The St. Louis Republic. [volume] (St. Louis, Mo.) 1888-1919, 1901-12-15
business of ruling. the family Of David .r,
allied" too soon.
Solomon, the Temple Builder.

~ oS0hs
Solomon, the Temple Builder.
Great must have been the gathered spoil
and tribute Of David, for 1t furnished forth
all the magnincence of Solomon. 1t was
not surprising, therefore,. with David laid
away. his Kingdom at peace. his treasury
OVERLOOKING, that Solomon's glance at Mount
Moriah was fred with the vanity Of ~vanities
he sings Of. and that he should AXE a leaf
from the Egyptian book. setting nen by
the hundred thousand to drudge for the
monument he was raising above the valley
below. 1t was to be placed on q tongue
shaped, rocky hill. and to make a platform
for the house and its outlying courts great
substructures had to be built Of enormous
blocks Of stone and high retaining walls up
reared. Work such as this his ancestors had
toiled at under the lash Of the Egyptians:
now other captive thousands should toll for
seven years upon the Temple under the lash
Of Israel.
To Hiram, King Of Tyre. he had sent for
master artificers. and Phoenician art domi-
mated IN the structure he was rearing. One
curious fact stands out-tha he did not con-
ceive the House of the Lord as calling for
a vast design. II 1t was twice the size of the
Tabernacle in which the ark of the cove
nant was sheltered it would suffice, but it
should be a house Of gold-the Domus
Aurea OF an 1sraelite litany in stone and
SoS SoN AASacaL0 4 DS IT'S CUDitS. j
becomes mean. and we are disappointed,
but place this house overlaid with gold on
the hilltop. with its lofty porch, its two
great pillars of brass and its high altar
before 1t: set about It its inner court OF the
priests. its outer court OF the people. pent
in by long colonnaded structures. and with
platforms and steps and porticos, and we
begin to view some measure Of the work of
the magnificent King.
But the work did not Stop here, for close
by the temple his own palace rose. the
House Of the Forest Of Lebanon. and near
It. too. the palace OF the daughter of Pha-
raoh. whom he had ambitiously taken to
wife. Here, too. was the Judgment Seat.
In thirty years Of the reign Of Solomon we
sec the whole hilltop and its southern slopes
covered with spacious and costly ediflces.
on rock and block foundations that have
since endured. though time and again the
buildings on the summit and the upper
walls have been swept away.
We may read in wonder, in Kings and
Chronicles. OF the holocaust on holocaust
with which the temple was dedicated. how
all Israel was there. nj then see the tenn
pie pass into priestly hands, and Solomon,
the King, thus co~venanted with the one liy-
Ing God, drift into complacent tdolatry with
his Princess wives and captive concubinesL
Sing sweetly a. he may Of his loves, and
flavor his weakness as he may with his
wisdom. the stamp Of decay creeps over
the King and his Kingdom. Scarce is he
cold when, Israel falls away from Judah. |
and the King in Jerusalem and the King |
In eamaria are thenceforth for 400 years
but the leaders Of factions in q small coun-
try, falling away from ideals, turning to
idols and sensual religions. while the spir-
ttual life Of Judah survived only in the |
priesthood. the greater Of whom We know |
~ the prophets Of the Lord.
Golden Shields Disappear,
shishak Of Egypt comes up against Jeru-
ealem and spoils the temple of its gold. and
from 6olomon's house the golden shields
aro taksn. AZ every fresh iuvasion. now