Imágenes de páginas
PDF
EPUB

entered into by the confederated kings to fight against Joshua, after he had taken the city of Ai by stratagem. Another strong confederation was formed to attack Gibeon, which had made peace with Joshua, at the head of which was Adoni-zedek, king of Jerusalem. These kings were defeated, taken, and put to death. It appears, also, that during the administration of the Judges, or at least previous to the time of David, the Jebusites, in addition to their possession of the citadel, had obtained a considerable control over the lower city, for it is said that David took the lower city by force, and that he afterwards took the "stronghold of Sion, the same is the city of David; so David dwelt in the fort, and called it the City of David," 2 Sam. v. 6-9. This account of the taking of the lower city first, and of the citadel, afterwards, on Mount Zion, is confirmed by Josephus." The citadel," he says, "held out still, whence it was that the king, knowing that the proposal of dignities and rewards would encourage the soldiers to great actions, promised that he who should first go over the ditches beneath the citadel, and should ascend to the citadel itself and take it, would have the command of the people conferred upon him. They were all therefore ambitious to ascend, and thought no exertions too great in the attempt, out of their desire of the chief command. Joab, the son of Zeruiah, prevented the rest, and as soon as he got up to the citadel, cried out to the king, and claimed the chief command."

Having made this important conquest, David appointed Joab the governor of Jerusalem, and removed from Hebron to the city. His great object now was to make it the metropolis of the kingdom, and he "erected buildings round about the lower city; he also joined the citadel to it, and made it one body; and when he had encompassed all with walls, he appointed Joab to take care of them." The Jewish historian farther informs us, that "Hiram, king of the Tyrians, sent ambassadors to David, and made a league of mutual friendship and assistance with

[ocr errors]

him. He sent him presents of cedar-trees, and also mechanics, and men skilful in building and architecture, that they might build him a royal palace at Jerusalem." The aid of those workmen, as well as the presents themselves, must have been accepted, as we find David expressly mentioning that he dwelt in an "house of cedars," 1 Chron. xvii. 1. The prosperous monarch now resolved to bring the ark from Kirjath-jearim to Jerusalem, and for this purpose appointed a magnificent procession, consisting of the Levites who were to carry it, singers, musicians, dancers, and others, while a vast concourse of people assembled to witness the solemn ceremony. The ark was eventually brought to Jerusalem, David having "made him houses in the city of David, and prepared a place for the ark of God, and pitched for it a tent.”

Nothing of importance occurs in the history of Jerusalem until the reign of Solomon and the building of the Temple, a structure which his father David had projected, and from which he was commanded to desist by the Prophet Nathan. But although the honour of erecting that magnificent structure was thus reserved for Solomon, the site of it was chosen in the reign of David, and he made suitable arrangements to facilitate the work The inspired historian informs us that David

[ocr errors]

gathered together the strangers that were in the Land of Israel," namely, the proselytes to the Jewish religion, who were probably better skilled in the arts and works for which they were required than the Jews, and he "set masons to hew wrought stones to build the house of God" at Jerusalem. He prepared "iron in abundance for the nails for the doors of the gates, and for the joinings, and brass in abundance without weight; also cedar-trees in abundance, for the Sidonians and they of Tyre brought much cedar-wood to David." The reason is assigned for this preparation. David said within himself, "Solomon my son is young and tender, and the house that is to be built for the Lord must be exceeding magnifical, of

fame and glory throughout all countries." He subsequently gave his last injunctions to Solomon respecting this great undertaking, and after explaining to him that he himself had been prevented from performing it on account of the wars in which he had been engaged, and the blood which had been shed, he informed him that he "had prepared for the house of the Lord an hundred thousand talents of gold, and a thousand thousand talents of silver, and of brass and iron without weight" that there were workmen, "hewers and workers of stone and timber, and all manner of cunning men for every manner of work"-and that "of the gold, the silver, and the brass, and the iron, there is no number," 2 Chron. xxii. 7-16.

The sum here mentioned is remarkable, when we add to it what is afterwards mentioned, 2 Chron. xxix. 2-5. We are there told that David prepared for the intended structure, "gold for things to be made of gold, and silver for things of silver, and brass for things of brass, and iron for things of iron, and wood for things of wood; onyx-stones, and stones to be set, glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of precious stones, and marble-stones in abundance"-and that, in addition to the other sums already mentioned, he had destined "three thousand talents of gold, of the gold of Ophir, and seven thousand talents of refined silver, to overlay the walls of the houses." This immense treasure was increased by a voluntary gift from the "chief of the fathers and princes of the tribes of Israel," of five thousand talents and ten thousand drams of gold, ten thousand talents of silver, eighteen thousand talents of brass,

and one hundred thousand talents of iron. The mention of such sums evidently denotes that Judea, and especially its metropolis, was in a most flourishing condition towards the end of David's reign, and that the city was elevated to the greatest splendour in the reign of Solomon; but the amount of gold and silver amassed by David for the Temple is considered so extraordinary, that many judicious writers contend that the talents mentioned in the text must have been of less value than those mentioned by Moses, or that an error as to the number must have been introduced into the text, for the number specified amounts to more than one thousand millions sterling of our money. Dr Prideaux justly observes, that if we are to take the sums which David set apart as king for the erection of the Temple, and that which he gave as a private individual, and add to these what was given by the princes and chief persons of the Tribes, they were sufficient to have built the whole with solid silver. It would also have required David to lay aside annually, during the forty years of his reign, a larger sum than is necessary to carry on the government and support the expensive establishments of the British Empire. Assuming that the talent of 125lbs. troy is intended, the following is a statement of the English weight of this immense mass of treasure at Jerusalem, and the present value at the rate of L.4 an ounce for gold, and 5s. per ounce for silver. The brass and iron are omitted, as the amount of that which the chief persons gave is only stated, that which the king contributed being "without weight."

TALENTS.

VALUE POUNDS STERLING. Gold.

Silver.

WEIGHT POUNDS TROY.
Gold.
Silver.
12,500,000 125 000,000 600,000,000 375,000,000

By David as King.. By David as an individual By chief persons, more than

Gold. Silver. 100,000 1,000,000

3,000

[blocks in formation]

5,000 10,000 625,000 1,250,000 30,000,000 3,750,000 108,000 1,017,000 13,500,000|126,625,000|648,000,000 381,375,000 648,000,000

Gold,

.

[blocks in formation]

Every reader will at once see from this statement that there must be some discrepancy in the text, otherwise we must suppose that, as the Book of Chronicles was written after the return from the Babylonian Captivity, the inspired historian computed by the Babylonian talent, which was little more than one-half of the Mosaic talent, or more probably by the Syrian, which was only one-fifth of the Babylonian. Making every allowance for the treasure which David would accumulate by his successful wars with the neighbouring states, and for the tribute which they were continually paying, the sum just stated, or anything approaching to it, is absolutely incredible, and it may be safely said that the treasuries of all the kings in the world could not furnish nearly its amount. The plunder of India, the richest nation in the world, did not yield Nadir Shah a twentieth part of this sum, although his success was most remarkable. It is therefore generally admitted that the common reading of the text has been corrupted.

Dr Kennicott thinks it probable that a cipher was added to the two sums given by David in some very ancient Hebrew copy; but the parallel texts in the 22d and 29th chapters of First Chronicles do not give us any information as to the quantity, by which we might be able to ascertain the amount or comparison. The Arabic version of 1 Chron. xxii. 14, renders the sum "a thousand talents of

[blocks in formation]

gold, and a thousand talents of silver," which, in the opinion of Parkhurst, affords a trace of an important various reading in the copy of the Septuagint from which that version was made. This would make the whole, as given in that and the 29th chapter, amount to L.60,752,490, which, immense as that sum is, brings it more within the bounds of probability. Josephus gives the quantity as 10,000 talents of gold and 100,000 talents of silver, which would be equal to L.60,000,000 sterling for gold, and L.37,500,000 for silver, in all L.97,500,000; but this sum, although only one-tenth of what is stated in the text of the 22d chapter, is too large when we add the contributions stated in the 29th. We have already mentioned the probability that the Babylonian, or perhaps the Syrian, talent is meant in the text, and thus the whole mass of gold and silver would be reduced to a comparatively moderate quantity, and yet be abundantly sufficient to build a most magnificent Temple. If, therefore, we estimate the Babylonian talent of gold at L.3500, and that of silver at L.218, 15s., and the Syrian at one-fifth of this, combining the respective amounts in 1 Chron. xxii. and xxix., and showing the effect, with this application, of the different numbers assigned by the present Hebrew text, by the Jewish historian, and by the Arabic version, respectively, to chap. xxii. 14, the result will be nearly as follows:

[blocks in formation]

buried by Solomon with extraordinary now resolved to commence the building of magnificence and funereal pomp. Joseph- the Temple, and for this purpose he "told us mentions some interesting incidents out threescore and ten thousand men to connected with his tomb.-" He had great bear burdens, and fourscore thousand to and immense wealth buried with him, the be hewers in the mountains, and three vastness of which may be easily conjec- thousand and six hundred overseers to tured by what I shall now say; for, one set the people at work." This immense thousand and three hundred years after- body of labourers were not Jews, but the wards, Hyrcanus the high priest, when he "strangers that were in the land of Israel," was besieged by Antiochus, who was called who amounted to "an hundred and fifty the Pious, and was desirous of giving him thousand and three thousand and six." money to raise the siege and draw, off his It appears from the more minute account army, and having no other mode of com- in the First Book of Kings (ix. 20, 21), passing the money, opened one room of that those "strangers" were the surviving David's sepulchre, and took out 3000 remnant of the Amorites, Hittites, and talents, and gave part of that sum to other previous inhabitants of the country, Antiochus, and thus persuaded him to whom the Israelites had not been "able raise the siege. Nay, after him, and that utterly to destroy." After the account many years, Herod the king opened there it is added, "but of the Children another room, and took away a great of Israel did Solomon make no bonddeal of money; and yet neither of them men," nor does it appear that he could came at the coffins of the kings them- have done so if such had been his incliselves, for their bodies were buried under nation. He raised a levy, however, of the earth so artfully, that they did not 30,000 Israelites, who served in alternate even appear to those who entered into monthly courses of 10,000 men. Having their monuments." renewed the treaty which existed between David and Hiram, he sent an embassy to the latter informing him of his undertaking, and requesting him to send skilful workmen to be associated with those already engaged by David. "Send me also cedar-trees, fir-trees, and algumtrees out of Lebanon, for I know that thy servants can skill to cut timber in Lebanon; and behold my servants shall be with thy servants, even to prepare me timber in abundance, for the house which I am about to build will be wonderfully great. And behold I will give to thy servants, the hewers that cut timber, twenty thousand measures of beaten wheat, and twenty thousand measures of barley, and twenty thousand baths of wine, and twenty thousand baths of oil." Hiram complied with his request, and sent "the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan" to Jerusalem, whose father had been a native of Tyre, and who was particularly celebrated for his skill "to find out every device which should be put to him." Josephus says that this man's name was Hiram, but he differs from the text in

Jerusalem, at the accession of Solomon, appears to have been in the highest degree of prosperity. He built, enlarged, and fortified the walls of Jerusalem in a stronger manner than they were before, erecting great towers upon them; "for he thought," says Josephus, "that the "that the walls which encompassed Jerusalem ought to correspond to the dignity of the city." This building of the walls of Jerusalem soon after David's death illustrates the conclusion of the 51st Psalm: "Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion, build thou the walls of Jerusalem"-the walls which David had begun not being completely finished, 2 Sam. v. 9; 1 Kings iii. 1. We also find Solomon raising an extraordinary levy on his subjects, "to build the house of the Lord, and his own house (or palace), and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem." So magnificent was the commencement of this reign, that we are told "Solomon made silver and gold at Jerusalem as plenteous as stones, and cedar-trees made he as the sycamore-trees that are in the vale for abundance." He

Chronicles, and agrees with that in Kings, in describing him as "by birth of the tribe of Naphtali on the mother's side (for she was of that tribe), but his father was not of the stock of the Israelites."

The Temple was begun on the second day of the month Zif, the second month of the sacred and eighth of the civil year, and, according to the Hebrew chronology, one thousand and twelve years before the Christian era. Mount Moriah was the chosen site of this magnificent structure a place remarkably significant of the sacrifices to be offered in succeeding ages on the very spot. Thousands of implements resounded in Jerusalem; its streets were densely crowded with myriads of artizans; the cedars of Lebanon were transported to the holy city, while the busy slaves incessantly attended on the hired workmen employed in rearing the wonderful edifice. The whole of the summit of Mount Moriah, on which the mosque of Omar now stands, was occupied by the buildings, and its surface was even artificially extended to admit the extensive courts by which the fabric was surrounded. It is unnecessary to attempt a very minute account of this edifice, which occupied seven years and six months in the erection, the whole exterior and interior being described at great length in the Books of Kings and Chronicles. Josephus tells us that the foundations were laid very deep in the ground, and the materials were strong stones, such as would resist the force of time. The front was to the east, and it was surrounded, except in front, with three storeys of chambers each five cubits square, which reached to half the height of the Temple. It was built of white stone, and the entire altitude of the edifice was one hundred and twenty cubits. The front was adorned with a magnificent portico twenty cubits in length, corresponding to the breadth of the building, and one hundred and twenty cubits in height. Thirty small rooms surrounded the structure, which all communicated with each other; above these were other rooms, and others above them, and these

reached to a height equal to the lower part of the edifice, the upper part having no building surrounding it. The roofs were of cedar, each room having a roof of its own connected with the other rooms, but for the other parts there was a covered roof common to them all, constructed with very long beams which passed through the rest and through the whole edifice, to support the middle walls, which were strengthened by the same beams. Those parts of the roof under the beams were made of the same materials, smooth, having proper ornaments, and plates of gold nailed upon them. The walls were enclosed with boards of cedar, with sculptured plates of gold, the splendour of which dazzled the eye when the sun shone in the apartments. The whole fabric was constructed of polished stones, laid so ingeniously together, that they appeared as if they had naturally united themselves without the use of any implements. The Temple was also overlaid both within and without with cedar, joined together by thick chains. There was a curiously contrived ascent to the upper room over the Temple by steps in the thick walls, there being no large door in the east side, as the lower house had, but the entrances being by the sides through small doors.

Such is an outline of the exterior of the Temple of Jerusalem as given by Josephus, which completely harmonizes with the sacred narrative. Referring the reader to the First Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles for an account of the interior, and its costly treasures, vestments, and utensils, we may here observe that its style of architecture has caused many ingenious speculations. As the representations of it are entirely fanciful, it has been recently suggested, that of all the surviving remains of very ancient architecture, those of Egypt perhaps exemplify in a most striking manner the ideas suggested by the description, particularly in the ornamental details. It is not maintained that Egypt furnished the models which were followed at Jerusalem, but it

« AnteriorContinuar »