"1 Kings 10:
16 And king Solomon made two hundred targets of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one target. 
17 And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield; and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.
1 Kings 14:
25 And it came to pass in the fifth year of king Rehoboam, that Shishak king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem;
26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he even took away all; and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made.
27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brazen shields, and committed them unto the hands of the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house.
28 And it was so, when the king went into the house of the Lord, that the guard bore them, and brought them back into the guard chamber.
IN THESE passages there is contained the history of a great many people’s experience.
Rehoboam had suffered the loss of the golden shields which his father had made, but he kept up appearances with brass. Perhaps he persuaded himself that brazen shields were as good as golden ones.
No doubt they did look as well, if they were kept well rubbed up; but never-theless the value was not there.
In the same way many people who have had a real experience in the things of God, and who have allowed Satan to rob them of their treasure, have substituted the brass of formal profession for the pure gold of love and faith. It made as good a show, but they themselves were conscious, in spite of them-selves, that the value was not there."
E.J. Waggoner
