Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph published by the Duc de
Luynes.
The most celebrated of Solomon’s works were to be seen at Jerusalem. As David left it, the city was somewhat insignificant. The water from its fountains had been amply sufficient for the wants of the little Jebusite town; it was wholly inadequate to meet the requirements of the growing-population of the capital of Judah. Solomon made better provision for its distribution than there had been in the past, and then tapped a new source of supply some distance away, in the direction of Bethlehem; it is even said that he made the reservoirs for its storage which still bear his name.*
* A somewhat ancient tradition attributes these works to
Solomon; no single fact confirms it, but the balance of
probability seems to indicate that he must have taken steps
to provide a water-supply for the new city. The channels and
reservoirs, of which traces are found at the present day,
probably occupy the same positions as those which preceded
them.
Drawn by Boudier, from a photograph by M. C. Alluaud of
Limoges.
Meanwhile, Hiram had drawn up for him plans for a fortified residence, on a scale commensurate with the thriving fortunes of his dynasty. The main body was constructed of stone from the Judæan quarries, cut by masons from Byblos, but it was inlaid with cedar to such an extent that one wing was called “the house of the forest-of-Lebanon.” It contained everything that was required for the comfort of an Eastern potentate—a harem, with separate apartments for the favourites (one of which was probably decorated in the Egyptian manner for the benefit of Pharaoh’s daughter);* then there were reception-halls, to which the great men of the kingdom were admitted; storehouses, and an arsenal. The king’s bodyguard possessed five hundred shields “of beaten gold,” which were handed over by each detachment, when the guard was relieved, to the one which took its place. But this gorgeous edifice would not have been complete if the temple of Jahveh had not arisen side by side with the abode of the temporal ruler of the nation. No monarch in those days could regard his position as unassailable until he had a sanctuary and a priesthood attached to his religion, either in his own palace or not far away from it. David had scarcely entered Jerusalem before he fixed upon the threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite as a site for the temple, and built an altar there to the Lord during a plague which threatened to decimate his people; but as he did not carry the project any farther,** Solomon set himself to complete the task which his father had merely sketched out.
* 1 Kings vii. 8, ix. 24; 2 Ghron. viii. 11.
** 2 Sam xxiv. 18-25, The threshing-floor of Araunah the
Jebusite is mentioned elsewhere as the site on which Solomon
built his temple (2 Ghron. iii. 1).
The site was irregular in shape, and the surface did not naturally lend itself to the purpose for which it was destined. His engineers, however, put this right by constructing enormous piers for the foundations, which they built up from the slopes of the mountain or from the bottom of the valley as circumstances required: the space between this artificial casing and the solid rock was filled up, and the whole mass formed a nearly square platform, from which the temple buildings were to rise. Hiram undertook to supply materials for the work. Solomon had written to him that he should command “that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants; and I will give thee hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt say: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Zidonians.” Hiram was delighted to carry out the wishes of his royal friend with regard to the cedar and cypress woods.