and the people piped with pipes, and rejoiced with great joy, so that the earth rent with the sound of them. And Adonijah and all the guests that were with him heard it as they had made an end of eating. And when Joab heard the sound of the trumpet, he said, Wherefore is this noise of the city being in an uproar? And while he yet spake, behold, Jonathan the son of Abiathar the priest came: and Adonijah said unto him, Come in; for thou art a valiant man, and bringest good tidings. And Jonathan answered and said to Adonijah, Verily our lord king David hath made Solomon king. And the king hath sent with him Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and the Cherethites, and the Pelethites, and they have caused him to ride upon the king's mule: and Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet have anointed him king in Gihon: and they are come up from thence rejoicing, so that the city rang again. This is the noise that ye have heard. And also Solomon sitteth on the throne of the kingdom. And moreover the king's servants came to bless our lord king David, saying, God make the name of Solomon better than thy name, and make his throne greater than thy throne. And the king bowed himself upon the bed. And also thus said the king, Blessed be the LORD God of Israel, which hath given one to sit on my throne this day, mine eyes even seeing it. And all the guests that were with Adonijah were afraid, and rose up, and went every man his way. And Adonijah feared because of Solomon, and arose, and went, and caught hold on the horns of the altar. And it was told Solomon, saying, Behold, Adonijah feareth king Solomon: for, lo, he hath caught hold on the horns of the altar, saying, Let king Solomon swear unto me to day that he will not slay his servant with the sword. And Solomon said, If he will shew himself a worthy man, there shall not an hair of him fall to the earth: but if wickedness shall be found in him, he shall die. So king Solomon sent, and they brought him down from the altar. And he came and bowed himself to king Solomon: and Solomon said unto him, Go to thine house.-1 Kings I. 1, 5-10, 32–53.

At the beginning of Solomon's reign he made a sacrifice to the Lord at Gibeon, "for that was the great high place. It is said in Chronicles, that the tabernacle which had been built at Sinai was now in Gibeon. We remember Gibeon, "a great city, as one of the royal cities," northwest from Jerusalem. There had been battles there; we read about one of them. But now all was peaceful and Solomon went there to sacrifice. He was young, perhaps eighteen or twenty years old, and he was king. What gift did he need most to ask from the Lord?

And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. In Gibeon the LORD appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee

in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O LORD my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people? And the speech pleased the LORD, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment;

behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee. And I have also given thee that which thou hast not asked, both riches, and honour: so that there shall not be any among the kings like unto thee all thy days. And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen thy days. And Solomon awoke; and, behold, it was a dream. And he came to Jerusalem, and stood before the ark of the covenant of the LORD, and offered up burnt offerings, and offered peace offerings, and made a feast to all his servants.-1 Kings III. 4-15.

The flesh of burnt-offerings was wholly burnt upon the altar. Of the peace-offerings only a small part was burnt, and a larger part was eaten as a sacred feast.

BUILDING THE TEMPLE.

THE time had come for Solomon to build the temple of the Lord. David had wished to build it, but he was not permitted to do so, because he was a man of war. Hiram king of Tyre was a good friend and helped Solomon in the work.

On the map you find Tyre on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and the sister city Zidon, or Sidon, a little further to the north. Tyre is a small town to-day, but there are stone columns lying partly under water which remind us

that it once had fine buildings. The city in the old days was partly on the main land and partly on an island lying a little off the shore, which gave shelter for the ships.

The people of Tyre and Sidon were famous sailors, and traded with far off countries; and they were skilful workmen in wood and stone. Also there grew in their mountains groves of the noble cedars of Lebanon. These were fine evergreen trees, the branches reaching out in flat floors one above another. The "fir" wood which grew there also probably means cypress, a tall spire-like tree, and perhaps other

evergreens.

Hiram furnished timber for Solomon. It was cut in the mountains, brought down to the sea, and made into rafts and floated down the coast to Joppa, and was carried from there to Jerusalem. Hiram sent men to the work, and Solomon gave in payment a supply of wheat and oil. Also Solomon raised a levy of men from the tribes of Israel. There were thirty thousand, ten thousand working at a time. There

were besides, bearers of burdens and hewers in the mountains who were not Israelites, but of the native people of the land. Remember how it was said of some of the old inhabitants who were not destroyed, that they should be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the altar of the Lord.

Great stones too were quarried and brought, made ready

before they were brought thither, so that no tool was heard while the house was building. The work was going on through seven years.

The place of the temple was Moriah, the eastern hill of Jerusalem. Here had been a threshing-floor which David had bought as a place to offer sacrifice. And it was probably here that Abraham long before was about to offer Isaac. The top of the hill is not large, and it was probably at this time made larger by building up great walls from the hillsides below, and filling in with earth and stone-work.

The mosque of Omar, a Mohammedan temple, now stands where Solomon's temple stood, but if we go inside the mosque we can still see the rough old rock that forms the top of the hill. There were courts about the temple. There were the same two rooms as in the tabernacle, but twice as long and wide; for the general plan of the temple was the same as that of the tabernacle. Before the door, which was to the east, was a porch across the front of the building. The walls of the temple were of stone, sheathed inside with cedar and carved with cherubim and palm trees and open flowers. The walls and floor of both chambers were overlaid with gold. The doors between the chambers were of olive wood, the outer doors of "fir," carved like the walls and overlaid with gold.

If we rightly understand the description, outside the temple on the two sides and the back were chambers in three stories one above another, the timbers of the chamber-floors and roof resting on ledges in the wall of the temple. Above the highest row of chambers there seem to have been narrow windows in the holy place. The most holy place was perhaps quite dark.

In the inmost room was the place for the ark; and two large cherubim of olive wood and overlaid with gold stretched out their wings, two wings touching the wall on either side, and two meeting over the ark.

In the outer room was a gold-covered altar of incense, a golden table of shewbread, and golden lamps. It appears that new sacred furniture was made for the temple, in addition to the sacred vessels of the tabernacle which were still preserved.

In the court was a large brazen altar, and in place of the