throne in thy room, he shall build an house unto my name. Now therefore command thou that they hew me cedar trees out of Lebanon; and my servants shall be with thy servants: and unto thee will I give hire for thy servants according to all that thou shalt appoint: for thou knowest that there is not among us any that can skill to hew timber like unto the Sidonians."

And it came to pass, when Hiram heard the words of Solomon, that he rejoiced greatly, and said: "Blessed be the Lord this day, which hath given unto David a wise son over this great people." And Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: "I have considered the things which thou sentest to me for: and I will do all thy desire concerning timber of cedar, and concerning timber of fir. My servants shall bring them down from Lebanon unto the sea: and I will make them into rafts to go by sea unto the place that thou shalt appoint me, and will cause them to be discharged there, and thou shalt receive them and thou shalt accomplish my desire, in giving food for my household." So Hiram gave Solomon cedar trees and fir trees according to all his desire. And Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand measures of wheat for food to his household, and twenty measures of pure oil; thus gave Solomon to Hiram year by year. And the Lord gave Solomon wisdom, as he promised him and there was peace between Hiram and Solomon; and they two made a league together.

And king Solomon raised a levy2 out of all Israel; and the levy was thirty thousand men. And he sent them to Lebanon, ten thousand a month by courses: a month they were in Lebanon, and two months at home: and Adoniram was over the levy. And Solomon had threescore and ten thousand that bare burdens, and fourscore thousand hewers in the mountains; beside the chief of Solomon's officers which were over the work, three thousand and three hundred, which ruled over the people that wrought in the work. And the king commanded, and they brought great stones, costly stones, and hewed stones, to lay the foundation of the house. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders did hew them, and the stonesquarers: so they prepared timber and stones to build the house.

1 can. In the early transitive sense: 'to have mental command of ;' 'to un

derstand.'

2 The levy was the 'corvée' or institution of forced labor.

And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt,1 in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten

4

Longitudinal Section of Solomon's Temple, according to Stade's Restoration. p Pillar; a Porch; b Hall; c Oracle; d Side-chambers; w Windows.

cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. And for the house he made windows of narrow lights.

And against the wall of the house he built stories round about the temple and the oracle: and he made side-chambers round about: the nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. And the house, when it was in building, was built of stone made ready at the quarry; so that there was neither hammer nor axe nor any tool of iron heard in the house,

1 This 480 years is evidently part of a chronological scheme. The 430 years assigned to the reigns of the kings of Judah, plus the 50 years of exile, give another 480 years from the foundation of the temple to the return from captivity. 2 "Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared unto David his father, in the place that David had prepared in the threshingfloor of Ornan [Araunah] the Jebusite." 2 Chron. iii. 1.

8 These figures give roughly 100 ft. x 33 ft. x 50 ft. for the inner dimensions of the building.

4 the temple of the house. The great hall of the temple, as distinguished from the inner shrine, here called the oracle.

while it was in building. The door for the lowest side-chambers was in the right side of the house: and they went up with winding stairs into the middle chambers, and out of the middle into the third. So he built the house, and finished it; and roofed the house with cedar. And then he built the stories against all the house, [each] five cubits high: and they rested on the house with timber of cedar. And he built the walls of the house within with boards of cedar; from the floor of the house to the beams of the ceiling he overlaid them on the inside with wood; and he covered the floor of the house with boards of cypress. And the twenty cubits from the hinder part of the house he built for an oracle. And the temple before the oracle was forty cubits long. And within, the oracle was twenty cubits in length, and twenty cubits in breadth, and twenty cubits in the height thereof; and he made an altar of cedar before the oracle.1

And within the oracle he made two cherubim of olive tree, each ten cubits high. And five cubits was the one wing of the cherub, and five cubits the other wing of the cherub. And he set the cherubim within the inner house: and they stretched forth their wings so that the wing of the one touched the one wall, and the wing of the other cherub touched the other wall ; and their wings touched one another in the midst of the house.2 And he overlaid the cherubim with gold.

And for the entering of the oracle he made doors of olive tree: the lintel and side posts were a fifth part. The two doors also were of olive tree. So also made he for the door of the temple posts of olive tree, a fourth part. And the two doors were of cypress: the two leaves of the one door were folding, and the two leaves of the other door were folding. And he built the inner court with three rows of hewed stones, and a row of cedar beams.

And the word of the Lord came to Solomon, saying: "Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: and I will

1 The 'oracle,' like the Kaaba at Mecca, is cube-shaped. The 'altar of cedar' is the table for shew-bread.

2 "And they stood on their feet, and their faces were inward." 2 Chron. iii. 13. The exact form of these cherubim is not known.

8 the limel... fifth part. This probably means that the door was of pentagonal shape, whereas the door of the great hall was square.

dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel."

So Solomon built the house, and finished it. In the fourth year was the foundation of the house of the Lord laid, in the month Zif: 1 and in the eleventh year, in the month Bul,' which is the eighth month, was the house finished throughout all the parts thereof, and according to all the fashion of it. So was he seven years in building it.

The Temple Furnishings (1 Kings vii. 13-27, 38-51). And king Solomon sent and fetched Huram-abi out of Tyre. He was a widow's son of the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a man of Tyre, a worker in brass: and he was filled with wisdom, and understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass. And he came to king Solomon, and wrought all his work. For he cast two pillars of brass. Eighteen cubits was the height of one pillar, and a line of twelve cubits compassed it about, and the thickness of the pillar was four finger-breadths. It was hollow; and the second pillar was like unto it. And he made two chapiters 2 of molten brass, to set upon the tops of the pillars: the height of the one chapiter was five cubits, and the height of the other chapiter was five cubits and nets (of checker work, chainwork) for the chapiters which were upon the top of the pillars. And he made the pomegranates, and that in two rows upon the one network; and the pomegranates were two hundred, in rows round about the one chapiter: and so he made for the other chapiter.

And he set up the pillars in the porch of the temple: and he set up the right pillar, and called the name thereof Jachin: and he set up the left pillar, and called the name thereof Boaz.3 And upon the top of the pillars was lily work: so was the work of the pillars finished.

And he made a molten sea, ten cubits from the one brim to the 1 In the old Hebrew calendar Ziv, the 'flower month' was the second month, and fell within April-May; Bul, the 'rainy month' fell within Oct.-Nov. 2 chapiters. Capitals.

8 The meanings of Jachin and Boaz are not certainly known. Jachin occurs as a name of deity in a Phoenician inscription. A glass dish (3d or 4th cent.) found in 1882 shows the temple of Jerusalem with these pillars standing free in front of the building. They may have symbolized the presence of Jehovah, representing, in this function, the mazzebahs or sacred stones that in the more primitive religion had been thought of as the abode of the deity. Herodotus (ii. 44) mentions that two such pillars stood in the temple of Melkarth at Tyre.

other it was round all about, and its height was five cubits: and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. It stood upon twelve oxen, three looking toward the north, and three looking toward the west, and three looking toward the south, and three looking toward the east: and the sea was set above upon them, and all their hinder parts were inward. And it was an hand breadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, with flowers of lilies: it contained two thousand baths.1

And he made the ten bases2 of brass; then made he ten lavers of brass: one laver contained forty baths: and every laver was four cubits: and upon every one of the ten bases one laver. And he put five bases on the right side of the house, and five on the left side of the house: and he set the sea on the right side of the house eastward over against the south. And Huram-abi made the pots, and the shovels, and the basins.

So Huram-abi made an end of doing all the work that he made king Solomon for the house of the Lord: the two pillars, and the two bowls of the chapiters that were on the top of the two pillars; and four hundred pomegranates for the two networks, to cover the two bowls of the chapiters that were upon the pillars; and the ten bases, and ten lavers on the bases; and one sea, and twelve oxen under the sea; and the pots, and the shovels, and the basins: and all these vessels, which Huram-abi made to king Solomon for the house of the Lord, were of bright brass. In the plain of Jordan did he cast them, in the clay ground between Succoth and Zarethan. And Solomon left all the vessels which he had made in the house of the Lord. So was ended all the work that king Solomon made for the house of the Lord. And Solomon brought in the things which David his father had dedicated; even the silver, and the gold, and the vessels, did he put among the treasures of the house of the Lord.

Dedication of the Temple (1 Kings viii. 1-13). Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel unto Jerusalem, to bring up the ark of the covenant of the Lord out of the city of David (which is Zion), in the month Ethanim (which is the seventh 1 two thousand baths. Over 16,000 gallons.

2 bases. Movable carriages for supporting the lavers.

8 bowls of the chapiters. The bowl-shaped 'bells' of the capitals.