IV. F<)7-eign Policy. — The want of sufficient data for a continuous history has already been noticed. All that we have are («) The <luration of the reign, forty years (1 Kings xi, 42). (Josephus, again inaccurate, length- ens the reign to eighty years, and makes the age at ac- cession fourteen [.4ra^ viii, 7, 8].) (6) The commence- ment of the Temple in the fourth, its completion in the eleventh year of his reign (vi, 1,37,38). (c) The com- mencement of his own palace in the seventh, its com- pletion in the twentieth year (vii, 1; 2 Chron. viii, 1). ((/) The con<piest of Hamath-zobah,and the consequent foinidation of cities in the region north of Palestine after the twentieth year (ver. 1-6). With materials so scanty as these, it will he better to group the chief facts in an order which will best enable us to appreciate their sig- niticance.
1. I''>ii/pt. — The first act of the foreign policy of the new reign must have been to most Israelites a very startling one. He made affinity with Pharaoh, king of Egypt, lie married Pharaoh's daughter (1 Kings iii, I). .Since the time of the Exode there had been no intercourse between the two countries. David and his counsellors had taken no steps lo promote it. Egypt had probably taken part in assisting Edom in its resist- ance to David (1 Chron. xi. 23 : Ewald, (jc.ich. Isr. iii, 182), and had received 1 ladad, the prince of Edom, with royal honors. The king had given him his wife's sister in marriage, and adopted his son into his own family (1 Kings xi, 14-20). These steps indicated a purpose to support him at some future time more actively, and Solomon's proposal of marriage was probably intended
SOLOMON
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to counteract it. It was at the time so far successful that when Hadad, on hearing of the death of the dread- ed leaders of the armies of Israel, David and Joab, ■wished to seize the opportiniity of attacking the new king, the court of Egypt rendered liim no assistance (xi, 21, '22). Tlie disturbances thus caused, like those of a later date in the north, coming from the foundation of a new Syrian kingdom at Damascus by Kezon and other fugitives from Zobah (ver. 23-25), might, well lead Sol(jmon to look out for a powerful support, to ob- tain for a new dynasty and a new kingdom a recognition by one of older fame and greater power. The immedi- ate results were probably favorable enough. The new queen brought with her as a dowry the frontier city of (iezer, against which, as threatening the tranquillity of Israel, and as still possessed by a remnant of the old Canaanites, Pharaoh had led his armies. She was re- ceived with all honor, the queen-mother herself attend- ing to place the diadem on her son's brow on the day of his espousals (Cant, iii, 11). Gifts from the nobles of Israel and from Tyre (the latter offered perhaps by a Tyrian princess) were lavished at her feet (Psa. xlv, 12). It is to be remarked that the daughter of Pharaoh ap- pears to have conformed to the Hebrew faith, for sUe is mentioned as if apart from the " strange women" who seduced Solomon into the toleration or practice of idol- atry (1 Kings xi, 1), and there are no accounts of any Egj'ptian superstitions being introduced during his reign. The Egyptian queen dwelt in a separate por- tion of the city of David till a palace was reared — the presence of the ark on Zion precluded the near residence of such a foreigner, though she might have abandoned her national gods (2 Chron. viii, 11). She dwelt there apparently with attendants of her own race, " the vir- gins that be her fellows," probably conforming in some degree Lo the religion of her adojjted country. Accord- ing to a tradition which may have some foundation in spite of its exaggerated numbers, Pharaoh (Psusennes, or, as in the storj', Yaphres) sent with her workmen to lielp in building the Temple to the number of 80,000 ( Eupolemus, in Euseb, Prap. Ei'aiig. ii, 30-35). The "chariots of Pharaoh," at any rate, appeared in royal procession with a splendor hitherto unknown (Cant. i,9).
The ultimate issue of the alliance showed that it was hollow and impolitic. There maj' have been a revolution in Egypt, changing the dynasty and trans- ferring the seat of power to Bubastis (Ewald, iii, 389). There was at any rate a change of policy. The court of Egj'pt welcomes the fugitive Jeroboam when he is known to have aspirations after kingly power. There, we may believe, by some kind of compact, expressed or understood, was planned the scheme which led first to the rebellion of the Ten Tribes, and then to the attack of Shishak on the weakened and dismantled kingdom of the son of Solomon. Evils such as these were l)ardly counterbalanced by the trade opened by Solomon in the fine linen of Egypt, or the supply of chariots and horses which, as belonging to aggressive rather than defensive warfare, a wiser policj' would have led him to avoid (1 Kings X, 28, 29).
2. Tyre. — The alliance with the Phoenician king rested on a somewhat different footing. It had been part of David's policy from the beginning of his reign. Hiram had been "ever a lover of David." He, or his grandfather (comp. the data given in 2 Sam. v, 11; Jose- phus, A nt. vii, 3, 2; viii, 5, 8 ; Cont. A p. i, 18; and Ewald, iii, 287), had helped him by supplying materials and workmen for his palace. As soon as he heard of Solo- mon's accession he sent ambassadors to salute him. A correspondence passed between the two kings, which ended in a treaty of commerce. (The letters are given at length by Josephus [/In?, viii, 2, 8] and Eupolemus [Eusebius, Prcep. Kvanrj. loc. cit. ].) Israel was to be sup- plied from Tyre with the materials which were wanted for tlie Temple that was to be the glory of the new reign. Gold from Ophir, cedar -wood from Lebanon, IX.— 1 1 1