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To Israel and to the countries around, such a union would now afford evidence of the
position and influence which the Jewish monarchy had attained in the opinion of
foreign politicians. All the more are we involuntarily carried back in spirit to the period
when Israel was oppressed and in servitude to Egypt. As we contrast the relations in
the past and in the time of Solomon, we realize how marvelously God had fulfilled His
promises of deliverance to His people. And here we again turn to the great promise in 2
Samuel 7, as alike instructive to Israel as regarded their present, and as full of blessed
hope for their future. The time of the Judges had been one of struggle and
disorganization; that of David one of war and conflicts. But with Solomon the period
of peace had begun, emblematic of the higher peace of the "Prince of Peace." Thus
viewed, the account of the prosperity of the land and people, as further evidenced by
the wealth displayed in the ordinary appointments of the Court; by the arrangement of
the country into provinces under officers for fiscal administration and civil
government; and, above all, by the wisdom of Solomon, - who, while encouraging by
example literature and study of every kind, chiefly aimed after that higher knowledge
and understanding which is God-given, and leads to the fear and service of the Lord, -
acquires a new and a spiritual meaning.
But to return to the sacred narrative. This marriage of Solomon with the daughter of
Pharaoh - to which, from its frequent mention, so much political importance seems to
have been attached - took place in the first years of his reign, although some time after
the building of the Temple and of his own palace had commenced.^79 Such a union was
not forbidden by the law,^80 nor was the daughter of Pharaoh apparently implicated in
the charge brought against Solomon's other foreign wives of having led him into
idolatry (1 Kings 11:1-7).
In fact, according to Jewish tradition, the daughter of Pharaoh actually became a
Jewish proselyte. still, Solomon seems to have felt the incongruity of bringing her into
the palace of David, within the bounds of which "the Ark of the Lord" appears to have
been located (2 Chronicles 8:11), and she occupied a temporary abode "in the City of
David," until the new palace of Solomon was ready for her reception.
But the great prosperity which, as we shall presently see, the country enjoyed during
the reign of Solomon, was due to higher than merely outward causes. It was the
blessing of the Lord which in this instance also made - rich that blessing which it was
Solomon's chief concern to obtain. From the necessity of the case, Israel, and even
Solomon, still worshipped on the ancient "high places."^81
Of these, the principal was naturally Gibeon - the twin height. For, right over against
the city itself, on one of the two eminences ("mamelons") which gave it its name, the
ancient Tabernacle which Moses had reared had been placed. Here Solomon, at the
(^)