known as those who had stood before Solomon.'1 6 The Prophets cease to figure amongst the dignitaries; as though the prophetical office had been overborne by the royal dignity. The Chief Priesthood, as we have seen, was concentred in Zadok alone, and from him descended a peculiar hierarchy, known by the name of sons of Zadok,' the possible origin (whether from their first ancestor's opinions, or from a traditionary adherence to the old Law) of the later sect of the Sadducees. 4 Solomon. The three military bodies seem to have remained un- Camp of changed. The commander of the 'host' is the priestly warrior Benaiah, who succeeded the murdered Joab. The six hundred heroes of David's early life only once pass across the scene. Sixty of them, their swords as of old girt on their thighs, attended Solomon's litter, to guard him from banditti on his way to Lebanon.3 The guard appear only as household troops, employed on state pageants, and apparently commanded by the officer now mentioned for the first time, at least in the full magnitude of his post. He was 'over the household,' in fact the Vizier, and keeper of the royal treasury and armoury. In subsequent reigns he is described as wearing an official robe, girt about with an official girdle, and carrying on his shoulder as a badge, like a sword of state, the gigantic key of the house of David." The office was held by Ahishar. In the Arabian legends it is given to the great musician, Asaph.9 5 6 8 The only two functionaries who retained their places from David's time were Jehoshaphat, the historiographer or recorder, and Adoram or Adoniram, the tax-collector.10 1 1 Kings xii. 6. Jerome mentions (Quæst. Hebr. on 2 Chr. x. 6) as amongst them, Benaiah and Jehiel, the tutors of the Princes. 2 2 Chr. xxxi. 10. Ez. xl. 46, xlii. 19, &c. See Mr. Twisleton on SADDUCEES, in Dict. of the Bible, p. 1085. Cant. iii. 7, 8. 1 Kings xiv. 27. Isa. xxii. 21, 22. These 1 Kings iv. 6 (LXX. adds Eliak). 10 1 Kings iv. 3, 6, xii. 18. Administration of Solomon. were probably appointed when very young, at the time when David's reign was gradually settling into the peaceful arrangements of later times. The word which elsewhere is used for the garrisons planted in a hostile country, is now employed for 'officers' appointed by the King of Israel over his own subjects. They were divided into two bodies, both alike, as it would seem, directed by a new dignitary, who also appears for the first time-Azariah, son of the Prophet Nathan, who was over 'the officers.'2 The lesser body consisted of twelve chiefs, in number corresponding to the twelve princes of the twelve tribes, who had administered the kingdom under David, and to the twelve surveyors of his pastures and herds.3 It is to the latter division that the twelve officers' of Solomon corresponded, as they were arranged not according to the tribal divisions, and as their sole function was to furnish provisions for the royal household. Two of them were sons-in-law of the King. The larger body of officers' were chosen from the Israelites, to control the taskwork exacted from the Canaanite population. The foreign populations within his dominions were, after the first ineffectual attempt at insurrection, completely cowed. The Hittite chiefs were allowed to keep up a kind of royal state, with horses and chariots ; but the population generally was employed, like the aboriginal inhabitants of Greece, on public works, and was heavily taxed.' Several important fortresses were created to keep them Netsib, and Nitssab (used in 1 Sam. x. 5, xiii. 3, 4, 1 Chr. xi. 16, for Philistine garrisons in Judæa; and in 2 Sam. viii. 6, 14, 1 Kings xxii. 47, 1 Chr. xviii. 13, 2 Chr. xvii. 2, for Israelite garrisons), are used in 1 Kings iv. 5, 7, 19, 27, ix. 23, 2 Chr. viii. 10, for the officers of Solomon. The He in check; one in the extreme north, in the old Canaanite capital of Hazor; a second in the Canaanite town of Megiddo, commanding the plain of Esdraelon; a third on the ruins of the Philistine city of Gaza, which had maintained its independence longest of all; two in the villages of Bethhoron at the upper and lower ends of the pass of that name, and one at Baalath or Kirjathjearim. The three last-named forts commanded the approaches from Sharon and Philistia to Jerusalem.' From the Canaanite bondmen were probably descended the degraded class, standing last in the list of those who returned from Babylon- the children of Solomon's slaves.'2 They were apparently employed in the quarries, as those who appear next above them, the Nethinim, were in the forests. The public works of Solomon were such as of themselves to leave an impress on his age. Of his doubtful connexion with Tadmor and Baalbec we have already spoken. But there is no question of those more immediately connected with his court and his residence. Jerusalem itself received a new life from his accession. Jerusalem. It has even been conjectured that the name first became fixed through his influence; being, in its latter part, an echo, as it were, of his own-' peace.' When the Greeks gave their form to the name, they were guided by a remembrance of his name. Hierosolyma,' in their estimate, was the 'Hieron' or Temple of Solomon.3 In any case Jerusalem now assumed the dimensions and the splendour of a capital. It became the centre of the commercial routes before mentioned, and Jewish tradition described the roads leading into Jerusalem, marked, as they ran over the white limestone of the country, 1 Kings ix. 15-18; 2 Chr. viii. 4-6. 2 Ezra ii. 55; Neh. vii. 57. See Professor Plumptre, in the Dictionary of the Bible. Eupolemus, in Eusebius, Præp. Josephus, Ant. viii. 7, §4. The palace. by the black basaltic stones of their pavement. The city was enclosed with a new wall,' which, as the reign advanced, the King increased in height and fortified with vast towers. The castle or city of David was fortified by an ancient, perhaps Jebusite, rampart, known by the name of Millo,' or the house of Millo,' of which, possibly, remains still exist on the west of the Temple wall. The master of these works was Jeroboam,3 then quite a youth. 6 Amongst these buildings, the PALACE of Solomon was prominent. It was commenced at the same time as the Temple, but not finished till eight years afterwards. The occasion of its erection was the marriage of Solomon with the Egyptian princess. She resided at first in the castle of David; but the King had still a scruple about the reception of a heathen, even though it were his own Queen, in precincts which had once been hallowed by the temporary sojourn of the Ark." 5 The new Palace must have been apart from the castle of David, and considerably below the level of the Templemount. It was built on massive substructions of enormous stones, carefully hewn, and was enclosed within a large court. It included several edifices within itself. The chief was a long hall, which, like the Temple, was encased in cedar; whence probably its name, 'the House of the Forest of Lebanon.' In front of it, ran a pillared portico. Between this portico and the palace itself was a cedar porch-sometimes called the Tower of David. In this tower, apparently hung over the walls outside, were a thousand golden shields, which gave the whole palace the name of the Armoury.' 1 1 Kings iii. 1, ix. 15; Josephus, Ant. viii. 2, §1; 6, §1. * 1 Kings ix. 15, 24, xi. 27. 3 Ibid. xi. 26. Ibid. iii. 1; 2 Chr. viii. 11. 5 1 Kings vii. 9. • 1 Kings vii. 2. In like manner, the temple was called 'Lebanon' (Reland, Palest. 313). According to Josephus (viii. 5, §2), it was sculptured with leafy trees. Cant. iv. 4.; Isa. xxii. 8; Ps. With a splendour that outshone any like fortress, the tower with these golden targets glittered far off in the sunshine like the tall neck, as it was thought, of a beautiful bride, decked out after the manner of the East, with strings of golden coins. Five hundred of them were made by Solomon's orders for the royal guard,' but the most interesting were the older five hundred, which David had carried off in his Syrian wars from the guard of Hadadezer," as trophies of arms and ornaments, in which the Syrians specially excelled." It was these which, being regarded as spoils won in a sacred cause, gave, in all probability, occasion to the expression: 'The shields of the earth belong unto God.' 4 and This porch was the gem and centre of the whole Empire; The porch and was so much thought of that a smaller likeness to it was throne. erected in another part of the royal precinct for the Queen.5 Within the porch itself was to be seen the King in state." On a throne of ivory, brought from Africa or India, the throne of many an Arabian legend, the Kings of Judah were solemnly seated on the day of their accession. From its lofty seat, and under that high gateway, Solomon and his successors after him delivered their solemn judgments. That porch' or 'gate of justice' still kept alive the likeness of the old patriarchal custom of sitting in judgment at the gate; exactly as the Gate of Justice still recalls it to us at Granada, and the Sublime Porte-the Lofty Gate' at Constantinople. He sate on the back of a golden bull, its head turned over its shoulder, probably the ox or bull of |