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sanctuary seemed to have been now erected; and Solomon expressed in his prayer the hope that this house might be a house of prayer for all nations (1 Kings viii. 41-43). He received, however, in a vision, an intimation from God, which, while it granted indeed the prayer that God would dwell in the temple, and renewed the promise given to David, threatened the destruction of the temple and the dispersion of Israel among all nations, in case they should go and serve other gods.

Concerning the temple worship, we further learn from ix. 25 that Solomon offered sacrifices three times a year, which must refer to the pilgrimage feasts. Solomon having at the commencement of his reign deposed Abiathar as an adherent of Adonijah, the high-priesthood again devolved to the line of Eleazar (ii. 27), to which Zadok belonged.

(1) Though Vatke makes the temple of Heracles at Tyre the model of Solomon's temple, we learn, on the other hand, from K. O. Müller, Archäol. der Kunst, sec. 3, p. 298, that nothing at all is known of the construction of this temple; and when the temple of the Syrian goddess at Hierapolis, described by Lucian, de Dea Syra, cap. 28 sqq., and of which no one knows whether its architecture was of specifically Phoenician character, is dragged into the discussion, every one can see that the similarity said to exist between the two temples is as vague and indefinite as that between a hundred others.

(2) It is the notion of Ewald (Gesch. Israels, i. sec. 3, p. 44, iii. sec. 3, p. 324), that Solomon may perhaps have thus designed to perpetuate the names of two favourites, or of two of his younger sons.

(3) When Movers (Phönicier), however, thinks that the pillar Boaz signified motion proceeding forth from eternal repose, creative motion,-somewhat too much is attributed to it; a pillar is said to symbolize motion-lucus a non lucendo.

§ 169.

Hebrew Proverbial Poetry: The Khachamim.

As the sacred lyric poetry of Israel is connected with the name of David, so also is Solomon, whose peaceful times invited the Israelitish mind to self-introspection, the father of Hebrew proverbial poetry, 1 Kings v. 12 sq., iv. 28 sq., and thus the founder of the Old Testament Khochmah. From his time onwards there appeared a special class of men under the name of D, "the wise" (Prov. i. 6, xxii. 17, xxiv. 23, etc.), who applied themselves to the consideration of the moral relations of life and the manner in which the world is ordered. It cannot, however, be inferred from 1 Kings iv. 33 that they were addicted to physical science, nor that Solomon commenced, as Ewald e.g. supposes, a complete natural history. For when it is there said that "Solomon spake of trees, from the cedar that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, and of fowls, and of creeping things, and of fishes," it is that ethical contemplation of nature of which we have specimens in Ps. civ. and in the Book of Job, especially ch. xxxix.-xli.,—that relative knowledge which enabled Solomon in his proverbs to draw comparisons and parables from natural objects, which is intended, and which does not presuppose a scientific knowledge of botany and zoology (as even Keil in loc thinks). The Khachamim (or the wise) were at any rate distinct from those theocratic officials, the prophets and priests (comp. Jer. xviii. 18, though it is questionable whether is to be there taken in its narrower meaning; see, on the contrary, viii. 9 sq.). The province of the Old Testament Khochmah was different from that of the Law and of Prophecy,-it did not extend to theocratic enactments and directions (1). There is not, however, the slightest trace that the Khachamim (as Bruch especially represents the matter in his Weisheitslehre der Hebräer, 1831) set

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themselves in opposition to theocratic enactments, particularly those relating to worship, and occupied the position philosophers do with respect to orthodox theologians. Such a notion is at variance with the circumstance that Solomon, who built the temple and gave completeness to the ritual of worship, stands at the head of these men; and that among those wise men mentioned 1 Kings iv. 31, besides himself, viz. Ethan, Heman, Chalcol, and Darda, the two first named were probably the well-known Levitical chief singers (1 Chron. xv. 17) (2). A circle of sages, among whom the king was distinguished for the fertility and many-sidedness of his genius, and for his acuteness in solving enigmatical questions (comp. besides 1 Kings iii. 13 sq., x. 1), was probably formed at Solomon's court. An association of Khachamim, employing themselves in the collection of literature, must, according to Prov. xxv. 1, have also existed under Hezekiah (3). This does not, however, prove that these sages had any official vocation in the nation, and founded institutions like the schools of the prophets; nor that, as Ewald expresses it, they were constantly forming more perfect schools (4). Disciples, eager for knowledge, may certainly have united themselves to individuals in special repute for wisdom (comp. such passages as xiii. 20, xv. 12, etc., in connection with the already quoted i. 6, etc.); but the Wisdom which speaks in the Proverbs does not desire to be the mere wisdom of the schools, but "crieth without and uttereth her voice in the streets," i. 20. The places in which the wise dispensed counsel, administered reproof, exhortation, or instruction, as circumstances required, discussed the problems which were agitating the minds of men (comp. e.g. Ezek. xviii. 2 sq.), excited and delighted their hearers by witty sarcasm, etc., were the public places where justice was administered and the affairs of the congregation debated,-where even prophets, as occasion demanded, also delivered their testimony to the people. The description given by Job of himself, ch. xxix. 7-11 and 21-25, may be mentioned in illustration (5).

(1) Their drift, as Delitzsch states it in his excellent article Sprüche Salomo's in Herzog's Realencyklop. xiv. p. 715, is chiefly the human in the Israelite, the generally religious in Jehovism, and the moral in the Law.

(2) Hengstenberg, Keil, von Thenius, and Delitzsch dispute, but upon insufficient grounds, the identity of the names.

(3) It cannot be determined whether these "men of Hezekiah" constituted a special commission whose object was the restoration of the ancient national literature (appendix to Drechsler's Der Prophet Jesaja, ii. 2, p. 221), or formed a voluntary association.

(4) In the treatise über die Volks- und Geistesfreiheit Israels, bibl. Jahrb. i. p. 97, which offers many other just observations.

(5) It was thus that Wisdom became that intellectual power in the nation, so well described by Ewald in the treatise quoted (art. Pädagogik des A. T.). For further particulars, see the third part of the Old Testament theology.

§ 170.

Solomon's External Organizations. The Dark Sides of his Reign. Division of the Kingdom.

Solomon employed the long interval of peace in still further carrying out the organization of the state, in rearing various edifices and fortifications, especially in Jerusalem itself (1 Kings ix. 15 sqq., xi. 27), and in the promotion of industry and commerce, which latter extended from the Edomite ports of Elath and Ezion-geber, now belonging to Israel, as far as to Ophir, i.e. probably the Indian Isles (1 Kings ix. 26 sqq., x. 11, 22) (1). This "magnificent reign" (Hasse) had, however, its dark side. The king's love of splendour became more and more oppressive to the people, and he sank deeper and deeper into effeminacy and luxury, till he at last allowed himself to be seduced by his heathen wives into an open breach with theocratic institutions,

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