SOLOMON'S ACCESSION--BUILDS THE TEMPLE--HIS COMMERCE

SOLOMON'S ACCESSION--BUILDS THE TEMPLE--HIS COMMERCE
SOLOMON AND HIS POWER
On the death of David, his son Solomon, who had been declared by him king of Israel, with the divine approbation, succeeded to the throne, to the universal satisfaction of the people. This event took place when he was about twenty years of age, and in the year 1030 B.C. Never monarch ascended the throne with greater advantages, or knew better how to secure and improve them. Under David the kingdom had been much extended, and brought under good regulations. The arms of the Hebrews had for so many years been feared by all the neighboring nations, so that the habit of respect and obedience on their part offered to the new king the reasonable prospect, confirmed by a divine promise, that his reign should be one of peace. Now, the predominant tribe of Judah lay as a lion and as a lioness, which no nation ventured to rouse up (Genesis 49:9; Numbers 23:24). The Hebrews were the ruling people, and their empire the principal monarchy of Western Asia. From the Mediterranean sea and the Phoenicians to the Euphrates, in its nearer and remoter bounds--from the river of Egypt and the Elanitic gulf to Berytus, Hamath, and Thapsacus, all were subject to the dominion of Solomon; nor were the tribes which wander in northern Arabia, eastward to the Persian gulf, unconscious of his rule. At home the Canaanites had not, as we have seen, been either entirely expelled or annihilated; but they had become obedient and peaceable subjects, and, which was of importance to an eastern king, liable to services which no king dared to impose upon the Israelites themselves. John calculates that their whole number may have been about four or five hundred thousand, since ultimately one hundred fifty-three thousand were able to render socage[296] to the king. The warlike and civilized Philistines, the Edomites, Moabites, and Ammonites, the Syrians of Damascus, and some tribes of the nomadic Arabians of the desert, were all tributary to him. The revenues derived from the subject states were large; and the wealth in the royal treasures great beyond calculation: and the king had the enterprise and talent to open new sources through which riches were poured into the country from distant lands. Nor were the prospects and promises with which this reign opened frustrated in its continuance. “Peace gave to all his subjects prosperity; the trade which he introduced brought wealth into the country, and promoted the sciences and arts, which there found an active protector in the king, who was himself distinguished for his learning. The building of the temple and of several palaces introduced foreign artists, by whom the Hebrews were instructed. Many foreigners, and even sovereign princes, were attracted to Jerusalem, in order to see and converse with the prosperous royal sage. The regular progress of all business, the arrangements for security from foreign and domestic enemies, the army, the cavalry, the armories, the chariots, the palaces, the royal household, the good order in the administration, and in the service of the court, excited as much admiration as the wisdom and learning of the viceroy of Jehovah. So much was effected by the single influence of David, because he scrupulously conformed himself to the theocracy of the Hebrew state.”[297]
[296] Land tenure by agricultural service or payment of rent
[297] Jahn, b. iv. sect. 33.
Such is the argument to the history of Solomon's reign, to the details of which we now proceed.
SON OF KING AND KINGDOM
Although Solomon was not the first-born, nor even the eldest living son of David, but succeeded to the throne through the special appointment of the Supreme King Jehovah, there was one circumstance which, from the usual notions of the Orientals, could not but be highly favorable to him, even had all his elder brothers been alive. Amnon had been born before his father became king, and Absalom and Adonijah while he was king of Judah only; while Solomon was born when his father was king over all Israel, and lord over many neighboring states. And in the East there is a strong prejudice in favor of him who is the son of the king and of the kingdom, that is, who is born while his father actually reigns over the states which he leaves at his death. Thus, therefore, if at the death of David, Amnon and Absalom had been alive, as well as Adonijah and Solomon, there might have been a contest among them on these grounds--Amnon would have claimed as the eldest son of David; Absalom would probably have disputed this claim on the ground, first, that he was the first-born after David became a king; and, secondly, on the ground that his mother was of a royal house: this claim could not have been disputed by Adonijah; but he would have considered his own claim good as against Amnon, on the one hand, and as against Solomon on the other. But Solomon might have claimed on the same ground as the others against Amnon; and against Absalom and Adonijah, on the ground that their father was only king of Judah when they were born, but king of all Israel at the time of his own birth. And this claim would, in fact, have been but a carrying out of the principle on which Absalom and Adonijah are supposed to oppose Amnon; and in this claim there would have seemed so much reason to an Oriental, that, apart from all other considerations, we doubt not it would have found many adherents in Israel; and we have no doubt that it did operate in producing a more cheerful acquiescence in the preference given to Solomon.
ADONIJAH'S TREACHERY
Soon after the death of his father, Solomon discovered a new plot of Adonijah's, so deeply laid and carefully veiled, that he even ventured to make the king's own mother, Bathsheba, an acting though unconscious party in it. And here it may be proper to observe, that in eastern countries, where polygamy is allowed, or not forbidden, by the law, and where the kings have numerous wives and concubines, there is no dignity analogous to that which the sole wife of a sovereign occupies in Europe. In fact, there is no queen, in the proper sense of the word, as applied to the consort of a king. But the mother of the king (and, next to her, or instead of her, the mother of the heir apparent) is the woman of the greatest influence and highest station in the state, and the one whose condition is the most queenly of any which the East affords. According to this view, Bathsheba--during the latter part of David's reign, as mother of the heir apparent, and during at least the early portion of Solomon's reign, as mother of the king--was, in fact, queen of, Israel; whence in both periods we find her taking a part in public affairs, which, however slight, is such as none but a woman so placed could have taken.
The first manifestation of Adonijah's design was to endeavor to procure permission to espouse Abishag, one of the wives of his father, whom he had taken in his last days and had left a virgin. He had the address to interest Bathsheba in his object, and to get her to propose the subject to the king, although part of what he said to her as an inducement was well calculated to awaken her suspicions: “Thou knowest,” said he, “that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel set their faces on me, that I should reign; howbeit, the kingdom is turned about, and is become my brother's, for it was his from the Lord.”
Great Mogul on his Throne

ADONIJAH AND JOAB SLAIN
The king was seated on his throne when Bathsheba appeared before him to urge the suit of Adonijah. He rose when he beheld her, and owed to her; after which he caused a seat to be brought and placed at his right hand for her. She then made “the one small petition” with which she was charged. The king instantly saw through the whole; and knew enough of the several parties to feel assured (or actually knew) that the measure had been prompted by Joab and Abiathar, or that at least they were parties to the ulterior design. According to what we have already stated respecting the widows of a deceased king, it is obvious that Solomon recognized in this insidious demand a plan formed to accredit the former pretensions of Adonijah. He therefore answered warmly, “And why dost thou ask Abishag, the Shunammite, for Adonijah? Ask for him the kingdom also; for he is mine elder brother, even for him, and for Abiathar the priest, and for Joab the son of Zeruiah.” By this he clearly intimated that he considered Joab and Abiathar as parties in this new plot, and, as such, liable to the punishments which he proceeded to inflict. Adonijah he ordered to be put to death, as one whom it was no longer safe to pardon. On receiving this news, Joab justified the suspicions (if not more) of the king, by fleeing for refuge to the sanctuary of the altar--a plain act of a guilty conscience. When this was told to Solomon, he ordered Benaiah to go and put him to death. Benaiah went, and ordered him, in the king's name, to come forth. This he refused, saying, “Nay, but I will die here!” either to the hope that Solomon would so far regard the altar as not to slay him, or that he would die there in the hope that God, whose altar it was, would be gracious to him. This being a new case, in which Benaiah liked not to act on his own responsibility, he returned to report the matter to the king, who, with great firmness, and with a freedom from superstition which shows how well he understood the letter and spirit of the law, said, “Do as he hath said, and slay him there, and bury him, that thou mayest take away the innocent blood, which Joab shed, from me and from the house of my father.” So Joab was slain at the altar, and buried in the garden of his own house to the wilderness. Benaiah, who had been his executioner, was made commander-in-chief in his room. It appears that in the Hebrew kingdom, as in some other ancient and in some modern states, it was the duty of the king's chief officer to execute his sentence upon high offenders.
Howdah of an Indian Prince

ABIATHAR SLAIN
As to Abiathar, who had before joined Adonijah, and was no stranger to the more recent intrigue, he had shared the fate of Joab, if the king had not been mindful of his early and long-continued attachment to David, and respected the sacred character he bore. He was commanded to withdraw to his estate in Anathoth, and no longer presume to exercise his sacerdotal functions. Thus was the house of Eli finally degraded in the person of Abiathar, and the house of Eleazar completely restored in the person of Zadok.
SHIMEI SLAIN
This affair reminded Solomon of the necessity of keeping watch over another disaffected person, Shimei, as counselled by David. He therefore ordered him to fix his residence in Jerusalem, which he engaged him by oath not to leave, forewarning him that the breach of this engagement would be at the expense of his life. Of this Shimei was properly mindful for two years; but then he was induced to leave the city, and event as far as Gath (a suspicious quarter) in pursuit of two runaway slaves. He was therefore, on his return, consigned to the sword of Benaiah.
SOLOMON MARRIES EGYPTIAN DAUGHTER
By the removal of these dangerous persons, Solomon felt his throne secured to him. He then sought an alliance worthy of the rank to which his kingdom had attained. The nearest power, from an alliance with which even he might derive honor, was that of Egypt. He therefore demanded and received the daughter of the reigning Pharaoh in marriage. His new spouse was received by the king of Israel with great magnificence, and was lodged in “the city of David,” until the new and splendid palace, which he had already commenced, should be completed. That Solomon should thus contract an alliance, on equal terms, with the reigning family of that great nation which had former held the Israelites to bondage, was, to the ordinary point of view, a great thing for him, and shows the relative importance into which the Hebrew kingdom had now risen. The king is in no part of Scripture blamed for this alliance, even in places where it seems unlikely that blame would have been spared had he been considered blameworthy; and as we know that the Egyptians were idolaters, this absence of blame may intimate that Solomon stipulated that the Egyptian princess should abandon the worship of her own gods, and conform to the Jewish law. This at least was what would be required by the law of Moses, which the king was not likely (at least, at this time of his life) to neglect. Nor need we suppose that the royal family of Egypt would make much difficulty in this; for, except among the Israelites, the religion of a woman has never in the East been considered of much consequence.
Solomon returning to Jerusalem

SOLOMON WORSHIPS AT TABERNACLE
Solomon, soon after, sought by his example to restore the proper order of public worship. At Gibeon was the tabernacle and altar of Moses, and there, notwithstanding the absence of the ark, the symbol of the divine presence, the Shechaniah, still abode. This therefore was, according to the law, the only proper seat of public worship, and the place to which the tribes should resort to render homage to the Great King. Therefore, at one of the religious festivals, the king repaired to Gibeon, accompanied by all his court, the officers of his army, and the chiefs and elders of his people, with a vast multitude of the people. There, in the midst of all the state and ceremony of the holy solemnities, the king presented, to be offered on the brazen altar, a thousand beasts, as a holocaust. This solemn act of homage from the young king was acceptable to God, who in the following night manifested himself to hint in a dream, and promised to satisfy whatever wish he might then form. Instead of expressing the usual desires which animate kings, as well as others, for wealth, and glory, and length of days, Solomon expressed his sense of the difficulties, to one so young, of the high station to which he had been called; and, humbly conscious of his lack of the experience required to conduct well the affairs of his large empire and numerous people, he prayed for wisdom--nothing but wisdom: “I am but a youth: I know not how to go or to come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people, whom thou hast chosen, a great people, that can not be numbered nor counted for--multitude. Give, therefore, thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and evil: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?” This request which Solomon had made was highly pleasing, to God. That which he had asked was promised to him in abounding measure-wisdom such as none before him had ever possessed, or should possess in future times: and since he had made so excellent a choice, that which he had not asked should also be given to him--riches and honors beyond all the kings of his time, and, beside this, length of days, if he continued in obedience. Solomon awoke; and feeling within himself that illumination of mind and spirit which assured him that his dream had indeed been oracular and divine, he returned with great joy to Jerusalem.
THE CASE OF TWO HARLOTS
Soon after this, the discharge of those judicial duties which engage so much of the attention of eastern kings, gave him an opportunity of displaying so much discernment as satisfied the people of his uncommon endowments, and his eminent qualifications for his high place. This was his celebrated judgment between the two harlots who both claimed a living child, and both disclaimed one that had died; in which he discovered the rightful owner of the living child by ailing forth that self-denying tenderness which always reigns in a mother's heart.[298] This produced the very best effect among all the people; for, generally, nothing is better understood and appreciated, popularly, than an acute and able judicial decision of some difficult point in a case easily understood, and by which the sympathies are much engaged.
[298] See the original narrative in 1 Kings 3:16-28
LEBANON TIMBER TRANSPORT
The preparations for the temple had from the first engaged the attention of Solomon. Among the first who sent to congratulate him on his succession was Hiram, king of Tyre, who has already been named as an attached friend and ally of David. The value of the friendship offered by this monarch was fully, appreciated by Solomon, who returned the embassy with a letter, in which he opened the noble design he entertained, and solicited the same sort of assistance in the furtherance of it, as the same king had rendered to his father David, when building his palace. Hiram assented with great willingness, and performed the required services with such fidelity and zeal, as laid the foundation of a lasting friendship between the kings, and to the formation of other mutually beneficial connections between them. The forests of the Lebanon mountains only could supply the timber required for this great work. Such of these forests as lay nearest the sea were in the possession of the Phoenicians among whom timber was in such constant demand that they had acquired great and acknowledged skill in the felling and transportation thereof, and hence it was of much importance that Hiram consented to employ large bodies of men in Lebanon to hew timber, as well as others to perform the service of bringing it down to the seaside, whence it was to be taken along the coast in floats to the port of Joppa, from which place it could be easily taken across the country to Jerusalem. This portion of the assistance rendered by Hiram was of the utmost value and importance. If he had declined Solomon's proposals, all else that he wanted might have been obtained from Egypt. But that country was so far from being able to supply timber, that it wanted it more than almost any nation.
HIRING OF SKILLED ARTISANS
Solomon also desired that Phoenician artificers of all descriptions should be sent to Jerusalem, particularly such as excelled in the arts of design, and in the working of gold, silver, and other metals, as well as precious stones; nor was he insensible of the value and beauty of those scarlet, purple, and other fine dyes, in the preparation and application of which the Tyrians excelled. Men skilled in all these branches of art were largely supplied by Hiram. He sent also a person of his own name, a Tyrian by birth, who seems to have been a second Bezaleel; for his abilities were so great, and his attainments so extensive and various, that he was skilled not only in the working of metals, but in all kinds of works in wood and stone, and even in embroidery, in tapestry, in dyes, and the manufacture of all sorts of fine cloth. And not only this, but his general attainments in art, and his inventive powers, enabled him to devise the means of executing, and to execute, whatever work in art might be proposed to him. This man was a treasure to Solomon, who made him overseer not only of the men whom the king of Tyre now sent, but of his own workmen, and those whom David had formerly engaged and retained in his employment.
PAYMENT OF SERVICES
In return for all these advantages, Solomon engaged on his part to furnish the king of Tyre yearly with 2,500 quarters of wheat, and 150,000 gallons of pure olive oil, for his own use, beside furnishing the men employed in Lebanon with the same corn quantities, respectively, of wheat and barley, and the same liquid quantities of wine and oil.
Josephus informs us that the correspondence on this subject between Solomon and Hiram, copies of which are given-by him as well as in the books of Kings and Chronicles, were in his time still preserved to the archives of Tyre.
TEMPLE FOUNDATION LAID
Three years were spent to preparation; but at last all was ready, and the foundation of this famous temple was laid id in the fourth year of Solomon's reign (1027 B.C.), in the second month, and finished to the eleventh year and eighth month; being a space of seven years and six months.
Many elaborate treatises have been written on this magnificent structure, but no satisfactory result has been obtained therefrom. This may arise from a mistaken reference to classical ideas and models, and from the scanty knowledge we possess of ancient and modern oriental architecture. Hence it is that modern commentators and illustrators of Scripture have generally shrunk from the subject; and hence the many conjectural plans which have been exhibited as illustrative of this far-famed building, must be looked upon as inconclusive. The only safe ground we have to go upon is Scripture, whence our account shall be derived, and, for the most part, in the sacred historian's own language.
DAVID UNABLE TO BUILD TEMPLE
We learn, from the history of David, that when he was raised to the throne of Israel, he piously resolved to erect a temple to the honor of Jehovah. Thus, in one of his beautiful psalms, he says: “Lord, remember David, and all his afflictions how he swore unto the Lord, and vowed unto the mighty God of Jacob; surely I will not come into the tabernacle of my house, nor go up into my bed; I will not give sleep to mine eyes, or slumber to mine eyelids, until I find out a place for the Lord, a habitation for the mighty God of Jacob,” Psalms 132:1-5. Because, however, David was a man of war, God, by his prophet Nathan, intimated to him that while he approved of his design, he nevertheless should not be permitted to build him a house; but, at the same time, he gave him a promise that his son and successor should fulfill his pious intention, see 1 Chronicles 17.
DAVID PREPARATIONS
The good monarch acquiesced in the Divine will; and, to enable his son to perform so glorious a work, he himself commenced preparations, and we find him, in his last moments, instructing Solomon in God's promises, and in his duty in building the temple, at the conclusion of which he states what material he had prepared for the undertaking: “Now, behold, in my trouble I have prepared for the house of the Lord a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand-thousand talents of silver; and of brass and iron without weight, for it is in abundance: timber also and stone have I prepared; and thou mayest add thereto. Moreover there are workmen with thee in abundance, hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work. Of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number. Arise, therefore, and be doing, and the Lord be with thee”--1 Chronicles 22:14-16. David, moreover, gave to Solomon “the pattern of the porch, and of the houses thereof, and of the treasuries thereof, and of the upper chambers thereof, and of the inner parlors thereof, and of the place of the mercy seat, and the pattern of all that he had by the spirit, of the courts of the house of the Lord, and of all the chambers round about, of the treasuries of the house of God and of the treasuries of the dedicated things; also for we courses of the priests and the Levites, and for all the work of the service of the house of the Lord, and for all the vessels of service in the house of the Lord. He gave of gold by weight for things of gold, for all instruments of all manner of service; silver also for all instruments of silver by weight, for all instruments of every kind of service: even the weight for the candlesticks of gold, and for their lamps of gold, by weight for every candlestick, and for the lamps thereof: and for the candlesticks of silver by weight, both for the candlestick, and also for the lamps thereof, according to the use of every candlestick. And by weight he gave gold for the tables of showbread, for every table; and likewise silver for the tables of silver: also pure gold for the flesh-hooks, and the bowls, and the cups; and for the golden basins he gave gold by weight for every basin; and likewise silver by weight for every basin of silver: and for the: altar of incense refined gold by weight; and gold for the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim, that spread out their wings, and covered the ark of the covenant of the Lord. All this, said David, the Lord made me to understand in writing by his hand upon me, even all the works of this pattern. And David said to Solomon his son, Be strong and of good courage, and do it: fear not, nor be dismayed, for the Lord God, even my God, will be with thee; he will not fail thee, nor forsake thee, until thou hast finished all the work for the service of the house of the Lord. And, behold, the courses of the priests and the Levites, even they shall be with thee for ail the service of the house of God: and there shall be with thee for all manner of workmanship every willing skilful man, for any manner of service: also the princes and all the people will be wholly at thy commandment,” 1 Chronicles 28:11-21.
SOLOMON COMMISSIONS HIRAM
The youthful monarch was not unmindful of his royal parent's charge. No sooner was he seated peaceably on his throne, than we find him addressing Hiram king of Tyre in these words: “Thou knowest how that David my father could not build a house unto the name of the Lord his God for the wars which were about him on every side, until the Lord put them under the soles of his feet. But now the Lord my God hath given me rest on every side, so that there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. And, behold, I purpose to build a house unto the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spake unto David my father, saying, Thy son whom I will set upon thy throne in thy room, he shall build a house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar-trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians,” 1 Kings 5:3-6.
NO HAMMERING ON SITE
In this request, as we have already stated, Hiram, who was the friend of Solomon, complied, and the building was commenced, in the four hundred and eighteenth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt. There were employed, in the construction of this building, one hundred and eighty-three thousand men, including Hebrews and Canaanites; and though everything was made ready ere it came to the spot, so that, in the language of Holy Writ, “there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was in building” 1 Kings 6:7.
The site on which the temple was built was Mount Moriah, “where the Lord a appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Oman the Jebusite” 2 Chronicles 2:1.
TEMPLE BUILDING
The description which the sacred historian gives of the building is as follows “And the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house ; and ten cubits was the breadth there of before the house. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights” (or windows broad within and narrow without). “And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: the nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests rotund about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. The door for the middle chamber was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third. So he built the house and finished it; and covered the house with beams and boards of cedar. And then he built chambers against all the house, five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar, both the floor of the house, and the walls of the ceiling: and he covered them on the inside with wood, and covered the floor of the house with planks of fir. And he built twenty cubits on the sides of the house, both the floor and the wails with boards of cedar: he even built them for it within, even for the oracle, even for the most holy place. And the house, that is the temple before it, was forty cubits long. And the cedar of the house within was carved with knops [gourds] and open flowers: all was cedar; there was no stone seen. And the oracle he prepared in the house within, to set there the ark of the covenant of the Lord. And the oracle in the forepart was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof: and he overlaid it with pure gold; and so covered the altar which was of cedar. So Solomon overlaid the house within with pure gold: and he made a partition by the chains of gold before the oracle; and he overlaid it with gold. And the whole house he overlaid with gold, until he had finished all the house; also the whole altar that was by the oracle he overlaid with gold. And within the oracle he made two cherubim of olive-tree, each ten cubits high. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub: from the uttermost part of the one wing unto the uttermost part of the other were ten cubits. And the other cherub was ten cubits: both the cherubim were of one measure and one size. The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, and so was it of the other cherub. And he set the cherubim within the inner house: and they stretched forth the wings of the cherubim, so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall ; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house. And he over laid the cherubim with gold. And he carved all the walls of the house round about with carved figures of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers within and without. And the floor of the house he overlaid with gold, within and without. And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive-tree: the lintel and side-posts were a fifth part of the wall. The two doors also were of olive-tree; and he carved upon them carvings of cherubim and palm-trees and open flowers, and overlaid them with gold, and spread gold upon the cherubim, and upon the palm-trees. So also made he for the door of the temple-posts of olive-tree, a fourth part of the wall. And the two doors were of fir-tree: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. And he carved thereon cherubim and palm-trees, and open flowers: and covered them with gold fitted upon the carved work. And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stone, and a row of cedar-beams” 1 Kings 6.
HIRAM'S PILLARS
In the next chapter we read of two remarkable pillars connected with the porch. Speaking of Hiram, whom Solomon had caused to be fetched from Tyre, to aid in the erection of the temple, the sacred historian says: “He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass; and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning, to work all works in brass. And he came to King Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of brass, of eighteen cubits high apiece; and a line of twelve cubits did compass either of them about. And he made two chapiters of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits: and nets of checkerwork and wreaths of chain-work, for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars; seven for the one chapiter, and seven for the other chapiter. And he made the pillars, and two rows round about upon the one network, to cover the chapiters that were upon the top, with pomegranates: and so did he for the other chapiter. And the chapiters that were upon the top of the pillars were of lily-work in the porch four cubits. And the chapiters upon the two pillars had pomegranates also above, over against the belly which was by the network: and the pomegranates were two hundred in rows round about upon the other chapiter. And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin” (which may be read, “it shall stand”); “and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz” (which may be read, “in strength,”) thus forming a kind of sentence, “It shall stand in strength”), 1 Kings 7:14-21. The reader will find other interesting details concerning the temple to the concluding verses of this chapter, and in the parallel chapters, 2 Chronicles 3-6; 1 Chronicles 22-29; and 1 Kings 7-8.
TEMPLE DEDICATED
The temple, with all things destined for its service, and every arrangement connected with it, being completed; its dedication was celebrated the year after, with a magnificence worthy of the object and the occasion. All the chief men in Israel were present--the heads of tribes, and paternal chiefs, together with multitudes of people from all parts of the land. The priests, if not the Levites, also attended in full force, the succession of the courses being afterward to commence. God himself was pleased to manifest his presence and his complacency by two striking miracles:
At the moment when the ark of the covenant, having been brought in high procession from its former place in “the city of David,” was deposited in the holy of holies, the numerous Levitical choirs thundered forth their well-known song--sent to the heavens by their united voices, and by the harmonious concord of a thousand instruments--“Praise Jehovah! for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever!” Suddenly, as at the consecration of the first tabernacle, the house of God was covered with a thick cloud, which filled it, and which enveloped all the assistants in such profound obscurity that the priests were unable to continue their services. This was a manifest symbol that God had accepted this as his house, his palace; and that his Presence had entered to inhabit there. It was so understood by Solomon, whose voice rose amidst the silence which ensued. “Jehovah said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have assuredly built for thee a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in forever!” The king stood on a brazen platform which had been erected in front of the altar; and now, turning to the people, he explained the origin and object of this building. After which “he spread forth his hands toward the heavens” to address himself to God. The prayer he offered on this occasion is one of the noblest and most sublime compositions in the Bible. It exhibits the most exalted conceptions of the omnipresence of God, and of his superintending providence; and dwells more especially on his peculiar protection of the Hebrew nation, from the time of its departure from Egypt, and imploring pardon and forgiveness for all their sins and transgressions in the land, and during those ensuing captivities which, in the same prophetic spirit that animated the last address of Moses, he appears to have foreseen. Nothing can be finer than that part of his long and beautiful address, in which, recurring to the idea of inhabitance which had been so forcibly brought before his mind, he cries, “But will God indeed dwell on the earth? Behold the heaven, and the heaven of heavens can not contain thee; how much less this house that I have builded!”
The king had no sooner concluded his prayer than a fire from the heavens descended upon the altar and consumed the burnt-offerings. All the Israelites beheld this prodigy, and bent their faces toward the earth in adoration, and repeated with one voice the praise which was the most acceptable to him: “He is good; his mercy endureth for ever!”
By these two signs the sanctuary and the altar received the same acceptance and consecration which had been granted in the wilderness to the tabernacle and the altar there.
SACRIFICES RESUMED
After this the sacrifices were resumed, and countless victims were offered. During two consecutive weeks the people celebrated this great solemnity with unabated zeal. It was the year of jubilee, which had probably been chosen as a season of general joy and leisure; and hence the unusually great concourse to Jerusalem. In this year the jubilee feast was followed by that of tabernacles, which explains the duration of this great festival beyond the seven days in which public festivals usually terminated. On the last day of the second feast, the king blessed the people, and dismissed them to their homes, to which they repaired, “joyful and glad of heart for all the good which Jehovah had done for David his servant, and for Israel his people.”
SOLOMON'S PALACES
Solomon having thus worthily accomplished the obligation imposed upon him by his father, felt himself at liberty to build various sumptuous structures, and undertake various works suited to the honor of his crown and the dignity of his great kingdom. All that can be said with reference to these will be little more than an amplification of his own statement on the subject: “I raised magnificent works; I built for myself houses; I planted for myself vineyards; I made for myself gardens and groves, and planted in them fruit-trees of every kind; I made also pools of water,[299] to water therewith the growing plantations. I bought men-servants and women-servants, and had servants born in my house; I possessed also herds and Rocks in abundance, more than any had before me in Jerusalem ; I collected also silver and gold, and precious treasure from kings and provinces; I procured men-singers and women-sinners, and the sweetest instruments of music, the delight of the children of men. Thus I became great, and possessed more than any who had been before me in Jerusalem,” (Ecclesiastes 2:3-9).
[299] Solomon's Pools--The pools of Solomon are situated about one hour's distance to the south of Bethlehem: and to them the king of Israel is supposed to refer in Ecclesiastes 2:4-6, where, among other magnificent works executed by him, he enumerates vineyards, gardens, orchards, and pools. These pools are three in number, of an oblong quadrangular form, cut out of the native rock, and are covered with a thick coat of plaster in the inside, and supported by abutments the workmanship through-out, like everything Jewish, is more remarkable for strength than beauty. They are situated in a most secluded situation, at the south end of a small valley, in the midst of mountains; and are so disposed on the sloping hill, that the water in the uppermost pool flows into the second, and thence into the third. That on the west is nearest to the source of the spring which supplies it with water, and is stated by Dr. Richardson to be 480 feet long; the second is about 600 feet, and the third about 660 feet in length. The breadth of them all is nearly the same; but no traveler, ancient or modern, has ascertained their depth. The pools communicate freely with each other, and are capable of containing a great quantity of water, which they discharge into a small aqueduct that conveys it to Jerusalem. This aqueduct was constructed all along on the surface of the ground, and framed of perforated stones let one into another, with a fillet round the cavity, so framed as to prevent leakage, and united to each other with so firm a cement that they will sometimes sooner break than endure a separation. These pipes were covered, for greater security, with a case or layer of smaller stones, which were laid over them in a very strong mortar. “The whole work,” says Maundrell, “seems to be endued with such absolute firmness, as if it had been designed for eternity. But the Turks have demonstrated, in this instance, that nothing can be so well wrought but they are able to destroy it. For of this strong aqueduct, which was carried formerly five or six leagues with so vast expense and labor, you now see only here and there a fragment remaining.”
The fountain whence these pools principally derive their waters is at the distance of about one hundred and forty paces from them. This, the friars of Bethlehem are fully persuaded, is the “sealed fountain” to which Solomon compares his bride (Solomon's SS 4:12). In confirmation of their opinion, they pretend a tradition, that King Solomon shut up these springs, and kept the door of them sealed with his signet, in order that he might preserve the waters for his drinking in their natural freshness and purity. Nor was it difficult thus to secure them as they rise under ground, and there is no avenue to them but by a little hole, like the mouth of a narrow well. Through this hole you descend directly, though not without some difficulty, for about four yards, when you arrive in a vaulted room, forty-five feet in length and twenty-four in breadth, adjoining to which there is another room of the same kind, but somewhat less. Both these rooms are covered with handsome stone arches, of great antiquity, which Maundrell thinks may be the work of Solomon.
Below these pools, at the distance of more than half a mile, is a deep valley, enclosed on each side by lofty mountains, which the monks of Bethlehem affirm to be the “enclosed garden” alluded to in Solomon's SS 4:12. Whether this conjecture (for it is no more than a conjecture) be well founded or not, Maundrell thinks it probable enough that the pools may be the same with Solomon's, there not being the like supply of excellent spring water to be met with anywhere else throughout Palestine. But if Solomon made the gardens in the rocky round now assigned for them; it may be safely affirmed, that he demonstrated greater power and wealth in finishing his design than he did wisdom in selecting the place for it.
The Pools of Solomon

LEBANON PALACE
Of the royal buildings to which allusion has been made, our more particular information is respecting the palace which the king built for himself, another for “Pharaoh's daughter,” and the house of the forest of Lebanon.” It is difficult, from the brief intimations which the scriptural history offers, to form a clear or connected idea of these buildings. The description of Josephus, although more precise, does not supply this deficiency; but by its assistance we may make out that the two palaces, for himself and the princess of Egypt, were not separate buildings, but, as the existing arrangements in oriental palaces would suggest, a distinct part, or wing, of the same building. It may assist the matter to understand that an oriental palace consists, for the most part, of a series of open quadrangles, with distinct appropriations, and each surrounded with buildings suitable to its appropriation. In fact, they are distinct buildings, connected only by communicating doors, similar in their general plan to each other, but differing much in size and workmanship. The quadrangle into which the gate of entrance opens usually contains the state apartments and offices; principally the hall in which the sovereign gives audience, sits in judgment, and transacts all public business. Hence the court is very often called “the gate,” of which we have a familiar instance in the Ottoman Porte, and of which examples are found in scripture with reference to the courts of the Hebrew, Babylonian, and Persian kings.[300] Now, from the description of Josephus, it would appear that the palace, as a whole, consisted of three quadrangles, of which that in the center contained the hall of audience and justice, and other state apartments, while that on the right hand formed the king's palace of residence, and that on the left was the palace of the Egyptian princess. The only point on which we are in doubt, is, whether the three quadrangles were on a line with each other, or that the one which contained the public halls was in advance of the others; for in this way, equally with the other, the palaces of the king and queen might be respectively described as to the right and left of the public building. There are some who think that “the house of the forest of Lebanon” was the same as this front or public portion of the whole pile; nor should we like absolutely to deny this, although it seems more probable that it was a royal residence in the neighborhood of Jerusalem, deriving its name either from the number of cedar pillars which supported its galleries and halls, of from the plantations by which it was surrounded. These structures were, for the most part, built with immense blocks of squared stones, and the whole was fitted up with cedar; while the nobler rooms and galleries were lined with slabs of costly polished marble to the floor, and were above enriched with sculptures (on the wall), and apparently with paintings (on the plaster), especially toward the ceiling, all of which we may conclude to have been very much in the style of similar things among the Egyptians, whose palaces were decorated after the same style. And if we have rightly interpreted Josephus to intimate that there were three ranges of ornaments in the principal rooms--polished slabs at the bottom, sculpture above, and painting toward the top, it would be very easy to show how the same ideas and distributions are retained in the palaces of the modern East, where, above basement slabs of looking-glass, are wrought recesses, and carvings, and arabesques, and ornaments of stucco (sculpture being interdicted); while toward the ceiling much highly-colored painting is displayed. If we may credit Josephus, “barbaric pearl and gold” were not wanting among the materials which contributed to the decoration of the more splendid apartments. The historian is at a loss for words to express the full conception, which the traditions of his fathers bad conveyed to his mind, of the splendors of Solomon's palatial buildings: “It would be an endless task,” he says, “to give a particular survey of this mighty mass of building; so many courts and other contrivances; such a variety of chambers and offices, great and small; long and large galleries; vast rooms of state, and others for feasting and entertainment, set out as richly as could be with costly furniture and gildings; besides, that all the service for the king's table were of pure gold. In a word, the whole palace was in a manner made up, from the base to the coping, of white marble, cedar, gold and silver, with precious stones here and there intermingled upon the walls and ceilings.”
[300] 2 Samuel 15:2; Esther 2:19; Daniel 2:49. Compare Matthew 16:18; see also Xenop. Cyrop. I. 3: viii. 3.
The descriptions in the Greek writers of the Persian courts in Susa and Ecbatana; the tales of the early travelers in the East about the kings of Samarcand or Cathay; and even the imagination of the oriental romancers and poets, have scarcely conceived a more splendid pageant than Solomon, seated on his throne of ivory, receiving the homage of distant princes who came to admire his magnificence, and put to the test his noted wisdom. This throne was of pure ivory, covered with gold; six steps led up to the seat, and on each side of the steps were twelve lions carved. All the vessels of his palace were of pure gold--silver was thought too mean: his armory was furnished with gold; two hundred targets and three hundred shields of beaten gold were suspended in the house of Lebanon. Josephus mentions a body of archers who escorted him from the city to his country palace, clad in dresses of Tyrian purple, and their hair powdered with gold dust. But, enormous as this wealth appears, the statement of his expenditure on the temple, and of his annual revenue, so passes all credibility, that any attempt at forming a calculation on the uncertain data we possess, may at once be abandoned as a hopeless task. No better proof can be given of the uncertainty of our authorities, of our imperfect knowledge of the Hebrew weights of money, and, above all, of our total ignorance of the relative value which the precious metals bore to the commodities of life, than the estimate, made by Dr. Prideaux, of the treasures left by David, amounting to eight hundred millions--nearly the capital of the national debt of England.
HIRAM GIVEN CITIES
Our inquiry into the sources of the vast wealth which Solomon undoubtedly possessed, may lead to more satisfactory, though still imperfect, results. The treasures of David were accumulated rather by conquest than by traffic. Some of the nations he subdued, particularly the Edomites, were wealthy. All the tribes seem to have worn a great deal of gold and silver in their ornaments and their armor; their idols were often of gold, and the treasuries of their temples perhaps contained considerable wealth. But during the reign of Solomon, almost the whole commerce of the world passed into his territories. The treaty with Tyre was of the utmost importance; nor is there any instance in which two neighboring nations so clearly saw, and so steadily pursued, without jealousy or mistrust, their mutual and inseparable interests. On one occasion only, when Solomon presented to Hiram twenty inland cities which he had conquered, Hiram expressed great dissatisfaction, and called the territory by the opprobrious name of Cabul. The Tyrian had perhaps cast a wistful eye on the noble bay and harbor of Acco, or Ptolemais, which the prudent Hebrew either would not or could not--since it was part of the promised land--dissever from his dominions. So strict was the confederacy, that Tyre may be considered the port of Palestine, Palestine the granary of Tyre. Tyre furnished the ship-builders and mariners; the fruitful plains of Palestine victualled the fleets, and supplied the manufacturers and merchants of the Phoenician league with all the necessaries of life.
SHIPPING
This league comprehended Tyre, Aradus, Sidon, perhaps Tripolis, Byblus and Berytus; the narrow slip of territory which belonged to these states was barren, rocky, and unproductive. The first branch of commerce, into which this enterprising people either admitted the Jews as regular partners, or at least permitted them to share its advantages, was the traffic of the Mediterranean. To every part of that sea the Phoenicians had pursued their discoveries; they had planted colonies, and worked the mines. This was the trade to Tarshish, so celebrated, that ships of Tarshish seem to have become the common name for large merchant vessels. Tarshish was probably a name as indefinite, as the West Indies in early European navigation, properly speaking, it was the south of Spain, then rich in mines of gold and silver, the Peru of Tyrian adventure. Whether or not as early as the days of Solomon--without doubt to the more flourishing period of Phoenicia; before the city on the mainland was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, and insular Tyre became the emporium--the Phoenician navies extended their voyages beyond the pillars of Hercules, where they founded Cadiz. Northward they sailed along the coast of France to the British isles southward along the African shore; where the boundaries of their navigation are quite uncertain, yet probably extended to the gold coast. The second branch of commerce was the inland trade with Egypt. This was carried on entirely by the Jews. Egypt supplied horses in vast numbers, and linen yarn. The valleys of the Nile produced flax in abundance; and the yarn, according to the description of the prudent housewife in the Proverbs, was spun and woven by the females in Palestine. The third, and more important branch, was the maritime trade by the Red sea. The conquests of David had already made the Jews masters of the eastern branch of this gulf. Solomon built or improved the towns and ports of Elath and Ezion-geber. Hence a fleet, manned by Tyrians, sailed for Ophir, their East Indies, as Tarshish was their West. They sailed along the eastern coast of Africa, in some part of which the real Ophir was probably situated. When the Egyptians under Necho, after the declension of the Israelitish kingdom, took possession of this branch of commerce, there seems little reason to doubt the plain and consistent account of Herodotus, that the Tyrians sailed round the continent of Africa. The whole maritime commerce, with eastern Asia, the southern shores of the Arabian peninsula, the coasts of the Persian gulf, and without doubt some parts of India, entered, in the same manner, the Red sea, and was brought to Elath and Ezion-geber.
COMMERCE
Besides this maritime traffic the caravan trade by land engaged a full share of Solomon's attention. By the possession of a southern frontier stretching across from the Elanitic gulf to the Mediterranean, the land traffic between Egypt and Syria lay completely at his mercy. He felt this, and through some arrangement with his father-in-law the king of Egypt, be contrived to monopolize it entirely in his own hands. It appears that what Syria chiefly required from Egypt were linen fabrics and yarn, for the manufacture of which that country had long been celebrated; also chariots, the extensive use of which in Egypt has already been pointed out; and horses, of which that country possessed a very excellent and superior breed, if we may judge from the numerous fine examples which the paintings and sculptures offer. All this trade Solomon appears to have intercepted and monopolized. He was supplied by contract, at a fixed price, with certain quantities adequate to the supply of the Syrian market, which, after retaining what he required for himself, his factors sold, doubtless at a high profit, to the different kings of Syria. The price was doubtless arbitrary, and dependant on times and circumstances; but the contract price at which the chariots and horses were supplied by the Egyptians to the Hebrew factors happens to be named--six hundred silver shekels for a chariot, and one fourth of that sum, or one hundred and fifty shekels, for a horse.
Tadmor (Palmyra)

CARAVAN TRADE
This was not the only land traffic which engaged the notice of Solomon. His attention was attracted to the extensive and valuable caravan trade which, from very remote ages, coming from the farther east, and the Persian gulf, proceeded to Egypt, Tyre, and other points on the Mediterranean, by the Euphrates and across the great Syrian desert. The habitable points of that desert, even to the great river, were now under the dominion of the Hebrew king, and even the Bedouin tribes by whom it was chiefly inhabited were brought under tribute to him, and were kept in order by the dread of his great name. Under these circumstances, Solomon was in nearly as favorable a position for taking a part in this trade as in the land traffic between Egypt and Syria. But the measures which he took were different, and more specially adapted to the circumstances of the case. They were less coercive, and dealt more in the offer of inducements and advantages. And the reason is obvious; for although the ordinary track of the great caravans lay through his territories, it was in the power of its conductors to alter that track so as to pass northward beyond the limits of his dominion; but this would have produced such expense, trouble and delay, that it would have been referable to maintain the old route even at the expense of some check and inconvenience. Whether the measures of Solomon were felt to be such, we do not know; they were possibly deemed by the caravan merchants and by the Hebrews, as mutually advantageous, although the ultimate purchasers, who could be no parties in this arrangement, possibly regarded them in a different light. The plan of Solomon was to erect in the very heart of the desert an emporium for this important trade. The route of a caravan is so directed as to include as many as possible of the places at which water may be found. At the most important of these stations, where water, and by consequence palm-trees, was found in the most abundance, the Hebrew king built a city and called it Tadmor[301] (a palm-tree), whence its Greek name of Palmyra. But Greek and Roman names never fixed themselves in the soil of Syria, and the ruins of the city bear, to this day, among the natives, the primitive name of Tadmor. Here the caravans not only found water as before, but every advantage of shelter and rest, while by this establishment Solomon was enabled more effectively to overawe the tribes, and to afford protection to the caravans from the predatory attempts and exactions of the Bedouins. Here the caravan merchants would soon find it convenient to dispose of their commodities, and leave the further distribution of them, to the nations west of the desert, either to the factors of Solomon, or to private merchants,-for we do not know to what extent the king found it advisable to have this trade free to his own subjects. It may be that private persons among his subjects, or even foreigners from the west, were not prevented from here meeting and dealing with the eastern merchants; but from the general--and with our present lights, we must say short-sighted--policy of Solomon's commercial doings, it may be inferred that he monopolized such advantages in this trade as he deemed safe or prudent. At the least, it must be presumed that he derived a considerable revenue, in the way of customs, from such merchandise as did not pass into the hands of his own factors; and this, however advantageous to the king, may have been felt by the caravan merchants but as a reasonable equivalent for the protection they enjoyed, and their freedom from the exactions of the Bedouins. Much of this, which we have stated as probably connected with the foundation of this city of the desert, is not stated in scripture: but it is deducible from the improbability that without strong inducements a city would have been founded in such a situation, and from the detection of these inducements in the commercial enterprises of Solomon, with the illustration applied to the particular instance, which is derivable from the fact that the wealth and glory in which the Palmyra of a later day appears, was due entirely to the circumstance that its position made it an emporium for the caravan trade of the desert. In fact, that it was such at a long subsequent date, and that its very existence depended on its being such, illustrates and justifies that intention in its foundation which, on the strongest circumstantial evidence, we have ventured to ascribe to Solomon.
[301] In the Ketib of 1 Kings 9:18 it is put Tamar, the proper word for a palm-tree, showing that Tadmore has the same meaning, and probably that the . is merely introduced for euphony.
SPICE TRADE
Besides these branches of commerce, “the traffic of the spice merchants” is mentioned among the sources from which wealth accrued to Solomon. In what form this profit was derived is not distinctly intimated. From the analogy of his other operations, we might conclude that he bought up the costly spices and aromatics brought by the spice caravans of southernmost Arabia, which must needs pass through his territories; and that after deducting what sufficed for the large consumption of his own nation, he sold the residue at an enhanced price to the neighboring nations. As it is certain that, from his own wants merely, an act of trade must have taken place between him and these caravans, this seems the more obvious conclusion, although, without this, he may have derived an important item of profit from this trade by levying customs upon it in its passage through his dominions.
MONARCHIAL COMMERCE
Such, as far as they can be traced, were the commercial operations of Solomon. It is quite easy now, and in a commercial country like our own, to see that these operations were, for the most part, based on wrong views and principles, inasmuch as however they might tend to the aggrandizement of the king, they could confer little solid and enduring benefit on the nation. But in the East, where the king is the state, and becomes himself the center of most public acts, he is seldom found to take interest in commerce, but from regarding it as a source of emolument to the state, by his direct and personal concern therein. The king himself is a trader, with such advantages resulting from his position, as inevitably exclude the private merchant from the field in which he appears. He is inevitably a monopolist; and a sovereign monopoly is, if not an evil, at least not a benefit to the people, whatever wealth it may seem to bring into the country. The river, however noble, gives fertility only to the banks which hem it in; and it, is only when its waters are drawn off in their course, and exhausted into a thousand channels, that they bless and glorify the wide country around. Solomon, in his book of Ecclesiastes, acquaints us with many “vanities” and “sore evils” which he saw “under the sun;” but from this statement we do not learn that he ever became conscious of the very great vanity and most sore evil of a rich king over a poor people, or of the system which makes the king rich while the people remain comparatively poor.
ANNUAL TRIBUTES OF FOREIGN STATES
Large revenues were derived from the annual tributes of the foreign states, which were now subject to the Hebrew scepter, or over which it exercised a more or less stringent influence. The kings and princes of such states appear to have sent their tribute in the form of quantities of the principal articles which their country produced, or was able to procure; as did also the governors of the provinces not left under the native princes. Besides the regular tax or tribute derived from countries more or less closely annexed to the Hebrew kingdom, there were more distant states which found it good policy to conciliate the favor of Solomon, or to avert his hostility by annual offerings, which, under the soft name of “presents,” formed no contemptible item of the royal revenue. Of that revenue one item is mentioned in rather singular terms: “All the earth sought to Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his heart. And they brought every man his present, utensils of silver, and utensils of gold, and garments, and armor, and spices, horses and mules, a rate year by year.” Here the terms “presents,” and “a rate year by year,” have a degree of opposition at the first view, which seems to require us to suppose either that those great men who had once resorted to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and to behold the manifestation of it in the ordering of his court and kingdom, not only brought with them the presents which the usages of the East rendered the necessary accompaniments of such visits, but that they continued to send from their several lands yearly gifts of compliment to him. Or else, that the desire of thus complimenting the monarch whom God had so eminently gifted, furnished a decent pretence to those who had other reasons for rendering a real tribute to him. The latter interpretation is that which we prefer. And it is certain that in the case of the only royal visit which is particularly described-that of the queen of Sheba--only such presents as she brought with her are named, and no “rate year by year” is intimated. Ethiopia was too remote to be within reach of the influences which may have determined the monarchs of nearer nations to make their “presents” to Solomon a yearly payment.
The articles mentioned in the extract just given, together with those named in other places, enable us to form some idea of the display which these annual or occasional renderings of tributes and of traffics must have offered. It has been the fashion of the East to make a show of such offerings by their being taken in procession to the palace of the king by the persons, arrayed in their varied costumes, by whom they were brought to the country. To this custom we have more than once had occasion to allude in the course of the present work. Many were the spectacles of this sort which must have delighted the eyes of the Israelites during the splendid reign of Solomon: There are paintings of. Egypt, and sculptures of Persia, which enable us to form some idea of these imposing exhibitions, which indeed are in strict correspondence with those which the courts of the East have still preserved. Of the representations to which we allude, the former is no less interesting and instructive from the details which it offers, than venerable from its high antiquity. It is at Thebes; represents the ambassadors of four nations bringing their tributes to Thothmes III, whose reign Sir J.G. Wilkinson ascribes to the time of the departure of the Israelites from Egypt. The general effect of this curious scene may be estimated from the annexed engraving, although in this attempt to embody the ideas which it offers, it has been necessary to omit many of the details which are included in the extensive original subject. It is remarkable that the classes of articles brought by the foreigners are all such as would be included in the classes of products rendered to Solomon. The articles vary with the country and costume of the nation by which they are brought. We see principally gold and silver money in rings; vases and other utensils of the same metal, of very various and often truly elegant shapes; baskets containing sealed bags, probably of jewels; baskets of fruits, carefully packed and covered with leaves to preserve their freshness; growing plants, in one instance we see a shrub transported in a growing state: it is enclosed with the mould in which it grows, in a kind of open case, which is carried between two men suspended from a pole, the ends of which rest on their shoulders. Then there are elephants' teeth, and beams of ebony and other valuable woods; and, besides the skins of various animals, particularly leopards, there is a most interesting exhibition of various living animals conducted to the king.
Tribute Bearers

Among these are giraffes, various well-distinguished species of apes and monkeys, leopards,and even bears. There were also oxen, of a different breed to that common in the country, as were probably the horses, which also figure in the procession, and which, with chariots, form perhaps the most remarkable objects of the whole, as being brought to a country which itself abounded in horses and chariots; but the horses were probably desirable to the Egyptians as of a foreign breed, and the chariots as a curious foreign manufacture. Upon the whole, a more striking and appropriate illustration of this part of Solomon's glory can not well be imagined.
Baalbee

EXPENDITURES
The wealth which flowed into the royal treasury from these various sources appears to have been freely disbursed by Solomon in enriching his buildings, in extending their number, and in the ordering of his court and kingdom. Besides the buildings which have already been pointed out, various public structures were built by him in Jerusalem, which city he also enclosed by new walls, fortified with strong towers. Other important towns (as Gaza) were fortified, and new ones built in different parts of the country. Besides Tadmor, which has already engaged our notice, Baalath is named among the towns built by him; and this is supposed by many to be no other than the afterward celebrated city of Baalbec, in the great valley of Coele-Syria.
It was from these various sources of wealth, that the precious metals and all other valuable commodities were in such abundance-that, in the figurative language of the sacred historian, silver was in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar-trees as sycamores.
SOLOMON'S MAGNIFICENCE
Solomon was not less celebrated for his wisdom than his magnificence. The visits of the neighboring princes, particularly that of the queen of Sheba (apart of Arabia Felix), were to admire the one, as much as the other. Hebrew tradition, perhaps the superstitious wonder of his own age, ascribed to Solomon the highest skill in magical arts, and even unbounded dominion overall the invisible world. More sober history recognizes in Solomon the great poet, naturalist, and moral philosopher of his time. His poetry, consisting of one thousand and five songs, except his epithalamium, and perhaps some of the Psalms, has entirely perished. His natural history of plants and animals has suffered the same fate. But the great part of the book of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes (perhaps more properly, reckoned as a poem) have preserved the conclusions of his moral wisdom.
SOLOMON DIES
The latter book, or poem, derives new interest, when considered as coming from the most voluptuous, magnificent, and instructed of monarchs, who sums tip the estimate of human life in the melancholy sentence--Vanity of vanities! vanity of vanities! It is a sad commentary on the termination of the splendid life and reign of the great Hebrew sovereign. For even had not this desponding confession been extorted by the satiety of passion, and the weariness of a spirit, over-excited by all the gratifications this word can bestow--had no higher wisdom suggested this humiliating conclusion--the state of his own powerful kingdom, during his declining years, might have furnished a melancholy lesson on the instability of human grandeur. Solomon, in his old age, was about to bequeath to his heir, an insecure throne, a discontented people, formidable enemies on the frontiers, and perhaps a contested succession. He could not even take refuge in the sanctuary of conscious innocence, and assume the dignity of suffering unmerited degradation; for he had set at defiance every principle of the Hebrew constitution. He had formed a connection with Egypt--he had multiplied a great force of cavalry--he had accumulated gold and silver--he had married many foreign wives. His seraglio was on as vast a scale as the rest of his expenditure--he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines. The influence of these women, not merely led him to permit an idolatrous worship within his dominions, but even Solomon had been so infatuated, as to consecrate to the obscene and barbarous deities of the neighboring nations, a part of one of the hills, which overlooked Jerusalem--a spot almost fronting the splendid temple, which he himself had built to the one Almighty God of the universe. Hence clouds on all sides gathered about his declining day. Hadad, one of the blood-royal of the Edomite princes, began to organize a revolt in that province, on which so much of the Jewish commerce depended. An adventurer seized on Damascus, and set up an independent sovereignty, thus endangering the communication on from Tadmor. A domestic enemy, still more dangerous, appeared in the person of Jeroboam, a man of great valor, supported by the prophet Ahijah, who foretold his future rule over the ten tribes. Though forced to fly, Jeroboam found an asylum with Shishak, or Sesac, the Sesonchosis of Manetho, who was raising the kingdom of Egypt to its former alarming grandeur; and not withstanding his alliance with Solomon, made no scruple against harboring his rebellious subject. Above all, the people were oppressed and dissatisfied; either because the enormous revenues of the kingdom were more than absorbed by the vast expenditure of the sovereign; or because the more productive branches of commerce were interrupted by the rebellions of the Edomites and Damascenes. At this period likewise, Solomon departed from the national, though iniquitous policy of his earlier reign, during which he had laid all the burdens of labor and taxation on the strangers, and exempted the Israelites from every claim but that of military service. The language held to Rehoboam, on his accession, shows that the people had suffered deeply in the arbitrary exactions of the king, who, with the state and splendor, had assumed the despotism of an oriental monarch. Hence the decline of the Jewish kingdom, supported rather by the fame of its sovereign, than by its inherent strength, was as rapid as its rise. Solomon died after a reign of forty years, and with him expired the glory and the power of the Jewish empire.