Solomon's Strategic and Commercial Policy. It is significant that Solomon apparently did not deem it necessary to guard his eastern frontiers. The conquests of David had delivered Israel from all danger of attack from this quarter. Solomon's chief defences were massed on the west and north, indicating that the foes whom he feared were the Philistines and the more distant invaders that might come from Egypt or northern Syria. The southern fortress of Tamar was evidently intended to guard the trade route to the port of Ezion-geber, from which the united fleets of Solomon and Hiram of Tyre made their long journeys past the coast of Arabia and out into the Indian Ocean. The situation of the land of Ophir is not certain, but the character and names of the products brought back by the Phœnician and Hebrew traders point strongly to India. The so-called "Land of Ophir" was probably either Abhira at the mouth of the Indus, or else a seaport of eastern Arabia, through which the products of India reached the Western world.

Site of Solomon's Temple. The culminating act of Solomon's reign was the building of his palace and temple. His public buildings were reared on the northern continuation of the hill of Ophel, as it rises gradually above the site of the ancient Jebusite city.[(99)] The jagged limestone rock, rising still higher and farther to the north was without much doubt the ancient threshing-floor of Arunah, the Jebusite, on which was reared the famous temple of Solomon. The irregular mass of native rock, with its peculiar cuttings,[(100)] which now stands in the centre of the Mosque of Omar, probably represents the great altar for burnt offerings, which stood east and therefore immediately in front of the Hebrew temple. This shrine of Solomon took the place of the older royal high place at Gibeon, where still a rock-cut altar may be seen.[(93)]

Significance of the Reigns of David and Solomon. The reigns of David and Solomon gave Palestine what it had never had before and what it rarely had again in its troubled history—a period of comparative peace and prosperity, in which the rich resources of the land could be fully developed. The progress of the Hebrews during this glorious half-century was most marvellous. From a struggling, oppressed, disintegrated group of nomads they suddenly developed into a strong, opulent, and united kingdom, becoming masters not only of their own territory, but of that of their hereditary foes. The earlier Canaanite population of Palestine was also completely absorbed and its agricultural civilization assimilated by the conquerors.

PLAN OF SOLOMON'S PALACE (ACCORDING TO STADE)

Influence of the United Kingdom Upon Israel's Faith. The great and supremely vital contest that was waged during this period of prosperity was that between the worship of Jehovah, which the Hebrews brought with them from the desert, and the different Canaanite cults which they found strongly intrenched in the land. If the Hebrews had been defeated beside the Kishon, or if David had not overcome the Philistines in the Valley of Rephaim, it is doubtful whether or not the religion of Jehovah would have emerged victorious in this great contest. The topography of the land of Palestine strongly favored the development of many different sanctuaries, each devoted to the worship of some local god. It was only a strong race, under a powerful central government, that could overcome the influence of physical environment and hold to its faith in one God. The establishment of the united Hebrew kingdom early in their history was therefore a mighty factor in the development of Israel's faith in one supreme Divine King.

Solomon's Fatal Mistakes. Solomon's selfish ambition to imitate the splendor of the oriental courts about him blinded him completely to the best interests of his family and nation. The one important force that held together his people after the danger of foreign invasion had been averted was their loyalty to their Divine King. In tolerating and patronizing the gods of his allies under the very shadow of Jehovah's temple, though it was demanded by Semitic usage, he committed a fatal error, for he thereby weakened the unity of the Hebrew nation as well as his own hold on the people's loyalty. He also failed to appreciate the spirit and traditions which his subjects had inherited from their free life in the desert and from the days of tribal independence when they had been struggling for their homes in Palestine. The Hebrews, still in close contact with the life of the desert, were suspicious of all centralized authority. They were restive under a rule which imperiously commanded them to toil under royal task-masters and to bring to the king the best fruits of the soil. From their nomadic ancestors they had inherited a thoroughly democratic ideal of the kingship, in which the first duty of the king was to act as the leader of his subjects rather than to treat them as his slaves. Solomon's policy, therefore, threatened to take away the two most treasured possessions of the Hebrews—their democratic ideals and their loyalty to one God, ruling supreme over his people.

Forces That Made for Disunion. The men prominent in the history of the united kingdom had come from the southern tribes of Judah and Benjamin. Many of the northern tribes had for the first time been brought into real touch with the rest of their race in the days of David and Solomon. The large population and by far the greater resources were found in the north. Solomon devoted most of his building energy to developing the south; but it was inevitable that before long the superior strength of the north would assert itself. While the secluded and barren hills of Benjamin and Judah restricted their inhabitants to a relatively slow development, the broad valleys and the fruitful fields of Northern Israel, cut by great highways of commerce, offered to its people every opportunity to acquire wealth and culture. During the period of stress and struggle David was able with rare tact and organizing ability to bind together these diverse elements in the kingdom and to overcome the fundamental differences of physical environment; but even during his reign the wide breach between the north and the south was revealed. It is doubtful whether or not, in the new stage of Israel's development, even David could have overcome these wide differences. Unfortunately, Solomon's foolish policy only tended to emphasize them, and his son, Rehoboam, by his tyrannical reply to the reasonable demands of the northern tribes, made harmonious union forever impossible.

Situation of Shechem. The scene of the final breach between the north and south was the old Canaanite city of Shechem,[(101)] in the heart of the territory of Ephraim, the most powerful northern tribe. The town was one of the most beautifully situated cities in Palestine and at the same time the least easily defended. It lay in a valley between one-half to a mile in width, between the two highest mountains in Samaria—Ebal Ebal and Gerizim. The mountain slopes on either side were clothed with vineyards and olive groves. From Gerizim on the south twenty-two springs burst from the rock, irrigating the gardens of the ancient town, which, like the present city of Nablus, clung close to the southern mountain. Because of its peculiar position, the city was long and narrow, extending from east to west. The open valley at each end offered no natural defence and the overhanging heights rendered it especially open to hostile attack. Its importance was due to the rich territory which encircled it and to the important highways which connected it with Jerusalem and Hebron in the south, with central Israel, Damascus, and Phœnicia in the north, with the coast plains on the west, and with the Jordan valley on the east. At Shechem all these great roads focused, making the city throughout all its history an influential commercial metropolis.

Significance of the Division. The result of the fateful conference at Shechem was a division of the territory of Israel along the natural line marked out during the period of settlement and during the early Philistine wars. The boundary line followed the Wady Kelt up from the Jordan to the vicinity of Michmash and thence turned a little south of the Benjamite Ramah, running through Gibeon and westward to Gezer. To Northern Israel fell fully two-thirds of Palestine and at least three-fourths of its arable land. The division left Judah a complete geographical and political unit, and, thus dissevered from the more heterogeneous elements of the nation, free to develop its own life and faith. The division and the civil wars which followed inevitably weakened the strength of both kingdoms and prepared the way for that fate which overtook each in turn. In losing their strength and unity, they preserved, however, their two most distinctive and precious possessions—their democratic traditions and their undivided loyalty to Jehovah.