Daily Lesson for June 9, 2020

Today's Daily Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 7 verses 13 and 14:

13 Now King Solomon invited and received Hiram from Tyre. 14 He was the son of a widow of the tribe of Naphtali, whose father, a man of Tyre, had been an artisan in bronze; he was full of skill, intelligence, and knowledge in working bronze. He came to King Solomon, and did all his work. Many of you may be familiar with the beauty of the West Campus of Duke University and especially its iconic Duke University Chapel set at the center of the University Quad.  With its great stone work and gothic towers, the whole campus and of Duke University and particularly its Chapel are indeed 20th century architectural masterpieces. But what many do not know is that the primary architect for the Campus and its Chapel was an African American Philadelphian named Julian Abele, whose genius was incomparable and worthy of construction of the Duke University, but whose color would have kept him from eligibility as one of its students and did keep him from the full notoriety he should have received for his contribution to the great "Harvard of the South". Ah, but he was there at the founding -- a poetic irony and a kind of prophetic parable for perhaps not only the campus but also the country. The chief architect of the Solomon's Temple was a man of mixed blood, whose mother was Israelite but whose father was of Tyre.  He was not pure.  And his place in the finished Temple would, like Julian Abele's at Duke, would have been suspect.  But he was there in the beginning. And, his descendants would be there in the end . . . NOTE: We are reading the whole Bible through this year.  Tomorrow's Lesson comes from 1 Kings chapter 8 and 2 Chronicles chapter 5.