GOD SAVE THE KING!
That was the shout, with the commencement of the new era, when the
tallest man in the nation appeared in the midst of the people that
had assembled at the call of Samuel (1 Sam. x, 24).
I will give a short chronology of this United Kingdom under three
kings--Saul, David, and Solomon:
Saul is made king 1095
Dies 1055
Rules over Israel about 40 years
David born 1085
Kills Goliath 1062
Reigns in Hebron 1055
King over Israel 1048
Dies 1016
Rules over Israel about 40 years
Solomon is born 1036
Is crowned king 1015
Lays foundation of Temple 1012
Dedicates the Temple 1004
Worships idols 985
Dies 975
Rules over Israel about 40 years
These figures may not be accurate. They are as near as the dates can
be had. Josephus gives the dates as follows:
Saul reigned with Samuel 18 years
After the death of Samuel 22 ,,
David lived 70 ,,
Reigned in Hebron 7 yrs 6m
,, ,, Jerusalem 33 years
Solomon lived 94 ,,
Having reigned 80 ,,
There is a discrepancy somewhere. Something is wrong in dates, like
most other facts in the Bible.
David was twenty-three years old when he killed Goliath. Solomon was
twenty-one years old when he was crowned king; according to Josephus,
fourteen years of age.
We have no further interest in the dates of those men, but more
in their acts and character. Being the rulers of God's own chosen
people--with Jehova for a pilot, protector, and guide--with the
wooden Box, the ark, with all its mysterious secrets and its holy
enchantments; priests, prophets, and sacrifices, with all their
secret necromantic performances, these three men, with all their
godly professions, were no better than they should have been, even
for the age in which they lived.
They were brutal, gross, and licentious. Barbarous crimes were
committed by them, with the sanction of their preposterous imaginary
God--who is lauded at this present day to the very echo, but the
most stupendous piece of folly that ever was palmed off on civilized
humanity.
Saul, the first king, in exercising his terrible cruelty towards
his enemies perhaps only followed the practices and customs of
other nations. Why this bloodthirsty man caused 385 persons to be
murdered; why he slaughtered all the inhabitants of Nob, men, women,
and children, because Abimelech the priest supplied David with food,
are some of those things that pulpit orators can best explain. The
life of the priest was not sufficient to expiate the offense he had
committed, but Saul had his whole family exterminated.
The ark was no longer available. Jehova had taken the juvenile David
in hand. The priestly oracle refused to be consulted. He, Saul,
had recourse to a fortune-telling woman of Endor, who was employed
to call up the spirit of Samuel.
Saul's jealousies, his quarrels with David, and all his misdeeds, as
well as bravery, may be read by those that feel an interest in the
matter. He finally committed suicide by falling on his own sword,
and the next day the Philistines cut his and his sons' heads off,
and deposited them before their idols, Dagon, etc.
Where was God? Can it be possible that our Christian neighbors
believe that the life and conduct of Saul was directed by any supreme
power? That God directed Saul to do so many foolish, barbarous,
and murderous acts?
We shall probably be more interested in David, the man after God's
own heart.
David, like Saul, was judiciously selected by Samuel. David's acts
and David's conduct were no different from the acts and conduct of
any other man in his position and possessing his characteristics. He
combined a good deal of philosophy with his bravery; if the Psalms
were written by him we have before us a higher type of brain culture,
a mind that has undergone some training, is capable of analyzing
its own feelings and giving expression to them. His comparisons
never extend beyond that--beyond what he knows. He appeals to the
higher qualities of men--their good acts, their virtues, their just
conduct, their self-restraint, their passions, emotions, faults,
and weaknesses. He recognizes them in others, and sees them reflected
clearly in himself. His distress and his fears, his gladness and his
joys, his trust in an unseen power, are all poetic, some sweet and
sentimental. He speaks of his Lord, of his God, as of the pleasant
recollections of a dream. Jehova had long since lost the stern
reality of Moses, and had changed with the changes the nation had
undergone. The formalities had been kept up, the priestly luxuries
had increased, the ceremonies were more formal and business-like,
but the central power, the centralized government of the people,
the mantle of authority, had been shifted from high priest to king.
The God, Jehova, was no longer the guide, the power it had been. For
twenty-two years after the death of Samuel, Saul had conducted his
government and fought his battles without God, ark, or priest, and
sought advice and counsel from other and human sources.
Skeptics even at this early period began to doubt the existence of
a God, "The fool saith in his heart, There is no God" (Ps. xiv, 1).
The theocratic period of 395 years from Exodus to Saul had already
developed corruption in the church and licentiousness in the
Temple. The priestly power received a terrible blow at the hands
of Saul when he slaughtered the priest, Abimelech, and his family,
thus showing that the representative of God no longer inspired terror;
that the priest was nothing more than any other man; that neither God,
Jehova, ark, nor any other sanctified paraphernalia could protect him,
nor miracle interfere for his preservation.
Opinions were freely expressed, discussion arose, and arguments
were not wanting to sustain the doubts that had arisen as to the
genuineness, the truth, of the God they had adopted. Neighboring
nations had their gods. How was it, if their gods were not more potent,
that they should win so many battles, and enslave the nation of the
true God?
The same or similar arguments that Abraham brought to bear on the
Chaldean gods were now beginning to be used against Jehova.
David, besides being an excellent soldier, a brave general, was
a dreamer, a man of imagination. God was to him a sublime vision,
a reflected glory of the past. To him, an intense admirer of the
beautiful, trees, hills, and valleys, and the phenomena of nature in
general, were the wonders of his imaginary God. He was a musician,
a poet, a dreamer, in his moments of leisure. Everything he beheld
courted, kindled his admiration, awoke new feeling in his sensitive
nature, from a pretty flower to a beautiful woman.
The conversations which he holds with his visionary God are the
simplest and most confidential. He pours out his grievances and his
delight to him. "Thou hast put gladness in my heart.... I will both
lay me down in peace and sleep" (Ps. iv, 8, 9).
That Christian translators of the Bible presume to interpret certain
passages and words to mean, to foretell, things or events that occurred
one thousand years later, is an assumption, and warrantable neither
by the text nor by the actions of the persons writing them.
David is supposed to have written the Psalms. When he speaks he refers
mainly to himself, addresses himself personally to his Lord. He,
David, is himself interested. Then again he speaks of man and things
in general, without ever alluding to any one thing or body in the
coming future.
David's Psalm ii is headed "The Kingdom of Christ." The writer had
no more idea of Christ than he had of Peter the Great at the time
that that Psalm was written.
David wrote one hundred and fifty Psalms as printed in the Bible. In
the headings, the superscriptions, the solicitude of Christian
believers, trying to torture meanings and significations out of
sentences or expressions, led them to commit gross errors, as false
as they are ridiculous. Judge for yourself:
Psalm ii, 1--The Kingdom of Christ.
"Why do the heathen rage, and the people imagine vain things?" Verse
10: "Be wise, now therefore, O ye kings; be instructed ye judges of
the earth."
Psalm xlv, 1--The majesty and Grace of Christ's Kingdom.
"My heart is inditing a good matter; I speak of the things which I
have made touching the king; my tongue is the pen of a ready writer."
Verse 10--The Duty of the Church, etc.
"Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget
also thine own people, and thy father's house."
Psalm xlvi, 1--Confidence Which the Church, etc.
"God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble."
Psalm xlvii--The Nations are Exhorted Cheerfully to Entertain the
Kingdom of Christ.
Psalm xlviii--The Ornaments and Privileges of the Church.
In not one of these Psalms is there the slightest allusion to
a church. It is the extravagant language of an exuberant mind,
the outcome of an overwrought imagination upon the subject he was
thinking about.
Psalm l, 1--The Majesty of God in the Church.
Psalm li, 18--He Prayeth for the Church.
Psalm lxviii, 7--For His Care of the Church.
Psalm lxxii, 1--David Praying for Solomon, etc.; and The Truth of
Christ's Kingdom.
Psalm xciii--The Majesty and Power of Christ's Kingdom.
Psalm cxviii, 19--Coming of Christ's Kingdom, etc.
The passage referred to, viz., verse 19, is: "Open to me the gates
of righteousness; I will go into them, and I will praise the Lord."
The absurdity of the interpretation is evident from the fact that out
of one hundred and fifty Psalms the Christian Bible-makers were able to
find only five that could be twisted to make allusion to Christ--the
ii, xlv, lxxii, xcviii, and cxviii, and from these certain sentences
were selected, and these verses have as much connection with Christ
or his kingdom as they have with the man in the moon. Six of all the
chapters are supposed to allude to the church; those are above cited.
David had not the remotest notion what would or could happen at any
time during his life, or at any time after his death. He was a child
of circumstances like Saul, and like many other men after and before
them. The same may be said of Moses and Abraham. Opportunity makes
the man, if the man is fitting, able, to seize the opportunity when it
occurs. No supernatural power had anything to do with any one of these
men, or any man that figured in the Bible, any more than God had to
do with men that played prominent parts as leaders, rulers, kings,
or governors of other nations. Whatever power, skill, intellect,
or imagination was developed, it was the proper sum-total of the
experience, observation, and instruction of the world's progress.
The Hebrews perhaps had special advantages in some respects over
other nations, through their migratory instinct or inclination. The
contact with so many other nations gave them the advantage of a
broader experience and a greater variety of culture.
David had enjoyed special advantages. After his first heroic action,
he became the leader of a band of desperadoes. And Saul himself
unwittingly helped him, by making the bargain with David that if he,
David, brought him one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, Saul
would give him his daughter Michal for wife. David with his band
of chosen men brought him two hundred, and thus obtained his wife
Michal. Henceforth David leads a kind of bandit's life, with his six
hundred brave followers, evading Saul, who is in hot pursuit of him,
and meantime fighting other nations, Philistines, Amalekites, etc.;
levying contributions, making conquests, whenever and wherever there
was a chance; falling in love easily and gracefully as the most expert
leader of a gallant band. The pretty, attractive face of Abigail, the
wife of Nabal, was an irresistible temptation. Nabal died from fright,
it is said. Later in life when he happened to cast his eyes upon the
beautiful nude figure of Bathsheba, he immediately fell in love. Since
he was a man of action he satisfied his passion almost immediately,
and poor Uriah, a captain of his, was sent to the war to be killed.
He was a shrewd and bold warrior, a great lover of woman, a
philosopher and a poet. His Psalms bear witness of his acts, deeds, and
thoughts. In consequence of his overindulgence with women he contracted
a disease, a disease of which he complains most bitterly. Psalm iv:
His bones are vexed, he is weary with groaning--"All night make I my
bed to swim; I water my couch with my tears" (verse 6). Psalm xxxviii:
He is in a sad plight: verse 3: "There is no soundness in my flesh;"
verse 5: "My wounds stink and are corrupt because of my foolishness;"
verse 7: "For my loins are filled with a loathsome disease; and there
is no soundness in my flesh," etc. The gentleman in all probability was
afflicted with a disease known as syphilis in its tertiary stage. There
is more of it.
A sober reading of these psalms will find them full of indications
of human nature with its frailties, weaknesses, impulses, mixed with
superstitious fear, a vivid imagination, and an excitable temperament.
When his greatness had been established, many conquests made, great
wealth accumulated, numerous victories gained, festivities were
inaugurated. In order to honor God and the ark, David danced and jumped
in complete undress before the Box, in a true half-civilized fashion.
We must not consider all these acts as faults. He simply followed
the customs of the age. He was the highest representative type of
the then struggling civilization. Samuel began, Saul developed,
and David consummated a new era of this part of the world of human
history--while other sections of the globe were keeping abreast in
organizing and drilling the human race to a higher sort of culture,
forming nations, establishing kingdoms, producing heroes, evolving
lawgivers and poets, and advancing in the arts and war, etc.
David died seventy years of age, leaving a large and numerous
family. Of his score of sons, there is none worth talking about,
except Solomon, his successor. The immense wealth he amassed laid
the foundation for the glory of Solomon, who spent it lavishly,
luxuriously, freely.
All in all David was an excellent character. He preserved the Twelve
Tribes, exalting the nation, consolidating the government, making it
respected and feared without, and giving them by his valor peace and
security and prosperity for the next ruler and for the nation.
This young gentleman, Solomon, however, had been fed with a golden
spoon. His senses and his passions were prematurely ripe. He did not
have to search for opportunity; his desires were easily accommodated
and satisfied. His indulgences were many and frequent, and his
authority and arbitrariness were soon made manifest.
He was surrounded with the best scholars of the day, and whatever
facilities were then to be had were got, either in philosophical
works or in other books. The higher studies consisted in close
observance of moral conduct, and contemplation of the outer world
without knowing anything more than the outward appearances. Science,
art, and mechanics were little known.
The school of poesy had begun. Theological disputes were in fashion,
and thus theological doubt furnished ample food for conjecture,
hypothesis, and imagination. Men had already entered the field of
controversy as to the falsity or the truth of the prevailing opinions.
King Solomon in all his glory was the greatest showman upon earth at
the time he was living.
Let it be understood that it is not our purpose to write history. That
has long since been exhausted; nothing new can be discovered. It may,
however, be profitable to call attention to the fact that all these
men that figure in the scripture were human, perfectly human. That
they acted and spoke in accordance with the prevailing degree of
intelligence and customs of nations. That in all their dealings and
doings there is not one scintilla of evidence that they were anything
else than perfectly natural. That they were struggling as a nation
for a position among the family of nations. That their methods
of warfare were no better than those of their neighbors. By good
generalship, brave conduct, and hard fighting they gained influence,
affluence, and prestige. By their conquests and victories they got
into possession of a fair tract of land. By robbery and plunder they
amassed an immense amount of wealth. By their continual successes under
David's brave leadership they secured peace from their enemies, their
surrounding neighbors; while those nations were subdued and weakened,
the Israelites became powerful and strong. A well-disciplined army,
a strong and united nation, was the inheritance Solomon received.
He was the prince-royal--his father a clever king, and his mother
the captain's wife, Mrs. Bathsheba, later queen-wife of David. He
was the first real prince that had ever ruled Israel--and also the
one that caused their ruin, as a nation, by his extravagant and
lascivious conduct.
The scriptural story begins in Kings, with the death of David. Solomon,
the prince of the blood, was now king in his stead. He ascended the
throne when he was twenty-one years of age, having received every
educational advantage of a prince. He, after Moses, is the second
ruler of Israel that had been instructed and prepared for the high
position he was about to occupy. That is the only comparison that can
be made between him and Moses. The latter was a giant of intellect,
action, and determination, while the former was a luxurious debauchee
and squanderer of his father's patrimony.
Why there should be so much adoration and adulation poured out on
this man, I fail to see. Because he built the temple and made profuse
exhibition of his gold and silver? He could not have built it if
his father had not plundered other nations, and given him, Solomon,
the money to build with.
Because he had an immense number of chariots and soldiers, decked
with costly trappings? The money was there to provide these with,
and later the people were pretty heavily taxed for his extravagance.
The only real point of glory may perhaps lie in the fact that he had
one thousand women to play with. We all know that he beats the record
on that particular branch of human enterprise. There was truly none
like him before or since.
And lastly, we have his purported writings, consisting of the Proverbs,
Ecclesiastes, and the Songs of Solomon.
No sooner was he seated on his throne than he began to remove all
objectionable persons, those that were likely to be troublesome
or dangerous. His elder brother, Adonijah, whose aspiration led
him to great things, was dispatched by Benaiah, Solomon's future
general. Abiathar, the priest, he removed where he could do least
damage. Joab, David's general, who sought the altar of the temple for
protection, Solomon ordered Benaiah to behead. Zadock he made high
priest in place of Abiathar. Shimei was the next man on the list
for death, and Benaiah received order to kill him. Having removed
all dangerous or antagonistic men, Solomon settled himself firmly in
his kingdom. Those that are curious may read all about the Temple,
his house, the wall, cherubim, vessels and the like of gold, the royal
palace, splendors, etc., etc. He became what is termed a glorious king,
but luxury and women soon had their effect upon his judgment.
He had reached the zenith of Israel's greatness. He had
touched the highest point of its eminence. It was the golden
age of the Hebrews--the age of pomp, pride, braggadocio,
and exhilaration. Jerusalem became the great center of
attraction. Everything obtainable was collected within its walls. No
expense was spared. Indeed, the city became the center of luxury,
extravagance, and licentiousness. And Solomon was surely, though
slowly, paving the way for the destruction of the nation. The
older he grew the worse he got. His reason gradually deserted him;
he wasted his energy and his strength on his women, so that when he
died he was despised, if not hated, by his people. And he left such
a rotten condition of affairs that it tumbled to pieces almost before
he was dead.
In the course of human events, certain results follow a given line of
conduct in the affairs of man. The current of events depends upon our
actions, whether good or bad, better or worse. Drain or waste of force
and energy, of an individual or of a collective body as a community,
state, or nation, slowly but surely weakens, undermining the natural
healthy condition, and ultimately leads to a breaking down, and may
bring about a final disintegration.
Solomon began his reign with an abundance. He had a plenty both of
means and health; a most extraordinary opportunity, with an ample
training and education; an immense, well-organized army; a stable,
firm government, with a full quota of understanding or wisdom.
As a rule men get wiser as they grow older. They acquire greater
deliberation, sounder judgment, better understanding, more skill in
the management of affairs, of man and of state. They are generally
more conservative in their actions, more cautious in their dealings,
more abstemious in their desires. Their pleasures are restricted,
their passions subdued, their wants few, and their pursuits in life
so evenly regulated, their conduct so accurately adjusted, that a
justice and a wisdom seem to guard every thought and every reflection.
Solomon's course was like that of a balloon. He started chockfull
of wisdom. He was a marvel, and made a prodigious show. He was a
startling phenomenon, the wonder of the age. (You know he asked God
for wisdom and God gave it to him; why did not God keep him wise?)
In old age he lacked wisdom. He had almost grown into a senseless
imbecile. He was a squanderer of energy, a roué, a debauchee, a
frivolous and licentious old man who frittered away his time and his
brains on his women and their playthings.
When the pomp, pride, vanity, show, and bluster of his youth and
manhood were exhausted, all there was left was the remnants of
a glaring painted show. He had, as it were, danced and skipped
and capered, sung and spoken his lines, in a blaze of glory and
extravaganza on the stage of human affairs; the curtain drops, and
alas, you behold, when the paint and gorgeous dress are removed,
a simpering, brainless old image-worshiper.
But what a colossal church figure this man makes! What a miraculous
personality he is made to be! What a wonderful creation of the
Christians' God! A pity some pope has not canonized him and
manufactured him into a saint.
As to his writings--if he really wrote them, and they were not compiled
or written for him--it is to be regretted that his conduct was not
regulated by them.
A most astonishing perversion of truth is the attribution to the eight
chapters of the Song of Solomon of the subject of the church's love
unto Christ.
The following are the chief interpretations:
Chapter i, verse 1: "The song of songs, which is Solomon's."
Meaning--The church's love unto Christ.
Verse 5: "I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as
the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon."
Meaning--She confesseth her deformity.
Verse 7: "Tell me, O thou whom my soul loveth, where thou feedest,
where thou makest thy flock to rest at noon," etc.
Meaning--And prayeth to be directed to his flock.
Verse 8: "If thou know not, O thou fairest among women, go thy way
forth," etc.
Meaning--Christ directeth her to the shepherd's tent.
Verse 9: "I have compared thee, O my love, to a company of horses in
Pharaoh's chariots."
Meaning--And showing his love to her.
Verse 11: "We will make thee borders of gold and studs of silver."
Meaning--Giveth her gracious promise.
Verse 12: "While the king sitteth at his table, my spikenard sendeth
forth the smell thereof."
Meaning--The church and Christ congratulate each other.
Chapter ii, verse 1: "I am the rose of Sharon and lily of the valley."
Meaning--The mutual love of Christ and his church.
Verse 8: "The voice of my beloved! behold, he cometh leaping upon
the mountains, skipping upon the hills."
Meaning--The hope.
Verse 10: "My beloved spake and said unto me, Rise up, my love,
my fair one, and come away."
Meaning--The calling of the church.
Verse 14: "O my dove, that art in the clefts of the rocks, in the
secret places of the stairs, let me see thy countenance, let me hear
thy voice; for sweet is thy voice, and thy countenance is comely."
Meaning--Christ's care of the church.
Verse 16: "My beloved is mine and I am his: he feedeth among the
lilies."
Meaning--The profession of the church, her faith and hope.
Chapter iii, verse 1: "By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul
loveth: I sought him, but I found him not."
Meaning--The church's fight and victory in temptation.
Verse 6: "Who is this that cometh out of the wilderness like pillars
of smoke, perfumed with myrrh, and frankincense, with all the powders
of the merchant?"
Meaning--The church glorieth in Christ.
Chapter iv, verse 1: "Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou
art fair; thou hast doves' eyes within thy locks: thy hair is like
a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead."
Meaning--Christ setteth forth the graces of the church.
Verse 8: "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse," etc.
Meaning--He showeth his love to her.
Verse 16: "Awake O north wind; and come thou south; blow upon my
garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come
into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits."
Meaning--The church prayeth to be made fit for his presence.
Chapter v, verse 1: "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I
have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with
my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat O friends; drink ye,
drink abundantly, O beloved."
Meaning--Christ awaketh his church with his calling.
Verse 2: "I sleep, but my heart waketh, it is the voice of my beloved
that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove,
my undented; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the
drops of the night."
Meaning--The church having a taste of Christ's love, is sick of love.
Verse 9: "What is my beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest
among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou
dost so charge us?"
Meaning--A description of Christ and his graces.
Chapter vi, verse 1: "Whither is my beloved gone, O thou fairest
among women? Whither is my beloved turned aside? that we may seek
him with them."
Meaning--The church professeth her faith in Christ.
Verse 4: "Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as
Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners."
Meaning--Christ showeth the grace of the church.
Verse 10: "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?"
Meaning--And his love towards her.
Chapter vii, verse 1: "How beautiful are thy feet with shoes,
O prince's daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the
work of the hands of a cunning workman."
Meaning--A further description of the church's graces.
Verse 10: "I am my beloved's, and his desire is towards me."
Meaning--"The church professeth her faith and desire."
Chapter viii, verse 1: "O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked
the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would
kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised."
Meaning--The love of the church to Christ.
Verse 6: "Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine
arm, for love is as strong as death; jealousy as cruel as the grave;
the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame."
Meaning--The vehemency of love.
Verse 8: "We have a little sister; and she hath no breasts; what
shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?"
Meaning--The calling of the Gentiles.
Verse 14: "Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to
a young hart upon the mountain of spices."
Meaning--The church prayeth for Christ's coming.
These are the verses specifically interpreted and marked for
Christian worshipers. It must be remembered that the most decent were
selected. To say the interpretations are absurd, is putting it very
mildly. Solomon had no more idea of Christ than he had of the laws
of gravitation.
He was describing and writing about that which was constantly occupying
his mind and his time. He portrays a love-sick swain, with all the
details that are pleasing both to his eye and to his fancy. He gloats
and feeds upon his passions, thus:
"His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should
embrace me" (viii, 4).
"How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights" (vii, 6).
"There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines, and virgins
without number" (vi, 8).
"His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my
beloved," etc. (v, 16).
"Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are
under thy tongue" (iv, 11).
"Behold his bed, which is Solomon's; threescore valiant men are about
it," etc. (iii, 7).
"His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me"
(ii, 6).
"Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair; thou hast doves'
eyes" (i, 15).
It is an outrage on decency even to attempt to construe the intent
of these songs. The man sang about his woman, like any other swain
who delights in his love. Solomon enjoyed nude beauties, as many men
do in our day, and he represented the various parts of the female
anatomy most accurately. He reveled in the luxurious contemplation
of them. Pull down the curtain of hypocrisy and falsehood and let's
have the truth--as it was, as it is.
Solomon died at a pretty fair old age, having lived ninety-four
years. The country had been harassed by robbers, the factions began to
be restless, conspiracies were forming, and the people were nervously
yet patiently waiting for a chance to revolt. No sooner was he dead
than the nation split into two kingdoms. Henceforth this people as
a nation is doomed. It soon disappears from the family of nations.
But--where is Jehova all this while?
Note.--"Solomon's wickedness became intolerable, fully confirming my
former observations, that his wickedness began early and continued
very long" (Josephus, Bk. viii, Chapter vii).
THE TWO KINGDOMS--JUDAH, ISRAEL.
David was dead; Joab the great general had been decapitated by Solomon;
and what Samuel, Saul, and David had built up, Solomon had been very
successful in pulling down.
Ten tribes revolted immediately and formed the kingdom of Israel,
selecting Jeroboam as their king, 975 B.C. In order to establish a
church, a temple, of his own, and his own gods, Jeroboam made two
golden heifers and built two little temples for them, claiming that
men had built the Temple at Jerusalem as men had built the temples
here, and so there was no difference between them. Besides, they
would save the journey to Jerusalem. This change was immediately
put into effect. One class or tribe was dissatisfied. Those were the
Levites, and they emigrated to Judea. This new kingdom of Israel was
not over-tranquil. Prophets, and stump orators, agitators, naturally
arose. Dissension, bickering, and quarrels appeared. The outlook for
the kingdom was not of the brightest.
Meantime Jeroboam was in clover.
Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was made king of the two tribes, Judah
the fighting tribe and Benjamin the king-giving tribe. Besides these
two tribes, we must not forget the Levites, for because of them his
kingdom was augmented. The priests of all Israel were Levites, and
there were quite a multitude of them.
Rehoboam was a Solomon on a very small scale. He had only eighteen
wives and thirty concubines, and twenty-eight sons and threescore
daughters. He followed in his father's footsteps and led a jolly life,
as we should call it in our present age. In 971, four years after he
ascended the throne, Shishka, king of Egypt, knowing of all the gold
and silver Solomon had stuck into the Temple, invaded Judea with some
four hundred thousand men, etc., without opposition, cleared the temple
of all the gold and everything of value, and returned home without
striking a blow. Rehoboam was a coward, he was afraid. As soon as
Judea was clear of Shishka's army, Rehoboam had these gold ornaments
that had formerly decorated the temple, which had been carried away
by Shishka, replaced by brass trimmings of the same make and style,
and delivered them to the keeper of the king's palace.
These people were too like their brethren in Israel, for "they built
them high places, and images, and groves on every hill, and under
every green tree" (1 Kings xiv, 23).
"And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his
life" (1 Kings xv, 6). These two nations therefore have been launched
at a pretty fair pace on the downhill grade.
Judah, however, had the best of it. For the kingdom of Israel lasted
only two hundred and fifty-four years. Shalmanezer, king of Nineveh,
takes Samaria and carries the Ten Tribes into captivity. These are
what are usually known as the lost tribes. Lost nonsenses!--they had
forsaken their former method of worship and adopted another.
The kingdom of Judah lasted to the time the Temple was burnt, 588
B.C., having lasted three hundred and eighty-seven years--one hundred
and thirty-three years longer than the kingdom of Israel. And what
is more, these are the very Jews that are scattered all over the
world. These latter are the representatives of these three tribes,
Levi, Benjamin, and Judah. And if any person is curious enough to
inquire of any Jew to what tribe he belongs, he will receive the
answer that he belongs to one of the three above mentioned, that
originally formed the kingdom of Judah. Why they were preserved
is nothing miraculous. It has nothing to do with God or Jehova,
or the ark, or any special grace, as people generally believe. The
reason is plain and perfectly natural. The Levites preserved them, the
Levites sustained them, the Levites were the brainy race. The Levites,
the priestly tribe who were appointed by Moses, himself one of that
tribe, to be the rulers, governors, lawgivers, fosterers, priests and
preachers, were the brain of the whole nation. They clung to the idea
of nationhood with all their priestly might, craft, and ingenuity,
and are still clinging to it, with all their might and main. Judah
and Benjamin survived only because of the Levites.
THE MIRACLE-MONGERS.
At 958 B.C. Abijah is king over Judah. He reigns only three years. King
Asa follows, 955.
Nadab follows Jeroboam, king of Israel; dies; and Baasha reigns in 954.
"And there was war between Asa, and Baasha king of Israel, all their
days" (1 Kings xv, 16).
These facts go to show that fighting continued between Israel and
Judah. Foreign powers are now invited to help, and the struggle
continues.
In 918 Ahab is king of Israel. It is during his reign that a new class
of men rise, agitators, talkers, prophets, and small miracle-makers.
Elijah makes his appearance. Jehu had already prophesied against
Baasha; he was a minor star in the field of prophecy. Elijah the
Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, "said unto Ahab,"
etc., says 1 Kings xvii, 1. Ahab was king of Israel 918.
No miracles are reported to have occurred after Moses. Joshua did
not perform any, except that incident about the sun. During all these
centuries from 1443, the date of Joshua's death, up to the reign of
Ahab, not a miracle-maker appears. There are strong men, bad men,
fighting men, priests, brave generals, very wicked men, etc., but
none performs a miracle.
Another class of men are soon to appear. They, however, do not make
their appearance until a century later, or so. I mean the nervous men,
the visionary dreamers and prophets of the type of Isaiah. In addition,
any number of soothsayers, necromancers, fortune-tellers, and quacks
had entered into the business of miracle-making on a small scale. And
a new school of skeptics and philosophic speculators slowly developed.
Civilization had not advanced much, but it nevertheless was
progressing. The minds of men had undergone an evolution. The Jehova
of Moses, or the simple abstract form of the Chaldean idol of Abraham,
had lost its force, prestige, and importance. The ark, that sacred box,
is completely lost sight of in these stirring times of revolution,
rebellion, dissension, and fighting.
The high priest since the time of Saul had to take a subordinate
position. He was the minor oracle, the fault-finder, sometimes the
counselor, but never the leader. There was also great competition
among the prophets. The trade had grown profitable, consequently false
prophets, as they were termed, were trying to gain royal favor. The
ideas about God and Jehova had increased and multiplied. Disputes
and confusion swayed the people. Idolatry flourished, and the Gods of
Abraham and Moses were to some extent still sustained by the relatives
of the man who created Jehova, Moses.
Man's progress in thought, the evolution of the human brain, is
slow and uncertain, especially when the line of advance is of a
speculative and problematic character. It is not like a scientific
question, that can be demonstrated; accompanied by actual proof and
absolute certainty; with no discussion or equivocation, no denial or
speculation; which once established remains forever the same. Euclid's
geometry has never been disputed. Hippocrates in medicine--whatever
he said that was known and true, remains unchanged. Everything that
is based upon facts lasts forever.