SOLOMON pad.* ; Sept. ZaNco,u6v).
[What is known of the early history of Solomon may be stated in a few sentences. The youngest son of David and Bathsheba (r Chron. 5r), he seems to have been from his birth the object of his father's special affection. By this time the man of war from his youth ' had softened down into one in whom reli gious feeling and peaceful aspirations predominated, and he indicated this by the name he gave his son, Shelomoh, the peaceful." That he might fulfil the high destinies these names express was the desire of his fathe?s heart ; and we may rest assured thatnothing would be wanting to make his training and education such as should best secure this result. We only know, however, that he was committed to the care of Nathan the prophet (2 Sam. xii. 25), where the true reading probably is : And he (David) entrusted him to Nathan the prophet, and he (Nathan) called him Jedidjah [i.e. laved of 7ehovah], according to the word (111: for 1111/Z) of the Lord.' Though a favourite with his father, no intention of making him heir to his throne seems to have been entertained by David until after the revolt and death of Absalom. When that took place, the in fluence of Bathsheba was employed, apparently with the concurrence of Nathan the prophet, to obtain from the king a solemn promise that Solo mon should be his successor on the throne (1 Kings i. 4). The promise thus given was not, how ever, followed by any public action, until circum stances occurred which threatened failure to the project ] In the dedinirm age of David, his eldest sur viving son, Adonirah, endeavoured to place him self on the throne, by the aid of Joab the chief captain, and Abiathar one of the chief priests, both of whom had been associated with David's early sufferings under the persecution of Saul. The aged monarch did not for a moment give way to the formidable usurpation but at the remonstrance of his favourite Bathsheba, resolved forthwith to mise Solomon to the throne. To Joab he was able to oppose the celebrated name of Benaiah ; to Abiathar, his colleague Zadok and the aged prophet Nathan. The plot of Adonijah was at once defeated by this decisive measure ; and Solo mon, being anointed by Nathan (r Kings 5-0, was solemnly acknowledged as king. The date of this event is, as nearly as can be ascertained, B.c. tors.
The death of David would seem to have followed very quick upon these transacti.ms. At least, no public measures in the interval are recorded, except Solomon's verbal forgiveness of Adonijah. But after the removal of David, the first events of which we hear are the destruction of Adonijah, Joab, and Shimei, son of Gera, with the degrada tion of Abiathar.
[This has been by some attributed to that jealous cruelty so common in Oriental despots, which leads the newly-crowned monarch to remove by death all who, by their proximity to the throne or their real or supposed unfriendliness to the king, might be induced to disturb, by treasonable at tempts, his reign. But for this there are no
grounds. Had Solomon been moved by such jealous fears, there were others of his father's sons besides Adonijah against whose ambition he would have sought to protect himself, by putting them to death. But no such act is recorded ; on the con trary, we know that one of them, Nathan, became the head of a family, from which the failure in the direct line was at a later period filled up (Luke iii. 27, 31 [SALATHIEL] ; comp. Zech. xii. 12). It is to be kept in mind, also, that Adonijah had ob tained his favour on the express condition of his acting as a worthy' man for the future, and with the assurance that if wickedness' should be found in him he should die. That his request through Bathsheba for Abishag, the virgin concubine of David, to be bis wife, should have been construed into a breach of this contract, may seem strange to us ; but looked at from an Oriental point of view it is not so. We need not resort to the very doubtful supposition that Abishag was the Shuna mite of the Song of Songs, and the object of Solo mon's first love, to account for the severe sentence which he pronounced on Adonijah for aspiring to her hand. The request was in itself a presump tuous one. It was a request that Solomon would concede to him one of the treasures which fell by right to the reigning prince ; and very probably Solomon may have detected in it the promptings of a restless ambition, if not a covert attempt to get a foothold for subsequent treason. As for Joab, his crimes had already brought on him the con demnation of David himself, and Solomon simply carried out his father's sentence when he caused him to be slain. Shimei had proved himself so dangerous a subject, that the confining him as a prisoner on parole in Jerusalem was only an act of policy at once wise and merciful ; and when he broke his parole and went beyond the allotted bounds, he violated the condition on which he held his life, and few monarchs would have hesi tated to follow the same course as Solomon in putting him to death. The disgrace and banish ment of Abiathar may have been essential to the order and security of the new government. Solo. mon is not the only prince whom history com. memorates as needing to consolidate his power by getting rid of a meddling and unfriendly priest. Unlike most other princes, however, in similar circumstances, Solomon contented himself with banishing his enemy, instead of imprisoning him or putting him to death.] After this the history entets upon a general narrative of the reign of Solomon; but we have very few notices of time, and cannot attempt to fix the order of any of the events. All the infor mation, however, which we have concerning him, may be consolidated under the following heads : (r) his traffic and wealth ; (2) his buildings; (3) his ecclesiastical arrangements ; (4) his general ad ministration ; (5) his seraglio ; (6) his enemies.