the Psalms, which he hath bequeathed to the latest posterity, those often repeated exclamations, “Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget none of his benefits. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless and praise his holy name,” because of his many mercies and many deliverances. Those who mourned for David could not but rejoice, that the Lord had been so gracious towards Israel, in choosing his son Solomon to be David's successor, in whose mind, from his youth, was planted the fear of the Lord. As soon as Solomon was placed on the throne, in obedience to his father's wishes, and God's command, he set about building the house of the Lord; also an house for his kingdom, a palace not so much for his convenience, as for the honour of his kingdom. This was entered on with spirit, for “Solomon told out,” or ordered, that there should be employed “ threescore and ten thousand men to bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to hew in the inountain, and three thousand and six hundred to oversee them (153,600 persons)! We, who live in times when machinery accomplishes wonders, may well be surprised at Solomon ordering so many thousand men to hew timber in the mountain, and so many persons to be bearers or carriers thereof. In those days the transit of heavy burdens, whether of wood or stone, must have been attended with great labour ;-notwithstanding, this great labour and the number of hands required, as well as the expense attending it, proved no barrier to Solomon in erecting a temple for the Lord. Solomon, in the next place, despatched an embassy to Huram, king of Tyre (who in the first Book of Kings is called Hiram); knowing the intimacy that had existed between him and his royal father, addressed to him the following elegant letter: “ As thou didst deal with David my father, and didst send him cedars to build him an house to dwell therein, even so deal with me. Behold, I build an house to the name of the Lord my God, to dedicate it to him, and to burn before him sweet incense, and for a continual shewbread, and for the burnt-offerings morning and evening, on the sabbaths, and on the new moons, and on the solemn feasts of the Lord our God. This is an ordinance for ever to Israel. And the house which I build is great: for great is our God above all gods. But who is able to build him an house, seeing the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain him ? who am I then, that I should build him an house, save only to burn sacrifice before him? Send me now therefore a man cunning to work in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, and that can skill to grave with the cunning men that are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem, whom David my father did provide. Send me also cedar trees, fir trees, and algum trees, out of Lebanon : for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and, behold, my servants shall be with thy servants, even to prepare me timber in abundance: for the house which I am about to build shall be wonderful great. And, behold, I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil.” (80,000 measures !) (2 Chron. ii. 3—10.) This document, which is very explicit, makes king Huram fully acquainted with what occupied the mind of the king of Israel. Solomon pleads his father's intimacy with Huram, and the kindness that David had received from him, in sending cedars to build an house; he therefore prays, so deal with me; for the house that I am desirous of building is to be a great temple, for great is our God above all gods." Then reflecting on the great and holy undertaking, with humility he exclaims, “Who am I, that I should build Him an house?” Although I am king of Israel, how am I worthy to build an house for Him whom the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain! To further this great undertaking, he beseeches Huram to send a man (many men) skilful in working in gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in purple, and crimson, and blue, who shall also be able to grave with the cunning men that are in Judah and Jerusalem, persons whom his father had engaged for that express object. Huram thus replied to Solomon: “Because the Lord hath loved his people, he hath made thee king over them. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given to David the king a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that might build an house for the Lord, and an house for his kingdom. And now I have sent a cunning man, endued with understanding, of Huram my father's, the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, and his father was a man of Tyre, skilful to work in gold and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device which shall be put to him, with thy cunning men, and with the cunning men of my lord David thy father. Now therefore the wheat, and the barley, the oil, and the wine, which my lord hath spoken of, let him send unto up to his servants: and we will cut wood out of Lebanon, as much as thou shalt need, and we will bring it to thee in flotes by sea to Joppa, and thou shalt carry it Jerusalem.” (Ver. 11–16.) The reply of Huram must have been very pleasing to Solomon, for he not merely consents to his request, but even blesses the Lord God of Israel, that his old esteemed friend king David should have a son endowed with prudence and understanding, every way fitted to succeed so illustrious a father. It would seem that Huram was not only well affected towards the Jewish nation, and well pleased with their prosperity, but that he was a proselyte to the Jewish religion, and worshipped Jehovah, the God of Israel; who was thus known to the neighbouring nations, as the God that made heaven and earth; and as the fountain of power, as well as of being. Huram, therefore, cheerfully sent him a very ingenious and clever workman, one that would not fail to answer his expectations in every thing, having both Jewish and Gentile blood meeting in him ; for his mother was an Israelite, who was of the tribe of Naphtali, but his father was a Tyrian-a good omen of uniting both Jew and Gentile in the gospel temple—an Israelite by the mother's side. Huram engages to supply the timber and to deliver it at Joppa, relying on Solomon's liberality for the maintenance of the workmen, as he had promised. The Temple. King Solomon built the house of the Lord at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared on the threshing-floor of Ornan the Jebusite. Isaac, it is supposed, was offered there; so that for ages it had been a sacred spot, a spot on which Jehovah had been honoured. “Solomon commenced building the house of the Lord in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come vut of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign, in the month Zif, which is the second month. The length of the temple was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. The porch 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. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. And against the wall of the house, both of the temple and the oracle, he built chambers round about: the nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle one was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad. The temple was built of stone made ready before it was brought thither : so that there was neither hammer nor ax nor any tool of iron heard in the house, while it was building. The door for the middle chamber was on the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chamber, and out of the middle into the third;" so that the chambers formed three stories. “ The temple and chambers were built of cedar. The walls of the temple, and the ceiling, as well as the floor, which was of fir, were wainscoted with cedar; also the oracle and the most holy place. The temple within was ornamented with carved knops or grapes, arranged in rows, and open or blown flowers : all was cedar; there was no stone seen. |