DUBIOUS HISTORY VII

CONT

The threatened troubles in the house of David were not long in breaking out. Amnon, his eldest son, dishonored his half-sister Tamar, who was the full sister of Absalom. This injury excited in the mind of Absalom a resentment which only blood could satisfy. He said nothing for a time. But after two years (B. C. 1030), when all seemed to be forgotten, he invited all the royal family to a feast with which he celebrated the shearing of his sheep. Amnon was among the guests ; and at a given signal from their master, he was set upon and murdered by the servants of Absalom. On this, all the others mounted their mules and fled in haste to Jerusalem; while Absalom himself lost no time in seeking refuge at the court of his maternal grandfather, Talmai, king of Geshur. He remained there three years ; for although David, after the first burst of indignation and grief, would have been willing to recall him, he was prevented by the dread of public opinion and the demands of justice. At the end of three years (B. C. 1027), however, the king, through the contrivance and intercession of Joab, was induced “ to call home his banished but a regard for appearances excluded Absalom from the presence of his father until two years after his return to Jerusalem.

Absalom was now the eldest living son of David, and in ordinary circumstances, might have been considered the heir-apparent to the throne. But it was already known to David, that Solomon, his eldest surviving son by Bathsheba (born in B. C. 1033), was destined by God to be his successor. The Lord, as we have already seen, reserved the right of appointing whom he pleased to the crown, although in the absence of any special appointment, it was supposed to descend in the ordinary course of succession. It is more than probable that this destination of the crown of David was known to Absalom, and that the attempt to secure it in his father’s lifetime was made with the design of averting his own exclusion. Had he been sure of succeeding when his father died, he would probably have waited till then, for David was already old. At all events, he soon began to affect great state, and made much display of his chariots and guards, and appeared in public with a splendid retinue of fifty men. All this pomp the more enhanced the condescension with which he behaved to the people, and the interest he took in the affairs of the suitors at the royal court. These acts of popularity, with his handsome person and engaging manners, quite won the hearts of the undiscerning multitude ; and when at length he ventured to raise the standard of open rebellion, and to proclaim himself king, at Hebron, the people flocked to him in crowds, and David was nearly deserted, except by his guards and some faithful followers. Confounded at this intelligence, David abandoned Jerusalem in haste, to proceed to the country beyond Jordan, where the distance would allow him more time for collecting his resources and considering his course of action. Deeply humbled at what he considered as the pun- ishment of God for his sins, David ascended the Mount of Olives, on the upper road to Jericho, as a mourner, weeping, barefoot, and with shrouded head.

On his way David was deeply wounded by false intelligence of the ungrateful desertion of Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, whom, for his father’s sake, he had treated with much kindness and distinction, and to whom he had restored the lands of Saul. These lands he now too hastily bestowed on the treacherous informant, Ziba, who had managed them for Mephibosheth. When he afterwards discovered his error, and found it was only his lameness which prevented the son of his friend from following him, Ziba’s connections were too powerful to allow him to revoke the grant entirely, and he directed that the land should be divided between them. Among the remarkable incidents of this mournful journey, was the abusive and insulting conduct of a man named Shimei, of the family of Saul, who manifested the most unseemly exultation at the forlorn condition of the king. Yet the chastened David would not allow his people to avenge this wrong.

The fugitives rested themselves in “ the plains of the wilderness;” but soon cross- ed the Jordan, in consequence of information that Absalom had been advised to pursue them with 12,000 men, and smite them before an army could be collected. This, in fact, was the best course which Absalom could have taken to complete his enterprise at one stroke. It was the advice of David’s chief councilor, a Ahithophel, who was renowned in all Israel for his sagacity, and whose desertion to Absalom seemed one of the most serious of the king’s disasters. Nevertheless, Hushai, the friend of David, who had also found a place in the council of Absalom, contrived to get this advice rejected in favour of the very different course recommended by himself. Finding his counsel thus neglected, and foreseeing the consequences, the traitorous Ahithophel went home and hanged himself.

Meanwhile David fixed his residence at Mahanaim, beyond Jordan, where Ishbosheth had formerly held his court. When Absalom heard where he was, he followed him across the river, with a powerful army, under the direction of his cousin Amasa. David and his general had not been idle, but had collected a force, which, although small in comparison, seemed to men who trusted in the righteousness of their cause, sufficient for the contest. David divided his force into three battalions, and entrusted the command to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai; for the trrops refused to allow him to risk his own valuable life in the battle. Still feeling all a father’s unreasoning love for his guilty son, the last words of David to his commanders charged them to respect the life of Absalom. This charge was but little regarded. The army of Absalom was defeated by the better disciplined troops of David, and the prince himself fled upon a swift mule ; but as he passed under an oak, the long hair which he so carefully cherished became entangled in the projecting boughs, from which he was left suspended. In this situation he was found by Joab, who slew him on the spot. His death ended the war: the rebels dispersed, and went every man to his home. The king’s joy at the victory was greatly damped by the news of his son’s death. He shut himself in the chamber over the city gate ; and the returning warriors, who expected the reward of his presence and praise, heard only, as they entered, his loud and bitter lamentations for his lost Absalom. At length Joab went to him, and by representing the probably serious consequences of disgusting the troops by making them feel that their victory was a crime, he induced him to appear in public, and give his faithful soldiers the satisfaction they had earned.

As the mass of the people had hailed Absalom as king, David with commendable delicacy, abstained from resuming the crown as a matter of right ; but resolved to tarry at Mahanaim until formally invited back by the tribes. The Israelites generally were, by this time, thoroughly ashamed of the rebellion, and quite ready to return to their allegiance. But the want of unanimity among the tribes, and other circumstances, occasioned such delay, that Judah was the first to invite the king to resume his throne at Jerusalem. He accordingly returned. This seems to have been a wrong step ; for the other tribes were offended that he had returned on the sole invitation of Judah, without their concurrence ; and at length the dissension became so great, that the Israelites, as distinguished from the Judahites, refused to recognize the act or to acknowledge David as king ; and appointing one Sheba, of Benjamin, perhaps of Saul’s family, for their leader, they raised the standard of revolt, with the usual cry of civil war — “ To your tents, 0 Israel !”

David, partly with the view of conciliating those who had followed Absalom, appointed Amasa his commander in chief, in place of Joab. Him he now ordered out in pursuit of Sheba; but as he failed to assemble the forces of Judah within the limited time, David, who dreaded delay, sent out Abishai with the royal guards. With this force Joab went as a volunteer.* While they rested at Gibeon, Amasa came up with the force which he had at length got together. As he came on, Joab advanced to meet him ; and under the cover of a friendly salute, gave him a mortal stab, as he had formerly given Abner. Having thus treacherously removed his rival, and confiding in the attachment of the troops he had so often led to victory, he assumed the chief command, and the soldiers readily, perhaps gladly, followed their former general. The fact that they had to deal with so experienced a commander as Joab, appears to have helped to discourage the partisans of Sheba, who finding himself abandoned by the greater part of his followers, as Joab approached, deemed it expedient to withdraw his few remaining adherents into the fortified town of Abel-beth-maachah, in Naphtali. But when Joab appeared under the walls, the inhabitants to save themselves, threw over to him the rebel’s head; and the war being thus ended, Joab returned to Jerusalem. David detested his conduct, and was mortified at his presumption ; but he dared not to call him to account for the murder of Amasa, or remove him from the place which he had assumed.

After these things a famine of three years afflicted the people, and as the principles of the theocracy, guaranteed to the Israelites prosperity and plenty as long as they continued in obedience, every public calamity was justly regarded as a punishment for sin. David, therefore, somewhat tardily sought to know the cause of this famine. He was told that, although so long after the event, it was a punishment for innocent blood which had been left unatoned, namely, the blood of the Gibeonites whose safety Israel had guaranteed by a covenant of peace ; but who had been massacred by Saul, on some pretext or other, in considerable numbers. On learning this, David required the remnant of the Gibeonites to name the expiation they required ; and they vindictively asked the death of seven of Saul’s descendants. The king could not gainsay them ; and accordingly two sons of Saul, by his concubine Rizpah, and the five sons of Merab his eldest daughter, were yielded up to them. Thus were all the descendants of Saul destroyed, except Mephibosheth, the son of Jonathan, whom David had cherished, and now exempted for his father’s sake. The exposure of the bodies beyond the day of execution, which the Gibeonites demanded, was contrary to the habits of the Israelites, and justly repugnant to their feelings. Rizpah, the other of Saul’s sons, remained disconsolately night and day, watching the bodies of her children, to protect them from the birds and beasts of prey. When this came to David’s knowledge, he ordered the bodies to be taken down and deposit- ed, with the bones of Saul and Jonathan, in the family sepulchre.

(As these persons were all related to the king, it may be well to define the relationship. David had two sisters , Zeruiah and Abigail. Zeruiah was the mother of Joab, Abishai, and Asahel .(whom Abner slew); and Abigail was the mother of Amasa. They were all therefore David’s nephews, and cousins of his sons.)

(1 Chron. ii. 13, 17.)

Now that the Israelites had been weakened by two rebellions and by three years of famine, the Philistines deemed the opportunity favourable for trying to shake off the yoke which they had borne with much impatience. They therefore renewed the war, but were defeated in four engagements, and finally subdued. Among the Philistines were some families of gigantic stature, and in this campaign they brought several of Goliah’s family into the field. One of them had nearly over- powered David; but he was rescued, and the giant killed by Abishai. After this the people would never allow David to go to the wars in person, “lest he should quench the light of Israel.”

The next year David, that he might know the real extent of his power, and that all competent Israelites should be enrolled for military service, ordered Joab to take a census of the adult male population. The schemes of enlarged dominion, with a view to which this census was probably ordered to be taken, were contrary to that divine policy which required Israel to remain a compact and isolated people ; and the enrollment for such purposes seriously infringed the liberties of the nation. It also manifested great distrust of the Supreme King, who was known to be willing and able to give victory in every lawful enterprise, whether by many or by few. On these grounds the act was displeasing to God ; and it was distasteful even to Joab, who, after a vain remonstrance, proceeded to execute the order with great reluctance. The return which he made of men twenty years old and upwards, was 900,000 in the tribes of Israel, and 400,000 in Judah alone — amounting all to 1,300,000. By this we see that the population had more than doubled since the nation left Egypt and entered Palestine. The total numbers may be reckoned at considerably more than 5,000,000. When David received this account of the numbers of his people, “ his heart smote him,” and he became alive to the heinousness of his offense. At that moment the prophet Gad came commissioned to offer him the choice of three punishments, seven years of famine — three months of defeat and loss in war — or three days of pestilence. He chose the last ; and immediately the country was visited with a pestilence which in two days destroyed 70,000 men. David then vehemently interceded for his people, pleading that he alone had sinned, and praying that he and his might alone bear the punishment. His intercession prevailed, and the plague was stayed.

The eldest surviving son of David was Adonijah, who resembled Absalom in comeliness and ambition. Provoked at the prospect of his younger brother Solomon being considered heir to the throne, he plotted to secure the throne before the king’s death, which his old age and feebleness showed to be near at hand. He gained over Joab and Abiathar the high- priest to his cause ; but the other high-priest, Zadok, with the valiant Benaiah, the commander of the guards, and the great body of the “ worthies,” remained faithful to the cause of Solomon, and thereby evinced their adherence to the great principle of the government, — the supremacy of the Divine King, and his right to bestow the crown according to his pleasure. Having taken all the preliminary measures which seemed necessary, Adonijah invited his supporters to a splendid feast in one of the suburbs of Jerusalem, near the fountain of the king’s garden. Here he was proclaimed king, with great acclamation by his adherents. The news speedily reached the city, and was communicated to the king by Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan. Now Adonijah was very dear to the heart of David ; and it is more than likely that, if left to his own feelings, he would have been willing that his eldest son should reign. But he was too much alive to the principle of the government to consider that he had any will in the matter, after the will of the Lord had been declared. He therefore immediately issued orders to Zadok the priest, and to the officers of the court and army, to take Solomon, and anoint and proclaim him king. The prince was immediately mounted upon the king’s own mule, and escorted by all the court and the royal guards to the fountain of Gihon, where he was anointed by Zadok with the sacred oil ; when the trumpets sounded, and the assembled concourse rent the air with shouts of “ Long live King Solomon !”

When Adonijah and his party heard of this prompt and decided procedure, they were struck with fear, and dispersed to their own homes. Adonijah himself fled to the altar, which was a sanctuary from which none but murderers could be taken.

(Abiathar will be remembered as the son of Ahimelech, who fled to David after the massacre at Nob. He naturally succeeded as high priest ; but Saul gave that dignity to Zadok, thereby restoring the pontificate to the older line of Eleazar. When David succeeded to both kingdoms, he was unwilling to remove either, and therefore gave them co-ordinate powers.)

Hearing of this, Solomon sent to tell him that his safety depended upon his future conduct, and directed him to retire to his own house. Soon after, in a general assembly of the nation, the election of Solomon was ratified by the assent of the people ; and he was again solemnly anointed by the high-priest. On this occasion, David gathered up the remnant of his declining strength, and addressed the convention in a very forcible and touching harangue. He took pains to impress upon his audience the true character of the government, and its peculiar subservience to the Divine King. He then adverted to the temple, which had been so long before his view ; mentioned his own extensive preparations for it ; urged them to assist Solomon with heart and hand in the "great work" which lay before him ; and recommended an adherence to the plans and models which he had provided. He concluded with a devout thanksgiving to the Lord for all his mercies to him and to the nation. Solomon then ascended the throne of his father ; and his accession was celebrated with feasting and sacrifices.

On a subsequent occasion, David, feeling his end rapidly approaching, sent for Solomon, and earnestly impressed upon him the duty of obedience in all things to the Divine King. He had now done with life ; and gave it up, at the age of seventy years, of which he had reigned forty — seven as king of Judah only, and thirty-three as king of all Israel. Amid the lamentations of all his people, the remains of David were deposited in a splendid tomb, which he had prepared for himself on Mount Zion.

Solomon was nearly twenty years old when he began to reign. His natural talents were of the highest order, and had been improved by careful education ; he was endowed with profound sagacity, quick penetration, and great decision of character ; and no man ever possessed in a more eminent degree those collective talents and attainments to which the ancients gave the name of wisdom. He had not long ascended the throne when his sagacity detected the secret traitorous design which Adonijah still entertained. This prince had the adroitness to interest Bath-sheba, the king’s mother, in a scheme which he had formed of espousing Abis- hag, one of the wives of the late king, whom he had taken in his latter days. No sooner was this named by Bathsheba to Solomon, than he recognized in the insidious demand a plan formed by Adonijah to accredit his old pretensions; and as this was a breach of the conditions on which his life had been spared, he ordered him to be slain. Abiathar appears to have had some part in this intrigue; on which account, as well as for his first defection, he was deposed from the joint high priesthood to the rank of a common priest, and ordered to withdraw to his town of Anathoth. With some other persons, Solomon dealt according to the last instructions which his father had given him. Joab, when he heard what had been done to Adonijah and Abiathar, doubted not that his own death was determined, and therefore fled for refuge to the altar. But the altar was allowed to be no refuge to so old a murderer, he was torn thence, and put to the sword by order of the king. This was an act of astonishing vigour for so young a ruler, when we consider the influence of Joab with the army, which had secured him complete impunity in the time of David The valiant Benaiah was appointed captain general in his stead; and Zadok remained the sole high-priest.

Solomon was not unmindful of Shimei, the Benjamite who had cursed David and pelted him with stones when he fled from Absalom. David had not found it prudent to punish him ; but Solomon was not under the same restraint. He ordered him to fix his residence in Jerusalem, and not to leave it on any occasion on pain of death. For a time he was attentive to this injunction ; but after two years he left the city, and went to Gath in pursuit of two runaway slaves, and was, on his return, put to death.

Through the conquests of his father and the wise measures which he had taken to consolidate his power, Solomon was a great king, especially when the extent of his dominion is compared with the small dimensions of kingdoms in these times.

His dominions reached from the Mediterranean to the Euphrates, and from the Red Sea and Arabia, to the utmost Lebanon The tributary states were held in complete subjection, and being still governed by their native princes, made Solomon a “ king of kings.” The Canaanites who still remained in the land, had become peaceable and obedient subjects, or useful and laborious servants. His treasures also were immense, composed chiefly of the spoils won from many nations by his victorious father, and treasured up by him for the very purpose of sustaining the Cedars of Lebanon.

During the time of David, in which the tabernacle and the ark had been separate from each other, an irregular practice had crept in of sacrificing to God and burning incense at other places than the tabernacle. The altars for these services were chiefly upon hills covered with trees, and were called “ high places.” As this was also the practice of the surrounding heathens, it was very dangerous, and, in fact, paved the way for the idolatries into which the Israelites in after magnificence and aggrandizing the kingdom of his son. Solomon sought for an alliance becoming his high estate, and found it in a marriage with the king of Egypt’s daughter. It was a proud thing for Israel that their king could in such a matter treat on terms of equality with the power which had in old times so long held them under the yoke. The Egyptian princess was received with great magnificence, and Solomon lodged her in “ the city of David” on Mount Zion, until he should build for her a superb palace.

It had been strictly prohibited by the law of Moses (Lev. xvii. 3-5 ; Deut. xii. 2-5). The principal high place was at Gideon ; and at one of the religious festivals Solomon proceeded thither, in solemn pomp, with all his court, the officers of the state and army, and the chiefs and elders of the people, to render his homage to Jehovah, and to offer sacrifices to him. With this homage and with these sacrifices God was well pleased ; and the night following he manifested himself to Solomon in a dream, and offered to bestow upon him whatever blessing he might choose. The young king evinced the wisdom he already possessed, by asking an understanding heart to enable him to discharge the awful responsibilities that rested on him, in governing the numerous people and the various interests under his sway. Because he had made so excellent a choice from among all the gifts which the Lord of the Universe had to bestow, not only was surpassing wisdom given to him, but — what he had not asked — glory, and riches, and length of days, were added to the gift. His extraordinary sagacity was early shown in his judicial decisions, one example of which is given in the celebrated case of the two women living together, each of whom had a child. One of the children died in the night, and the living child was claimed by both the mothers, with equal apparent truth and zeal. When the case came before the king, he saw there was no way of discovering the real mother of the living child, but by an appeal to the truthfulness of maternal affection, and he therefore ordered the living child to be cut in two and one half given to each. The earnestness with which one of the women entreated that the life of the child might be spared, at once discovered the real mother.

Solomon had a great taste for magnificence, which he displayed in many ways. In the State, he introduced a most skillful organization of all its departments, which were severally entrusted to men whose abilities had been tried in the time of David ; and the splendor and beautiful order of every department in the court claimed admiration, But the inordinate magnificence and extent of all the regal establishments may be justly blamed, when we learn that the expenses were too great for even his large resources ; so that at length the royal profusion could only be supported by such oppressive exactions upon the people, as in the next reign led to the division of his dominion into two kingdoms. Some idea of this extravagant magnificence may be formed from the fact that he had 4000 stalls or stables for the horses of his various carriages. The provisions required by the court for one day, amounted to thirty bushels of fine flour, sixty bushels of common flour, ten fat oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and a hundred sheep, besides venison and poultry of all descriptions. A household requiring such quantities of food must have consisted of several thousand persons ; but it is likely that the royal guards were also supplied from this store.

It is said that Solomon’s wisdom greatly exceeded that of the wisest men, Jewish or foreign, of his own day ; there were none equal to him among the people of the east or the Egyptians, who were justly famous for their knowledge of every useful science. Three thousand proverbs, many of which remain to us, embodied his moral sayings and sage remarks on human character. A thousand and live songs, of which only the Canticles and 127th Psalm remain, ranked him among the first of Hebrew poets ; and his perfect knowledge of all kinds of plants, beasts, birds, and fishes, was shown by writings, which are supposed to have been lost in the Babylonian captivity.

An embassy of condolence and congratulation from Hiram king of Tyre, kept open the friendly relations with that king, which David had cultivated. It also led to an arrangement under which the king of Tyre engaged to bring from Lebanon, and land at the port of Joppa, the timber which Solomon required for the building of the temple. For this he was to pay in corn and oil ; for the Tyrians having only a small tract of territory, and being chiefly employed in commerce and manufactures, obtained their provisions chiefly from the fertile lands of Canaan. In return for this, in the ordinary course of traffic, the Israelites received the manufactures of the Phoenicians and the products of foreign lands. The timber, when landed at Joppa, was conveyed by the Tyrians to Jerusalem ; and they also assisted in preparing the stones for the building. Three years were spent in these preparations ; and in the fourth year, the foundation of the temple was laid, and in seven years the fabric was completed (B. C. 1005.) The temple appears to have been a truly splendid structure, and great wealth was consumed in its various utensils of precious metal, the whole of which were executed by Phoenician artists supplied by Hiram. From the connection of Solomon with Egypt, it is also probable that he availed himself of the talent which, in every branch of art, that country abundantly supplied. To foreigners certainly much of the beauty and perfection of the celebrated temple was owing; for the Israelites being chiefly an agricultural people, had but little skill in those arts of design and ornament which the undertakings of Solomon required. The general plan of the temple seems to have much resembled that of the tabernacle ; being composed of extensive courts for worship and sacrifice in the open air, in front of an oblong building comparatively of small dimensions, but in all its parts rich and elaborate beyond description. This was not, like our churches, for the use of the worshippers. It was never entered by them ; but was the abode of the Divine symbols, which were the same as in the tabernacle ; the ark with its hovering cherubim, and the Shechinah, or radiant symbol of the Divine presence, being within the interior or most sacred of the two apartments into which the building was divided, A high feast was held on the day when the temple was dedicated to its destined purpose, and when the sacred services commenced. On that day Solomon appeared upon a scaffold before the temple, and poured forth a long and most sublime prayer, at the conclusion of which the Divine complacency was evinced by "the glory of the Lord” filling the whole house, as it had aforetime filled the tabernacle ; after which the radiance concentrated over the ark, and there rested as the symbol of the Divine presence and occupancy. The first victims were also consumed by supernatural fire, which was afterwards constantly kept up as the sacred fire of the temple.

The remainder of king Solomon’s reign is a history rather of peaceful undertakings than of warlike exploits. He built a number of splendid palaces, with pleasure grounds, and basins of water. Of these the most celebrated was “ the house of the forest of Lebanon,” all the plate and furniture of which seems to have been of pure gold, while in the hall hung two hundred golden bucklers, each of which must have been worth fifteen hundred pounds, and three hundred smaller ones, each worth half the former. There also was the royal hall of audience and of judgment, where the king sat publicly upon a lofty throne of ivory and gold. Many cities were built, others rebuilt, and others fortified by Solomon. Of the former the most celebrated was Tadmor in the eastern wilderness (B. C. 991,) better known by its later name of Palmyra, whose splendid ruins excite to this day the admiration and wonder of travelers. These, however, are not the ruins of Solomon’s buildings, but of others erected in after ages on the same site.

The king also engaged in maritime and inland commerce. Being possessed of Eziongeber, a port on the Red Sea, which opens into the Indian Ocean, he united with king Hiram in sending ships into the eastern seas, which, after an absence of three years, returned laden with the valuable products of distant climes, — gold, silver, ivory, beautiful and costly woods, and precious stones ; gums, spices, and perfumes ; and collections of curious plants, animals, and birds, which must have ministered much delight to the scientific mind of Solomon, He also carried on a great trade in the fine linens, the yarn, the horses, and the chariots of the Egyptians; which he bought by his factors of the Egyptians, and sold at an enhanced price to the Syrian nations. From these sources, and from the tribute of the subject nations, vast treasure came into the royal coffers. We are told that the commercial voyages alone brought, in one year, no less than 666 talents of gold, which some compute at £3,646,350 sterling. As for silver, it was of no account in his days ; and the previously costly wood of the cedar became as common as that of sycamore had been. But most of this prosperity was rather the result of a temporary excitement, than of a regular development of the national resources. Even the commercial enterprises were monopolies of the crown ; and the greater part of the wealth arising from all sources went into the royal treasury, and was there absorbed in empty splendor, spent on foreigners, or consumed in extravagance.

We are not therefore surprised that, in his later years, when some of the sources of supply had declined, while the cost of the royal establishment was undiminished, Solomon was obliged to resort to oppressive exaction from his own people, which had well nigh ruined the house of David in popular esteem. It is true, however, that, taking his reign in the whole, the nation was prosperous, as the long continued peace enabled the population to increase without check, while every man could attend to his lands without distraction. Hence we are told that in his days “Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba.”

The vast knowledge of Solomon, his profound sagacity, and the order and splendour of his court, attracted many foreign princes to Jerusalem. The most celebrated of these visitors was the queen of Sheba, supposed by some to have come from southern Arabia, but who is more generally thought to have been the queen of Abyssinia, which is the firm belief of the Abyssinians themselves to this day. The distance from which she came, the costly gifts which she brought, and her splendid train, excited much admiration. The king satisfactorily solved the “ hard questions’’ by which she tried his wisdom ; and all that she heard and saw led her to confess that the reality greatly exceeded the scarcely credible rumours which had reached her distant land.

Unfortunately, that vain and costly appendage of royal state in the east, a large seraglio of women, was deemed by Solomon necessary to his magnificence. He had no fewer than 700 wives of high family, and 300 secondary or concubine wives. Many of these were foreigners and idolaters from the neighboring nations ; and they, in his latter days, drew him astray, not only to participate in their acts of homage to their native idols, but to build temples to their honor and for their worship, on the hills facing Jerusalem, and in front of the Lord’s own temple. Here he joined in sacrifices to Chemosh (Baal) or Peor, the obscene idol of the Moabites, to Moloch the god of the Ammonites, and to Ashtaroth the goddess of the Sidonians. These doings greatly provoked the Divine indignation. The splendid endowments of Solomon served the more to aggravate his offence; and at length it was solemnly announced to him, that since he had broken the covenant by which he held his crown from the Divine King, the kingdom should be rent from him, and given to his servant. Nevertheless it was added, that, for David’s sake, this should not be done in his time, but in the time of his son ; and that, also for the sake of David, one tribe, that of Judah (with which Benjamin had now coalesced), should remain under the dominion of his house.

This prophecy was soon after made known by the pro- phet Ahijah to Jeroboam, an Ephraimite, who had attracted the notice of Solomon, and had been by him promoted to the high employment of intendant of the imposts levied for the state from the tribes of Joseph. The prophet accompanied the message by the significant act of rending his own new garment into twelve pieces, ten of which he gave to Jeroboam, and reserved only two for the house of David. It was then announced that the dominion over the ten tribes was given to him ; and that it should be confirmed to his descendants, if he and they maintained their allegiance to the Divine King. This soon came to the knowledge of Solomon, whose attempts to destroy the destined rival of his son, taught Jeroboam the prudence of leaving the country. He retired into Egypt, where he was well received by the king, Shishak, and protected by him till the death of Solomon. The repose of the king’s latter days was also disturbed by the revolt of the Edomites and the Syrians of Damascus. There is reason to hope, that these just punishments opened the eyes of Solomon to the enormity of his offences, and that his last days were repentant. He died about the sixtieth year of his age, after a reign of forty years. (B. C. 975).

Solomon may have left many sons, but the only one known to history is his successor, Rehoboam, who was bom the year before his father’s accession, and was therefore forty one years of age when he ascended the throne.

The tribes were now determined to relieve themselves from the burdens which, in the later years of his reign, had been imposed upon them by Solomon. They therefore recalled Jeroboam from Egypt ; and, with him at their head, applied to Rehoboam for redress of the grievances under which they had laboured. It is evident that the ten tribes were predisposed to separate themselves from Judah, and establish an independent government. Their sentiments were influenced chiefly by those of Ephraim, which proud and powerful tribe could not brook that the sovereignty should be in the great rival tribe of Judah. They were, therefore, in all probability, rather glad than sorry when a rough refusal of redress from Rehoboam gave them a reasonable pretext for revolt, and for abandoning their allegiance to the house of David. Accordingly, they revolted, and made Jeroboam their King.

As this separation was in accordance with the intentions of the Divine King, to punish the house of David for the guilt of Solomon, the Sacred Oracle forbade Rehoboam to pursue the design which he had formed of reducing the revolted tribes to obedience by force of arms.

ISRAEL

Jeroboam made the ancient city of Shechem, in his own tribe of Ephraim, the seat of his government ; and he had also a summer residence at Tirzah in Manasseh. Although released from its dependence on Judah, the new kingdom, which was called, by way of distinction, the kingdom of Israel, was still under allegiance to the Divine King, and bound as much as Judah, by all the obligations of the ancient covenants. In both, therefore, we are to view the continued operation of the theocratical system, for the purpose of preserving the knowledge of the true God upon earth. Both the kingdoms prospered or were humbled in proportion as their conduct promoted or hindered that great object.

Jeroboam, whatever may have been his original intentions, soon renounced the peculiar institutions of Judaism. Although the kingdoms were separated, there was but one temple and one altar, one ecclesiastical establishment, for both. To the place of the temple and altar all the Israelites were, by the law, obliged to repair three times every year, and that place was Jerusalem, the metropolis of the rival kingdom. Fearing that this might ultimately lead to the reunion of the tribes, and to the extinction of his separate kingdom, Jeroboam most presumptuously and wickedly dared to abrogate the unity of the nation (which might still have been maintained under two kingdoms), by forbidding his subjects to repair to Jerusalem, to render their homage to the Divine King. He alleged that the distance made the journey burdensome to them, and, therefore, he established two places, towards the opposite extremities of his own kingdom, to which they might repair.

These were Bethel in the south, and Dan in the north. Having himself resided in Egypt, and recollecting the readiness with which the Israelites had, in the wilderness, set up a figure of the Egyptian ox-god (Mnevis, the bull) as the symbol of the true God, he now reverted to that superstition, and set up “ golden calves” at Dan and Bethel, as objects of religious service and homage. He did not deny the God of Israel and turn to other gods ; but for political objects, he prevented the access of his subjects to the true symbols of the Divine Presence, and caused them to worship Him under forbidden and degrading symbols.

To their very great honor, no priests or Levites could be found who would connect themselves with this abomination. After a vain attempt to stem the evil, the Levites abandoned their cities, and removed into the kingdom of Judah. The priests were already there, for their towns were all in the territories of Judah. Jeroboam could not induce any respectable persons to arrogate the priestly office, and, therefore, the lowest and most unprincipled of the people became the fitting priests of the golden calves. As to the high-priesthood, he took that office to himself, according to the practice in Egypt and other countries, where the sovereign was also supreme pontiff. As such, he officiated at high festivals, one of which, the Feast of Tabernacles, he presumed to change from the seventh to the eighth month. These innovations were so shocking to every mind well imbued with the principles of the theocracy and the true religion, that, by degrees, a large proportion of the most valuable men in Israel removed into the sister kingdom. By this and other accessions, the kingdom of Judah soon became, in real strength and power, less unequal to that of Israel, than the proportion between two and ten tribes would seem to indicate. Indeed Judah was already a formed kingdom, with well-organized resources and establishments, and with much treasure ; so that the balance of power may be deemed to have inclined in its favor.

Jeroboam was not allowed to remain long unwarned. He was officiating as high-priest at Bethel, at his feast of tabernacles, when a prophet appeared and foretold that a future king of Judah, Josiah by name, should profane and destroy that very altar at which he was burning incense. The power by which the prophet spoke was evinced by the instant withering of the hand which the king stretched forth to lay hold on the prophet ; and not less by its being instantly restored at that prophet’s prayer. This, however, had no abiding effect upon Jeroboam ; he persisted in his evil ways, and at length brought ruin upon his house. This doom was announced to his wife by the prophet who had anointed him for the kingdom. Ahijah was now blind with age ; but when the queen, disguised, went to consult him about a beloved son who was dangerously ill, he knew her, and not only told her that the child should die, but that the dynasty of Jeroboam should soon be extinguished ; and that the Israelites for their iniquities, should, in the end, be carried away as captives beyond the Euphrates. After a reign of twenty-two years Jeroboam died (B. C. 954), and was succeeded by his son Nadab, in the second year of Asa, king of Judah.

Nadab reigned only two years, during which he adhered to the system of his father. He was then murdered by a person called Baasha, of the tribe of Issachar, who usurped the crown and put to death the whole family of Jeroboam.

Baasha’s government was as offensive to God as it was oppressive to the people, great numbers of whom sought quiet in Judah. Displeased at this, Baasha engaged in a sort of skirmishing warfare with Asa, and took Ramah of Benjamin, which he began to fortify with the view of controlling the intercourse between the two kingdoms. But he was called off to defend his own country from the Syrians, whose assistance had been bought by the king of Judah with gold from the temple. Persisting in evil, Baasha incurred for his house the doom which had been inflicted on that of Jeroboam. He died after a reign of twenty-three years.

Elah, his son, reigned little more than one year, when he was murdered at a feast by Zimri, a military commander, who then mounted the throne. The army, which was in the field against the Philistines, no sooner heard of this than they declared in favour of their own commander Omri, who immediately led them on against his rival. He was at Tirzah ; and when Omri arrived, Zimri, despairing of the result, withdrew to his harem, which he set on fire, and perished, with all that belonged to him, in the flames.

The people, like the army, had refused to recognize the murderous Zimri as king, and had chosen one for themselves named Tibni, in whom Omri now found another competitor. It was not until after six years of civil war that Omri mastered this opposition and remained undoubted king (B. C. 923). The most memorable act of his reign was the foundation of a new metropolis in a very advantageous situation, (B. C. 918). He called it Samaria, after the name of the person (Samar) to whom the ground had originally belonged. Omri reigned eleven years, and died in the thirty-ninth year of Asa, king of Judah.

In Judah, the conduct of Rehoboam was without reproach during the three first years of his reign. After that, he, and his subjects with him, fell into the same gross idolatry and abominable practices, which had proved the ruin of the Canaanites. To punish them for this apostacy, God allowed an invasion of the land by Shishak king of Egypt, (B. C. 970,) who took some of the fortified towns, entered Jerusalem, and carried off the treasures of the temple and the palace. As this produced repentance, the remainder of the reign was prosperous. Rehoboam reigned seventeen years.

Abijah, the son of Rehoboam by a grand-daughter of Absalom, succeeded his father. He was an active and martial prince, and determined to endeavor, by force of arms, to bring back the ten tribes to obedience. He raised a large army for that service ; and was met by Jeroboam with an army twice as large. Before the battle, Abijah harangued the opposing force from Mount Zemaraim. He asserted the indefeasible right of the house of David to reign over all the tribes ; he alleged that, in the revolt, undue advantage had been taken of Reboboam’s inexperience ; and he gathered confidence of success from the adherence of Judah to the theocratical institutions, which Israel had so heinously forsaken. This reliance gained him the victory. Jeroboam lost two-thirds of his immense army, and never recovered the strength he then lost. Abijah was thus enabled to advance his frontier, by taking from Israel several border towns, among which we find the name of Bethel, where was one of the golden calves. We are not, however, told that he destroyed that idol ; and it would appear that the town itself was ultimately recovered by Israel ; perhaps on the death of Abijah, which soon followed, after a short reign of three years.

Asa, who then ascended the throne, was a prince of great piety and virtue. He ruled quietly for ten years, which he employed in the reformation of the abuses of former reigns. He destroyed all idols and their altars, and employed all the means in his power to restore the pure worship of God, and re-establish the principles of the theocratical government. His own adhesion to these principles, which required implicit confidence in the Divine King, was severely tried by an invasion of the country by a vast host of the Cushites (called Ethiopians), under Zerah, their king (B. C. 941). Strong in the confidence that it was equally in the Lord’s power to give the victory with few as with many, the pious Asa advanced with a comparatively small force to his southern frontier, to meet this immense horde. In that confidence, the Cushites were totally overthrown before him, and the victory gave him the abundant spoil and numerous cattle of this pastoral horde. This repulsion of a torrent which had threatened to overwhelm all the neighboring states, and which must have been regarded with general apprehension, could not but enhance his credit in the adjoining countries.

Five following years of profound peace he employed, under the advice of the prophet Azariah, in pursuing his reformations with a still more vigorous and less sparing hand. Even his own grandmother, the guardian of his youth, was banished from court on account of her idolatries. These reforms put the kingdom in such advantageous contrast with that of Israel, that the well-disposed subjects of that kingdom removed in great numbers into Judah. Alarmed at this, Baasha of Israel, took the measures which have been already mentioned to check the communication between the two kingdoms. The conduct of Asa, in hiring the Syrians with the gold of the temple, to make a diversion in his favor, did not become his character, nor evince that confidence in the Great King which he had on more trying occasions exemplified. He also imprisoned the prophet Hanani, who reproved him for his conduct on this occasion. His latter years were also stained by several acts of oppression ; and when afflicted with a grievous disease in the feet, he manifested more confidence in his physicians, and less in God, than was considered becoming. He died after a reign of forty-one years, and was honored by his subjects with a magnificent funeral ; for the Jews, like other Orientals, were in the habit of making known, by funeral testimonials, the estimation in which they held their deceased kings.

The excellent father was succeeded by the still more excellent son Jehoshaphat. The first act of his reign was to remove the high places and the groves, which Asa had left untouched. Then, becoming convinced that the most effectual means of preventing the return of the corruptions which had with so much difficulty been rooted out, was to provide for the suitable instruction of the people, in the third year of his reign, he sent out, through all the cities of Judah, a number of chiefs or “ princes,” whose rank and influence secured respect and attention to the priests and Levites who, with them, were to instruct the people in the law of Moses. The king himself made a tour through his kingdom to see that due effect was in this matter given to his intentions.

Having made this the first object of his care, Jehoshaphat found leisure to examine and reform the abuses which had crept into various departments of the state, and to develop the civil and military resources of the country. His cares were rewarded by the increasing prosperity and numbers of his people, by their happiness, and by the exemption from war which his manifest preparedness for it secured. All the men fit to bear arms were regularly enrolled, and were found to be no less than 1,160,000; being not materially fewer than the number returned for all the tribes (except Levi and Benjamin), in the time of David. Of these a certain proportion was kept in service, to act as royal guards at Jerusalem, to garrison the fortresses, and to protect the northern frontier from the kings of Israel. The effective order which the king thus established throughout his kingdom procured for him the respect of foreign states, while Edom was retained in its subjection, and the Philistines dared not withhold their tribute silver.

The grand error of Jehoshaphat’s reign was the alliance he contracted with the idolatrous Ahab king of Israel, who thought it safer to have the king of Judah for a friend than an enemy, and therefore paid court to him. The alliance was soon cemented by a marriage between Ahab’s daughter Athaliah, and Jehoram the son of Jehoshaphat. In consequence of this connection a friendly intercourse was established between the two kings ; and on a visit paid by Jehoshaphat to the court of Ahab, he allowed himself to be persuaded to accompany him in an expedition to recover Ramoth-Gilead from the Syrians. In that action Ahab was killed, and Jehoshaphat narrowly escaped with his life to Jerusalem. On his arrival he was severely reproved by the prophet Jehu for so injurious and improper a connection. The king testified his repentance in the best possible way by prosecuting his reformations with renewed vigor. A personal tour through the kingdom evin- ced the sincerity of his endeavor to bring his subjects into a right state of feeling towards the God of their fathers. In this tour the king discovered many abuses and irregularities in the administration of justice ; and he therefore established local courts in every important town, with a right of appeal to the superior courts at Jerusalem. To all these courts competent judges were appointed ; and they were dismissed to their duties with a plain and forcible charge from the king.

The next undertaking of Jehoshaphat was an attempt to reopen the maritime traffic which Solomon had carried on by way of the Red Sea. But he unfortunately allowed Ahaziah, the king of Israel, to become a partner in the enterprise, in consequence of which the Lord refused to prosper the design, and the ships were destroyed by a storm almost as soon as they left the port of Ezion-Geber. Ahaziah wished to renew the attempt, but Jehoshaphat refused, and appears to have abandoned the project altogether.

Very soon after this Jehoshaphat obtained a very signal deliverance from a formidable and quite unexpected invasion from the south, by a large force of Moabites and Ammonites, together with some Arabian tribes whom they had engaged in the enterprise. They came by the way of Edom, and had arrived as far as En-gedi before Jehoshaphat was well aware of their presence. He had no resource but to throw himself unreservedly upon the Great King, and this confidence was rewarded by the promise of deliverance. In fact the Judahites had no occasion to draw a sword ; for there arose such a spirit of discord among the invaders, that after the Ammonites and Moabites had quarrelled and destroyed their Arabian auxiliaries, they repeated the same process among themselves ; so that the people under Jehoshaphat had nothing to do but collect the spoil which they had left. This was so large that it took three days to gather it together ; after which they returned with great joy to Jerusalem, and before they entered the city they held a solemn thanksgiving in the valley of Shaveh.

The king of Judah was probably induced, by his resentment at the invasion of the Moabites, to give his aid to the king of Israel, Jehoram, in the attempt to re-establish over that people the dominion of Israel, from which they had revolted on the death of Ahab. The allies got into a position of imminent danger, and their deliverance was declared to be solely owing to the divine favor towards Jehoshaphat (B. C. 895).

Not long after this Jehoshaphat died, having lived sixty years, and reigned twenty-five. He was undoubtedly the greattest of the Hebrew kings since Solomon, and the most faithful since David (B. C. 889).

Cont.