revelation and of the necessity of faith beyond knowledge be lost, then this consciousness of wisdom may well become a self-idolatry, in which the mind prides itself on having pierced to the secret of being, holds that by such knowledge it becomes superior to ordinary law and duty, and delights in philosophical contemplation, rather than in active energy and religious devotion.

(30-34) The whole passage implies a general growth of wisdom, a largeness of knowledge, and an outburst of literature, of which, as usual with great men, Solomon is at once the child and the leader.

(30) The wisdom of all the children of the east. -The phrase" children of the east" is apparently used (see Gen. xxix. 1; Judg. vi. 3, 33, vii. 12, viii. 10) for the tribes of the country lying between the country of Israel and Mesopotamia. Of these "men of the east," Job is expressly said to be one, and among the chief (Job i. 3). What their wisdom was, the utterances of Job and his friends may testify, showing as they do large knowledge of nature and of man, speculating on the deepest moral questions, and throughout resting, though with an awe greater than was felt within the circle of the Abrahamic covenant, upon the consciousness of the one God. The Book of Job also shows that this wisdom was not unconnected with the proverbial "wisdom of Egypt," with which it is here joined. The Egyptian wisdom (as the monuments show) was a part of a more advanced and elaborate civilisation, enriched by learning and culture, and manifesting itself in art and science, but perhaps less free and vigorous than the simpler patriarchal wisdom of the children of the east.

(31) He was wiser.-The wisdom of " Heman, Ethan, Chalcol, and Darda," then rivals of Solomon's fame, is now only known to us from this passage. In the genealogy of 1 Chron. ii. 6, " Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Dara" (or "Darda") are found as sons of Zerah, the son of Judah; and the coincidence is remarkable enough to suggest identification. But this identification can scarcely hold. This passage evidently implies that these rivals of Solomon were contemporary with him, not belonging, therefore, to a family many generations earlier. Now it happens that we know of a Heman and an Ethan (see 1 Chron. vi. 33, 44) set by David over the service of song in the Tabernacle, and called "Ezrahites" in the titles of Pss. lxxxviii., lxxxix. ascribed to them. Heman is, moreover, designated as "the king's seer in the words of the Lord" (1 Chron. XXV. 5); and his Psalm (Ps. lxxxviii.) is singularly full of thought, moral speculation, and sense of mystery in life and death. Chalcol and Darda are described as sons of Machol. The word Machol may be a proper name. But it is curious that it signifies "dance," or "music ; and it is at least possible that they also, like Heman and Ethan, may have been thus designated, as connected with the music of the Temple. However

Wisdom.

sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. (32) And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. (33) And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall: he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping

this may be, it can hardly be wrong, in spite of the repetition of the group of names, to refer this passage to this Heman and this Ethan, and hold Chalcol and Darda to be, like them, contemporaries with Solomon.

The

(32) Proverbs.-The word "proverb" (mashal), from a root signifying "comparison," has the various meanings of (a) parable or allegory, (b) proverb in the modern sense, (c) riddle or enigmatical poem, (d) figurative and antithetical poetry, like the " parable" of Balaam. The Book of Proverbs belongs mainly, but not exclusively, to the second class. Its main part consists of two series of "Proverbs of Solomon" (Prov. x.-xxiv., xxv. -xxix.), composed or collected by him; falling, however, far short of the number given in this verse. earlier portion (see especially chaps. i. 20-33, ii., viii.) partakes more of the character of the first and fourth classes; and in Eccl. xii. 3-6, and perhaps Prov. xxx. 15, 16, 24—31, we have specimens of the third. If the "three thousand" of the text be intended to be taken literally, it is obvious that only a small part of Solomon's proverbs has been preserved. His declension into idolatry might induce care in selection, by such prophetic compilers as "the men of Hezekiah" (Prov. xxv.).

His songs.-We have still ascribed to Solomon the "Song of Songs" and two Psalms (lxxii. and cxxvii.); but nothing else is, even by tradition, preserved to us. This passage is singularly interesting, as showing that the Old Testament Canon is not a collection of chance fragments of a scanty literature, but that out of a literature, which at this time, at any rate, was large and copious, deliberate selections by prophetic authority were made. (The "men of Hezekiah," named in Prov. xxv. 1, are by Jewish tradition Isaiah and his companions.) In the case of Solomon some special caution would be natural, and much of his poetry may have been purely secular. The "Psalter of Solomon" (including eighteen psalms) is a Greek apocryphal book, of the time of the Maccabees or later.

(33) He spake of trees. Of this verse there have been many interpretations. Josephus (Ant. viii. c. 2, § 5) supposes Solomon's utterances on these natural products to have been allegorical and symbolic, although he declares that he described them and their properties "like a philosopher." Rabbinical and Oriental legends, eagerly accepted in medieval times, ascribed to him mystic knowledge and magical use of their occult properties. Modern writers have seen in this utterance the first dawn of a scientific natural history and idyllic poetry. In all these suppositions there is some truth, though each in its literal meaning evidently interprets the work of Solomon by the ideas of its own time. An examination of the Song of Songs, and even of the Book of Proverbs-to say nothing of Ecclesiastes and several of the Psalms, and of the Book of Job, which has been thought to belong to the age of Solomon -shows in them repeated exemplifications of a deep sense of the wonder and the beauty of Nature, and also a keen observation of Natural history in detail.

Hiram's Message.

a

But it also shows, as might have been expected, a constant contemplation of God in and over Nature (much as in Ps. civ.), a desire to know the secret of His dispensation therein, a conception of a unity in His law over all being, and as a necessary consequence of this, a tendency to mystic interpretation and parable. If in the works here referred to, and now lost to us, there were (as Ewald supposes) "the rudiments of a complete natural history," it would be an anachronism to doubt that they were marked by these leading characteristics.

V.

In contrast with the brief notes of the previous chapter, the fifth chapter begins another section of the fuller history (chaps. v.-ix. 9), describing in great detail the building and consecration of the Temple, and evidently drawn from contemporary documents.

(1) Hiram is first mentioned in 2 Sam. v. 11 (and the parallel, 1 Chron. xiv. 1) as having sent workmen and materials to David for the building of his house. He is described as a "lover of David." Ancient tradition makes him a tributary or dependent monarch; and his attitude, as described in Scripture, towards both David and Solomon agrees with this. Josephus (c. Apion, i. 17, § 18) cites from Dios, a Phoenician historian, and Menander of Ephesus, a description of Hiram's parentage, of his prosperous reign and skill in building; and quotes, as from the Tyrian archives (Ant. viii. 11, §§ 6, 7), letters passing between him and Solomon. The embassy here noticed from Hiram is clearly one of congratulation, perhaps of renewal of fealty. (In 2 Chron. ii. 14, 15 occur the phrases," my lord, my lord David thy father.")

(3) Thou knowest.-In the description (1 Chron. xxii. 4) of David's collection of materials for the Temple, it is noted that "the Zidonians and they of

Solomon asks for Wood.

(6) Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians.

(7) And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said, Blessed be the LORD this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people. (8) And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying, I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. (9) My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will convey them by sea in floats unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them: and thou

Tyre brought much cedar wood to David." Hence Hiram knew well his desire of building the Temple, and the care with which, when disappointed of it, he prepared for the happier experience of his successor.

(6) Cedar trees out of Lebanon.-The central range of Lebanon is bare; but in the lower ranges there is still-probably in old times there was to a far greater extent a rich abundance of timber, specially precious to the comparatively treeless country of Palestine. The forest of Lebanon was proverbial for its beauty and fragrance (Cant. iv. 11; Hosea xiv. 6, 7), watered by the streams from the snowy heights (Jer. xviii. 14), when all Palestine was parched up. The cedars which now remain-a mere group, at a height of about six thousand feet-are but a remnant of the once magnificent forest which "the Lord had planted" (Ps. civ. 16). Solomon's request-couched almost in the language of command-is simply for cedar wood, or rather, for skilled labour in felling and working it, for which the Tyrians were proverbially famed in all ancient records. For this labour he offers to pay; while he seems to take for granted a right for his own servants to come and bring away the timber itself. Hiram's answer (verse 8) mentions" timber of fir" also, which agrees exactly with the fuller account of Solomon's request given in 2 Chron. ii. 8. The pine still grows abundantly in the sandstone regions of Lebanon; but it is almost certain that "the fir" here named is the cypress.

(7) Blessed be the Lord.-Hiram's answer is one of deference, still more clearly marked in 2 Chron. ii. 12-16. His acknowledgment of Jehovah the God of Israel is a token rather of such deference to Israel, than of any acceptance of Him as the one true God.

(9) Shall bring them. — The timber was to be carried down, or, perhaps, let down on slides along the face of the mountain towards the sea, and brought round by rafts to Joppa (2 Chron. ii. 16), to save the

shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household.

1

a ch. 3. 12.

men.

and Labourers.

(10) So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire. (11) And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil: thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. (12) And the LORD gave Solomon wisdom, "as hech. 4. 6. promised him: and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

(13) And king Solomon raised a levy out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. (14) And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoni

enormous cost and difficulty of land carriage. The grant of "food for his household" in return (instead of "hire") brings out that which is recorded so many ages afterwards in Acts xii. 20-that the country of the Tyrians was "nourished" by Palestine. The commerce and wealth of the Tyrians collected a large population; the narrow slip of land along the coast, backed by Lebanon, must have been, in any case, insufficient to maintain them; and, moreover, all their energies were turned, not to agriculture, but to seamanship. In the grand description in Ezek. xxvii. of the imports of Tyre from all parts of the world, Judah and Israel are named as supplying "wheat, and honey, and oil, and balm."

(11) Twenty thousand measures of wheat.— This agrees well enough with the calculation in chap. iv. 22 of ninety measures a day-something over 32,000 a year-for Solomon's Court, presumably greater than that of Hiram. But the "twenty measures of oil"even of the pure refined oil-is so insignificant in comparison, that it seems best to adopt the Greek reading here (agreeing with 2 Chron. ii. 10, and with Josephus) of 20,000 baths, or 2,000 cors, of oil.

(13) Levy out of all Israel. This, though far from being onerous, appears to have been at this time exceptional. For in chap. ix. 22 we read that " of the children of Israel did Solomon make no bondmen: but they were men of war, and his servants, and his princes, and his captains." Thus exceptionally introduced at first for the special service of God, it may have been the beginning of what was hereafter an oppressive despotism over the Israelites themselves. Probably even now the Israelite labourers were (under the chief officers) put in authority over the great mass of 150,000 bondmen, evidently drawn from the native races. (See 2 Chron. ii. 17.) But the whole description suggests to us-what the history of Exodus, the monuments of Egypt, and the description by Herodotus of the building of the Pyramids confirm-the vast sacrifice of human labour and life, at which (in the absence of machinery to spare labour) the great monuments of ancient splendour were reared.

(16) The chief of Solomon's officers we should certainly have supposed to have been taken from the Israelites (as clearly were the 550 named in chap. ix.

CHAPTER VI.-(1) And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were

23). But the passage in Chronicles (2 Chron. ii. 18) -reckoning them at 3,600-seems to imply that they were, like the overseers of Israel in the Egyptian bondage (Exod. v. 14, 15), taken from the subject races.

(17) Great stones.-The stones, so emphatically described as "great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones," were necessary, not so much for "the foundation" of the Temple itself, which was small, but for the substructure of the area, formed into a square on the irregular summit of Mount Moriah. In this substructure vast stones are still to be seen, and are referred by many authorities to the age of Solomon. The labour of transport must have been enormous, especially as all were worked beforehand. (See chap. vi. 7.)

(18) The stone-squarers. This rendering is a curious gloss on the proper name," Giblites" (see margin) the inhabitants of Gebal (mentioned in Ezek. xxvii. 9 in connection with Tyre, and probably in Ps. lxxxiii. 7), a city on the coast of Phoenicia-simply because the context shows that they were clever in stone-squaring. As they are distinguished from Hiram's builders, it is possible that they were serfs under them, like the Canaanites under Solomon's builders.

VI.

Chapters vi. and vii. form a section almost technically descriptive of the Temple and other building works of Solomon. (a) The general account of the building of the Temple occupies chap. vi.; (b) to this succeeds a briefer description of the other works of Solomon (chap. vii. 1-12); (c) lastly, we have a full and detailed description of the work of Hiram for the ornaments and furniture of the Temple (chap. vii. 13— 51). The whole may be compared with 2 Chron. iii., iv., with the account in Josephus (Antt., viii. 3), and with the descriptions (in Exod. xxv.-xxvii., xxxv.— xxxviii.) of the Tabernacle, which determined the construction of the Temple in many points. With some variations, depending on the nature of the prophetic vision, it may also be illustrated from Ezek. xl.-xlvi. On the details of these chapters there has been much learned discussion; but most light has been thrown on it by the articles in the Dictionary of the Bible (TEMPLE, PALACE, JERUSALEM), written by Mr. Fergusson, who

unites with antiquarian learning extensive acquaintance with the history and the details of architecture.

(1) In the fourth year.-This date, given with marked precision, forms a most important epoch in the history of Israel, on which, indeed, much of the received chronology is based. In the LXX., 440 is read for 480, possibly by an interchange of two similar Hebrew letters, or, perhaps, by reckoning from the completion of Exodus at the death of Moses instead of its beginning. The Vulgate agrees with the Hebrew text. Josephus, on the other hand, without any hint of any other reckoning in the Scriptural record, gives 592 years. The date itself, involving some apparent chronological difficulties, has been supposed to be an interpolation; but without any sufficient ground, except Josephus's seeming ignorance of its existence, and some early quotations of the passage by Origen and others without it; and in neglect of the important fact that, disagreeing prima facie with earlier chronological indications in Scripture, it is infinitely unlikely to have been thus interpolated by any mere scribe.

These indications are, however, vague. The period includes the conquest and rule of Joshua, the era of the Judges down to Samuel, the reigns of Saul and David, and the three years of Solomon's reign already elapsed. Now, of these divisions, only the last three can be ascertained with any definiteness, at about 83 years. The time occupied by the conquest and rule of Joshua, cannot be gathered with any certainty from Scripture. The same is the case with the duration of some of the subsequent Judgeships. Even the numerous chronological notices given in the Book of Judges are inconclusive. We cannot tell whether they are literally accurate, or, as the recurrence of round numbers may seem to suggest, indefinite expressions for long periods; nor can we determine how far the various Judgeships were contemporaneous or successive. The tradi tion followed by St. Paul (Acts xiii. 19-21), assigning to the whole a period of 450 years, agrees generally with the latter idea. The genealogies given (as, for example, of David, in Ruth iv. 18-22; 1 Chron. ii. 3-15, and elsewhere) agree with the former. Hence, these vague chronological statistics cannot constitute a sufficient ground for setting aside a date so formally and unhesitatingly given at an important epoch of the history, corresponding to the equally formal determination of the date of the Exodus in Exod. xii. 40, 41. The omission of the date in quotations, again, proves little. The different date given by Josephus, without any notice of that which we now have, presents the only real difficulty. But it is possible that he may have been inclined tacitly to harmonise his chronology with some other reckoning known in his time among the heathen; and in any case it is doubtful whether his authority can outweigh that of our present text and the ancient versions. On the whole, there

and the Size thereof.

(3) And the porch

thereof thirty cubits. before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. (4) And for the house he made 2 windows of narrow lights. (5) And 3against the wall of the house he built 4 chambers round about, against the walls

fore, the grounds assigned for rejection of the chronological notice of this verse, are insufficient.

(2) The length.-By comparison with Exod. xxvi. 16-23, we find that the Temple itself was in all its proportions an exact copy of the Tabernacle, each dimension being doubled, and the whole, therefore, in cubical contents, eight times the size. It was, therefore-whatever measure we take for the cubit-a small building. Taking the usual calculation of eighteen inches for the cubit, the whole would be ninety feet long, thirty feet wide, and forty-five feet high-not larger than a good-sized parish church, and in proportion not unlike a church of Gothic construction. It is, indeed, curious to note that this likeness is carried out in the existence of the porch (which is even represented in 2 Chron. iii. 4 as rising into a lofty entrance tower), the division of the house into two parts, like a nave and chancel, the provision of something like aisles (though opening outwards) and of clerestory windows, and the high pitch of the roof. This resemblance is probably not mere coincidence; for in the old Freemasonry, which had a great influence on mediæval architecture, the plan of Solomon's Temple was taken in all its details as a sacred guide. The "Oracle," or Most Holy place, was lower than the rest, forming an exact cube of thirty feet; the height of the Holy place (sixty feet long and thirty feet wide) is not given, but was probably the same, so that there would be an upper chamber over the whole under the roofwhich, like that of the Tabernacle, appears to have been a high-pitched roof-fifteen feet high along the central beam, with sloping sides. This is apparently alluded to in 2 Chron. iii. 9, and possibly in 2 Kings xxiii. 12, and in the remark of Josephus, There was another building erected over it, equal in its measures." The Temple was, in fact, only a shrine for the ministering priests-the outer court, or courts, being the place for the great assembly of the congregation-and it relied for magnificence not on size, but on costliness of material and wealth of decoration.

(3) The porch was thirty feet wide and fifteen feet deep. The height is not here given; but in the present text of 2 Chron. iii. 4 (followed by some MSS. of the LXX., and by Josephus) it is made 120 cubits, or 180 feet. This height is hardly in accordance with anything else known on ancient architecture. It is, however, not at all unlike the western tower of a Gothic church. (4) Windows of narrow lights.-The marginal reading, "windows broad within and narrow without "splayed as in ordinary Gothic architecture is supported by very good authorities; but the most probable meaning is "windows with fixed beams"-that is, with fixed lattices, like jalousies, useful for ventilation, but immovable, so that no one could look out or in.

(5-10) The general meaning of these verses is clear, though some of the words are doubtful. Round three sides of the Temple was built a kind of aisle, opening,