ous pile of building, the most splendid and magnificent, perhaps, that the world ever saw; worthy of the Divine Architect who planned, and of the wise and opulent prince who executed it. See the account of the area and buildings of the Temple, in the foregoing Elements of Ancient Geography, Vol. I. p. 428.

THE DEDICATION.

Solomon's prayer on the Dedication of the Temple is one of the noblest and most sublime compositions in the Bible, exhibiting the most exalted conceptions of the omnipresence of THE DEITY, and of his superintending Providence, and of his peculiar protection of the Israelite nation, from the time that they came out of Egypt, and imploring pardon and forgiveness for all their sins and transgressions in the land, and during their ensuing captivities, in the prophetic spirit of Moses, 1 Kings viii. 12 -60; 2 Chron. vi. 1-42.

"I have surely built THEE a house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in, for ever.

"But will GOD, indeed, dwell on the earth? Lo, the heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain THEE: How much less this house that I have built * !·

"Hearken THOU to the supplication of thy servant, and of thy people Israel, when they shall pray toward this place; and hear Thou in heaven, thy dwelling place: And when Thou hearest, forgive !

• Similar sentiments were entertained by the wisest and best informed of the Heathen poets and philosophers.-Unquestionably from REVELATION traditional :

Ποιος δ' αν οικος τεκτονων πλασθεις ύπο

Δεμας το θειον περιβαλοι τοιχων πτυχαίς ;

But what house framed by builders can, within the compass of its walls, contain THE DIVINE BODY? Euripides frag.

Ο αμαθεις ανθρωποι, διδαξατε ήμας τι εστιν ὁ Θεός εν τοις ναοις αποκεκλεισμένος ; απαίδευτοι, ουκ ιστε ότι ουκ εστι Θεος χειροτμητος;

O ignorant mortals, teach us why is THE DEITY shut up in sanctuaries? Ye uninformed, know ye not, that GOD is not made with hands? Heraclitus.

St. Paul, therefore, in his celebrated discourse to the Athenian philosophers, might have appealed to the Heathen Theology also, for the truth of the following observation, as well as to SCRIPTURE:

"THE GOD who made the world and all things therein, He being LORD of heaven and earth, dwelleth not in sanctuaries made with hands; neither is worshipped with men's hands:"-" for we ought not to think that THE DEITY is like unto gold, or silver, or stone, engraven by man's art and ingenuity." Acts xvii. 24-29.

"If they sin against Thee, (for there is no man that sinneth not,) and Thou be angry with them, and deliver them to the enemy, so that they carry them away captives into the land of the enemy, far and near: yet if they shall bethink themselves in the land of their captivity, and repent, and make their supplication unto thee saying, We have sinned, and done perversely, and have committed wickedness, and so return to Thee, with all their heart, and with all their soul;then hear Thou their prayer, and their supplication in heaven, thy dwelling place, and maintain their cause.

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THE LORD OUR GOD be with us, as He was with our fathers: Let Him not leave us, nor forsake us: May He incline our hearts to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and his statutes, and his judgments, which he commanded our fathers: -May he maintain the cause of his servant, and the cause of his people Israel, at all times, as the matter shall require; That all the nations of the earth may know that THE LORD is GOD, and that there is none else.

"O LORD OF GODS, turn not away the face of thy MESSIAH; Remember the mercies of David thy servant."

The conclusion of this admirable prayer, (of which the foregoing is an extract,) shews how clearly Solomon understood the difference between the future son of David, the MESSIAH, and himself, whose presence he prays may not be averted, or withdrawn, from his people, the Jews, according to the mercies of GOD, covenanted with his servant David; or "for his servant David's sake;" as in the parallel passage, Psalm cxxxii. 10; 2 Chron. vi. 42. For surely Solomon could not possibly apply the term MESSIAH, or " ANOINTED," in this place, to himself, without incurring the imputation of presumption or profaneness, especially on so solemn an occasion. He could not be ignorant that his father David had applied that term to the SON OF GOD, Psalm ii. 2-7; and also Ethan, in his hymn, Psalm lxxxix. 20; explanatory of Nathan's prophecy, 2 Sam. vii. 14, both borrowing it from Hannah's thanksgiving, in which it was first introduced into the language of prophecy, 1 Sam. ii. 10.

The LORD's acceptance of Solomon's Temple, and of this dedication, was shewn, 1. By the glory of THE LORD filling the house, or inner Temple, as soon as the ark of the covenant was

brought from the temporary Tabernacle erected for it, in the city of David, to the sanctuary of the Temple; so that the priests could not stand to minister, because of the cloud, 1 Kings viii. 3—10; and 2. as soon as Solomon had ended his prayer, the fire of the Lord came down from Heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, as in the case of David's offering, 2 Chron. vii. 1. 1 Chron. xxi. 26.

After he had finished the Temple, Solomon built his own house at Jerusalem, the Queen's house, the summer house in the forest of Lebanon, the house of Millo, or town house," and the walls of Jerusalem. All these buildings and public works employed him till the twentieth year of his reign, 1 Kings vii. 1, 2, ix. 10-24.

About this time, as it seems, the Lord appeared again by night to Solomon, and promised him, that if he would walk, like David his father, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, observing the divine laws, that He would establish the throne of his kingdom for ever; but if he or his children forsook them, and served other gods, that he would cut off Israel, and cast them and their Temple out of his sight, and make them a proverb and a bye word among all people, 1 Kings ix. 2—10, 2 Chron. vii. 12—22.

SOLOMON'S BUILDINGS, REVENUES, &c.

After this, Solomon built Gezer, and the lower Bethhoron, in the south; the former having been given as a present by Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to his daughter, Solomon's wife. (He probably was the Cephrenus of Herodotus, and the Shishak, or Sesac of Scripture.) And in the north he built Baalath, or Baalbech, whose magnificent Temple lies near Tripoli, and is so well described by Maundrell, p. 135. And Tadmor in the wilderness, afterwards called Palmyra, about twenty-seven miles north of Damascus, and about a day's journey west of the river Euphrates; as a barrier against the incursions of the Syrians of Mesopotamia, beyond that river. He built this city about the twenty-fourth year of his reign, according to Abulfaragi, p. 34, whose magnificent ruins are described by Wood and Dawkins. And, we may suppose about this time, extended his northern frontier to the great river Euphrates; and his southern

to the river of Egypt, or the Nile, or the desert of Shur, bordering thereon; 1 Kings iv. 21, 2 Chron. ix. 26, fulfilling the Abrahamic covenant, Gen. xv. 18. See the boundaries of the promised land, Vol. I. p. 413, &c.

Solomon also cultivated commerce extensively. Mention is made of two voyages undertaken by his ships, in partnership with those of Hiram, king of Tyre, the greatest commercial city of the ancient world. The former from Ezion geber, a port on the Elanitic gulph of the Red Sea, eastwards, and southwards to Ophir, most probably Sofala, a part of the eastern coast of Africa, opposite to the great island of Madagascar; whence they imported "gold and almug trees, or ebony, and precious stones," 1 Kings ix. 26-28, x. 11; and the latter, westwards, to Tarshish, or Tartessus, now the isle of Cadiz, on the coast of Spain; whence they brought " silver; and proceeding southwards along the coast of Africa, as far as Guinea, brought back "gold, ivory, apes, and peacocks," x. 22. The voyage to Guinea and back again, might well occupy "three years," which was the time spent by the Phoenician mariners employed by Pharaoh Necho afterwards, in the circumnavigation of Africa, according to Herodotus, IV. 42. See Vol. I. p. 447, &c. of this work.

These commercial voyages brought into his dominions a prodigious influx of wealth; so that the weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year, was 666 talents, or £3,646,350 sterling: (reckoning a gold talent worth £5475, at £4 an ounce, with Arbuthnot,) besides the revenue he raised from the merchants, the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and governors of the country, x. 14-21. As to silver, it was of no estimation in the days of Solomon; he made it to be in Jerusalem as stones; and cedars as the sycamore trees in the valley, for abundance, ver. 21-27.

He also carried on a great inland trade, in Egyptian linen, yarn, horses and chariots, with all the kings of the Hittites and Syrians; and he multiplied horses and chariots in his dominions, and also wives and concubines; all contrary to the divine command, Deut. xvii. 16, 17, for he had 12,000 horsemen or cavalry, and 1400 chariots; 700 wives who were princesses, besides Pharaoh's daughter, and 300 concubines, ver. 26, xii. 3: and these foreign wives, taken from the prohibited nations, the

Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites, turned away his heart after their own gods, and seduced him to build temples, and sacrifice to them also, on the Mount of Corruption, opposite to Mount Sion, to Chemosh, or Peor, the abomination of the Moabites; to Moloch, the abomination of the Ammonites, and Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians. See Vol. I. p. 427.

SOLOMON'S OFFENCE.

This great and astonishing offence, according to Abulfaragi, p. 35, took place about the thirty-fourth year of his reign; when "he was old," or about fifty-four years of age, 1 Kings xi. 4.

And THE LORD was angry with Solomon for this, and (appearing to him probably a third time,) said unto him:

"Forasmuch as this is done by thee, and thou hast not kept my commandment and my covenant, which I commanded thee, I will surely rend the kingdom from thee, and will give it to thy servant [Jeroboam.] Notwithstanding I will not do it in thy days, for David thy father's sake; for I will rend it out of the hand of thy son [Rehoboam,]—not all the kingdom, but will give one tribe to thy son, for David my servant's sake, and for Jerusalem's sake," xi. 9—13.

This prophecy was soon after communicated by Ahijah to Jeroboam an Ephraimite, whom Solomon had appointed ruler over all the charge of Joseph; and accompanied with the significant act of rending his own new garment into twelve pieces, and giving ten of them to Jeroboam, reserving only two, Judah and Benjamin, (which had now coalesced into one,) to Rehoboam: promising Jeroboam, from THE LORD, that the kingdom of Israel should be established in his family, if he would keep the statutes and commandments of the Lord, like David; and that for this idolatry of Solomon, the house of David should be afflicted with captivities, but not for ever, until their redemption by THE MESSIAH, xi. 26-39.

For this prediction, and the spirit of disaffection which Jeroboam, in consequence of it, excited against Solomon, among the ten tribes, Solomon sought to kill him; but he fled for refuge to Shishak, king of Egypt, who protected him; and there he remained till Solomon's death, xi. 40.