"The weight of the gold that Solomon received yearly was [about 25 tons] . . . All King Solomon's goblets were gold, and all the household articles in the Palace of the Forest of Lebanon were pure gold. Nothing was made of silver, because silver was considered of little value in Solomon's days . . . The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones." From 1 Kings 10Reading the story of Solomon's wealth is staggering. THAT kind of wealth in THAT day is mind-blowing. It makes me think of all the rocks I used to send zinging into the pasture with my baseball bat: 3,000 years ago in Jerusalem I could have been knocking chunks of silver into the wild blue!
It also makes me think of this incredible metal that men hold dear. From heads of state to thieves to financial markets and even to the set decorators for certain television "ministries", gold is highly prized.
A lot of folks seem to get really excited about the streets of the heavenly city being paved with gold. I have to think it's that way, not to describe how ritzy heaven will be (almost sounds gaudy, no?) but to diminish the importance of the things we tend to value so highly here on earth.
Once the redeemed are in heaven, the stuff people sought after their whole lives is going to be underfoot. The real treasure will be seated on a throne in incomparable glory! God's glory and God's Word are the pinnacle of what is truly valuable.
The law from your mouth is more precious to me than thousands of pieces of silver and gold. Psalm 119:72
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