was not told me; thy wisdom and prosperity exceed the fame which I heard. Happy are thy men, happy are these thy servants, that stand continually before thee, and that hear thy wisdom. Blessed be Jehovah thy God, who delighted in thee, to set thee on the throne of Israel: because Jehovah loved Israel for ever, therefore made he thee king, to do justice and righteousness." And she gave the king a hundred and twenty talents1 of gold, and of spices very great store, and precious stones: there came no more such abundance of spices as these which the queen of Sheba gave to king Solomon. And the navy also of Hiram, that brought gold from Ophir,2 brought in from Ophir great plenty of almugtrees and precious stones. And the king made of the almug-trees pillars for the house of Jehovah, and for the king's house, harps also and psalteries for the singers: there came no such almug-trees, nor were seen, unto this day. And king Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba all her desire, whatsoever she asked, besides that which Solomon gave her of his royal bounty. So she turned, and went to her own land, she and her servants. LXXVIII SOLOMON'S RICHES AND WISDOM Now the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred threescore and six talents of gold, besides that which the traders brought, and the traffic of the merchants, and of all the kings of the mingled peo 1. A talent equals $1642.50. 2. Supposed to have been the southern or southeastern part of Arabia on the Persian gult. 3. Thought to be sandal-wood trees. ple,1 and of the governors of the country. And king Solomon made two hundred bucklers of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went to one buckler. And he made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three pounds of gold went to one shield: and the king put them in the house of the forest of Lebanon. Moreover the king made a great throne of ivory, and overlaid it with the finest gold. There were six steps to the throne, and the top of the throne was round behind; and there were stays2 on either side by the place of the seat, and two lions standing beside the stays. And twelve lions stood there on the one side and on the other upon the six steps: there was not the like made in any kingdom. And all king Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold: none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram: once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. So king Solomon exceeded all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. And all the earth sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom, which God had put in his heart. And they brought every man his tribute, vessels of silver, and vessels of gold, and raiment, and armor, and spices, horses, and mules, a rate3 year by year. And Solomon gathered together chariots and horsemen: and he had a thousand and four hundred chariots, and twelve thousand horsemen, that he bestowed in the chariot cities, and with the king at Jerusalem. And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones, and cedars 1. The people of Arabia. 2. Supports. 3. A sum agreed upon. made he to be as the sycomore-trees that are in the lowland, for abundance. And the horses which Solomon had were brought out of Egypt; and the king's merchants received them in droves, each drove at a price. And a chariot came up and went out of Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for a hundred and fifty; and so for all the kings of the Hittites, and for the kings of Syria, did they bring them out by their means. [In the latter part of Solomon's reign of forty years he forsook the worship of Jehovah and turned to foreign gods. As a punishment Jehovah told the King that upon his death Israel would be divided and only the kingship of the tribes of Judah and Benjamin given to Rehoboam, his son. After Solomon's death the kingdom, which had been getting unstable, became permanently divided, as had been decreed by Jehovah. The tribes of Judah and Benjamin were known as the kingdom of Judah, while the other ten tribes constituted the larger kingdom of Israel. Jerusalem was the seat of the government of Judah, and Samaria of the other kingdom. In spite of some hostility between the two kingdoms, they did not entirely lose sight of their common ancestry and religion. The kingdom of Israel, owing to its close contact with the surrounding nations, became more idolatrous than the sister kingdom. It was in these troublous times that there arose men called "prophets, independent preachers who boldly faced kings and people and sought, often with great success, to restore the true worship and to cure the kingdoms of the taint of idolatry. The first and greatest of these men was Elijah, who, living at the capital of the kingdom of Israel, Samaria, labored to convince King Ahab and his wicked queen, Jezebel, of the necessity of returning to the true God.] LXXIX ELIJAH AND THE WIDOW OF ZAREPHATH (I Kings xvii: 1-xviii: 15) And Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the sojourners of Gilead, said unto Ahab, "As Jehovah, the God of Israel, liveth, before whom I stand, there shall not be dew nor rain these years, but according to my word." And the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, “Get thee hence, and turn thee eastward, and hide thyself by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. And it shall be, that thou shalt drink of the brook; and I have commanded the ravens to feed thee there." So he went and did according unto the word of Jehovah; for he went and dwelt by the brook Cherith, that is before the Jordan. And the ravens brought him bread and flesh in the morning, and bread and flesh in the evening; and he drank of the brook. And it came to pass after a while, that the brook dried up, because there was no rain in the land. And the word of Jehovah came unto him, saying, "Arise, get thee to Zarephath, which belongeth to Sidon, and dwell there: behold, I have commanded a widow there to sustain thee." So he arose and went to Zarephath; and when he came to the gate of the city, behold, a widow was there gathering sticks: and he called to her, and said, 66 Fetch me, I pray thee, a little water in a vessel, that I may drink." And as she was going to fetch it, he called to her, and said, "Bring me, I pray thee, a morsel of bread in thy hand." And she said, "As Jehovah thy God liveth, I have not a cake, but a handful of meal in the jar, and a little oil in the cruse: and, behold, I am gathering two sticks, that I may go in and dress it for me and my son, that we may eat it, and die." And Elijah said unto her, “Fear not; go and do as thou hast said; but make me thereof a little cake first, and bring it forth unto me, and afterward make for thee and for thy son. For thus saith Jehovah, the God of Israel, ‘The jar of meal shall not waste, neither shall the cruse of oil fail, until the day that Jehovah sendeth rain upon the earth." And she went and did according to the saying of Elijah: and she, and he, and her house, did eat many days. The jar of meal wasted not, neither did the cruse of oil fail, according to the word of Jehovah, which he spake by Elijah. And it came to pass after these things, that the son of the woman, the mistress of the house, fell sick; and his sickness was so sore, that there was no breath left in him. And she said unto Elijah, "What have I to do with thee, O thou man of God? thou art come unto me to bring my sin to remembrance, and to slay my son!" And he said unto her, "Give me thy son." And he took him out of her bosom, and carried him up into the chamber, where he abode, and laid him upon his own bed. And he cried unto Jehovah, and said, "O Jehovah my God, hast thou also brought evil upon the widow with whom I sojourn, by slaying her son?" And he stretched himself upon the child three times, and cried unto Jehovah, and said, "O Jehovah my God, I pray thee, let this child's soul come into him again." And Jehovah hearkened unto the voice of Elijah; and the soul of the child came into him again, and he revived. And Elijah took the child, and brought him down out of the chamber into the house, and delivered him unto his mother; and Elijah said, "See, thy son liveth." And the woman said to Elijah, "Now I know that thou art a man of God, and that the word of Jehovah in thy mouth is truth." |