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Today's reading was from 1st Kings 7 and 2nd Chronicles 4. Both passages detail the construction of the Temple—the House of the Lord. But 1st Kings also gives us the 13-year project of Solomon's own house, and it mentions that he built a house for the daughter of Pharaoh, his wife, as well. I believe there is a story hidden within the two approaches.

1st Kings was written for those in Babylonian exile as a way of explaining, "this is how we ended up here," and its narrative keeps both Judah and Israel in view. 2nd Chronicles, by contrast, was written after the exile, to the Judean exiles who had returned, to give them hope and a renewed identity. That difference in purpose shows up in the details. The fact that the author of 1st Kings set the building of Solomon's house right in the middle of the description of building the Lord's house is part of that "how did we get here" explanation. We're told in 1st Kings 6:38 that the Lord's house took 7 years to build, and in 1st Kings 7:1 that Solomon's house took almost twice that—13 years. But in the corresponding passage in 2nd Chronicles there is no mention of Solomon's palace at all; only later does the author note that the entire building project—both the Lord's house and Solomon's house—took 20 years (2nd Chronicles 8:1).

The returners already knew how they had ended up in exile; that detail was no longer needed after the fact. But for those still in exile, looking back and asking why, it was most certainly needed. Solomon was more concerned about his own luxury than the glory of God, and more concerned about his own pleasure than about pleasing God. When the people read 1st Kings 7:8, they would have remembered Deuteronomy 7:3–4 and 17:16–17,

Furthermore, you shall not intermarry with them; you shall not give your daughters to their sons, nor shall you take their daughters for your sons. For they will turn your sons away from following Me to serve other gods; then the anger of the Lord will be kindled against you and He will quickly destroy you. … Moreover, he shall not multiply horses for himself, nor shall he cause the people to return to Egypt to multiply horses, since the Lord has said to you, "You shall never again return that way." He shall not multiply wives for himself, or else his heart will turn away; nor shall he greatly increase silver and gold for himself.

Solomon had every one of these warnings before him, and he stepped over them one by one—the foreign wife, the horses from Egypt, the silver and gold, the house grander than God's. He reached for pleasure on his own terms and found it slipping through his fingers. And that is the irony at the heart of it: Solomon chased pleasure and lost it; true and lasting pleasure is found in giving God glory.

Takeaway: Prioritize your values by asking, Am I living for my comfort or God's glory? and Am I more concerned about my pleasure or about pleasing God?