A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHIRON. pians indeed have a tradition, that upon her return, she had a son by Solomon, whose posterity reigned there many years, and, to this very day, they have preserved a continual list of their names and successors. There are these exceptions however to be made to the opinion of the Jewish historian, namely, that whereas he cites Herodotus, as speaking of his queen Nicaule, Herodotus makes mention of none but only Niconis, queen of Egypt; nor does he say one syllable of her pretended journey to Jerusalem. Whereas he says of this Nicaule, that she was queen of Egypt and Ethiopia both; the sacred history is plain, that in the time of Solomon there reigned in Egypt that Pharaoh, whose daughter he married, and in his son Rehoboam's time, Shishak. Whereas he tells us, that the ancient name of Meroe, before the time of Cambyses, was Sheba; for this he seems to want authority, since 1 Diodorus, and other historians, represent this city as built new from the ground, and not repaired by Cambyses. Lord,' that is, concerning his knowledge of the Supreme Being, and the proper manner of worshipping him, that excited her to take so long a journey; and therefore, our Saviour says, that as she came so far to hear his wisdom (his wisdom concerning what? Concerning the nature and worship of Almighty God,) she would, at the day of judgment, 'rise up against that generation' which refused to listen to him. 6 8 Now, if this was the end of this queen's visit to Solomon, who can say, but that she left her country to good purpose, since it was to find wisdom, and to get understanding, the merchandise of which is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gains thereof than fine gold; the price which is above rubies, and all that can be desired is not to be compared to it?' But even upon the supposition, that her errand was to acquire knowledge of an inferior kind, or even to make trial of Solomon's sagacity, by proposing some enigmatical questions to him; yet, who knows not, that it was the practice in those days for persons of the first rank and figure in life to exercise their wits in this manner? " Josephus, from some writers of the Phoenician history tells us, that Solomon used frequently to send to his friend Hiram problems and riddles, upon the forfeiture of a great sum of money, if he could not expound them; and that one Abdemonus, a Tyrian, not only unriddled Solomon's difficulties but sent back some new propositions of his own, which, if Solomon could not resolve, he was to incur the like forfeiture. Now the Scripture remarks of Solomon, that 10 his wisdom excelled the wisdom of the east country,' and by the east country some do understand the seat of the ancient Arabians, who in the days of Pythagoras, were so The more probable opinion therefore is, that this queen of Sheba came from a country so named, which lay not in Ethiopia nor Africa, but in the southern part of Arabia Felix ; because it is generally allowed, that the Sabæans lived in Arabia, and that their country was usually called by the Orientalists the kingdom of the south, in allusion to which, our Saviour styles this princess the queen of the south;' because their country borders upon the southern ocean, beyond which the ancients knew no farther land; and therefore our Saviour, according to the common mode of speaking, says of this princess, that she came from the utmost parts of the earth;' because, in this country, a women were known to govern as well as men; because the common produce of it was gold, silver, spices, and precious stones, the very pre-renowned for their wisdom, that "that philosopher sents which this princess made Solomon; and, if any popular traditions may be credited, because the Arabians talk of their queen Balkis, who went to visit Solomon, and show travellers the place of her nativity to this very day. 3 4 Mat. xii. 42. thought it worth his while to go and reside among them for some time. They were great masters of wit and ingenuity; and valued themselves upon their sagaciousness and dexterity, both in propounding and solving problems; and therefore no wonder that this queen of Sheba, who, as Josephus informs us, was a woman of exquisite understanding herself, should fall in with the humour of the times, and carry with her some problems of her Arabian sages, on purpose to make a trial of Solomon's parts: nor can we imagine, but that, in complaisance to so royal a visiter, as well as regard to his own reputation, Solomon would take care to answer her questions, and, as the Scripture expresses it, satisfy all her desire whatsoever she asked.' Now if this princess came from Arabia, there is reason to believe, that she was originally descended from Abraham, by his wife Keturah, one of whose sons begat Sheba, who was the first planter of this country; and consequently that she might have some knowledge of revealed religion, by tradition at least, from her pious ancestors. To this purpose the Scripture seems to intimate, that the design of her visit to Solomon was, not so much to gratify her curiosity, as to inform her under-12 standing in matters relating to piety, and divine worship. It was Solomon's fame,' 'concerning the name of the 1 B. i. et Luc. Ampel. de Cambyse. Calmet's Commentary on 1 Kings x. 1. and his Dictionary, under the word Sheba. 5 4 Gen. xxv. 1, 3. 1 Kings x. 1. their sovereign, tell us, that her name was Balkis, the daughter of Hadhad, son of Scharhabil, the twentieth king of Jemen, or Arabia Felix, and that she reigned in the city of Mareb, the capital of the province of Sheba. Their histories are full of fabulous stories concerning her journey to Solomon's court, and her marriage with him, but more particularly concerning the bird hudhud, in English a lupwing, which Solomon made use of to send into Arabia upon occasion, and to bring him despatches from thence.-Calmet's Dictionary, under the word Nicaule. a It is generally supposed, that these words of Claudian relate to these people: "this sex rules over the Medes and the effeminate Sabeans, and a great part of Barbary is subject to the arms of queens." Without knowing the custom of the princes of the east, their pomp, and sumptuousness of living, one might be tempted to wonder, what possible use Solomon might make of this milliad of wives and concubines that he had : but as he was between forty and fifty years old before he ran into this excess, we cannot but think, that he kept this multitude of women more for state than any other service. 13 Darius Codomannus was wont to carry along with him in his camp, no less than three hundred and fifty concubines in time of war; nor was his queen at all offended at it, because these women used to reverence A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. I KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. and adore her as if she had been a goddess. F. Le Compte, in his history of China, tells us, that the emperor there has a vast number of wives chosen out of the prime beauties of the country, many of which he never so much as saw in his whole life; and therefore, it is not improbable, that Solomon, as he found his riches increase, might enlarge his expenses, and endeavour to surpass all the princes of his time in this, as well as all other kinds of pomp and magnificence. 2 A man of Solomon's great wisdom, one would think, should have converted those women that were about him to the true religion rather than have suffered himself to be perverted by them to a false one. The Scripture tells us, indeed, that he went after Ashtaroth the goddess of the Zidonians and a Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites, and Chemosh the abomination of Moab;' but surely he could never be so far infatuated, as to prefer those idols before the God of Israel. These women, no doubt, as they had got an ascendant over him, might abate his zeal against idolatry, and prevail with him for a public toleration of their religion: they might obtain money of him for the making of their idols, the support of their priests, and expense of their sacrifices; nay, and perhaps might sometimes persuade him, in compliance, to go with them to their worship, or to partake of their lewd and riotous feasts; but that they should ever be able to alter his notions concerning the true God, or prevail with him to believe, that the images they worshipped were informed with any kind of divinity, is a thing incredible. In the course of this prevarication, however, he continued so long, that it is now become a famous question, Whether he be in a state of salvation or no? Those that maintain the negative, are apt to suggest, that though the Scripture gives us a particular account of his fall, yet it takes no notice of his recovery; that without the grace of God he could not repent, and yet his actions were such as justly deserved a forfeiture of that grace; that had he repented, he would have pulled down the idolatrous temples which he had erected, whereas we find them standing many years after him; and therefore they conclude, that as he did not sorrow after a godly sort,' for his impieties, because in his whole behaviour to the very last, they can discern no carefulness wrought in him, 36 1 Kings xi. 5, 7. 2 Poole's Annotations. 12 Cor. vii. 11. a This god is the same with Moloch, which, both in Hebrew and Ethiopic, signifies, a king; but then there are various sentiments concerning the relation which this God had to the other pagan deities. Some believe, that Moloch was Saturn, others Mercury, others Venus, and others again Mars or Mithra. But F. Calmet, in his dissertation before his commentary upon Leviticus, has made it more than probable, that this god was the sun, who is called 'the king of heaven,' as the moon may be said to be the queen thereof, for its make and manner of worship.-See vol. ii. p. 460, in the notes. b Chemosh, or Chamos, comes from a root, which, in Arabic, signifies to make haste; and from hence some have imagined, that he is the same with the sun, whose motion is supposed to be so hasty and rapid; though some, from the Hebrew rout, which signifies, contrectatus, or handled, will have him the same with the Roman Priapus, who is called Pater contrectationum nocturnarum;' while others from the near resemblance of the Hebrew Chamos with the word Comos, have rather thought it to be Bacchus, the god of drunkenness: but in either acceptation it may be supposed to represent either Noah or Lot.-Juricu's History of Doctrines and Worship, part 4. no clearing of himself, no indignation, no fear, no vehement desire, no zeal, no revenge, which the apostle has made the proper characteristics of a true repentance. The promise, however, which God makes to David concerning his son Solomon, may incline us to think favourably of his salvation: I will be his father, and he shall be my son. If he commit iniquity, I will chasten him with the rod of men, and with the stripes of the children of men, but my mercy shall not depart away from him.' And therefore we may presume, that towards the conclusion of his life he grew sensible of his transgressions, though the sacred writer takes no notice of it, on purpose to leave a blot on his memory, and a frightful example of human weakness to all posterity; that the temples which he had built to heathen idols, he pulled down and demolished, "though they were afterwards raised again upon the same places, by other impious princes; and that, after his fall, he wrote his book of Ecclesiastes as a monument of his repentance, and acknowledgment of his own apostasy, and a warning and admonition to all others, that, however they may think of doing whatever their eyes desired, of keeping nothing from them, and of withholding their hearts from no joy; yet in the event, they would find, what his experience had taught him so late, that all was vanity and vexation of spirit ;' that there was no profit in any kind of wickedness under the sun, but that to fear God, and keep his commandments, was the whole duty of man.' 76 It is making a wrong judgment of things, to think, that the customs of ancient times, and of different countries, should agree with those of our own age and climate. We, indeed, when we have any thing to declare or relate, do it, for the most part, in express words: but the people of the east, especially those who took upon them the character of prophets, were fond of discovering their minds in signs and emblematical actions; because they 42 Sam. vii. 14, 15. $ Patrick's Commentary. Calmet's Dissertation on the Salvation of King Solomon. Eccles. ii. 10, 11. s Ibid. xii. 13. prophet; but, in after ages, instances of this kind became more e This is the first symbolical action that we meet with in any frequent. Thus Jeremiah made himself bonds and yokes, and put them upon his neck,' (Jer. xxvii. 2.) to signify the near approaching captivity of Jerusalem. Isaiah, to denote the captivity of Egypt and Ethiopia, walked naked, that is, without his upper garments on, and barefoot for three years, in the streets,' (Is. xx. 2, 3.) Ezekiel, to make the people sensible that they were to be carried away into a strange land, was ordered to make a breach in the wall of his house, and through that, to remove his household goods, in the daytime, and in their sight,' (Ezek. xii. 3, 4.) The false prophet Zedekiah made himself a pair of iron horns, and said to Ahab, With these shalt thou push the Syrians,' (1 Kings xxii. 11.) And the like practice continued under the New Testament likewise; for Agabus having bound his hands and feet with St Paul's girdle, told the company, that, so should the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man unte whom it belonged,' (Acts xxi. 11.) Samuel having exhorted the people to return to the Lord with all their hearts, and to put away the strange gods from among them, said, Gather all Israel to Mizpah, and I will pray for you unto the Lord. And they gathered together to Mizpah, and drew water, and poured it out before the Lord, and fasted on that day, and said there, We have sinned against the Lord.' (1 Sam. vii. 5, 6.) The sacred historian does not explain in words the meaning of this drawing of water and pouring it out, nor was there any occasion for his doing so; the action of itself expressing with sufficient clearness that a deluge of tears was due for their offences. But it is not in Israel alone that information was given by action, or that whe words were employed, action was added, to fix their meaning, A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. looked upon such representations more lively and affect- | such a sensible impression upon his mind, that he caning than any that proceeded from the mouth only could be. tion, of his not eating or drinking in the town of Bethel,' was as much the will of God as any other part of his commission. not but perceive himself actuated by a divine spirit ; and, consequently, cannot but be assured of the evidence of When the prophet was sent to anoint Jehu to be king his own revelation. This evidence the prophet that was of Israel, the question which the rest of the captains put sent to Bethel had; for as he was able, by the power that to him, Wherefore came this mad fellow to thee?' was given him, to work miracles, he could not but be sensufficiently indicates their scorn and contempt of him:sible of his divine mission, and that the particular injuncand, in like manner, Ahijah might have addressed himself to a man of Jeroboam's haughty spirit to small purpose, had he not, by some previous action, drawn his observation, and made him attentive to the message he was going to deliver. Now, if any such symbolical act was necessary at this time, the tearing of his garment was more proper than any, because, in the case of Saul, Samuel had applied it to denote the alien-only because it was repugnant to God's main design, but ation of his kingdom: The Lord hath rent the kingdom of Israel from thee this day, and hath given it to a neighbour of thine, that is better than thou :' and if rending the garment was no insignificant symbol upon this occasion, the newer the garment was, the more it would declare, that what the prophet did was by a divine command, and upon mature deliberation. This may, in some measure, suffice to rescue Ahijah from the imputation of madness, in tearing his garment to pieces. And to come now, in the last place, to the case of the other prophet who came from Judah to denounce judgments against the altar of Bethel, and was slain in his return, for disobeying the divine injunction, this we may think was a small offence, that hardly deserved so severe a fate; but then we should do well to consider, that whenever God, in an extraordinary manner discovers his will to a prophet, he always makes 3 12 Kings ix. 11. 1 Sam. xv. 23. Stillingfleet's Orig. Sacra. and to impress it on the memory. Herodotus informs us (b. iii. c. 46.) that the Samians, in their distress, having arrived at Sparta, and obtained an audience of the magistrates, made a long speech in the language of suppliants; to which they received for answer, that "the beginning of their discourse was already forgotten, and the conclusion of it not understood." At a second interview the Samian orators simply produced an empty leathern bag, saying, that it contained no bread; to which the Spartans replied, that they observed the bag and determined to assist them. Again, we are told by Clemens Alexandrinus, as quoted by Bishop Warburton, that "Identhura, a king of the Scythians, as Pherecydes Syrus relates the story, when ready to oppose Darius, who had passed the Ister, sent to the Persian a symbol instead of letters, namely, a mouse, a frog, a bird, a dart, and a plough," or, as it is otherwise reported, five darts, without the plough. This symbol was understood by Gobryas, one of the Persian chiefs, to signify that the army of Darius should never recross the Ister, unless like birds they could fly into the air, like mice burrow in the earth, or like frogs take refuge in marshes. (See Herodotus, b. iv. c. 13.) As the symbol is mentioned by Clemens, I should think its meaning was, that the Scythians would dispute every inch of ground, and at last leave the country a barren desert to the Persians, rather than submit to their yoke. But whatever be the precise meaning of this particular symbol, it is obvious, that in those ages all important messages were at least accompanied by significant actions. They still are so among all savage nations; and Bishop Warburton has clearly traced the practice from its origin in necessity. Where languages are rude and confined, speakers are obliged to call in the aid of significant actions to make themselves understood; and as every impression made through the eye takes a faster hold of the mind than impressions made through the medium of the other senses, orators have in all ages, and in every country, given force to their speeches, by what was originally necessary to make scanty and equivocal languages understood.-See Divine Legation, b. iv. sect. 4; and b. vi. sect. 5. with the note G. at the end of that book.-Bishop Gleig.-ED. Now, the design of God, in this prohibition, was, to express his abhorrence of that idolatrous place ; and therefore the other pretended revelation of the old prophet who lived therein, was justly to be suspected, not because it came from a person who had given no great testimony of his sincerity in choosing to live in a place notoriously infected with idolatry, and yet making no public remonstrances against it. The consideration of this one circumstance should have made the young prophet diffident of what the other told him, at least till he had shown him some divine testimony to convince him; for it argued a great deal of levity, if not infidelity of his own revelation, to listen to that of another man, in contradiction to what he had abundant reason to believe was true. The short of the matter is :-The prophet from Judah had sufficient evidence of the truth of his own revelation; had sufficient cause to suspect some corrupt ends in the prophet that came to recall him; and had sufficient reason to expect an interposition of the same power that gave him the injunction to repeal it. And therefore his crime was an easy credulity, or complying with an offer merely to gratify a petulant appetite, that he knew was repugnant to a divine command; and the lesson we are to learn from God's severity in this instance is :-Not to suffer our faith to be perverted by any suggestions that are made against a revelation that is of uncontested divine authority, but if an angel from heaven,' as the Apostle puts the case, should preach any other gospel, 4 Gal. i. 8, 9. The learned are divided in their sentiments concerning this prophet at Bethel. Some will needs have him to have been a false prophet, highly in esteem with king Jeroboam, because he prophesied to him soft things, and such as would humour him in his wickedness. To this purpose they tell us, that going to visit the king one day, and finding him in a deep concern upor account of the menaces and reproaches which the man of God from Judah had denounced against him, he undertook to persuade him, that that prophet was an impostor, and to elude the force of the miracle he had wrought, by telling him, that there was nothing extraordinary in his altar's falling down, considering that it was new built, not thoroughly settled, loaded with sacrifices, and heated with fire. And as for the matter of his arm, that was occasioned only by his having overwrought himself in pulling the sacrifices along, and lifting them up upon the altar, which might make his hand numb for a while, but, upon a little rest, it came to itself again; and so, with plausible distinctions, and loose insinuations, he shuffled off the miracle, and made the king more obdurate in wickedness than ever. Others think more favourably of the old prophet, namely, that he was a true prophet of God, though some say a wicked one, not unlike the famous Balaam, who sacrificed every thing to his profit. Whilst others say, he was a weak one, who thought he might innocently employ an officious lie to bring the prophet of Judah back, who was under a prohibition indeed, but such a one, as in his opinion, related only to the house of Jeroboam, and such others as were of an idolatrous religion.-Josephus's Jewish Antiquities, b. 8. c. 3. A. M. 3001. A. C. 1003; OR, ACCORDING TO HALES, A. M. 4421. A. C. 990. 1 KINGS viii. TO THE END OF 2 CHRON. than what we have received, to detest and denounce him | gold amounted to no less than five thousand four hundred accursed,' Here, however, we may take occasion to admire the unsearchable secrets of the divine justice. Jeroboam revolts from his lawful sovereign, forsakes the worship of the true God, engages the people in gross idolatry, and is himself hardened with the menaces and miracles of the prophet that was sent to him. A false prophet deceives an innocent man with a lie, and draws him into an act of disobedience, contrary to his inclination; and yet this wicked Jeroboam, and this seducing prophet, go unpunished, while the other, who might mean no ill perhaps in turning back, is slain by a lion, and his body deprived of the sepulchre of his fathers. We must acknowledge indeed, that the depths of the judgments of God are an abyss that our understandings cannot fathom. But nothing certainly can be a more sensible proof of the truth of another life, and of the eternal recompenses or punishments that attend it, than to see the righteous so rigorously treated here for very slight offences; Moses excluded the land of promise for a diffident thought; Lot's wife changed into a statue of salt for her looking back; and ' David, for a vain curiosity, punished with the death of no less than seventy thousand of his subjects. And if God be thus severe to his own servants; if judgment thus begins at the house of God, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?' As sentence against every evil man, therefore, is not speedily executed, this is our proof, this is our assurance, that God will bring every work into judgment, with every secret thing, whether it be good, or whether it be evil.' 46 1 and twenty-five pounds sterling, what an immense sum must all these talents of gold and silver amount to? Some of the best authors of weights and measures have computed, that if all the walls, pavements, lining, and covering of the temple had been made of massy gold, even with the wages of the workmen and vessels belonging to it, they would not have come up to the value here specified; and therefore, upon this supposition, they have advanced a notion, that the Hebrews had two kinds of talents; a larger, which was called the talent of the sanctuary,' and a smaller, which was the common talent, and one half less than the other, by which all such exorbitant sums, as they say, ought to be reckoned. But what grounds they have for this distinction we cannot perceive, since it nowhere appears, either in the Scriptures, or in any other history, that the Jews, especially before the captivity of Babylon, had any more talents than one; and that their talent, whether of silver or gold, arose to a sum tantamount to what we have stated it at, there are several instances in the Old Testament, that may convince us. 9 To this purpose we may observe, that when Amaziah, king of Judah, hired a hundred thousand men out of Israel, to fight against the Edomites, he gave no more than 10 an hundred talents of silver for them, which would have been but a very trifling price indeed, had the talent here been of less value than three thousand shekels : that when Omri, king of Israel, bought the mountain whereon was built the city of Samaria, he paid for it no more than two talents of silver; and yet these two talents were ten thousand nine hundred and fifty pounds, a proper sum for such a purchase ; that when Sennacherib king of Assyria had obliged Hezekiah to pay him 12 three 12 CHAP. III.—Of Solomon's Riches, and his Trade to hundred talents of silver, and thirty talents of gold, that Ophir. He who only looks into the map, and there observes, in how small a compass the land of Canaan is comprised, may be apt to think that the kings of that country were petty princes, ruling over an indigent obscure people, unable to bear any great expense, and incapable of making any considerable figure, except now and then, at the head of their armies. But he will soon perceive his mistake, when he comes to reflect on the immense riches which David left his son Solomon; on the vast expense of Solomon's magnificent living; and on the several branches of his revenue, which enabled him to sustain that expense. The Scripture informs us, that out of the revenues of the crown, David left Solomon, merely for the purpose of building the temple, a hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver;' out of his privy purse, three thousand talents of gold, and seven thousand talents of silver;' and out of the benevolence of the princes, five thousand talents, and ten thousand drams of gold, and ten thousand talents of silver.' Now, since it is generally agreed, that a talent of silver was equivalent to three hundred and forty-two pounds, three shillings, and ninepence; and a talent of 8< 1 Num. xx. 11, 12. Gen. xix. 26. 2 Sam. xxiv. 15. 1 Pet. iv. 17, 18. Eccles. xii 14. 1 Chron. xxii. 14. 1 Chron. xxix. 4. Ibid. xxix. 7. | good king exhausted, not only his own treasure, and the treasure of the house of the Lord, but was forced likewise to cut the gold off' from the doors and pillars of the temple: and to name no more, that when Pharaoh Necho 13put the land to a tribute of an hundred talents of silver, and a talent of gold,' Jehoiakim was necessitated to levy a tax extraordinary upon his subjects, that every one might contribute according to his power: but neither of these remarks, namely, that these two kings were thus straitened about the payment, would the sacred historian have made, had the talent in his days, been of considerably less value than Moses is known to rate it at. So that, upon the whole, we may conclude, that the Hebrew talent continued always the same, and amounted to a much greater sum, than those who are for debasing its value are willing to allow. 'But, if the talent must be reckoned at so high a rate, how can we imagine, that David, who had no estate from his family, and whose dominions were far from being extensive, could ever be able to amass such an immense quantity of wealth?' Now, in answer to this, we should do well to consider, that, even before the death of Saul, David was at the head of some brave troops, with whom he used to make inroads into the enemies' country, and frequently bring from thence |