[182] "Sons of Mahol" (comp. Eccles. xii. 4).
[183] Psalms lxxii., cxxvii. The so-called "Psalms of Solomon," fifteen in number, are of the Maccabean age; Josephus calls his songs βίβλια περὶ ὠδῶν καὶ μελῶν, and his proverbs βίβλους παραβολῶν καὶ εἰκόνων.
[184] See Euseb., _Præp. Evang._, ix. 34, § 19.
[185] Prov. xi. 22, xxiv. 30-34, xxv. 25, xxvi. 8, xxx. 15.
[186] _E.g._, Prov. vi. 10.
[187] 1 Kings x. 1; LXX., ἐν αἰνίγμασι. See Wünsche, _Die Räthselweisheit_, 1883; Grätz, _Hist. of the Jews_, i. 162. For specimens of her traditional puzzles see the author's _Solomon_, p. 135 (Men of the Bible).
[188] "And Solomon was David's heir, and said, Ye folk! we have been taught the speech of birds, and we have been given everything: verily this is a Divine grace" (Qur'an, _Sura_ xxvii. 15). For the legend of Solomon and the hoopoes, see _Sura_ 27.
[189] According to Suidas (s.v., Ἐζεκίας) Hezekiah found his (magic?) formulæ for the cure of diseases engraved on the posts of the Temple. See Targum on Esth. i. 2; Eccles. ii. 8.
[190] Job xxviii. 23, 28.
[191] Prov. i. 7.
[192] Ecclus. xlvii. 13-18.
1 KINGS iv. 1-34.
"But what more oft in nations grown corrupt And by their vices brought to servitude, Than to love bondage more than liberty, Bondage with ease than strenuous liberty?" _Samson Agonistes._
When David was dead, and Solomon was established on his throne, his first thoughts were turned to the consolidation of his kingdom. He was probably quite a youth.[193] He was not, nor did he ever desire to be, a warlike prince; but he was compelled to make himself secure from two enemies--Hadad and Rezon--who began almost at once to threaten his frontiers. Of these, however, we shall speak later on, since it is only towards the close of Solomon's reign that they seem to have given serious trouble. If the second psalm is by Solomon it may point to some early disturbances among heathen neighbours which he had successfully put down.
The only actual expedition which Solomon ever made was one against a certain Hamath-Zobah, to which, however, very little importance can be attached. It is simply mentioned in one line in the Book of Chronicles, and it is hard to believe--considering that Rezon had possession of Damascus--that Solomon was master of the _great_ Hamath.[194] He made a material alteration in the military organisation of his kingdom by establishing a standing army of fourteen hundred war-chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, whom he dispersed in various cities and barracks, keeping some of them at Jerusalem.[195]
In order to save his kingdom from attack Solomon expended vast sums on the fortification of frontier towns. In the north he fortified Hazor; in the north-west Megiddo. The passes to Jerusalem on the west were rendered safe by the fortresses at Upper and Nether Bethhoron. The southern districts were overawed by the building of Baalath and Tamar, "the palm-city," which is described as "in the wilderness in the land,"--perhaps in the desolate tract on the road from Hebron to Elath.[196] Movers thinks that Hazezon-Tamar or Engedi is meant, as this town is called Tamar in Ezek. xlvii. 19.
As the king grew more and more in power he gave full reins to his innate love of magnificence. We can best estimate the sudden leap of the kingdom into luxurious civilisation if we contrast the royalty of Saul with that of Solomon. Saul was little more than a peasant-prince, a local emîr, and such state as he had was of the humblest description. But Solomon vied with the gorgeous secular dynasts of historic empires.
His position had become much more splendid owing to his alliance with the King of Egypt--an alliance of which his humbler predecessors would scarcely have dreamed. We are not told the name of his Egyptian bride, but she must have been the daughter of one of the last kings of the twenty-first Tanite dynasty--either Psinaces, or Psusennes II.[197] The dynasty had been founded at Tanis (Zoan) about B.C. 1100 by an ambitious priest named Hir-hor. It only lasted for five generations. Whatever other dower Solomon received with this Egyptian princess, his father-in-law rendered him one signal service. He advanced from Egypt with an army against the Canaanite town of Gezer, which he conquered and destroyed.[198] Solomon rebuilt it as an outpost of defence for Jerusalem. Further than this the Egyptian alliance did not prove to be of much use. The last king of this weak twenty-first dynasty was succeeded B.C. 990 by the founder of a new Bubastite dynasty, the great Shishak I. (Shesonk, Σεσόνχωσις), the protector of Jeroboam and the plunderer of Jerusalem and its Temple. Ker'amat, niece of the last king of the dynasty, married Shishak, the founder of the new dynasty, and was the mother of U-Sark-on I. (Zerah the Ethiopian).