53. B.C. 1015 to 975

B.C. 1015 to 975

Chapter VI

Timeline View:

1. Solomon was nearly twenty years old when he began to reign. His natural talents were of the highest order, and had been improved by careful education; he was endowed with profound sagacity, quick penetration, and great decision of character; and no man ever possessed in a more eminent degree those collective talents and attainments to which the ancients gave the name of wisdom. He had not long ascended the throne when his sagacity detected the secret traitorous designs which Adonijah still entertained. This prince had the adroitness to interest Bathsheba, the king’s mother, in a scheme which he had formed of espousing Abishag, one of the wives of the late king, whom he had taken in his latter days. No sooner was this named by Bathsheba to Solomon, than he recognized in the insidious demand a plan formed by Adonijah to accredit his old pretensions; and as this was a breach of the conditions on which his life had been spared, he ordered him to be slain. Abiathar appears to have had some part in this intrigue; on which account, as well as for his first defection, he was deposed from the joint high-priesthood to the rank of a common priest, and ordered to withdraw to his town of Anathoth. With some other persons, Solomon dealt according to the last instructions which his father had given him. Joab, when he heard what had been done to Adonijah and Abiathar, doubted not that his own death was determined, and therefore fled for refuge to the altar. But the altar was allowed to be no refuge to so old a murderer: he was torn thence, and put to the sword by order of the king. This was an act of astonishing vigor for so young a ruler when we consider the influence of Joab with the army, which had secured him complete impunity in the time of David. The valiant Benaiah was appointed captain-general in his stead; and Zadok remained the sole high-priest.

2. Solomon was not unmindful of Shimei, the Benjamite, who had cursed David and pelted him with stones when he fled from Absalom. David had not found it prudent to punish him; but Solomon was not under the same restraint. He ordered him to fix his residence in Jerusalem, and not to leave it on any occasion on pain of death. For a time he was attentive to this injunction; but after two years he left the city, and went to Gath in pursuit of two runaway slaves, and was, on his return, put to death.

3. Through the conquests of his father and the wise measures which he had taken to consolidate his power, Solomon was a great king, especially when the extent of his dominion is compared with the small dimensions of kingdoms in those times. His dominions reached from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the Red Sea and Arabia to the utmost Lebanon. The tributary states were held in complete subjection, and being still governed by their native princes, made Solomon a “king of kings.” The Canaanites who still remained in the land, had become peaceable and obedient subjects, or useful and laborious servants. His treasures also were immense, composed chiefly of the spoils won from many nations by his victorious father, and treasured up by him for the very purpose of sustaining the magnificence and aggrandizing the kingdom of his son. Solomon sought for an alliance becoming his high estate, and found it in a marriage with the king of Egypt’s daughter. It was a proud thing for Israel that their king could in such a matter treat on terms of equality with the power which had in old times so long held them under the yoke. The Egyptian princess was received with great magnificence; and Solomon lodged her in “the city of David,” on Mount Zion, until he should build for her a superb palace.

4. During the time of David, in which the tabernacle and the ark had been separate from each other, an irregular practice had crept in of sacrificing to God and burning incense at other places than tire tabernacle. The altars for these services were chiefly upon hills covered with trees, and were called “high places.” As this was also the practice of the surrounding heathens, it was very dangerous, and, in fact, paved the way for the idolatries into which the Israelites in after times fell. It had been strictly prohibited by the law of Moses (Lev 17:3-5; Deu 12:2-5). The principal high place was at Gibeon; and at one of the religious festivals Solomon proceeded thither, in solemn pomp, with all his court, the officers of the state and army, and the chiefs and elders of the people, to render his homage to Jehovah, and to offer sacrifices to him. With this homage and with these sacrifices God was well pleased; and the night following he manifested himself to Solomon in a dream, and offered to bestow upon him whatever blessing he might choose. The young king evinced the wisdom he already possessed, by asking an understanding heart to enable him to discharge the awful responsibilities that rested on him, in governing the numerous people and the various interests under his sway. Because he had made so excellent a choice from among all the gifts which the Lord of the Universe had to bestow, not only was surpassing wisdom given to him, but—what he had not asked—glory, and riches, and length of days, were added to the gift. His extraordinary sagacity was early shown in his judicial decisions, one example of which is given in the celebrated case of the two women living together, each of whom had a child. One of the children died in the night, and the living child was claimed by both the mothers, with equal apparent truth and zeal. When the case came before the king, he saw there was no way of discovering the real mother of the living child, but by an appeal to the truthfulness of maternal affection, and he therefore ordered the living child to be cut in two and one half given to each. The earnestness with which one of the women entreated that the life of the child might be spared, at once discovered the real mother.

5. Solomon had a great taste for magnificence, which he displayed in many ways. In the state, he introduced a most skilful organization of all its departments, which were severally entrusted to men whose abilities had been tried in the time of David; and the splendor and beautiful order of every department to the court claimed admiration. But the inordinate magnificence and extent of all the regal establishments may be justly blamed, when we learn that the expenses were too great for even his large resources; so that at length the royal profusion could only be supported by such oppressive exactions upon the people, as in the next reign led to the division of his dominion into two kingdoms. Some idea of this extravagant magnificence may be formed from the fact, that he had 4000 stalls or stables for the horses of his various carriages. The provisions required by the court for one day, amounted to thirty bushels of fine flour, sixty bushels of common flour, ten fat oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides venison and poultry of all descriptions. A household requiring such quantities of food must have consisted of several thousand persons; but it is likely that the royal guards were also supplied from this store.

6. It is said that Solomon’s wisdom greatly exceeded that of the wisest men, Jewish or foreign, of his own day; there were none equal to him among the people of the east or the Egyptians, who were justly famous for their knowledge of every useful science. Three thousand proverbs, many of which remain to us, embodied his moral sayings and sage remarks on human character. A thousand and five songs, of which only the Canticles and Psalms 127 remain, ranked him among the first of Hebrew poets; and his perfect knowledge of all kinds of plants, beasts, birds, and fishes, was shown by writings which are supposed to have been lost in the Babylonian captivity.

7. An embassy of condolence and congratulation from Hiram, king of Tyre, kept open the friendly relations with that king, which David had cultivated. It also led to an arrangement under which the king of Tyre engaged to bring from Lebanon and to land at the port of Joppa, the timber which Solomon required for the building of the temple. For this he was to pay in corn and oil; for the Tyrians having only a small tract of territory, and being chiefly employed in commerce and manufactures, obtained their provisions chiefly from the fertile lands of Canaan. In return for this, in the ordinary course of traffic, the Israelites received the manufactures of the Phoenicians and the products of foreign lands. The timber, when landed at Joppa, was conveyed by the Tyrians to Jerusalem; and they also assisted in preparing the stones for the building. Three years were spent in these preparations: and in the fourth year, the foundation of the temple was laid, and in seven years the fabric was completed (b.c. 1005). The temple appears to have been a truly splendid structure, and great wealth was consumed in its various utensils of precious metal, the whole of which were executed by Phoenician artists supplied by Hiram. From the connection of Solomon with Egypt, it is also probable that he availed himself of the talent which, in every branch of art, that country abundantly supplied. To foreigners certainly much of the beauty and perfection of the celebrated temple was owing; for the Israelites being chiefly an agricultural people, had but little skill in those arts of design and ornament which the undertakings of Solomon required. The general plan of the temple seems to have much resembled that of the tabernacle; being composed of extensive courts for worship and sacrifice in the open air, in front of an oblong building, comparatively of small dimensions, but in all its parts rich and elaborate beyond description. This was not, like our churches, for the use of the worshippers. It was never entered by them; but was the abode of the Divine symbols, which were the same as in the tabernacle; the ark with its hovering cherubim, and the Shechinah, or radiant symbol of the Divine presence, being within the interior or most sacred of the two apartments into which the building was divided.

8. A high feast was held on the day when the temple was dedicated to its destined purpose, and when the sacred services commenced. On that day Solomon appeared upon a scaffold before the temple, and poured forth a long and most sublime prayer, at the conclusion of which the Divine complacency was evinced by “the glory of the Lord,” filling the whole house, as it had aforetime filled the tabernacle; after which the radiance concentrated over the ark, and there rested as the symbol of the Divine presence and occupancy. The first victims were also consumed by supernatural fire, which was afterwards constantly kept up as the sacred fire of the temple.

9. The remainder of king Solomon’s reign is a history rather of peaceful undertakings than of warlike exploits. He built a number of splendid palaces, with pleasure-grounds, and basins of water. Of these the most celebrated was “the house of the forest of Lebanon,” all the plate and furniture of which seems to have been of pure gold, while in the hall hung two hundred golden bucklers, each of which must have been worth fifteen hundred pounds, and three hundred smaller ones, each worth half the former. There also was the royal hall of audience and of judgment, where the king sat publicly upon a lofty throne of ivory and gold. Many cities were built, others rebuilt, and others fortified by Solomon. Of the former the most celebrated was Tadmor in the eastern wilderness (b.c. 991), better known by its later name of Palmyra, whose splendid ruins excite to this day the admiration and wonder of travellers. These, however, are not the ruins of Solomon’s buildings, but of others erected in after ages on the same site.

Baboon

10. The king also engaged in maritime and inland commerce. Being possessed of Eziongeber, a port on the Red Sea, which opens into the Indian Ocean, be united with king Hiram in sending ships into the eastern seas, which, after an absence of three years, returned laden with the valuable products of distant climes—gold, silver, ivory, beautiful and costly woods, and precious stones; gums, spices, and perfumes; and collections of curious plants, animals, and birds (among which apes and peacocks are particularly named), which must have ministered much delight to the enquiring mind of Solomon. He also carried on a great trade in the fine linens, the yarn, the horses, and the chariots of the Egyptians; which he bought by his factors of the Egyptians, and sold at an enhanced price to the Syrian nations. From these sources, and from the tribute of the subject nations, vast treasure came into the royal coffers. We are told that the commercial voyages alone brought, in one year, no less than 656 talents of gold, which some compute at £3,646,350 sterling. As for silver, it was of no account in his days; and the previously costly wood of the cedar became as common as that of the sycamore had been. But most of this prosperity was rather the result of a temporary excitement, than of a regular development of the national resources. Even the commercial enterprises were monopolies of the crown; and the greater part of the wealth arising from all sources went into the royal treasury, and was there absorbed in empty splendor, spent on foreigners, or consumed in extravagance. We are not therefore surprised that, in his later years, when some of the sources of supply had declined, while the cost of the royal establishment was undiminished, Solomon was obliged to resort to oppressive exactions from his own people, which had well nigh ruined the house of David in popular esteem. It is true, however, that, taking his reign in the whole, the nation was prosperous, as the long continued peace enabled the population to increase without check, while every man could attend to his lands without distraction. Hence we are told that in his days “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig-tree, from Dan even to Beersheba.”

11. The vast knowledge of Solomon, his profound sagacity, and the order and splendor of his court, attracted many foreign princes to Jerusalem. The most celebrated of these visitors was the queen of Sheba, supposed, on sufficient grounds, to have come from southern Arabia; but who is thought by some to have been the queen of Abyssinia, which is the firm belief of the Abyssinians themselves to this day. The distance from which she came, the costly gifts which she brought, and her splendid train, excited much admiration. The king satisfactorily solved the “hard questions” by which she tried his wisdom; and all that she heard and saw led her to confess that the reality greatly exceeded the scarcely credible rumours which had reached her distant land.

12. Unfortunately, that vain and costly appendage of royal state in the east, a large seraglio of women, was deemed by Solomon necessary to his magnificence. He had no fewer than 700 wives of high family, and 300 secondary or concubine wives. Many of these wives were foreigners and idolaters from the neighboring nations; and they, in his latter days, drew him astray, not only to participate in their acts of homage to their native idols, but to build temples to their honor and for their worship, on the hills facing Jerusalem, and in front of the Lord’s own temple. Here he joined in sacrifices to Chemosh or Peor, the obscene idol of the Moabites, to Moloch the god of the Ammonites, and to Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians. These doings greatly provoked the Divine indignation. The splendid endowments of Solomon served the more to aggravate his offence; and at length it was solemnly announced to him, that since he had broken the covenant by which be held his crown from the Divine King, the kingdom should be rent from him, and given to his servant. Nevertheless it was added, that, for David’s sake, this should not be done in his time, but in the time of his son; and that, also for the sake of David, one tribe, that of Judah (with which Benjamin had now coalesced, should remain under the dominion of his house.

Ashtaroth

13. This prophecy was soon after made known by the prophet Ahijah to Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, who, as a man of activity and talent, had attracted the notice of Solomon, and had been by him made overseer of the workmen from the tribes of Joseph, employed in the public service. The prophet accompanied the message by the significant act of rending his own new garment into twelve pieces, ten of which he gave to Jeroboam, and reserved only two for the house of David. It was then announced that the dominion over the ten tribes was given to him; and that it should be confirmed to his descendants, if he and they maintained their allegiance to the Divine King. This soon came to the knowledge of Solomon, whose attempts to destroy the destined rival of his son, taught Jeroboam the prudence of leaving the country. He retired into Egypt, where he was well received by the king, Shishak, and protected by him till the death of Solomon. The repose of the king’s latter days was also disturbed by the revolt of the Edomites and the Syrians of Damascus. There is reason to hope, that these just punishments opened the eyes of Solomon to the enormity of his offences, and that his last days were repentant. He died about the sixtieth year of his age, after a reign of forty years. b.c. 975.

14. Solomon may have left many sons, but the only one known to history is his successor, Rehoboam, who was born the year before his father’s accession, and was therefore forty-one years of age when he ascended the throne.

15. The tribes were now determined to relieve themselves from the burdens, which, in the later years of his reign, had been imposed upon them by Solomon. They therefore recalled Jeroboam from Egypt; and, with him at their head, applied to Rehoboam fur redress of the grievances under which they had labored. It is evident that the ten tribes were predisposed to separate themselves from Judah, and establish an independent government. Their sentiments were influenced chiefly by those of Ephraim, which proud and powerful tribe could not brook that the sovereignty should be in the great rival tribe of Judah. They were, therefore, in all probability, rather glad than sorry when a rough refusal of redress from Rehoboam gave them a reasonable pretext for revolt, and for abandoning their allegiance to the house of David. Accordingly, they openly revolted, and made Jeroboam their king.

16. As this separation was in accordance with the intentions of the Divine King, to punish the house of David for the guilt of Solomon, the Sacred Oracle forbade Rehoboam to pursue the designs which he had formed of reducing the revolted tribes to obedience by force of arms.