domains, and from taxes1 and tributes, is described as enormous. So plentiful was gold that "silver was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon."2 And of a like strain is the joyous little hymn, ascribed to Solomon, which describes the increase, the vigor, the glory of the rising and ever-multiplying population, -— the peaceful ease of all around, where "it is but lost labor to "rise up early, and sit down late, and eat the bread of "carefulness;" where blessings seem to descend even on the unconscious sleeper, where the children are shot to and fro as the most powerful of all weapons from the bows of irresistible archers.8 The very names of the two successors under whom this flourishing state was disordered, seem to bear witness to the abundance and brightness of the days when they were born and bred -Rehoboam, "the widening of the people"-Jeroboam, "the multiplier of the people." For this altered state of things a new organization was needed. Although the offices of the court were generally the same as those in David's time, the few changes that occur are significant of the advance in splendor and order. Solomon. The great officers are now for the first time called by Court of one general name-"Princes,"4-a title which before had been almost confined to Joab. The union of priestly and secular functions still continued. Zabud, "the King's friend," is called a priest no less than Azariah, the son of Zadok. But on the other hand 1 1 Kings x. 14, 666 talents of gold. Possibly (as Professor Plumptre makes it) the first suggestion of the mystical number of Rev. xiii. 18. The treasures left by David for building the Temple, in 1 Chr. xxix. 1-7, amount, it is computed, to eight millions sterling. 2 1 Kings x. 21. 3 Ps. cxxvii. 2, 4. 4 Sharim, 1 Kings iv. 2. 5 Ibid. 5 (Cohen, A. V. “ principal officer "). the name is not extended, as in David's court, to the royal family; thus perhaps indicating that the division. of the two functions was gradually becoming percep tible. Instead of the one scribe or secretary, there were now two, Elihoreph or Eliaph, and Ahijah, sons of the old scribe Shisha. The two "counsellors," who occupied so important a place by David, now disappear. Probably the counsellors were so increased in number as to form a separate body in the state, as in the next reign there was a hand of aged advisers, known as "those who had stood before Solomon."" The Prophets cease to figure amongst the dignitaries; as though the prophetical office had been overborne by the royal dignity. The Chief Priesthood, as we have seen, was concentred in Zadok alone, and from him descended a peculiar hierarchy, known by the name of sons of Zadok,3 the possible origin (whether from their first ancestor's opinions, or from a traditionary adherence to the old Law) of the later sect of the Sadducees. Camp of The three military bodies seem to have remained unchanged. The commander of the "host" is the priestly warrior Benaiah, who succeeded Solomon. the murdered Joab. The six hundred heroes of David's early life only once pass across the scene. Sixty of them, their swords as of old girt on their thighs, attended Solomon's litter, to guard him from banditti on his way to Lebanon. The guard appear only as household troops, employed on state pageants, and apparently commanded by the officer now mentioned for the 1 1 Kings iv 3. Ibid. xii. 6. Jerome mentions (Quæst Hebr. on 2 Chr. x. 6) as amongst them, Benaiah and Jehiel, the tutors of the Princes. 3 2 Chr. xxxi. 10; Ez. xl. 46; xlii. 19, &c. See Mr. Twisleton on SADDUCEES, in Dict. of the Bible, p 1085. 4 Cant. iii. 7, 8. first time, at least in the full magnitude of his post He was "over the household," in fact the Vizier, and keeper of the royal treasury1 and armory.2 In subsepuent reigns he is described as wearing an official robe, girt about with an official girdle, and carrying on his shoulder as a badge, like a sword of state, the gigantic key of the house of David. The office was held by Ahishar. In the Arabian legends it is given to the great musician, Asaph.5 The only two functionaries who retained their places from David's time were Jehoshaphat, the historiographer or recorder, and Adoram or Adoniram, the tax-collector. These were probably appointed when very young, at the time when David's reign was gradually settling into the peaceful arrangements of later times. The word which elsewhere is used for the garrisons Administra- planted in a hostile country, is now employed for "officers" appointed by the King of Israel over his own subjects. They were divided into two bodies, both alike, as it would seem, directed by a new dignitary, who also appears for the first time,- Azariah, son of the Prophet Nathan, "who was over the "officers."8 tion of Sol omon. The lesser body consisted of twelve chiefs, in number corresponding to the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, who had administered the kingdom under David, and to the twelve surveyors of his pastures and herds. 1 Isa. xxii. 15. 2 1 Kings xiv. 27. 3 Isa. xxii. 21, 22. in 2 Sam. viii. 6, 14, 1 Kings xxii. 47, 1 Chr. xviii. 13, 2 Chr. xvii. 2, for Israelite garrisons), are used in 1 4 1 Kings iv. 6 (LXX. adds Eliak). Kings iv. 5, 7, 19, 27, ix. 23, 2 Chr. 5 D'Herbelot, art. Assaf. 61 Kings iv. 3, 6; xii. 18. 7 Netsib, and Nitssab (used in 1 Sam. x. 5, xiii. 3, 4, 1 Chr. xi. 16, for Philistine garrisons in Judea; and viii 10, for the officers of Solomon. 9 Ibid. 7; 1 Chr. xxvii. 16–31. It is to the latter division that the twelve "officers" of Solomon corresponded, as they were arranged not according to the tribal divisions, and as their sole function was to furnish provisions for the royal household. Two of them were sons-in-law of the King.1 3 The larger body of "officers" were chosen from the Israelites, to control the taskwork exacted from the Canaanite population. The foreign populations within his dominions were, after the first ineffectual attempt at insurrection, completely cowed. The Hittite chiefs were allowed to keep up a kind of royal state, with horses and chariots; but the population generally was employed, like the aboriginal inhabitants of Greece, on public works, and was heavily taxed. Several important fortresses were created to keep them in check; one in the extreme north, in the old Canaanite capital of Hazor; a second in the Canaanite town of Megiddo, commanding the plain of Esdraelon; a third on the ruins of the Philistine city of Gaza, which had maintained its independence longest of all; two in the villages of Bethhoron at the upper and lower ends of the pass of that name, and one at Baalath or Kirjathjearim. The three last-named forts commanded the approaches from Sharon and Philistia to Jerusalem." From the Canaanite bondmen were probably descended the degraded class, standing last in the list of those who returned from Babylon, -"the children of "Solomon's slaves." They were apparently employed in the quarries, as those who appear next above them the Nethinim, were in the forests. 1 1 Kings iv. 11, 15. 2 Ibid. ix. 23; 2 Chr. viii. 10. 3 1 Kings x. 29. 4 Ibid. ix. 20, 21. 5 1 Kings ix. 15-18; 2 Chr viii 4-6. 6 Ezra. ii. 55; Neh. vii. 57. See Professor Plumptre, in the Dictionary of the Bible. Jerusalem. 66 such as of them The public works of Solomon were selves to leave an impress on his age. Of his doubtful connection with Tadmor and Baalbec we have already spoken. But there is no question of those more immediately connected with his court and his residence. Jerusalem itself received a new life from his accession. It has even been conjectured that the name first became fixed through his influence; being, in its latter part, an echo, as it were, of his own peace." When the Greeks gave their form to the name, they were guided by a remembrance of his name. "Hierosolyma," in their estimate, was the "Hieron" or Temple of Solomon.1 In any case Jerusalem now assumed the dimensions and the splendor of a capital. It became the centre of the commercial routes before mentioned, and Jewish tradition described the roads leading into Jerusalem, marked, as they ran over the white limestone of the country, by the black basaltic stones of their pavement. The city was enclosed with a new wall, which, as the reign advanced, the King increased in height and fortified with vast towers. The castle or city of David was fortified by an ancient, perhaps Jebusite, rampart, known by the name of " Millo," or the "house of Millo," of which, possibly, remains still exist on the west of the Temple wall. The master of these works was Jeroboam,5 then quite a youth. Amongst these buildings, the PALACE of Solomon was prominent. It was commenced at the same time as the Temple, but not finished till eight years afterwards. The occasion of its erection was the The palace. 1 Eupolemus, in Eusebius, Præp. Ev. ix. 34. ? Josephus, Ant. viii. 7, § 4. 2 3 1 Kings iii. 1; ix. 15; Josephus, Ant. viii. 2, § 1; 6, § 1. 4 1 Kings ix. 15, 24; xi. 27. 5 Ibid. xi. 26. |