these buildings; as also cedar wood, and pine wood; he rewarded Hiram with rich presents; corn he sent him also year by year, and wine, and oil; which were the principal things he stood in need of, because he inhabited an island, as we have already said. And besides these, he granted him twenty cities of Galilee,* that lay not far from Tyre; which when Hiram went to, and viewed, and did not like the gift, he sent word to Solomon that he did not want such cities as they were. And after that time those cities were called the land of Cabul; which name, if it be interpreted according to the language of the Phoenicians, denotes what does not please. Moreover the king of Tyre †sent sophisms and enigmatical sayings to Solomon, and desired he would return their solutions. Now so sagacious and understanding was Solomon, that none of these problems were too hard for him; but he conquered them all by his reasonings, and discovered their hidden meaning, and brought it to light. Menander also, one who translated the Tyrian archives out of the dialect of the Phoenicians into the Greek language, makes mention of these two kings, where he says: "When Abibalus was dead, his son Hiram received the kingdom from him: who when he had lived fiftythree years, reigned thirty-four. He raised a bank in a large place, and dedicated the golden pillar which is in Jupiter's temple. He also went and cut down materials of timber out of the mountain called Libanus, for the roofs of temples: and when he had pulled down the ancient temples, he both built the temple of Hercules, and that of Astarte; and he first set up the temple of Hercules in the Peritius; he also made an expedition against the Euchii or +Titii, who did not pay their tribute; * It is an express injunction which God gives the Israelites, that the land wherein the people had a right by divine lot, and himself a right, as being the sole proprietor thereof, was not to be sold or alienated for ever, Lev. xxv. 23. How then could Solomon, without violating this law, pretend to give Hiram twenty cities in the land of Galilee? Now to this some have replied, that Solomon did not give Hiram a property and perpetual right to those cities, but only assigned him the possession of them for a time, until the debt which he had contracted for the several supplies he had from him, while he was building the temple, was satisfied. Others think that upon supposition that these cities were inhabited by Israelites, Solomon did not give Hiram, (as indeed he could not,) their particular possessions, but only his own royalties over them, (which he might justly do,) and all the profits he received from them, which according to the taxes then imposed, 1 Kings xii. 4, were not inconsiderable. But there is no reason for these far-fetched solutions, when the Scripture expressly tells us, that these cities were not in the territories of Israel, nor inhabited at that time by the Israelites, 2 Chron. viii. 2. They were indeed some of them conquered by the king of Egypt, who gave them to Solomon as a portion with his daughter, and others by Solomon himself, who, as Selden observes (De Jure Nat. et Gen. lib. vi. cap. 16.) had "a right to dispose of those lands which he had conquered in voluntary war, and when he had subdued them to himself, he re| turned. Under this king there was Abdemon, a youth in age; who always conquered the difficult problems which Solomon king of Jerusalem commanded him to explain." Dius also made mention of him, where he says, "When Abibalus was dead, his son Hiram reigned. He raised the eastern parts of the city higher, and made the city itself larger. He also joined the temple of Jupiter, which before stood by itself, to the city, by raising a bank in the middle between them; and he adorned it with donations of gold. Moreover he went up to mount Libanus, and cut down materials of wood for the building of the temples." He says also, that "Solomon, who was then king of Jeru salem, sent riddles to Hiram, and desired to receive the like from him; but that he who could not solve them should pay money to him that did solve them; and that Hiram accepted the condi tions, and when he was not able to solve the rid dles, he paid a great deal of money for his fine. But that he afterward did solve the proposed riddles by the means of Abdemon, a man of Tyre: and that Hiram proposed other riddles; which when Solomon could not solve, he paid back a great deal of money to Hiram." This is it which Dius wrote. CHAP. VI. OF THE FORTIFICATIONS OF JERUSALEM, THE ERECTION OF THE Now§ when the king saw that the walls of Je rusalem stood in need of being better secured, and made stronger; (for he thought the walls that without the consent of the senate." And this may be one reason why he gave these, rather than other cities, because these were certainly in his own power to give, when others perhaps were not. A learned author upon this subject, has given a quite dif ferent turn to the sense of the passage. For his opinion is, that Hiram did not return these cities, because he thought them not good enough, but because he was unwilling to receive so large a remuneration for the few good offices he had done Solomon, and was minded rather that his favours of this kind should be all gratuitous. He therefore makes the word Cabul, (which is the name that Hiram gives to the country where these cities stood,) a title of respect, and not of contempt; for he derives from the Hebrew Chebes, which signifies a bond or chain, inti mating that these two neighbouring kings had mutually bound themselves in a bond of friendship, Solomon by giving, and H ram by returning the cities now under consideration. This is very pretty: but it is carrying the point of generosity in the king of Tyre a little too high, in my opinion, considering his acceptance of, if not express stipulation for, such a quantity of corn and oil, in lieu of the timber which he sent Solomon, Kings v. 10, 11. Patrick's and Le Clerc's Commentaries, art Pool's Annotations. B. 1 † About An. 1030. Probably the Tyrians. AN. 1030.] ANTIQUITIES OF THE JEWS. encompassed Jerusalem ought to correspond with the dignity of the city;) he both repaired them and made them higher, with great towers upon them: he also built cities which might be counted among the strongest, Hazor and Megiddo, and the third Gezer; which had indeed belonged to the Philistines; but Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had made an expedition against it, and besieged it, and taken it by force; when he had slain all its inhabitants, he utterly overthrew it, and gave it as a present to his daughter, who had been married to Solomon. For this reason the king rebuilt it, as a city that was naturally strong, and might be useful in wars, and the mutations of affairs that sometimes happen. Moreover, he built two other cities not far from it; Beth-horon was the name of one of them, and Baalath of the other. He also built other cities that lay conveniently for these, in order to the enjoyment of pleasures and delicacies in them; such as were naturally of good temperature of the air, and agreeable for fruits ripe in their proper seasons, and well watered with springs. Nay, Solomon went as far as the desert above Syria, and possessed himself of it, and built there a very large city, which was distant two days' journey from the upper Syria, and one day's journey from Euphrates, and six long days' journey from Babylon the great. Now the reason why this city lay so remote from the parts of Syria that are inhabited is this, that below there is no water to be had; and that it is in that place only that there are springs and pits of water. When he had * Tadmor, which by the Greeks is called Palmyra, is situated in the wilderness of Syria, upon the borders of Arabia Deserta, inclining towards the Euphrates. Josephus places it two days' journey from the upper Syria, one day's journey from the Euphrates, and six days' journey from Babylon: and the reason he gives why Solomon was inclined to build a city in this place, is, because in all the country round about, there was no such thing as a well or fountain, but in this spot only, to be found. If we may guess by the ruins, which later travellers give us the description of, this city was certainly one of the finest and most magnificent in the east; and it is somewhat surprising, that history should give us no account, either when or by whom it was reduced to the sad condition wherein it lies at this day. But the true reason for his building this town in so desolate a place was the commodiousness of its situation, to cut off all commerce between the Syrians and Mesopotamians, and to prevent their caballing and conspiring together against him, as they had done against his father David. Le Clerc's Commentary. If the reader is desirous to know the present state of this ruined city, he may find it related in the Philosophical Transactions, for October 1695, in a letter from Dr. Halifax to Dr. Bernard; or in Well's Geography of the Old Testament, vol. iii. who has borrowed it from thence. B. It is a well-known and very true observation of Ammianus Marcellinus, near the beginning of his XIVth book, that the Greek and Roman names of places were never among the natives of Syria; which is the reason why most places retain their adopted original names at this day. This is in effect the note 32 therefore built this city, and encompassed it with very strong walls, he gave it the name of Tadmor:* and that is the name it is called by at this day among the Syrians; but the Greeks name it Palmyra. Now Solomon the king was at this time engaged in building these cities. But if any inquire why all the kings of Egypt, from Menes, who built Memphis, and was many years earlier than our forefather Abraham, until Solomon, where the interval was more than one thousand three hundred years, were called Pharaohs, and took it from one Pharaoh that lived after the kings of that interval? I think it necessary to inform them of it; and this in order to cure their ignorance, and to make the occasion of that name manifest. Pharaoh in the Egyptian tongue signifies a king. But I suppose they made use of other names from their childhood: but when they were made kings, they changed them into the name which in their own tongue denoted their authority. For thus it was also that the kings of Alexandria, who were called formerly by other names, when they took the kingdom were named Ptolemies, from their first king. The Roman emperors also were from their nativity called by other names, but are styled Cæsars: their empire and their dignity imposing that name upon them, and not suffering them to continue those names which their fathers gave them. I suppose also that Herodotus of Halicarnassus, when he said there were Sthree hundred and thirty kings of Egypt after Menes, who built of Mr. Maundrell, page 53, and is perfectly agreeable to Josephus's observation here. We have an account of the wonderful remains of this Tadmor or Palmyra, in our Philosophical Transactions, No. 318, to which I refer the reader. This signification of the name of Pharaoh appears to be And Mr. Reland himself says, "Piouro, in the Coptic true. tongue, is, a king; which the Greeks would pronounce Hagaw." What Josephus adds presently, that in his copy, no king of Egypt was called Pharaoh after Solomon's father-in-law, does hardly agree with our copies; which have long afterwards the names of Pharaoh Necho, and Pharaoh Hophra, 2 Kings xxiii, 29. Jer. xliv. 30, besides the frequent mention of that name in the Prophets. However, Josephus in his own speech to the Jews, Of the War, V. 9, speaks of Nechao, who was also called Pharaoh; as the name of that king of Egypt with whom Abraham was concerned; of which name Nechao yet we have else. where no mention, till the days of Josiah, but only of Pharaoh. And indeed it must be confessed, that in this chapter we have more mistakes made by Josephus, and those relating to the kings of Egypt, and to that queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have come to see Solomon, than almost anywhere else in all his Antiquities, and which are. particularly taken notice of by Bochart in his Phaleg. II. 26; of the occasions of which mistakes I can give no account. § Of these 330 kings of Egypt, and that they were in great measure collateral and not successive, see my Chronological Table. Memphis, did therefore not tell us their names, because they were in common called Pharaohs. For when after death there was a queen reigned, he calls her by her name, *Nicaule: as thereby declaring, that while the kings were of the male line, and so admitted of the same name, while a woman did not admit the same, he therefore set down that her name, which she could not naturally have. As for myself, I have discovered from our own books, that after Pharaoh the father-in-law of Solomon, no other king of Egypt did any longer use that name; and that it was after that time when the queen of Egypt and Ethiopia came to Solomon, concerning whom we shall inform the reader presently. But I have now made mention of these things, that I may prove that our books, and those of the Egyptians, agree together in many things. King Solomon subdued to himself the remnant of the Canaanites, that had not before submitted to him; those I mean that dwelt in mount Lebanon, and as far as the city Hamath, and ordered them to pay tribute. He also chose out of them every year such as were to serve him in the meanest offices, and to do his domestic works, and to follow husbandry. For none of the Hebrews were servants, in such low employments. Nor was it reasonable, that when God had brought so many nations under their power, they should depress their own people to such mean offices of life, rather than those nations. While the Israelites were concerned in warlike affairs, and were in armour, and set over the chariots, and the horses; rather than leading the life of slaves. He also appointed five hundred and fifty rulers over those Canaanites who were reduced to such domestic slavery; who received the care of them from the king, and instructed them in those labours and operations wherein he wanted their assistance. The king also built many ships† in the Egyptian bay of the Red Sea, in a certain place called Eziongeber; but now called Berenice, and not far from the city Eloth. This country belonged formerly to the Jews, and became useful for ship * Perhaps Nitocris. † About An. 1024. What Josephus affirms here, that Ophir, or, as his and the Septuagint copies spell it, Sophir, was the same with the Aurea Chersonesus, or rather with the adjoining island of Taprobane, now called Ceylon, is the very probable opinion of the great Bochart, Canaan. I. 46. But it is yet not so certain as to be agreed to by all others. See the note on IX. 1. Four hundred and twenty, 1 Kings ix. 28. That this queen of Sheba was a queen of Sabæa in South Arabia; and not of Egypt and Ethiopia, as Josephus here asserts, is, I suppose, now generally agreed. And since Sabæa is well known to be a country near the sea in the south of Arabia Felix, which lay south from Judea also; and since our Saviour calls ping, from the donations of Hiram, king of Tyre. For he sent a sufficient number of men thither for pilots, and such as were skilful in navigation: to whom Solomon gave this command, that they should go along with his stewards to the land that was of old called ‡Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India; to fetch him gold. And when they had gathered four hundred§ talents together, they returned to the king. There was then a woman queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; she was inquisitive in philosophy, and one that on other accounts also was to be admired. When this queen heard of the virtue and prudence of Solomon, she had a great mind to see him; and the reports that went every day abroad induced her to come to him; she being desirous to be satisfied by her own experience, and not by a bare hearing; (for reports thus heard are likely enough to comply with a false opinion; while they wholly depend on the credit of the relaters;) so she resolved to come to him, and that especially in order to have a trial of his wisdom, while she proposed questions of very great difficulty, and entreated that he would resolve their hidden meaning. Accordingly she came to Jerusalem with great splendour and rich furniture: for she brought her camels laden with gold, with several sorts of sweet spices, and with precious stones. Now upon the king's kind reception of her, he both showed a great desire to please her, and easily comprehending in his mind the meaning of the curious questions she propounded to him, he resolved them sooner than any body could have expected. she was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and discovered that it was more excellent upon trial than what she had heard by report beforehand. In particular she was surprised at the fineness and largeness of his royal palace; and not less so at the good order of the apartments: for she observed that the king had therein shown great wisdom. But she was beyond measure astonished at the house which was called the forest of Lebanon: as also at the magnificence of his daily table, and the circumstances of its preparation and min So this queen, the Queen of the South; and says, she came from the utmost parts of the earth, Matt. xii. 42. Luke xi. 31, which description agrees better to this Arabia, than to Egypt and Ethiopia, there is little occasion for doubting in this matter. The common mistake, which is much older than Josephus; nay, as old as the Septuagint version, that Cush signified Ethiopia, beyond Egypt, which Bochart has fully proved to denote Arabia, Phaleg. IV. 2, very probably misled Josephus into his hypothesis. ¶ Whether Solomon's house of the forest of Lebanon were at Jerusalem, or whether it were not rather at Balbec, between Libanus and Antilibanus, may be doubted. See for the latter interpretation, Authent. Rec. vol. II. page 887, 888. istration, with the apparel of his servants that waited; and the skilful and decent management of their attendance. Nor was she less affected with those daily sacrifices which were offered to God, and the careful management which the priests and Levites used about them. When she saw this done every day, she was in the greatest admiration imaginable; insomuch that she was not able to contain the surprise she was in: but openly confessed how wonderfully she was affected. For she proceeded to discourse with the king, and thereby owned that she was overcome with admiration at the things before related; and said, "All things indeed, O king, that come to our knowledge by report, come with uncertainty as to our belief of them; but as to those good things that to thee appertain, both such as thou possessest, I mean wisdom and prudence, and the happiness thou hast from thy kingdom, certainly the fame which came to us was no falsity; it was not only a true report, but it related thy happiness after a much lower manner than I now see it to be before my eyes. For as for the report, it only attempted to persuade our hearing; but did not so make known the dignity of the things themselves as does the sight of them, and being present among them. I indeed, who did not believe what was reported, by reason of the multitude and grandeur of the things I inquired about, do see them to be much more numerous than they were reported to be. Accordingly I esteem the Hebrew people, as well as thy servants and friends, to be happy, who enjoy thy presence, and hear thy wisdom every day continually. One would therefore bless God who hath so loved this country, and those that inhabit therein, as to make thee king over them." Now when the queen had thus demonstrated how deeply the king had affected her, she made that disposition known by certain presents. For * A hundred and twenty, Hebrew and Septuagint, which I suppose to be the true number. Some blame Josephus for supposing, that the balsam-tree might be first brought out of Arabia, or Egypt, or Ethiopia, into Judea, by this queen of Sheba; since several have said, that of old no country bore this precious balsam but Judea. Yet, as my learned friend Mr. Barker suggested to me from Bochart's Phaleg. II. 26, it is not only false that this balsam was peculiar to Judea; but both Egypt and Arabia, and particularly Sabæa had it which last was that very country whence Josephus, if understood not of Ethiopia, but of Arabia, intimates this queen might bring it first into Judea. This Bochart proves from Agatharchides, Diodorus Siculus, and Artemidorus, in Strabo. Nor are we to suppose, that the queen of Sabæa could well omit such a present as this balsam-tree would be esteemed by Solomon, in case it were then almost peculiar to her own country. Nor is the mention of balsam, as carried by merchants, and sent as a present to Judea by Jacob, to the governor of Egypt, Gen. xxxvii. 15. and xliii. 11, to be alleged to the contrary; since she gave him *twenty talents of gold, and an immense quantity of spices and precious stones. They say also that we possess the froot of that balsam which our country still bears by this woman's gift. Solomon also repaid her with many good things, and principally by bestowing upon her what she chose of her own inclination; for there was nothing that she desired which he denied her. And as he was very generous and liberal in his own temper, so did he show the greatness of his soul in bestowing upon her what she herself desired of him. So when this queen of Egypt and Ethiopia had obtained what we have already given an account of, and had again communicated to the king what she brought with her, she returned to her own kingdom.‡ CHAP. VII. OF SOLOMON'S IMMENSE RICHES, HIS LOVE OF STRANGE WOMEN, THE SUBSEQUENT REBELLION OF ADER AND JEROBOAM, AND THE DEATH OF SOLOMON. ABOUT the same times there were brought to the king from the Aurea Chersonesus, (a country so called,) precious stones and pine-trees: and these trees he made use of for supporting the temple, and the palace, as also for the materials of musical instruments, the harps and the psalteries; that the Levites might make use of them in their hymns to God. The wood which was brought to him at the time, was larger and finer than any that had ever been brought before. But let no one imagine that these pine-trees were like those which are now so named, and which take their denomination from the merchants, who so call them that they may procure them to be admired by those that purchase them. For those we speak of were to the sight like the wood of the fig-tree; but were whiter and more shining. Now we have said thus much, that nobody may be ignorant of what we there render balm, or balsam, denotes rather that turpentine, which we now call turpentine of Chio or Cyprus, the juice of the turpentine-tree, than this precious balsam. This last is also the same word that we elsewhere render, by the like mistake, balm of Gilead. It should be rendered the turpentine of Gilead, Jer. viii. 22. 1 Kings x. 13. About An. 1020. We never read of ivory till about Solomon's days, who perhaps brought elephants out of India, or at least took care to have a great deal of ivory imported from thence; for, in after ages, we read of ivory beds, and ivory palaces, &c. At this time, however, it was every whit as precious as gold: and therefore we must not suppose that this throne of Solomon's was entirely overlaid with gold, (for then it might as well be made of wood,) but only in particular places, that so the mixture of gold and ivory, which gave a lustre to each other, might make the throne look more beautiful. The like to this, the text says, there was not made in any kingdom, 1 Kings x. 20, and perhaps it was so the difference between these sorts of wood; nor un- || and running swiftly, that no others could upon the acquainted with the nature of the genuine pine-tree. comparison appear either finer or swifter; but they Now the weight of gold that was brought the were at once the most beautiful of all others, and king was six hundred and sixty-six talents; not their swiftness was incomparable also. Their including what was brought by the merchants; riders were a farther ornament to them, being in nor what the toparchs and kings of Arabia gave the first place young men in the most delightful him in presents; he also cast two hundred targets flower of their age; and eminent for their stature, of gold, each of them weighing six hundred shek- far taller than other men. They had also very els. He also made three hundred shields, every long hair, hanging down, and were clothed in garone weighing three pounds of gold; and he had ments of Tyrian purple. They had also dust of them carried, and put into that house which was gold every day sprinkled on their hair; so that called the forest of Lebanon. He also made cups their heads sparkled with the reflection of the of gold, and of precious stones, for the entertain- sun's beams from the gold. The king himself ment of his guests; and had them adorned in the rode upon a chariot in the midst of these men, most curious manner; and he contrived that all who were still in armour, and had their bows his other furniture of vessels should be of gold; fitted to them. He had on a white garment; and for there was nothing then to be sold or bought used to take his progress out of the city in the for silver. For the king had many ships which morning. There was a certain place about fifty lay upon the sea at Tarsus; these he commanded furlongs distant from Jerusalem, which is called to carry out all sorts of merchandise unto the re- Etham; very pleasant in fine gardens, and motest nations; by the sale of which silver and abounding with rivulets of water. Thither did he gold were brought to the king, and a great quan- use to go out in the morning, sitting on high in tity of ivory, and Ethiopians, and apes; and they his chariot. finished their voyage, going and returning, in three years' time. Accordingly, there went* a great fame all round the neighbouring countries, which proclaimed the virtue and wisdom of Solomon; insomuch that all the kings were desirous to see him; as not giving credit to what was reported, on account of its being most incredible; they also demonstrated the regard they had for him, by the presents they made him. For they sent him vessels of gold and silver, and purple garments, and many sorts of spices, and horses, and chariots, and as many mules for his carriages as they could find proper to please the king's eyes, by their strength and beauty. This addition that he made to those chariots and horses which he had before from these that were sent him, augmented the number of his chariots by above four hundred; for he had a thousand before;† and augmented the number of his horses by two thousand; for he had twenty thousand before. These horses also were so much exercised, in order to their making a fine appearance, Now Solomon had a divine sagacity in all things; and was very diligent and studious to have things done after an elegant manner. So he did not neglect the care of the ways; but he laid a causeway of black stone along the roads that led to his royal city of Jerusalem; both to render them easy for travellers, and to manifest the grandeur of his riches and government. He also parted his chariots, and set them in a regular order; that a certain number of them should be in every city; still keeping a few about him: and those cities he called the cities of his chariots. And the king made silver so plentiful in Jerusalem as stones in the street; and so multiplied cedartrees in the plains of Judea, which did not grow there before, that they were like the multitude of common sycamore-trees. He also ordained the Egyptian merchants that brought him their merchandise, to sell him a chariot, with a pair of horses, for six hundred drachmæ of silver; and he sent them to the kings of Syria, and to those kings that were beyond Euphrates. bringeth forth trees: and to the finest part whereof he seems to allude, when in the Canticles he compares his spouse to a garden inclosed, to a spring shut up, to a fountain sealed, chap. iv. 12, (part of which fountains are still extant, as Mr. Maundrell informs us, page 87, 88,) cannot now be certainly determined; but may very probably be conjectured. But whether this Etham has any relation to those rivers of Etham, which Providence once dried up, in a miraculous manner, Psal. lxxiv. 15, in the Septuagint and Constitut. Apost. VIII. 12. page 402, I cannot say. § 1 Kings x. 27. Two thousand four hundred shekels, or 285lb. |