Would You Give Away Gold For Brass?

Would you give away gold for brass?

1 Kings 14:26 & 27 “And he took away…the shields of gold which Solomon had made and king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields…”

Rehoboam inherited a kingdom of gold. Though it was divided because of Solomon’s sin Rehoboam would get the national treasury. He went on pretty well as king for five years but after that he turned from the Lord, thinking he could do his own thing without being held accountable to God. He was wrong and the Lord removed his hand of protection and allowed the Egyptian king to invade and conquer Rehoboam. This Egyptian king took the wealth of the national treasury along with the shields of gold. Rehoboam decided he could fix the problem by replacing them with brazen shields. There is a big difference between gold and brass. Brass tarnishes and is not worth near as much as gold. Ask an Olympian who won gold if he would trade his medal for a bronze, there’s no way. Rehoboam’s sin turned a golden kingdom into a bronze. Oh sure, it’s still useful but not the same. He made a choice and it was to give away the gold and trade it for bronze. How often do we as God’s people give away gold for bronze? When we don’t give a task our best effort, we are giving away gold for bronze. When we neglect our eternal purpose for a temporal desire, we are trading gold for brass.

It’s significant that it was the king of Egypt who took the gold. Egypt is a type of the world system throughout scriptures. The world will put pressure on you to give up your gold (testimony). May God help us to hold on to the golden inheritance we have received as his children while journeying through this life.

Essau gave up his birthright (gold) for a pot of chili(bronze) and never did recover. Judas gave up the Saviour (gold) for thirty pieces of silver (bronze). Demas gave up serving the Lord with the apostle Paul (gold) because he loved this world (bronze). God gave us gold in spiritual blessings don’t give them up.

On a positive note, Joseph was tempted to give up his integrity (gold) when he was hit on by Potifer’s wife. Glory to God! She may have got his coat but not his (integrity) gold! Daniel had to purpose in his heart he wouldn’t give up his testimony (gold) and because of that decision God used him to convert the king of Babylon! Keep your gold Christian, you won’t regret it!


^