August 15: 1Ki 10 | Jer 36 | Mk 10

Reading 1 - 1Ki 10

The visit of the Queen of Sheba is typical of the peoples of the Millennium coming to worship Christ. She had heard about Solomon's wisdom, and wanted to learn more for herself. Through our teaching of the people in the towns and villages over which we rule, the motivation for the visits to Christ at Jerusalem will be similar. The Queen of Sheba saw Solomon's wisdom through seeing the "sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel" (1Ki 10:4-8). It was through her observation of Solomon's people that she perceived and understood his wisdom. The nations will likewise learn the knowledge of Christ through observing the example of natural Israel and ourselves; as they should in this life too.

Reading 2 - Jer 36:21-24

"The king sent Jehudi to get the scroll [of Jeremiah], and Jehudi brought it from the room of Elishama the secretary and read it to the king and all the officials standing beside him. It was the ninth month and the king was sitting in the winter apartment, with a fire burning in the firepot in front of him. Whenever Jehudi had read three or four columns of the scroll, the king cut them off with a scribe's knife and threw them into the firepot, until the entire scroll was burned in the fire. The king and all his attendants who heard all these words showed no fear, nor did they tear their clothes" (Jer 36:21-24).

God's Word is a burning fire (Jer 20:9)! We can warm ourselves by it, but not in the way Jehoiakim did! Do we cut up and cast aside and burn God's Word?

The "scribe's knife" in the NIV is translated as "penknife" in the AV. Alan Hayward has an interesting comment about the use of a penknife, in much more modern times, which strangely echoes this incident:

"A very interesting book was published in the year 1900: 'A Bible Hand-book for the Use of Unbelievers.'