 00:02:20.308 --> 00:02:24.968 No other king in all the world will be compared to you for the rest of your life. 00:02:25.468 --> 00:02:30.328 And if you follow me and obey my decrees and my commands as your father David 00:02:30.338 --> 00:02:32.798 did, I will give you a long life. 00:02:33.983 --> 00:02:37.243 Then Solomon woke up and realized it had been a dream. 00:02:38.223 --> 00:02:41.533 He returned to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Lord's 00:02:41.533 --> 00:02:45.683 Covenant, where he sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings. 00:02:46.563 --> 00:02:49.913 Then he invited all his officials to a great banquet. 00:02:51.523 --> 00:02:55.813 Sometime later, two prostitutes came to the king to have an argument settled. 00:02:56.593 --> 00:02:58.893 Please, my lord, one of them began. 00:02:59.603 --> 00:03:02.033 This woman and I live in the same house. 00:03:02.683 --> 00:03:06.073 I gave birth to a baby while she was with me in the house. 00:03:06.683 --> 00:03:09.243 Three days later this woman also had a baby. 00:03:09.783 --> 00:03:10.633 We were alone. 00:03:11.563 --> 00:03:13.553 There were only two of us in the house. 00:03:14.553 --> 00:03:17.653 But her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it. 00:03:18.243 --> 00:03:22.993 Then she got up in the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep. 00:03:23.913 --> 00:03:28.603 She laid her dead child in my arms and took mine to sleep beside her. 00:03:29.303 --> 00:03:33.013 And in the morning when I tried to nurse my son, he was dead. 00:03:33.913 --> 00:03:37.243 But when I looked more closely in the morning light, I saw 00:03:37.243 --> 00:03:39.013 that it wasn't my son at all. 00:03:40.233 --> 00:03:44.143 Then the other woman interrupted, It certainly was your son, 00:03:44.393 --> 00:03:46.233 and the living child is mine. 00:03:47.363 --> 00:03:53.183 No, the first woman said, The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours. 00:03:53.863 --> 00:03:56.603 And so they argued back and forth before the king. 00:03:57.483 --> 00:04:01.393 Then the king said, Let's get the fact straight. 00:04:02.003 --> 00:04:06.093 Both of you claim the living child is yours, and each says that the 00:04:06.093 --> 00:04:07.703 dead one belongs to the other. 00:04:08.688 --> 00:04:10.638 Alright, bring me a sword. 00:04:11.738 --> 00:04:13.458 So a sword was brought to the king. 00:04:14.258 --> 00:04:18.758 Then he said, Cut the living child in two and give half to 00:04:18.758 --> 00:04:20.248 one woman and half to the other. 00:04:21.288 --> 00:04:25.508 Then the woman who was the real mother of the living child and who loved him 00:04:25.508 --> 00:04:28.868 very much cried out, Oh no, my lord! 00:04:29.168 --> 00:04:30.128 Give her the child! 00:04:30.158 --> 00:04:31.308 Please do not kill him! 00:04:32.268 --> 00:04:36.078 But the other woman said, All right, he will be neither yours 00:04:36.088 --> 00:04:38.078 nor mine, divide him between us. 00:04:39.208 --> 00:04:44.378 Then the king said, Do not kill the child, but give him to the woman who 00:04:44.378 --> 00:04:46.998 wants him to live, for she is his mother. 00:04:48.338 --> 00:04:52.238 When all Israel heard the king's decision, the people were in awe of 00:04:52.238 --> 00:04:57.018 the king, for they saw the wisdom God had given him for rendering justice. 00:04:59.138 --> 00:05:01.978 This concludes today's Immerse Reading Experience. 00:05:02.128 --> 00:05:03.318 Thank you for joining us.