The visit of the Queen of Sheba to Solomon, although not strictly commercial, rose out of com mercial intercourse, and may perhaps be here no ticed. The territory of Sheba, according to Strabo, reached so far north as to meet that of the Naba thans, although its proper seat was at the south ernmost angle of Arabia. The very rich presents made by the queen show the extreme value of her commerce with the Hebrew monarch ; and this early interchange of hospitality derives a peculiar interest from the fact that in much later ages- those of the Maccabees and downwards—the inter course of the Jews with Sheba became so intimate, and their influence, and even power, so great. Jewish circumcision took root there, and princes held sway who were called Jewish. The language of Sheba is believed to have been strongly different from the literate Arabic ; yet, like the Ethiopic, it belonged to the great Syro-Arabian family, and was not alien to the Hebrew in the same sense that the Egyptian was ; and the great ease with which the pure monotheism of the Maccabees propagated itself in Sheba, gives plausibility to the opinion that even at the time of Solomon the people of Sheba bad much religious superiority over the Ambs and Syrians in general. If so, it becomes clear how the curiosity of tbe southern queen would be worked upon by seeing the riches of the distant monarch, whose purer creed must have been carried everywhere with them by his sailors and servants.
(2.) Besides the great work which has rendered the name of Solomon so famous—the Temple at Jerusalem—we are informed of the palaces which he built—viz. bis own palace, the queen's palace, and the house of the forest of Lebanon, his porch (or piazza) for no specified object, and his porch of judgment, or law court [PALACE]. He also added to the walls of Jerusalem, and fortified Millo (` in the city of David,' 2 Chron. xxxii. 5), and many other strongholds. The temple seems to have been of very small dimensions--60 cubits long, 20 broad, and 30 high (r Kings vi. 3)—or smaller than many moderate-sized parish-churches in England ; but it was wonderful for the lavish use of precious materials. Whether the three palaces were parts of the same great pile, remains uncertain. The house of the forest of Lebanon, it has been ingeni ously conjectured, was so called from the multitude of cedar pillars, similar to a forest. That Solomon's own house was of far greater extent than the temple appears from its having occupied thirteen years in building, while the temple was finished in seven. In all these works he had the aid of the Tyrians, whose skill in hewing timber and in carving stone, and in the application of machines for conveying heavy masses, was of the first importance. The cedar was cut from Mount Lebanon, and, as would appear, from a district which belonged to the Tyri ans ; either because in the Hebrew parts of the mountain the timber was not so fine, or from want of roads by which it might be conveyed. The
hewing was superintended by Tyrian carpenters, but all the hard labour was performed by Hebrew bondsmen. This circumstance discloses to us an important fact—the existence of so large a body of public slaves in the heart of the Ismelitish mon archy, who are reckoned at 153,600 in 2 Chron. 17 ; see also Kings ix. 20-23, During the pre paration for the temple, it is stated (ver. 13-18) that 70,000 men were employed to bear burdens, 80,000 hewers of wood in the mountains ; besides 3300 overseers. The meaning of this, however, is rather obscure ; since it also states that there was a levy' of 30,000, of whom to,000 at a time went to Lebanon. Perhaps the 150,000 was the whole number liable to seme, of whom only one-fifth was actually called out. From the large number said to bear burdens,' we may infer that the mode of working was very lavish of human exertion, and little aided by the strength of beasts. It is inferred that at least the Hittites had recognised princes of their own, since they are named as purchasers of Egyptian chariots from Solomon ; yet the mass of these nations were clearly pressed down by a cruel bondage, which must have reacted on the oppressors at every time of weakness. The woid mn, which is translated levy' and tribute,' means especially the personal service performed by public slaves, and is rendered task' in Exod. 1, when speak ing of the Israelites in Egypt.
(3.) After the death of Nathan and Zadok, those faithful friends of David, although Solomon con tinued to celebrate with the same splendour all the exterior ceremonies of worship, it is hard to believe that much of that spirit of God which was in his father animated his ecclesiastical proceedings. Side by side with the worship of Jehovah foreign idola tries were established ; and the disgust which this inspired in the prophets of Jehovah is clearly seen in the address of Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, so manifestly exciting him to rebel against the son of David (r Kings xi. 29-39). The priests were too much under the direct domination of the crown to act an independent part ; the prophets had little sy-mpathy with the routine of pompous solemnities. Solomon himself, with all his erudition and insight into man's nature, had little, as far as we are aware, of that devotional character and susceptible feeling which distinguished David ; and however well meant his ostentatious patronage of divine worship, it probably could have produced no spiritual fruit, even if he had not finally neutralised it by his irn partial support of heathen superstitions.