Besides the great work which has rendered the name of Solomon so famous — the Temple at Jerusalem — we are informed of the palaces which he built, viz. his own palace, the queen's palace, and the house of the forest of Lebanon, his porch (or piazza) for no specified object, and his porch of judgment, or law-court. He also added to the walls of Jerusalem, and fortified Millo (" in the city of David," 2 Chron. xxxii, 5) and many other strongholds. The Temple seems to have been of very small dimensions — sixty cubits long, twenty broad, and thirty high (1 Kings vi, 3) — or smaller than many moderate-sized parish churches; but it was wonder- ful for the lavish use of precious materials. Whether the three palaces were parts of the same great pile re- mains uncertain. The house of the forest of Lebanon, it has been ingeniously conjectured, was so called from the multitude of cedar pillars, similar to a forest. That Solomon's own house was of far greater extent than the Temple appears from its having occupied thirteen j'ears in building, while the Temple was finished in seven. In all these works he had the aid of the Tyrians, whose skill in hewing timber and in carving stone, and in the application of machines for convej'ing heavy masses, was of the first importance. The cedar was cut from Mount Lebanon, and, as would appear, from a district which belonged to the Tyrians; either because in the Hebrew parts of the mountain the timber was not so fine, or from want of roads by which it might be con- veyed. The hewing was superintended by Tyrian car- penters, but all the hard labor was performed by Hebrew bondmen. This circumstance discloses to us an impor- tant fact — the existence of so large a body of public slaves in the heart of the Israelitish monarchy, who are reckoned at 153,600 in 2 Chron. ii, 17; see also 1 Kings ix, 20-23. During the preparation for the Temple, it is stated (ver. 13-18) that 70,000 men were employed to bear burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood in the mountains, besides 3300 overseers. The meaning of this, however, is rather obscure; since it also states that there was a " levy" of 30,000, of whom 10,000 at a time went to Lebanon. Perhaps the 150,000 was the whole number lidble to serve, of whom only one fifth was actually called out. From the large number said to " bear burdens." we may infer that the mode of working was very lavish of human exertion, and little aided by the strength of beasts. It is inferred that at least the Hittites had recognised princes of their own, since they are named as purchasers of Eg.yptian chariots from Solomon ; yet the mass of these nations were clearly pressed down by a cruel bondage, which must have reacted on the op- pressors at every time of weakness. The word C^, which is translated " levy" and " tribute," means espe- cially the personal service performed by public slaves, and is rendered "task" in Exod. i, 11, when speaking of the Israelites in Egj'pt.
Until the Temple was finished, the tabernacle ap- pears to have continued at Gibeon, although the ark had been brought by David to Zion (2 Chron. i, 3, 4). David, it appears, had pitched a tent on purpose to re-
ceive the ark. where Asaph and his brethren the Levites ministered before it with singing, while Zadok and his brethren the priests ministered before the tabernacle at Gibeon with sacrifices (1 Chron. xv, 16-24 : xvi, 37-40). This shows that even in David's mind the idea of a sin- gle centre of religious unity was not fully formed, as the co-ordinate authority of Abiathar and Zadok indi- cates that no single high-priest was recognised. But from the time of the dedication of the Temple, not only the ark, but all the holj-^ vessels from the tabernacle were brought into it (1 Kings viii, 4), and the high- priest naturally confined his ministrations to the Tem- ple, Zadok having been left without an equal by the disgrace of Abiathar. Nevertheless, the whole of the later history of the Jewish monarchy, even under the most pious kings, proves that the mass of the nation never became reconciled to the new idea, that " in Jeru- salem (alone) was the place where they ought to wor- ship." The " high places," at which Jehovah was wor- shipped with sacrifice, are perpetually alluded to in terms which show that, until the reign of Josiah, it was im- possible for kings, priests, or prophets to bring about a uniformitj^ and central superintendence of the national religion.
After seven years and a half the work on the Tem- ple was completed, and the day came to which all Isra- elites looked back as the culminating glory of their na- tion. Their worship was now established on a scale as stately as that of other nations, while it yet retained its freedom from all worship that could possibly become idolatrous. Instead of two rival sanctuaries, as before, there was to be one only. The ark from Zion, the tab- ernacle from Gibeon, were both removed (2 Chron. v, 5) and brought to the new Temple. The choirs of the priests and Levites met in their fullest force arrayed in white linen. Then, it may be for the first time, was heard the noble hj'mn " Lift up your heads, O ye gates, and be ye lifted up, ye everlasting doors, and the King of Glory shall come in" (Milman, Hist, of Jevs, i, 263). The trumpeters and singers were " as one" in their mighty hallelujah — "O praise the Lord, for he is good, for his mercy endureth forever" (2 Chron. v, 13). The ark was solemnly placed in its golden sanctuary, and then " the cloud," the " glory of the Lord," filled the house of the Lord. The two tables of stone, associated with the first rude beginnings of the life of the wilder- ness, were still, they and they only, in the ark which had now so magnificent a shrine (ver. 10). They bore their witness to the great laws of duty towards God and man, remaining unchangeable through all the changes and chances of national or individual life, from the begin- ning to the end of the growth of a national religion. Throughout the whole scene the person of the king is the one central object, compared with whom even priests and prophets are for the time subordinate. Abstaining, doubtless, from distinctiveh' priestly acts, such as slay- ing the victims and offering incense, he yet appears, even more than David did in the bringing-up the ark, in a liturgical character. He, and not Zadok, blesses the congregation, offers up the solemn prayer, dedicates the Temple. He, and not any member of the prophetic order, is then, and probably at other times, the spokes- man and " preacher" of the people (Ewald, Gesch. Isr. iii, 320). He takes, at least, some steps towards that far-off (Psa. ex, 1) ideal of "a priest after the order of Melchizedek," which one of his descendants rashly sought to fulfil [see Uzziah], but which was to be ful- filled only in a Son of David, not the crowned leader of a mighty nation, but despised, rejected, crucified. From him came the lofty prayer — the noblest utterance of the creed of Israel — setting forth the distance and the near- ness of the eternal God, one, incom|)rehensible, dwelling not in temples made with hands ; yet ruling men, hear- ing their prayers, giving them all good things — wisdom, peace, righteousness.