LESSON CXXXIX

SOLOMON IN ALL HIS GLORY.

B.C. 992.-—I Kings x. 1—24, 27.

And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the LORD, she came to prove him with hard questions.

And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart.

And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not anything hid from the king, which he told her not.

And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon's wisdom, and the house that he had built,

And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the LORD; there was no more spirit in her.

And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom.

Howbeit I believed not the words, until I came, and mine eyes had seen it: and, behold, the half was not told me: thy wisdom and prosperity

exceedeth the fame which I heard.

Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, which stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom.

Blessed be the LORD thy God, which delighteth in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because the LORD loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do judgment and justice.

And she gave the king an hundred and twenty talents of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon.

And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir, brought in from Ophir great plenty of almug* trees, and precious stones.

And the king made of the almug trees pillars for the house of the LORD, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for singers: there came no such almug trees, nor were seen unto this day.

And king Solomon gave unto the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, beside that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned and went to her own country, she and her servants.

Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold.

* Sandal-wood.

Beside that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.

And king Solomon made two hundred targets * of beaten gold: six hundred shekels of gold went to one target.

And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pound of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon.

Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the best gold.

The throne had six steps, and the top of the throne was round behind : and there were stays on either side on the place of the seat, and two lions stood beside the stays.

And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom.

And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver: it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon.

For the king had at sea a navy of Tharshish with the navy of Hiram : once in three years came the navy of Tharshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks.

So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth for riches and for wisdom.

And all the earth sought to Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart.

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And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars made he to be as the sycamore trees that are in the vale, for abundance.

"The kings of Tharshish and of the isles shall bring presents: the kings of Arabia and Seba shall offer gifts" (Psalm lxxii.). So David had predicted, and the fame of Solomon even reached Sheba-that southern corner of Arabia Felix now called Yemenwhence the Queen came, drawn by his renown for wisdom. Who she was or what was her history we know not, but all we do know is that "her praise is in the Gospel," and that it could have been no idle curiosity or worldly honour for Solomon's wealth that drew this daughter of Abraham, and very possibly of Job, to the feet of the man full of heavenly wisdom. For not only is the prophecy above of her coming, likewise the prophecy of the wise men from the East doing homage to the Saviour, but she is the type of the Gentile world offering its riches to Christ; and, what is more, her example is the warning of those who will not seek unto the true Anointed.

Shields.

The queen of the south shall rise up in the judgment with this generation, and shall condemn it: for she came from the uttermost parts of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomor; and, behold, a greater than Solomon is here. (Matt. xxi. 2.)

These are His own very words, spoken to us as well as to her.

The Abyssinians, without any real ground, fancy their dynasty is descended from her, and both Jews and Arabs have many wild silly stories of her experiments on Solomon's wisdom, but all that is really known of her is comprised in this brief account. The ascent which Solomon made to the house of God is, by some, thought to have been a magnificent marble staircase up Mount Moriah, and by more recent explorers to have been a wondrous bridge, spanning the Tyropæon, or ravine between Mount Zion and Mount Moriah, of which the ponderous masonry has lately been found; while others think it merely means the spectacle of the king's going up to worship at the Temple. At any rate, the warmth of her speech to him, and her words about his servants' happiness, should come home to us when we apply them to the Greater than Solomon.

Her gifts to the king were great, and so were his in return. At the same time, his alliance with Hiram of Tyre had led to his building ships at Ezion-geber, at the northern end of the Red Sea, to go to Ophir for gold and sandal-wood; and in the Mediterranean ports, to go to Tharshish for gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. Where Ophir was has always been a difficulty, but it must either have been in India or else the southern part of Arabia, which was then rich in gold that has since become exhausted. Tharshish meant Tartessus, in Spain. Ships of Tharshish was the name given to all those that sailed westwards to Asia Minor, Greece, Sicily, Carthage, or Spain, in all of which the Phoenicians had trade and colonies. There was gold and silver then in Spain; ivory and monkeys would be procured through the Carthaginians; and the peacocks had probably been brought through Tyre itself from India, since it is certain that, though natives of India, these beautiful birds were always known in Europe, though this is probably the first mention of them.* Such was the profusion of good things that silver was as common as stones, and cedar as the wood of the sycamore or fig mulberry! Solomon used the sandal-wood

* The peacocks in the Book of Job are ostriches.

for props in his palace, as well as for musical instruments for the Levites; and with the gold he overlaid shields for his body-guard on great occasions, keeping them hung up in his cedar chamber. And for himself he formed a gorgeous throne, inlaid of gold and ivory, raised upon six steps, each step guarded by the golden figure of a lion on each side—in honour, no doubt, of the lion of the tribe of Judah, and to show the lion-like qualities of power and generosity required of the king.

The magnificence of Solomon, in his robes of state, on his throne, must have been unrivalled; but One who had seen him looked forth upon the flowers that smiled in the sunshine, and said:

Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin :

And yet I say unto you, that even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Solomon built Tadmor, the City of Palms, in the wilderness, between Palestine and the Euphrates; the city on an oasis, admired and conquered ages after by the Romans, and marvelled at in later times by travellers, who have been startled by its columns standing forth over the waste of sand.

LESSON CXL.

THE FALL OF SOLOMON.

ABOUT B.C. 984.—I KINGS xi. 1—17, 21, 22.

But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites;

Of the nations concerning which the LORD said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not take them, neither shall they take you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love.

And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines and his wives turned away his heart.

For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the LORD his God, as was the heart of David his father.

For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites.

And Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father.

Then did Solomon build an high place for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, in the hill that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the children of Ammon.

And likewise did he for all his strange wives, which burnt incense and sacrificed unto their gods.

And the LORD was angry with Solomon, because his heart was turned from the LORD God of Israel, which had appeared unto him twice,

And had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods: but he kept not that which the LORD commanded.

Wherefore the LORD said unto Solomon, Forasmuch as this is done of thee, and thou hast not kept my covenant and my statutes, which I have commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant.

Notwithstanding in thy days I will not do it for David thy father's sake : but I will rend it out of the hand of thy son.

Howbeit I will not rend away all the kingdom; but will give one tribe to thy son for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.

And the LORD stirred up an adversary unto Solomon, Hadad the Edomite: he was of the king's seed in Edom.

For it came to pass, when David was in Edom, and Joab the captain of the host was gone up to bury the slain, after he had smitten every male in Edom;

(For six months did Joab remain there with all Israel, until he had cut off every male in Edom :)

That Hadad fled, he and certain Edomites of his father's servants with him, to go into Egypt; Hadad being yet a little child.

And when Hadad heard in Egypt that David slept with his fathers, and that Joab the captain of the host was dead, Hadad said to Pharaoh, Let me depart, that I may go to mine own country.

Then Pharaoh said unto him, But what hast thou lacked with me, that, behold, thou seekest to go to thine own country? And he answered, Nothing: howbeit let me go in any wise.

COMMENT.-The sins of holy men are especially perilous to those who come after and find their faults easier to imitate than their virtues. David had erred in multiplying wives, and Solomon went still further, gathering to himself women in the same profusion as his gold and silver. He seems to have begun to be vainglorious, and to have forgotten who was the Giver of his wealth; and whereas other Eastern kings collected numbers of wives and slaves, he would not be outdone by them in anything. It was nearly a century and a half since there had been idolatry in Israel,