The days of David were now rapidly drawing to a close. He therefore convened a solemn assembly of all the chiefs and elders of his people, the royal princes, the captains of his army, and his public officers, and standing up, aged as he was, gave them his last charge, and exhorted his son to constancy in the service of Jehovah. He then solemnly delegated to him the accomplishment of the desire of his life, the erection of the Temple, and committed to him in trust the abundant materials he had amassed for this purpose, as well as a pattern of the building, and of everything belonging to it. This address, confirmed as it was by the sight of the gold and silver, the brass and iron and precious stones, which the royal prudence had collected, had a great effect upon the people, and they also joyfully contributed to the execution of their sovereign’s design.Then, in language of unequalled pathos and beauty, the aged monarch solemnly thanked God for all His goodness, and prayed that He would bestow upon his son “a perfect heart,” enabling him to keep His testimonies and statutes, and build the Temple for which he had made provision. Amidst sacrifices of unusual abundance and great feastings and rejoicings, Solomon was then for the second time anointed king, and received the formal submission of all the royal princes, and the chiefs of the nation. In another and more secret interview David gave his son his last counsels, not only concerning his own deportment as ruler, but also respecting Joab and Shimei, who were committed to his vigilance, and Barzillai the Gileadite, who was entrusted to his regard. Then after a reign of 7½ years at Hebron, and of 33 years at Jerusalem, in a good old age, full of years, riches, and honour, the son of Jesse, the Shepherd, the Warrior, the King, the Psalmist, was gathered to his fathers, and buried in the city which had been once the fortress of the heathen Jebusites, but was now the capital of an empire that realised the loftiest ideal of prophecy, stretching from the “river of Egypt” to the Euphrates, and from the range of Lebanon to the gulf of Akaba[313].
CHAPTER VI.
ACCESSION OF SOLOMON.
1 Kings ii.–viii. 1 Chron. i.–ix. B.C. 1015.
THE new king was hardly seated on the throne before he was called upon to repress with a highhand a second and dangerous attempt of Adonijah to obtain the kingdom. As is usual in Oriental countries, the influence of Bath-sheba the queen-mother was verygreat. To her Adonijah preferred a request that she would intercede with the king in obtaining for him the hand of Abishag the Shunammite, his father’s latest wife (1 Kings ii. 17). Bath-sheba sought an interview with Solomon, who instantly saw in this petition a design upon the throne, and declaring that Adonijah had forfeited his claim to the indulgence extended to him after the late rebellion, directed that he should be put to death by the hand of Benaiah. But he divined that others were concerned in the insinuating request, and notably the high-priest Abiathar, and Joab the commander-in-chief. The former, in consideration of his past services, was not put to death, but simply degraded from his high office, and ordered to live in retirement at Anathoth, a Levitical city, about 3 miles north of Jerusalem, whereby the word of the Lord concerning the house of Eli was fulfilled (1 Sam. ii. 31–33). News of these events no sooner reached the ears of Joab than he fled for refuge within the curtains of the Tabernacle at Gibeon, and caught hold of the horns of the altar. Thither, however, Solomon sent Benaiah with orders to put him to death. Benaiah went and told his old companion-in-arms the king’s command. But Joab refused to stir from sanctuary, and the other returned to the king for fresh instructions. Solomon bade him not spare, but fall upon him even at the altar, urging his execution as a just recompense for the murder of Abner and Amasa. Thereupon he returned once more, and fell upon him at the altar, and obtained the important post of commander-in-chief, while Zadok succeeded to the high-priesthood (1 K. ii. 28–34).
Though David had spared the life of Shimei, he had on his death-bed cautioned Solomon against him, and now, possibly owing to some unrecorded symptoms of disaffection, the young king renewed the concession, but on condition that Shimei confined himself to the city ofJerusalem, and did not stray beyond the brook Kidron, which separated him from the road to his old home at Bahurim. For three years Shimei carefully complied with this condition. But two of his slaves fleeing to Achish king of Gath, he went thither and brought them back. This sealed his fate. Intelligence of what he had done was conveyed to Solomon, who sent for him, and ordered his execution by the hands of Benaiah (1 K. ii. 36–46).
Shortly before this last event the king convened a general assembly of all the notables of the realm at Gibeon, where was not only the venerable Tabernacle of the Wanderings, but the brazen altar of burnt-sacrifice (2 Chr. i. 3, 5). There accordingly were gathered together all the great officers of state, the judges, the governors, and the chief of the fathers, and a thousand burnt-offerings were consumed on the Altar. On the night following this solemn ceremonial, the Lord appeared in vision to Solomon as he slept, and bade him prefer any petition he desired. Impressed with the magnitude of the office to which he had been called, as yet humble in his own sight, and mindful of the mercy bestowed upon his father, the young king prayed not for riches, or honour, or long life, or the life of his enemies, but for a wise and understanding heart, that he might know how to rule his people. His prayer pleased the Lord, and because he had requested nothing for himself, He, who is wont to give to the sons of men “more than they ask or think,” not only promised him wisdom and knowledge, but assured him that all the blessings he had not asked should be “added unto him,” including length of days, if he, for his part, took heed to observe the statutes and commandments of Jehovah, as his father had done before him (1 K. iii. 6–14). Returning to Jerusalem the king offered burnt-offerings and thank-offerings to the Lord before the Ark of the Covenant,and celebrated a sacrificial feast with his whole court (1 K. iii. 15).
Very shortly he was called upon to give proof of that sagacity and clearness of judgment, especially in judicial cases, so much prized by Orientals. Of two women inhabiting one house together, each had an infant child. The mother of one overlaid hers while she was asleep, and rising at midnight, laid it in the bosom of the other woman, taking her live child in its place. In the morning the latter discovered the deception that had been practised upon her, and demanded the living infant. This the other woman refused, claiming it for her own, and both of them appealed to Solomon, who commanded the living child to be divided into two halves, one of which should be given to each. The anguish of the real, and the cruel acquiescence of the pretended mother in this sentence, decided the point in a moment, and proved the sagacity of the king. But besides judicial sagacity, Solomon was eminent for his attainments. He was deeply versed in all the knowledge of his age, his wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt (1 K. iv. 30). In the course of his life he spake 3,000 proverbs, of which a considerable portion remain in the “Book of Proverbs,” and his Songs, of which the “Song of Songs” alone survives, were a thousand and five. He spoke or wrote also of trees, from the lofty cedar of Lebanon to the humble hyssop that springeth out of the wall, of beasts, of fowl, of creeping things, and of fishes. His fame spread abroad among surrounding nations; and there came of all people to hear his wisdom (1 K. iv. 34).
CHAPTER VII.
THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.
1 Kings v.–viii. 2 Chron. ii.–vii. B.C. 1012–1005.
MINDFUL of the repeated instructions of his father, Solomon no sooner received the congratulations of Hiram, king of Tyre, upon his coming to the throne, than he sent to that monarch requesting that he would let him have Sidonian artisans, and a supply of cedar wood from the forests of Lebanon, for the construction of the Temple. Hiram responded with alacrity to the request, and a regular treaty was entered into between the two kings. Solomon bound himself to send yearly 20,000 cors[318] of wheat, and 20 cors of oil to the Phœnicians, while Hiram undertook to float cedar trees and fir-trees to Joppa, and to send a number of skilled artificers to Jerusalem. For the purpose of felling the timber, a levy of 30,000 Israelites was made, who were placed under Adoniram; 10,000 were employed at a time, and relieved each other every month, spending a month in the mountains of Lebanon, and the other two months at their own homes (1 K. v. 13, 14). Besides these, 70,000 were employed as porters, and 80,000 as hewers in the various quarries. These latter were bondslaves, remnants of the Canaanites, who had not been expelled from the land. Under the eye of Tyrian master-builders, they hewed, and squared, and bevelled the stupendous blocks, some measuring even 17 and 18 feet, for the foundation of the sacred edifice.