082. LVIII. The Splendor And Weakness Of Solomon’s Reign
§ LVIII. THE SPLENDOR AND WEAKNESS OF SOLOMON’S REIGN 1 Kings 7:1-3, 1 Kings 9:24, 1 Kings 7:9-12, 1 Kings 9:11-28, 1 Kings 11:1-43
1. House of Lebanon and Hall of Judgment. And Solomon was building his palace thirteen years, until he had completely finished his palace. There also he built the House of the Forest of Lebanon; its length was a hundred cubits, and its breadth fifty cubits, and its height thirty cubits, upon three rows of cedar pillars, with cedar beams upon the pillars. And it was covered with cedar above over the forty-five beams, that were upon the pillars; and there were fifteen pillars in each row. And there were window-frames in three rows, and window was over against window in three tiers. And all the doors and windows were made with square frames; and door was over against door in three tiers. And the hall of pillars he made fifty cubits long and thirty cubits broad; and a porch before them and pillars and a threshold before them. And he made the throne-hall where he was to judge, even the Hall of Judgment; and it was covered with cedar from floor to ceiling.
2. Solomon’s private palace. And his palace, where he was to dwell, in another court farther in from the hall of Judgment, was of the same workmanship. He also made a palace for Pharaoh’s daughter (whom Solomon had taken as wife), similar to his hall. And Pharaoh’s daughter came up out of the city of David to her palace which Solomon had built for her.
3. Materials used in the palace. All these were of costly stones, hewn according to measurements, sawed with saws, both on the interior and on the exterior, even from the foundation to the coping, and from the exterior to the great court. And the foundation was of costly great stones—stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits. And above were costly stones, hewn according to measurements, and cedar wood. And the great encircling court had three courses of hewn stone and a course of cedar beams; even so it was round about the inner court of the temple of Jehovah and the court of the porch of the palace.
4. Hiram’s compensation. King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee. But when Hiram came from Tyre to see the cities which Solomon had given him, he was displeased with them. And he said, What sort of cities are these which you have given me, my brother? So they are called the land of Cabul [Good for nothing] even to the present day. But Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold.
5. Solomon’s additional buildings and forced levies. And this is the way it was with the levy which King Solomon raised to build the temple of Jehovah, his own palace, Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, lower Bethhoron, Baalath, and Tamar in the wilderness in the land of Judah, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon was pleased to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, in Lebanon, and in all the land over which he ruled. All the people who were left of the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, who were not of the Israelites, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the Israelites were not able utterly to destroy, of them did Solomon raise a forced levy of bondmen, even to this day. But of the Israelites Solomon made no bondmen, for they were the warriors and his servants, his generals, his captains, his officers over his chariots, and his horsemen.
6. Officers. These were the chief officers who were over Solomon’s work, five hundred and fifty, who directed the people who did the work.
7. His Red Sea fleet. And King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Ezion-geber, which is near Elath on the shore of the Red Sea in the land of Edom. And Hiram sent with the fleet his subjects—seamen, who had knowledge of the sea, together with the servants of Solomon. And they went to Ophir, and took from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and brought it to King Solomon.
8. Products brought by Hiram’s fleet. And Hiram’s fleet of ships, that bore gold from Ophir, also brought a great amount of red sandal wood and precious stones. And the king made of the sandal wood from Ophir pilasters for the temple of Jehovah, and for the royal palace, and lyres and harps for the singers. There came no other such sandal wood nor has the like been seen to the present day.
9. Solomon’s income in gold. Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold, besides what came from the traffic of the merchants and from all the kings of the Arabians and from the governors of the country.
10. His bucklers. And King Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold—six hundred shekels (about eleven and one-half pounds) of gold went on one buckler—and three hundred shields of beaten gold—three minahs (about three and one-half pounds) of gold went on one shield—and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon.
11. His throne. The king also made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. The throne had six steps and behind the throne were heads of calves, and on both sides of the seat were arms, and beside the arms stood two lions, on the six steps stood twelve lions on each side. The like was not made in any kingdom.
12. His royal income. And all King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold: none were of silver; it was accounted of no value in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a fleet of Tarshish ships with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish ships came bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes and peacocks. So King Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, with which God had endowed his mind. And they brought each a present: vessels of silver and gold, clothing, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, year by year.
13. His chariots and trade in horses. And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen; and he had one thousand, four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen that he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king at Jerusalem. Solomon’s import of horses was from Mucri and Kuë; the king’s traders received them from Kuë at a price, so that a chariot could be imported from Mucri for six hundred shekels of silver and a horse for a hundred and fifty. Even so through their agency these were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the Arameans.
14. His foreign wives. Now King Solomon was a lover of women; and he took many foreign wives—Moabites, Canaanites, Edomites, Sidonians, Hittites, and Ammonites. And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines.
15. His apostasy. Now when Solomon was old, his heart was not perfect with Jehovah his God, as was the heart of David his father. And Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the god of Moab, in the mount that is before Jerusalem, and for Milcom the god of the Ammonites, and also for Ashtarte the goddess of the Sidonians. And so he did for all his foreign wives, burning incense and sacrificing to their gods.
16. Hadad, the Edomite. Then Jehovah raised up against Solomon an adversary, the Edomite Hadad, of the race of Edomite kings; for when David smote the Edomites, he smote every male in Edom. But Hadad being a child, one of his father’s servants brought him to Egypt. And he found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, so that he gave him to his chief wife, and she brought him up in Pharaoh’s palace among the sons of Pharaoh. But when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, he said to Pharaoh, Let me depart that I may go to my own country. Then Pharaoh said to him, What do you lack with me that you are now seeking to go to your own country? And he said to him, Nevertheless you must let me go. . . . This is the evil that Hadad did; and he abhorred Israel and ruled in Edom.
17. Adad, the Midianite. Also when Joab the commander of the army went up to bury the slain—for Joab and all Israel remained there six months—Adad fled and certain Edomites with him. And they set out from Midian and came to Paran and took men with them out of Paran and came to Egypt to Pharaoh king of Egypt, who gave him a house and land. He also gave him as wife the sister of Tahpenes. And the sister of Tahpenes bore to him Genubath his son, and Genubath lived in Pharaoh’s house.But when he heard that David slept with his fathers, he returned to his land and likewise became an adversary to Solomon.
18. Rezon the Aramean. God also raised up as an adversary to him, Rezon the son of Eliada, who had fled from his master, Hadadezer king of Zobah. And he gathered men about him and became commander of a marauding band, and they went to Damascus, and dwelt there and reigned in Damascus. And he was an adversary to Israel as long as Solomon lived.
19. Jeroboam’s early history. And Jeroboam the son of Nebat, an Ephraimite of Zeredah, an official of Solomon, whose mother’s name was Zeruah, a widow, also lifted up his hand against the king. And this was the reason why he lifted up his hand against the king: Solomon built Millo and closed up the exposed place in the city of David his father. And Jeroboam was a man of great ability. And when Solomon saw that the young man was industrious, he placed him over all the forced levy of the house of Joseph.
20. Ahijah’s prediction. Now it came to pass at that time, when Jeroboam went away from Jerusalem, that the prophet Ahijah of Shiloh found him in the way and turned him aside from the way. Now Ahijah had clad himself with a new garment; and they two were alone in the field. Then Ahijah took hold of the new garment that was on him, and rent it in twelve pieces. And he said to Jeroboam, Take for yourself ten pieces; for thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, ‘Behold, I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon and will give ten tribes to thee, but he shall have one tribe.
21. Jeroboam’s flight. Solomon sought therefore to kill Jeroboam. Then Jeroboam arose and fled to Egypt, to Shishak [Sheshonk I] king of Egypt, and was in Egypt until the death of Solomon.
22. Solomon’s reign. And the length of Solomon’s reign over all Israel was forty years. Then he slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father; and Rehoboam his son became king in his stead.
I. Solomon’s Palace. In size and magnificence and in the time taken in their construction, the other buildings of Solomon’s palace surpassed even the temple itself. They were placed further down the hill of Ophel, probably on the northern outskirts of the original city of the Jebusites. The largest and southernmost structure was the Forest of Lebanon. It appears to have been so called because it contained forty-five large pillars, made out of the cedars of Lebanon and arranged in three tiers of fifteen pillars each. To the Hebrew peasants, still under the spell of the barren wilderness, this building, about one hundred and sixty feet long and eighty feet wide, must have seemed one of the wonders of the world. It was enclosed, but provided with windows and doors on each side. Here Solomon’s famous golden bucklers and shields were stored. From this fact it may be inferred that the building was used as an arsenal, and possibly as the quarters for the royal body-guard. A little to the north was the Hall of Pillars, about eighty feet long and fifty feet wide. The Hall of Judgment, of which the dimensions are not given, was possibly identical with the Hall of Pillars. As its name suggests, it was probably the place where the king, seated on his throne of gold and ivory (11), held court to decide the various questions which were referred to him. Further to the northwest, and under the shadow of the temple, was the private residence of the king and of his Egyptian queen. The palace and the temple were surrounded by a great court, shut in by a high wall of hewn stone surmounted by a course of cedar beams.
II. His Additional Building Activity. Solomon’s policy and his zeal for building led him to select certain cities outside Jerusalem which he strengthened and made royal arsenals. Hazor in the far north; Megiddo east of Mount Carmel, which guarded the highway along the coast plains and across the plain of Esdraelon; the old Canaanite town of Gezer, which stood sentinel before the passes which led up from the Philistine plain to central Canaan; lower Bethhoron, Baalath and Tamar, which probably guarded the southern approaches to the kingdom, were thus fortified. Solomon’s object in building these store cities was to provide garrisons and military equipment at important strategic points. It is probable that they served, not merely to keep out foreign invaders, but also to hold his own subjects in submission.
III. Solomon’s Commercial Enterprises. In developing the material resources of his empire, Solomon found an able adviser and ally in Hiram, king of Tyre. Already Phoenician sailors had skirted the shores of the Mediterranean, and even defied the waves of the Indian Ocean. From the port of Ezion-geber at the eastern end of the Red Sea, Solomon sent forth a fleet of Phoenician ships manned by Hiram’s subjects. The larger craft appear to have been called Tarshish ships, since they were of the type employed by the Phoenicians in making the long journey to distant Tarshish in southern Spain. The combined fleets of Solomon and Hiram came back laden with gold, sandal wood, precious stones, ivory, apes and peacocks. These products point either to eastern Africa or to India as the so-called “land of Ophir” from which they were imported. The fact that some of these articles of commerce bear Indian names favors the conclusion that Ophir was either the Abhira at the mouth of the Indus, or else a seaport of eastern Arabia through which the products of India reached the western world. All these strange and beautiful products of distant lands and civilizations were used to beautify Solomon’s palace and court. It is not surprising that later generations regarded the Grand Monarch as a wonder-worker who reared his palaces with the aid of the jinns.
Solomon also added to his royal revenue by importing horses from certain nations in northern Syria and by reselling them to his neighbors on the north and east, and possibly also to the Egyptians. From this time on horsemen and chariots constituted an important part of every Hebrew army. With horsemen at his command, Solomon was also able to control his subjects much more easily and effectively.
IV. The Mistakes of Solomon. Solomon certainly succeeded in introducing his people to the brilliant material civilization then regnant in southwestern Asia. Under task-masters and foreign artisans he taught them how to rear palaces, temples and fortifications. Undoubtedly the common people gloried in the splendors of Solomon’s capital and court; but it is clear that they resented the forcing process to which they were subjected. It was impossible in one generation to transform a nation of peasants into a cultured, commercial race. There is no evidence that Solomon sought to improve the material conditions of his individual subjects. Instead, he so completely absorbed their wealth and energies in his own building enterprises that little time was left for the development of their personal and private interests. Jerusalem completely overshadowed the other cities of his realm; and the contrast between his palace and the humble houses of mud and stone in which his subjects continued to live inevitably bred popular discontent.
V. His Many Marriages. Solomon’s unworthy ambition to rival in splendor the neighboring kings also led him to make many foreign alliances. In accordance with the custom of his day, these alliances were sealed by marriage between the reigning families. Consequently, he added to his harem princesses from Moab, Ammon, Edom and Sidon. He also intermarried with the older Hittite and Canaanite peoples. These alliances compelled him to recognize the gods of the allied peoples. For diplomatic reasons he reared altars, probably within Jerusalem, and possibly within the temple precincts, to the gods of these allied peoples, and joined with his foreign wives in paying homage to their gods. In the pursuit of his false ambition, Solomon trampled upon the democratic ideals and upon those time-honored and sacred traditions of his race which required absolute loyalty to Jehovah, the God of his nation. The statement that he had seven hundred wives is perhaps a product of later tradition. In the Song of Songs (Song of Solomon 6:7) it is implied that Solomon had but sixty wives and eighty concubines. In any case it is clear, as the biblical writer clearly states, that another fatal source of weakness in Solomon’s character was the degrading sensuality which he inherited from his parents and which flourished unchecked in the unnatural atmosphere of the harem. Gifted with great possibilities and the heir of a mighty empire, Solomon, in the light of later events, proved a glittering failure both as a man and as a ruler.
VI. Consequences of Solomon’s Policy. The biblical writers only suggest the darker side of Solomon’s reign. While his rule was peaceful, it was the calm that breeds the coming storm. The peace which he enjoyed was purchased by the loss of a part of his empire. The brief narrative in Kings indicates that in four different parts of his kingdom the standard of rebellion was raised, even before his death. In the southeast, a certain Edomite by the name of Hadad, who had found refuge during the days of David at the court of Egypt, succeeded in throwing off the Hebrew yoke and ruled independently over at least a part of Edom. Another rebel in the south, by the name of Adad, influenced his fellow Midianites to defy Solomon’s authority. In the northeast, Rezon, an Aramean, laid the foundations of the important kingdom which later grew up about Damascus as its capital. The most significant rebellion during the days of Solomon was led by Jeroboam, an Ephraimite. This leader from the ranks had been placed by Solomon in charge of those Israelites from the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh who had been drafted to build the royal palace at Jerusalem. The uprising was unsuccessful; but the incident is profoundly significant, for it indicates that, even in Jerusalem itself, the growing popular discontent found open expression. It is also noteworthy that Jeroboam was encouraged in his rebellion against the authority and policy of Solomon by Ahijah, the prophet of Shiloh. Evidently the more enlightened prophets, at least of the north, saw in that policy a deadly menace to the liberties of the Hebrews and to the true religion of Jehovah. Confronted by an oriental despotism, which threatened to make the free-born citizens but the slaves of the king, and which meant to their minds open disloyalty to the God who demanded the entire allegiance of his people, the prophets were ready to preserve Israel’s liberties and faith, even at the cost of disunion. In the light of these facts, it is evident that the disintegration of the Hebrew empire began even before the death of Solomon. By his magnificent but criminally selfish policy, he undid what David and the other patriots of early Israel had accomplished only by great sacrifice and toil. He who was counted by later tradition the wisest proved to be in many respects the most foolish king who ever sat on Israel’s throne.