Chapter 2.
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Chapter 2.
CONCERNING THE WIFE OF SOLOMON; CONCERNING HIS WISDOM AND RICHES; AND CONCERNING WHAT HE OBTAINED OF HIRAM FOR THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE.FJAJ 8.9
1. SOLOMON having already settled himself firmly in his kingdom, and
having brought his enemies to punishment, he married the daughter of Pharaoh
king of Egypt, and built the walls of Jerusalem much larger and stronger
than those that had been before, (2) This
building of the walls of Jerusalem, soon after David's death, illustrates
the conclusion of the 51st Psalm, where David prays, "Build thou the
walls of Jerusalem;" they being, it seems, unfinished or imperfect
at that time. See ch. 6. sect. 1; and ch. 1. sect. 7; also 1 Kings 9:15.
and thenceforward he managed public affairs very peaceably
Nor was his
youth any hinderance in the exercise of justice, or in the observation
of the laws, or in the remembrance of what charges his father had given
him at his death; but he discharged every duty with great accuracy, that
might have been expected from such as are aged, and of the greatest prudence.
He now resolved to go to Hebron, and sacrifice to God upon the brazen altar
that was built by Moses
Accordingly he offered there burnt-offerings,
in number a thousand; and when he had done this, he thought he had paid
great honor to God; for as he was asleep that very night God appeared to
him, and commanded him to ask of him some gifts which he was ready to give
him as a reward for his piety
So Solomon asked of God what was most excellent,
and of the greatest worth in itself, what God would bestow with the greatest.
joy, and what it was most profitable for man to receive; for he
did not desire to have bestowed upon him either gold or silver, or any
other riches, as a man and a youth might naturally have done, for these
are the things that generally are esteemed by most men, as alone of the
greatest worth, and the best gifts of God; but, said he, "Give me,
O Lord, a sound mind, and a good understanding, whereby I may speak and
judge the people according to truth and righteousness." With these
petitions God was well pleased; and promised to give him all those things
that he had not mentioned in his option, riches, glory, victory over his
enemies; and, in the first place, understanding and wisdom, and this in
such a degree as no other mortal man, neither kings nor ordinary persons,
ever had
He also promised to preserve the kingdom to his posterity for
a very long time, if he continued righteous and obedient to him, and imitated
his father in those things wherein he excelled
When Solomon heard this
from God, he presently leaped out of his bed; and when he had worshipped
him, he returned to Jerusalem; and after he had offered great sacrifices
before the tabernacle, he feasted all his own family.FJAJ 8.10
2. In these days a hard cause came before him in judgment, which it
was very difficult to find any end of; and I think it necessary to explain
the fact about which the contest was, that such as light upon my writings
may know what a difficult cause Solomon was to determine, and those that
are concerned in such matters may take this sagacity of the king for a
pattern, that they may the more easily give sentence about such questions.
There were two women, who were harlots in the course of their lives, that
came to him; of whom she that seemed to be injured began to speak first,
and said, "O king, I and this other woman dwell together in one room.
Now it came to pass that we both bore a son at the same hour of the same
day; and on the third day this woman overlaid her son, and killed it, and
then took my son out of my bosom, and removed him to herself, and as I
was asleep she laid her dead son in my arms
Now, when in the morning I
was desirous to give the breast to the child, I did not find my own, but
saw the woman's dead child lying by me; for I considered it exactly, and
found it so to be
Hence it was that I demanded my son, and when I could
not obtain him, I have recourse, my lord, to thy assistance; for since
we were alone, and there was nobody there that could convict her, she cares
for nothing, but perseveres in the stout denial of the fact." When
this woman had told this her story, the king asked the other woman what
she had to say in contradiction to that story
But when she denied that
she had done what was charged upon her, and said that it was her child
that was living, and that it was her antagonist's child that was dead,
and when no one could devise what judgment could be given, and the whole
court were blind in their understanding, and could not tell how to find
out this riddle, the king alone invented the following way how to discover
it
He bade them bring in both the dead child and the living child; and
sent one of his guards, and commanded him to fetch a sword, and draw it,
and to cut both the children into two pieces, that each of the women might
have half the living and half the dead child
Hereupon all the people privately
laughed at the king, as no more than a youth
But, in the mean time, she
that was the real mother of the living child cried out that he should not
do so, but deliver that child to the other woman as her own, for she would
be satisfied with the life of the child, and with the sight of it, although
it were esteemed the other's child; but the other woman was ready to see
the child divided, and was desirous, moreover, that the first woman should
be tormented
When the king understood that both their words proceeded
from the truth of their passions, he adjudged the child to her that cried
out to save it, for that she was the real mother of it; and he condemned
the other as a wicked woman, who had not only killed her own child, but
was endeavoring to see her friend's child destroyed also
Now the multitude
looked on this determination as a great sign and demonstration of the king's
sagacity and wisdom, and after that day attended to him as to one that
had a divine mind.FJAJ 8.11
3. Now the captains of his armies, and officers appointed over the whole
country, were these: over the lot of Ephraim was Ures; over the toparchy
of Bethlehem was Dioclerus; Abinadab, who married Solomon's daughter, had
the region of Dora and the sea-coast under him; the Great Plain was under
Benaiah, the son of Achilus; he also governed all the country as far as
Jordan; Gabaris ruled over Gilead and Gaulanitis, and had under him the
sixty great and fenced cities [of Og]; Achinadab managed the affairs of
all Galilee as far as Sidon, and had himself also married a daughter of
Solomon's, whose name was Basima; Banacates had the seacoast about Arce;
as had Shaphat Mount Tabor, and Carmel, and [the Lower] Galilee, as far
as the river Jordan; one man was appointed over all this country; Shimei
was intrusted with the lot of Benjamin; and Gabares had the country beyond
Jordan, over whom there was again one governor appointed
Now the people
of the Hebrews, and particularly the tribe of Judah, received a wonderful
increase when they betook themselves to husbandry, and the cultivation
of their grounds; for as they enjoyed peace, and were not distracted with
wars and troubles, and having, besides, an abundant fruition of the most
desirable liberty, every one was busy in augmenting the product of their
own lands, and making them worth more than they had formerly been.FJAJ 8.12
4. The king had also other rulers, who were over the land of Syria and
of the Philistines, which reached from the river Euphrates to Egypt, and
these collected his tributes of the nations
Now these contributed to the
king's table, and to his supper every day (3) It
may not be amiss to compare the daily furniture of king Solomon's table,
here set down, and 1 Kings 4;22, 23, with the like daily furniture of Nehemiah
the governor's table, after the Jews were come back from Babylon; and to
remember withal, that Nehemiah was now building the walls of Jerusalem,
and maintained, more than usual, above a hundred and fifty considerable
men every day, and that, because the nation was then very poor, at his
own charges also, without laying any burden upon the people at all. "Now
that which was prepared for me daily was one ox and six choice sheep; also
fowls were prepared for me, and once in ten days store of all sorts of
wine; and yet for all this required not the bread of the governor, because
the bondage was heavy upon this people," Nehemiah 5:18: see the whole
context, ver. 14-19. Nor did the governor's usual allowance of forty shekels
of silver a-day, ver. 15, amount to 45 a day, nor to 1800 a-year. Nor does
it indeed appear that, under the judges, or under Samuel the prophet, there
was any such public allowance to those governors at all. Those great charges
upon the public for maintaining courts came in with kings, as God foretold
they would, 1 Samuel 8:11-18.
thirty cori of fine flour, and sixty of meal; as also ten fat oxen, and
twenty oxen out of the pastures, and a hundred fat lambs; all these were
besides what were taken by hunting harts and buffaloes, and birds and fishes,
which were brought to the king by foreigners day by day
Solomon had also
so great a number of chariots, that the stalls of his horses for those
chariots were forty thousand; and besides these he had twelve thousand
horsemen, the one half of which waited upon the king in Jerusalem, and
the rest were dispersed abroad, and dwelt in the royal villages; but the
same officer who provided for the king's expenses supplied also the fodder
for the horses, and still carried it to the place where the king abode
at that time.FJAJ 8.13
5. Now the sagacity and wisdom which God had bestowed on Solomon was
so great, that he exceeded the ancients; insomuch that he was no way inferior
to the Egyptians, who are said to have been beyond all men in understanding;
nay, indeed, it is evident that their sagacity was very much inferior to
that of the king's
He also excelled and distinguished himself in wisdom
above those who were most eminent among the Hebrews at that time for shrewdness;
those I mean were Ethan, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of
Mahol
He also composed books of odes and songs a thousand and five, of
parables and similitudes three thousand; for he spake a parable upon every
sort of tree, from the hyssop to the cedar; and in like manner also about
beasts, about all sorts of living creatures, whether upon the earth, or
in the seas, or in the air; for he was not unacquainted with any of their
natures, nor omitted inquiries about them, but described them all like
a philosopher, and demonstrated his exquisite knowledge of their several
properties
God also enabled him to learn that skill which expels demons,
(4) Some
pretended fragments of these books of conjuration of Solomon are still
extant in Fabricius's Cod. Pseudepigr. Vet. Test. page 1054, though I entirely
differ from Josephus in this his supposal, that such books and arts of
Solomon were parts of that wisdom which was imparted to him by God in his
younger days; they must rather have belonged to such profane but curious
arts as we find mentioned Acts 19:13-20, and had been derived from the
idolatry and superstition of his heathen wives and concubines in his old
age, when he had forsaken God, and God had forsaken him, and given him
up to demoniacal delusions. Nor does Josephus's strange account of the
root Baara (Of the War, B. VIII. ch. 6. sect. 3) seem to be other than
that of its magical use in such conjurations. As for the following history,
it confirms what Christ says, Matthew 12;27 "If I by Beelzebub cast
out demons, by whom do your Sons cast them out?" which
is a science useful and sanative to men
He composed such incantations
also by which distempers are alleviated
And he left behind him the manner
of using exorcisms, by which they drive away demons, so that they never
return; and this method of cure is of great force unto this day; for I
have seen a certain man of my own country, whose name was Eleazar, releasing
people that were demoniacal in the presence of Vespasian, and his sons,
and his captains, and the whole multitude of his soldiers
The manner of
the cure was this: He put a ring that had a Foot of one of those sorts
mentioned by Solomon to the nostrils of the demoniac, after which he drew
out the demon through his nostrils; and when the man fell down immediately,
he abjured him to return into him no more, making still mention of Solomon,
and reciting the incantations which he composed
And when Eleazar would
persuade and demonstrate to the spectators that he had such a power, he
set a little way off a cup or basin full of water, and commanded the demon,
as he went out of the man, to overturn it, and thereby to let the spectators
know that he had left the man; and when this was done, the skill and wisdom
of Solomon was shown very manifestly: for which reason it is, that all
men may know the vastness of Solomon's abilities, and how he was beloved
of God, and that the extraordinary virtues of every kind with which this
king was endowed may not be unknown to any people under the sun for this
reason, I say, it is that we have proceeded to speak so largely of these
matters.FJAJ 8.14
6. Moreover Hiram, king of Tyre, when he had heard that Solonion succeeded
to his father's kingdom, was very glad of it, for he was a friend of David's.
So he sent ambassadors to him, and saluted him, and congratulated him on
the present happy state of his affairs
Upon which Solomon sent him an
epistle, the contents of which here follow:FJAJ 8.15
SOLOMON TO KING HIRAM.FJAJ 8.16
"(5) These
epistles of Solomon and Hiram are those in 1 Kings 5:3-9, and, as enlarged,
in 2 Chronicles 2:3-16, but here given us by Josephus in his own words.Know
thou that my father would have built a temple to God, but was hindered
by wars, and continual expeditions; for he did not leave off to overthrow
his enemies till he made them all subject to tribute
But I give thanks
to God for the peace I at present enjoy, and on that account I am at leisure,
and design to build a house to God, for God foretold to my father that
such a house should he built by me; wherefore I desire thee to send some
of thy subjects with mine to Mount Lebanon to cut down timber, for the
Sidonians are more skillful than our people in cutting of wood
As for
wages to the hewers of wood, I will pay whatsoever price thou shalt determine."FJAJ 8.17
7. When Hiram had read this epistle, he was pleased with it; and wrote back this answer to Solomon.FJAJ 8.18
HIRAM TO KING SOLOMON.FJAJ 8.19
"It is fit to bless God that he hath committed thy father's government
to thee, who art a wise man, and endowed with all virtues
As for myself,
I rejoice at the condition thou art in, and will be subservient to thee
in all that thou sendest to me about; for when by my subjects I have cut
down many and large trees of cedar and cypress wood, I will send them to
sea, and will order my subjects to make floats of them, and to sail to
what place soever of thy country thou shalt desire, and leave them there,
after which thy subjects may carry them to Jerusalem
But do thou take
care to procure us corn for this timber, which we stand in need of, because
we inhabit in an island." (6) What
Josephus here puts into his copy of Hiram's epistle to Solomon, and repeats
afterwards, ch. 5. sect. 3, that Tyre was now an island, is not in any
of the three other copies, viz. that of the Kings, Chronicles, or Eusebius;
nor is it any other, I suppose, than his own conjectural paraphrase; for
when I, many years ago, inquired into this matter, I found the state of
this famous city, and of the island whereupon it stood, to have been very
different at different times. The result of my inquiries in this matter,
with the addition of some later improvements, stands thus: That the best
testimonies hereto relating, imply, that Paketyrus, or Oldest Tyre, was
no other than that most ancient smaller fort or city Tyre, situated on
the continent, and mentioned in Joshua 19:29, out of which the Canaanite
or Phoenician inhabitants were driven into a large island, that lay not
far off in the sea, by Joshua: that this island was then joined to the
continent at the present remains of Paketyrus, by a neck of land over against
Solomon's cisterns, still so called; and the city's fresh water, probably,
was carried along in pipes by that neck of land; and that this island was
therefore, in strictness, no other than a peninsula, having villages in
its fields, Ezekiel 26:6, and a wall about it, Amos 1:10, and the city
was not of so great reputation as Sitlon for some ages: that it was attacked
both by sea and land by Salmanasser, as Josephus informs us, Antiq. B.
IX. ch. 14. sect. 2, and afterwards came to be the metropolis of Phoenicia;
and was afterwards taken and destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, according to
the numerous Scripture prophecies thereto relating, Isaiah 23.; Jeremiah
25:22; 27:3; 47:4; Ezekiel 26., 27., 28.: that seventy years after that
destruction by Nebuchadnezzar, this city was in some measure revived and
rebuilt, Isaiah 23:17, 18, but that, as the prophet Ezekiel had foretold,
chap. 26:3-5, 14; 27: 34, the sea arose higher than before, till at last
it over flowed, not only the neck of land, but the main island or peninsula
itself, and destroyed that old and famous city for ever: that, however,
there still remained an adjoining smaller island, once connected to Old
Tyre itself by Hiram, which was afterwards inhabited; to which Alexander
the Great, with incredible pains, raised a new bank or causeway: and that
it plainly appears from Ifaundreh, a most authentic eye-witness, that the
old large and famous city, on the original large island, is now laid so
generally under water, that scarce more than forty acres of it, or rather
of that adjoining small island remain at this day; so that, perhaps, not
above a hundredth part of the first island and city is now above water.
This was foretold in the same prophecies of Ezekiel; and according to them,
as Mr. Maundrell distinctly observes, these poor remains of Old Tyre are
now "become like the top of a rock, a place for the spreading of nets
in the midst of the sea."FJAJ 8.20
8. The copies of these epistles remain at this day, and are preserved
not only in our books, but among the Tyrians also; insomuch that if any
one would know the certainty about them, he may desire of the keepers of
the public records of Tyre to show him them, and he will find what is there
set down to agree with what we have said
I have said so much out of a
desire that my readers may know that we speak nothing but the truth, and
do not compose a history out of some plausible relations, which deceive
men and please them at the same time, nor attempt to avoid examination,
nor desire men to believe us immediately; nor are we at liberty to depart
from speaking truth, which is the proper commendation of an historian,
and yet be blameless: but we insist upon no admission of what we say, unless
we be able to manifest its truth by demonstration, and the strongest vouchers.FJAJ 8.21
9. Now king Solomon, as soon as this epistle of the king of Tyre was
brought him, commended the readiness and good-will he declared therein,
and repaid him in what he desired, and sent him yearly twenty thousand
cori of wheat, and as many baths of oil: now the bath is able to contain
seventy-two sextaries
He also sent him the same measure of wine
So the
friendship between Hiram and Solomon hereby increased more and more; and
they swore to continue it for ever
And the king appointed a tribute to
be laid on all the people, of thirty thousand laborers, whose work he rendered
easy to them by prudently dividing it among them; for he made ten thousand
cut timber in Mount Lebanon for one month; and then to come home, and rest
two months, until the time when the other twenty thousand had finished
their task at the appointed time; and so afterward it came to pass that
the first ten thousand returned to their work every fourth month: and it
was Adoram who was over this tribute
There were also of the strangers
who were left by David, who were to carry the stones and other materials,
seventy thousand; and of those that cut the stones, eighty thousand
Of
these three thousand and three hundred were rulers over the rest
He also
enjoined them to cut out large stones for the foundations of the temple,
and that they should fit them and unite them together in the mountain,
and so bring them to the city
This was done not only by our own country
workmen, but by those workmen whom Hiram sent also.FJAJ 8.22