Clifford A. Wilson<\/b><\/p>\n
One the the grandest edifices in history was the temple that Solomon built at Jerusalem, discussed in Part I of this series. From the brief mention of Solomon\u2019s palace in I Kings 7:1\u201312 we see that it, too, was a magnificent building. Beside his own sumptuous abode, the palace contained servant\u2019s quarters, a throne room where the wise king sat in judgment, and a house for Pharaoh\u2019s daughter, one of his many wives.<\/p>\n
Unfortunately, archaeology has not given us any additional information about Solomon\u2019s palace. The remains of Solomonic Jerusalem have either been destroyed, quarried away by later builders, or lie buried beneath the present Temple Mount.<\/p>\n
To carry out his building projects, Solomon exacted heavy taxes from his people. He used the money not only for the work in Jerusalem, but also to construct \u201cRoyal Cities\u201d as indicated in I Kings 9:15: \u201cAnd this is the reason of the levy which King Solomon raised; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer.\u201d<\/p>\n
Solomon\u2019s Royal Cities have been extensively excavated by archaeologists in recent years. At all three sites, identical city gates dating to Solomon\u2019s time have been found. At Megiddo, the remains of a number of buildings built by Solomon were also found. At Hazor and Gezer, the only remains which could be positively linked with Solomon were the gateways. The findings of these excavations are still being analyzed and additional Solomonic material may yet be identified.<\/p>\n
Solomon\u2019s gate at Gezer. Guard rooms can be seen on either side of the roadway through the gate.<\/b><\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 1:3 (Summer 1972) p. 68<\/p>\n
Solomon\u2019s Palace at Megiddo<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cHewed stones; sawed with stones…….\u201d (I Kings 7:9) was the type of masonry found in Solomon\u2019s buildings at Megiddo. One very large structure was apparently a subsidiary palace. It was set in a large courtyard, floored with pounded lime-mortar. The courtyard measured 194 feet by 187 feet and was surrounded by a stone wall with a magnificent four-room gateway. The lower level of the palace (about 75 feet square) consisted of 12 rooms around an open court. A porch was attached to one side and two separate stairways led to a second story.<\/p>\n
Because of similarities in structure between the Megiddo buildings and the description of the palace at Jerusalem it is thought that Solomon\u2019s architects used identical blue-prints, with minor modifications as required by local terrain.<\/p>\n
This was a time of prosperity in Israel, so it is not surprising that Solomon enjoyed such impressive and varied living quarters. New towns and villages sprang up all over the land during his reign. It is estimated that in the years of the united monarchy under David and Solomon the population of Israel doubled.<\/p>\n
A reconstruction of Solomon\u2019s palace at Megiddo.<\/b><\/p>\n
Solomon\u2019s Chariot Cities<\/b><\/p>\n
Another interesting point about the activities of Solomon is that his Royal Cities also served as chariot cities (I Kings 9:19). It was in the cities of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer that Solomon stationed his chariot corps, the lightning-fast attack arm of his military forces.<\/p>\n
Perhaps the most interesting of the chariot cities is Megiddo. When the horse stables were first excavated there in the 1920\u2019s, they were attributed to the time of Solomon. Archaeologists now date them to the time of King <\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 1:3 (Summer 1972) p. 69<\/p>\n
Ahab, about 100 years later. Excavations at this site, however, illustrate the pattern of the chariot cities that was no doubt established by Solomon. Two stable compounds were found, one in the north and one in the south, with accommodations for about 450 horses. Similar stables were also uncovered at Hazor and Gezer.<\/p>\n
The Queen of Sheba Visits Solomon<\/b><\/p>\n
\u201cShe came to Jerusalem …. with camels that bare spices and very much gold and precious stones\u201d (I Kings 10:2). No man in ancient times possessed greater wisdom than Solomon. When the rich Queen of Sheba came and tried him with hard questions, she was astounded at his wisdom.<\/p>\n
At one time, the historicity of this story was doubted and even the existence of the kingdom of Sheba was questioned. Today the account of the Queen of Sheba\u2019s visit is not seriously challenged. She is no longer regarded as a character belonging to fable or folk-lore. Sheba has been identified as one of four ancient \u201cSpice Kingdoms\u201d of Arabia. During the time of Solomon, Sheba was politically and culturally dominant in Southern Arabia.<\/p>\n
New Wealth From Spices<\/b><\/p>\n
Arabia came into importance during the time of Solomon because this was a time when camel caravans were coming into greater use. Camels had been used earlier, but not to the extent as in Solomon\u2019s time. These \u201cships of the desert\u201d opened up trade routes that plodding donkeys simply could not have attempted. Donkeys were too slow and they were limited geographically according to the position of the scattered water holes. They were also easily attacked by robbers. With the use of donkeys only a small trickle of Arabia\u2019s spice wealth flowed along the long route between Sheba and Israel. The road from Sheba to Solomon\u2019s port at Ezion-geber on the Gulf of Aqabah stretched over more than a thousand miles of open country that was mainly desert.<\/p>\n
With the introduction of the camel caravan, Sheba was able to export large quantities of her spice wealth to markets throughout the fertile crescent. In order to reach these markets, though, the caravans had to pass through Israel. No doubt commerce arrangements were uppermost in the Queen\u2019s mind when she came to visit Solomon.<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 1:3 (Summer 1972) p. 70<\/p>\n
The Discovery of Sheba<\/b><\/p>\n
Even though heavily laden caravans have plied their wares from Arabia through the world of the Near East for thousands of years, it has been mainly one-way traffic. Few outsiders have reached Sheba over the centuries and consequently, the country has been shrouded in mystery. Various ancient scholars wrote about the great spice wealth of Arabia, but little else was known about the region.<\/p>\n
Then about 100 years ago two Europeans disguised as Bedouin reached Marib, the ancient capital of Sheba, after an exciting and extremely difficult journey. The local inhabitants soon became suspicious of them and the two Europeans, a Frenchman named Halevy and an Austrian named Glaser, had to flee for their lives. While in Marib, however, they were able to take some impressions of inscriptions. These impressions proved to the outside world that the capital of Sheba had existed and was not merely a legendary city.<\/p>\n
In the years that followed, other inscriptions were occasionally brought out. They were written in an alphabetic script that originated in Palestine. Much of the mystery surrounding Sheba has been dispelled by the inscriptions, for they tell of her gods, tribes, and cities.<\/p>\n
More recently, Marib was partially excavated by a team who started work at the end of 1951. An oval-shaped temple, over 300 feet long and nearly covered by sand, was found not far from the capital city. One inscription on the walls of the temple showed that the people worshipped the god of the moon, known to them as Ilumquh. Exquisitely beautiful, the temple featured several glittering fountains from which water flowed into the temple courtyard.<\/p>\n
The excavation of the temple was not completed, however, because of difficulties with the local administration. As with their predecessors, the archaeologists had to leave for fear of their personal safety. Fortunately they had taken photographs, and these were gathered together before their hasty escape. Since then, several other excavations have taken place in nearby areas. Preliminary reports indicate that Sheba was a highly important political and cultural center in the days of Solomon.<\/p>\n
In order to protect his commercial interests, Solomon built a series of fortresses along Israel\u2019s trade routes. In the third and concluding part of this series, we shall be looking at some of the archaeological remains of these fortresses.<\/p>\n
BSP<\/i> 1:3 (Summer 1972) p. 71<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Clifford A. Wilson One the the grandest edifices in history was the temple that Solomon built at Jerusalem, discussed in Part I of this series. From the brief mention of Solomon\u2019s palace in I Kings 7:1\u201312 we see that it, too, was a magnificent building. Beside his own sumptuous abode, the palace contained servant\u2019s quarters, … Continue reading “SOLOMON
\nAND ISRAEL\u2019S GOLDEN AGE
\nPART II \u2014 BUILDING ACTIVITIES AND THE QUEEN OF SHEBA”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-sermons"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/sermons\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}