His policy of peace was greatly strengthened byleagues and alliances with the kings about him, chiefly through marriages, after the custom of Oriental kings at that day.
The Pharaoh whose daughter he married, and for whom he built a palace in Jerusalem, came up and burned a city called Gezer and slew the Canaanites who dwelt there, giving the city to his daughter, 1 Kings 9:16.
GEZER.
7. Gezer has recently been discovered, with a Hebrew and Greek inscription on the surface of a large rock which identifies the town by name. The location of the place is not quite 20 miles west by north of Jerusalem, and its position upon a high ridge, which is nearly a mile long, makes it probable that it was a formidable town. It was, before its capture by Pharaoh, a standing menace to the authority of Solomon, as it seems at that time to have been independent. It is probable that its destruction was instigated by Solomon, who thereby exhibited the interest Pharaoh had in him and, at the same time, avoided the unwelcome task of exposing his own people to the casualties of warfare.
8. The prayer of Solomon at the beginning of his reign was for wisdom and judgment in the execution of his kingly authority and in his government of the people. Of this wisdom he possessed an unparalleled share. But, while wise in the control of others, he lost power over himself and wasled into grievous idolatry through his associations. This open worship of the deities of the nations with whom he had entered into league through his marriages will always remain as a warning against the insidious power of evil associations, even in the case of the wisest.
CHAPTER III.
THE DIVISION OF THE KINGDOM.
1. Solomon after a reign of 40 years[87] was succeeded by his son Rehoboam, who, through the adoption of evil counsel, brought on a great rebellion and division which resulted in the formation of the two kingdoms—one of Judah, with its chief city at Jerusalem, and the other of Israel, with its capital at Shechem. Jeroboam soon removed to Tirzah, where the capital, or royal residence, remained for many years until Samaria became the capital, and continued to be so until the captivity, 1 Kings 16:23.
TIRZAH.
This city has been identified with a village now inhabited and which is called Teiasir, eleven miles north by east of Shechem and twelve miles east-northeast of Samaria. It is 995 feet above the Mediterranean on the main road to Beth-shean. But formerly Tirzah was, by Dr. Robinson, supposed to be found in a village called Telluzah, six miles due east of Samaria, built upon a hill 1,940 feet above the Mediterranean and commanding a magnificent view eastward. This place, in its position, well deserves thename “Tirzah,” which means “beauty.” It is probably referred to in the Song of Solomon, 6:4. It was thirty-four miles a little east of due north from Jerusalem. But neither of these places can with certainty be called the Tirzah of this history.