As it regards Solomon’s household, the provisions named for each day are the following:—“Thirty measures of fine flour, threescore measures of meal, ten fat oxen, and twenty oxen out of the pastures, and an hundred sheep, besides harts and roebucks, and fallow-deer, and faited fowls.” “And Solomon had forty thousand stalls of horses for his chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen.” Now, in so small, and in many parts barren land, where could they be raised? But Solomon had need of a plentiful table, for it is recorded that he had seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines! If he had wisdom enough to regulate his house so as to live happy, it must be owned that the Lord had given him more than a common share; but as none but fools or madmen will believe this account, we may let it pass without comment.
The most astonishing inconsistency in the reign of Solo-man, is his continual departure from the worship of Jehovah, who had been his benefactor, and who had also repeatedly warned him of the consequences of a departure from the God of his father. If what is recorded of his riches be true, they were greater than those of any monarch on earth. The gold he is said to have possessed when he built the Temple, exceeds all calculation, and is in strict accordance, in point of magnitude, with his feast at the dedication of the Temple, and with his daily allowance of food for his household, and also with his seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines. But when we consider the poverty of the Israelites up to the time of his father’s reign, and also David’s poverty until the death of Saul, when at times, David had neither food for himself nor army, neither had he gold nor silver wherewith to purchase it—it may be asked, how Solomon came into the possession of such an immense quantity of gold? and also from what vast extent of country did he procure his horses, when but a few years before, David, his father; could scarcely afford to keep a jackass? Again, where did he procure such numerous herds of cattle and flocks of sheep?
But as I have before said, the greatest inconsistency of all is, that Solomon should worship other gods, contrary to the express command of Jehovah, who had given him wisdom, riches, and honors. Leaving Christians, then, to settle with Solomon, how he, with all his wisdom, could so play the fool and madman in the face of his God, some attention will be directed to the God of Abram, Isaac, and Jacob. It will be recollected that Saul, the predecessor of David, had offended Jehovah by sparing the life of Agag, a captive King. In consequence, it is recorded that the God of Israel repented that he put Saul on the throne. He then chose David, and his family, to succeed the house of Saul; and having made this second choice, he declared he should not repent again.
If this last declaration had been made by man, in his choice, after having before been mistaken, the following mode of reasoning would aptly apply; and Jehovah would also thus reason:—“I made choice of Saul to be King over Israel. I sent him to smite Amalek, and not to spare any soul alive, old age and infancy not excepted; but Saul did not obey my orders, but spared the King and brought him a captive, which I did not expect As I took him from driving mules, and made him a King, he ought therefore to have obeyed my commands. I dethroned him and his family forever. I then appointed David, a man after my own heart. In this choice I was happy. He departed not from my worship or my law, but with a few exceptions. It is true, David committed adultery and murder, in the case of Bathsheba and Uriah; but he repented, and I caused the brat to die out of the way, which made room for Solomon. Now, who could ever have thought that Solomon would have turned out so bad? Why, the fellow, in addition to wisdom, riches, and honor, has now seven hundred wives, and three hundred concubines! and not content with this number, he marries the daughters of heathens, prostrates himself before their idols, and builds new temples to their gods; but I promised not to repent again, yet Solomon must be punished. I will not, therefore, depose him, but in his son’s reign I will divide the kingdom, and give the greater part of it to one of mean birth. I will not wholly take it away from the seed of David, because I promised him that he should not want a man to sit on his throne; but I will, for the wickedness of Solomon, cause discord among the tribes, that will induce them to fight against each other. It is not for the thousand women that Solomon had, which would not fail to create discord and all manner of misery; neither for putting to death his brother: all that I could have tolerated—but he changed his religion, and worshipped strange gods; I will rend the nation asunder, never more to be united. It would have been more to my honor to have suffered Saul to continue on the throne, for he only disobeyed my Orders once, but the son of David built temples for idolatry, and worshipped false gods, setting my authority at defiance. In his son’s reign, therefore, I will bring on trouble in his house, that all Israel may know how great is the sin of worshipping false gods, and thus rebelling against the Lord of Hosts, the God of Israel.”
I will now ask the Christian preachers, whether I dishonor the all-wise Sovereign of the Universe, in not believing him to be capable of such tomfoolery as this: in choosing, and again rejecting his former choice: in blundering, to rectify a former blunder, and falling into one much greater, to remedy the first: to be doing, and undoing: to have an end to accomplish, and to make use of means that fail in its accomplishment. Ye priests! if ye are not blind, look at the heavens above, and also on the earth beneath, and then ask yourselves, whether the God of all is the same personage as Jehovah, the God of Israel?
To conclude these remarks respecting the house of David and Solomon:—Even admitting that such personages had a real existence, I cannot so dishonor the Supreme Governor of Nature as for a moment to admit, that he dealt with either David or Solomon any otherwise than he deals with every human being, and I should stand before my fellow men a self-convicted hypocrite, were I to affect to believe.
[CHAPTER VII. THE REIGN OF JEROBOAM, AND THE SEPARATION OF ISRAEL FROM JUDAH]
REVIEWING the character of the three former Kings, two of whom gave Jehovah much trouble, and David, the best of them, committed adultery and murder, we must say, it was an unfortunate beginning of royal government. After the death of Solomon, his son, Rehoboam, began to reign. The people requested the new made King to ease them somewhat of the taxes and burdens laid on them by his father, Solomon. Rehoboam consulted with his father’s old servants on that subject, and they advised him to attend to the wishes of his people; but he, on consulting with his own particular party, returned the following answer:—“My little finger shall be thicker than my father's loins: my father hath chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with scorpions.” This gives us a sample of Solomon’s reign, and also of the course intended to be pursued by his son.
Rehoboam’s answer produced a revolt, and the kingdom became divided. Ten tribes broke off from Rehoboam, and proclaimed Jeroboam King of Israel, while Rehoboam retained two tribes: so that the Israelites were divided. The ten tribes were called the kingdom of Israel, and the other two, the kingdom of Judah. This is the punishment that the Lord said he would bring on the nations in consequence of the sins of Solomon. So it was then, with the Lord’s people, as it has ever been in Christian countries where the aristocracy is every thing, and, the people are considered as nothing. According to Jewish history, Jehovah and the Kings of his own choosing quarrelled, and then the people had to suffer in consequence of disputes in which they had but little or no interest; and one of the strongest proofs that “the God of the Bible” is not that Being whom we believe to be the only true God, is, that when the Jehovah of Moses and the Kings quarrel, the Kings are spared alive, but the innocent people are in some way or other murdered; thus clearly showing, that Kings are by Jehovah worth more than those who by honest toil cultivate the earth, and labor for the benefit of society,—a doctrine directly opposite to all our ideas of impartial justice.
We now proceed to examine the course pursued by Jeroboam, the fourth King who was chosen to reign over Israel. We ought to find him fitted for so important a station; but, on the contrary, we have again to record another chapter of blunders, far worse than those before mentioned. Saul, their first King, disobeyed the command in sparing Agag, the King, after having destroyed every soul that drew breath. David followed the Lord with his whole heart; that is, he never entered into the temple of idols except to destroy them and their worshippers; but he was guilty of two crimes, for either of which, had he been any thing but a King, or Priest, he would have been, by the laws of his own country, put to death. Solomon’s character was marked by every thing extravagant; but he did not wholly turn from the worship of Jehovah, only at times, as when he espoused a heathen lady. Then, to prove his love for his new spouse, he worshipped in the temple of strange gods, and also built new churches to their honor. This is a general outline of the three Kings, all of whom were chosen by Jehovah himself.