THE TEMPLE IS DEDICATED TO THE LORD. THE QUEEN OF SHEBA VISITS SOLOMON. SOLOMON MARRIES HEATHEN WIVES, WHO PERSUADE HIM TO WORSHIP IDOLS. HIS DEATH. THE TEN TRIBES REBEL, AND CHOOSE JEROBOAM FOR THEIR KING.
THEN Solomon called to Jerusalem all the elders and chief men of Israel, that they might be there when the ark should be brought into the house. And the elders and chief men came and gathered together with the king, and all the people, before the ark. And the priests took up the ark and carried it into the house, into the most holy place, and set it under the wings of the cherubim which Solomon had made. The two tables of stone, with the ten commandments written on them, were in the ark. And when the priests came out of the most holy place, after they had left the ark there, a cloud filled the house of the Lord, so that the priests could not go into it, because the glory of the Lord filled the house of the Lord.
Then the king stood up before the people, and thanked God for helping him build the house; and he asked God to take that house for his Temple. And Solomon kneeled down before all the people, and spread out his hands toward heaven, and prayed to the Lord that he would hear and answer all the prayers which the children of Israel should make in that house. If ever their enemies should come, and gain the victory over them, because of their sins, or if the Lord should punish them by not sending rain on their fields, so that their seed, their vines, and their fruit, would not grow; if pestilence should come into the land, or locusts, or caterpillars, to eat their grain; whatever trouble or whatever sickness they might have, Solomon asked that, when the people should come to that house and spread forth their hands in prayer, the Lord would hear them.
After Solomon had finished speaking, there came down fire from heaven, and burnt up the offering which lay on the altar. When all the children of Israel saw the fire come down, and saw the glory of the Lord in the house, they bowed with their faces to the ground, upon the pavement, and worshipped the Lord, saying, For he is good; for his mercy is with us forever.
Then the king and all the people offered sacrifices. Solomon gave, for peace offerings, twenty-two thousand oxen, and a hundred and twenty thousand sheep. So the king and all the people dedicated, or gave, the house to the Lord, that it might be his temple, where his ark should be kept and where sacrifices should always be offered up to him. And Solomon held a great feast for fourteen days and invited all the people to it; and they came and feasted on the flesh of the peace offerings which he had given. Afterward he sent them to their homes, and they went away with joyful hearts, thanking the Lord for his kindness to king Solomon, and to all the children of Israel.
And the Lord spoke to Solomon in the night, and said, that he had heard his prayer, and would take the house to be his temple. And he promised that when the children of Israel should sin against him, and he should punish them for their sin, if they would repent and come to that house and pray to him, he would forgive them and take their punishment away. And he promised again, that if Solomon would obey him, he should be king as long as he lived, and his descendants should be kings over Israel after him.
Yet, the Lord said, that if Solomon and the people should turn away from serving him and go to serve other gods, he would bless them no longer, but would drive them out of the good land which he had given them; and that house which was so glorious and beautiful now, he would no more have for his temple, but would destroy it, so that all who should pass by it would be astonished, and ask, Why has the Lord done such things to this land and to this house? And the answer would be, Because the people disobeyed the Lord God of their fathers, who brought them up out of Egypt, and chose other gods and worshipped them and served them.
Beside building the temple, Solomon built a palace for himself in Jerusalem. He built store cities also, in which to keep his riches and his goods; and cities for his chariots. He made the heathen people, who were still left in the land, his servants; but of the men of Israel, he made soldiers and captains and horsemen.
And Solomon sent to the temple, the different courses, or companies, of the priests and the Levites, which his father had appointed to attend to God's worship there; and he sent the porters to watch at the gates. He commanded that sacrifices should be offered up on the morning and evening of each day, on the Sabbath days, and at the three great feasts which the children of Israel were commanded to keep every year; the feast of the passover, the feast of harvest, and the feast of tabernacles.
And the queen of a far-off country called Sheba, heard of his wisdom and his knowledge of the true God. And she came to visit him. She brought with her a great company of servants, with camels carrying costly spices, such as grew in her country, and gold and precious stones. And she talked with Solomon and asked him hard questions about things that she wanted to know. And Solomon answered all her questions, and explained to her everything that she asked him. And when she looked on the palace that Solomon had built, and the costly food that was upon his table; the number of his servants that waited on him, and the beautiful pathway he had made to go up to the temple; she wondered at all these things, and said, that she had not believed what she heard in her own land, of his riches and wisdom, but now she saw that the half was not told her. And she gave to Solomon presents of gold, and spices, and precious stones, and Solomon gave her costly presents also. Then she turned, she and her servants, and went back to her own land.
Solomon was wiser than all the other kings of the earth, and they came to him to be taught of his wisdom. He made a great throne of ivory and overlaid it with pure gold; there were six steps leading to the top of the throne, and a footstool of gold was fastened upon it. On the steps were the figures of twelve lions, six on one side and six on the other. There was not such a throne made in any other kingdom. And all the cups that Solomon drank out of, and all the vessels that were in his house, were made of pure gold. For his ships sailed to a far country, called Tarshish, and every three years came back, bringing him gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
But Solomon had many wives, and he took for his wives heathen women, whom the Lord had commanded the children of Israel not to marry. And when he grew old, his wives persuaded him to worship idols, so that he did not continue serving God as David his father had done. For David, after he had sinned, repented and asked to be forgiven, and worshipped the Lord alone. But Solomon went with his heathen wives after their idols, and he even built temples to worship those idols in. And the Lord was angry with him, and said, that because he had done these things, his son should not be king over the children of Israel after Solomon himself should die. Yet for David's sake, the Lord would not take away all of the kingdom from Solomon's son, but he would make him king over two of the tribes of Israel. And the Lord raised up enemies against Solomon, to trouble him because of his sin.
Now there was among the children of Israel a young man named Jeroboam, who was a great and brave soldier. One day, as he went out of Jerusalem, a prophet met him; he was wearing a new garment, and they two were alone in the field. And the prophet took hold of the new garment that he wore, and tore it in twelve pieces. Then he told Jeroboam to take ten of the pieces, because the Lord was going to make him king over ten of the tribes of Israel. When Solomon heard of this he tried to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled into Egypt and stayed in that land.
Solomon was king over Israel forty years, and he died and was buried in Jerusalem. And when the people saw that he was dead, they sent word to Jeroboam, in Egypt, and Jeroboam came back to the land of Israel. Then he and all the people came to Rehoboam, Solomon's son, to make him their king. But first they talked with him, and complained that his father had ruled over them harshly and treated them cruelly, and they asked Rehoboam if he would not treat them more kindly than his father had done; if he would do so, they said, they would serve him. Rehoboam told them to go away, and come to him again in three days, and then he would tell them what he would do. So they went away.
After they had gone Rehoboam asked advice from the old men who had been friends of his father. And they advised him to speak gently to the people, and promise that he would be kind to them; if he would do this, they said, the people would choose him for their king, and be his servants forever. But Rehoboam was not satisfied with the good advice that the old men gave him; he asked the young men also, who had grown up with him, what they would advise him to do. And the young men told him to speak roughly to the people, and say, that if his father had been cruel to them, he would be yet more cruel, and if his father had punished them a little, he would punish them a great deal.
So the people came again in three days, and Jeroboam was with them. And Rehoboam spoke roughly to them, as the young men had advised him; he said, If my father has been cruel to you I will be yet more cruel, and if he punished you a little I will punish you a great deal. Then the people went away in great anger, and said that Rehoboam, Solomon's son, should not rule over them, but Jeroboam should be their king. Yet the tribe of Judah still kept Rehoboam for their king, and the tribe of Benjamin also. But the other tribes chose Jeroboam. So Jeroboam was made king over ten tribes, as the prophet had told him.
When Rehoboam saw that the ten tribes had gone from him, he sent a messenger to them, asking them to come back and be his servants; but they stoned the messenger with stones and killed him. Then Rehoboam made haste and called together all the men of Judah and of Benjamin, one hundred and eighty thousand of them, and gathered them into an army to go out and fight against the ten tribes. But God sent a prophet to tell them that they should not fight against their brethren, the children of Israel, but should go to their own homes. And they obeyed the Lord, and went to their own homes again.
So now there were two kings ruling over the children of Israel. Until this time, one king had ruled over them all, first Saul, then David, and then Solomon. But now Solomon's son, Rehoboam, was king over the tribes of Judah and Benjamin, and Jeroboam was king over the other ten tribes. Rehoboam's kingdom was called the kingdom of Judah, and Jeroboam's, the kingdom of Israel.