The Story of the Bible

Seven years were spent in building the Temple, but at last it was finished; and a great service was held when the house was set apart to the worship of the Lord. Many offerings were burned upon the great altar, the ark was brought from Mount Zion and placed in the Holy of Holies, and King Solomon knelt upon a platform in front of the altar and offered a prayer to the Lord before all the people, who filled the courts of the Temple.

One night, after the Temple was finished, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream for the second time. And the Lord said to Solomon, "I have heard the prayer which you have offered to me, and I have made this house holy. It shall be my house, and I will dwell there. And if you will walk before me as David, your father, walked, doing my will, then your throne shall stand forever. But if you turn aside from following the Lord, then I will leave this house, and will turn from it, and will let the enemies of Israel come and destroy this house that was built for me."

The Last Days of Solomon's Reign

I Kings x: 1, to xi: 43.

Under King Solomon the land of Israel arose to greatness as never before and never afterwards. All the countries around Israel, and some that were far away, sent their princes to visit Solomon. And every one who saw him wondered at his wisdom and his skill to answer hard questions. It was said that King Solomon was the wisest man in all the world. He wrote many of the wise sayings in the Book of Proverbs, and many more that have been lost. He wrote more than a thousand songs. He spoke of trees, and of animals, and of birds, and of fishes. From many lands people came to see Solomon's splendor in living and to listen to his wise words.

In a land more than a thousand miles from Jerusalem, on the south of Arabia, in the land of Sheba, the queen heard of Solomon's wisdom. She left her home, with a great company of her nobles, riding on camels and bearing rich gifts; and she came to visit King Solomon. The queen of Sheba brought to Solomon many hard questions, and she told him all that was in her heart. Solomon answered all her questions, and showed her all the glory of his palace, and his throne, and his servants, and the richness of his table, and the steps by which he went up from his palace to the house of the Lord. And when she had heard and seen all, she said

"All that I heard in my own land of your wisdom and your greatness was true. But I did not believe it until I came and saw your kingdom. And not half was told me; for your wisdom and your splendor are far beyond what I had heard. Happy are those who are always before you to hear vour wisdom! Blessed be the Lord thy God, who has set thee on the throne of Israel!"

And the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon great treasures of gold, and sweet-smelling spices, and perfumes; and Solomon also made to her rich presents. Then she went back to her own land.

THE QUEEN OF SHEBA COMES TO SEE SOLOMON

Solomon's great palace, where he lived in state, stood on the southern slope of Mount Moriah, a little lower than the Temple. Its pillars of cedar were very many, so that they stood like a forest; and on that account it was called "The House of the Forest of Lebanon." From this palace a wide staircase of stone led up to the Temple, and Solomon and his princes walked up these stairs when they went to worship.

But there was a dark side as well as a bright side to the reign of Solomon. His palaces, and the walled cities that he built to protect his kingdom on all sides, and the splendor of his court, cost much money. To pay for these he laid heavy taxes upon his people, and from all the tribes he compelled many of the men to work on buildings. to become soldiers in his arniy, to labor in his fields, and to serve in his household. Before the close of Solomon's reign the cry of the people rose up against Solomon and his rule, on account of the heavy burdens that he had laid upon the land.

Solomon was very wise in affairs of the world, but he had no feeling for the poor of the land, nor did he love God with all his heart. He chose for his queen a daughter of Pharoah, the king of Egypt, and he built for her a splendid palace. And he married many other women who were the daughters of kings. These women had worshipped idols in their own homes, and to please them, Solomon built on the Mount of Olives a temple of idols, in full view of the Temple of the Lord. So images of Baal, and the Asherah, and of Chemosh, the idol of the Moabites, and of Molech, the idol of the Ammonites, stood on the hill in front of Jerusalem; and to these images King Solomon himself offered sacrifices. How great was the shame of the good men in Israel when they saw their king surrounded by idol-priests, and bowing down upon his face before images of stone!