The Temple of Solomon was the crown of art in the old world. There were
temples on a larger scale, and of more massive construction, but the
enormous masses of masonry of the oldest nations were not comparable with
the artistic grace, the luxurious adornments, and the harmonious
proportions of this glorious House of God. David had laid up money and
material for the great work, but he was not permitted to carry it out.
He was a man of war, and blood-stained hands were not to build the temple
of peace and righteousness. Solomon was the providential man for such an
undertaking. He had large ideas, a keen sense of beauty, generous
instincts, a religious nature, a literary training, and a highly
cultivated mind. He was in peaceful alliance with surrounding nations,
many of whom would be drawn into requisition for the suitable materials.
They had to supply the cedar wood, iron, copper, brass, tin, gold,
silver, and the rich fabrics which have made proverbial the sumptuous and
beautiful raiment and decorations of those times, with the rarest marbles
that the quarries of Lebanon and Bezetha could contribute. So with the
thousands of busy builders and artificers,
"Like some tall palm, the graceful fabric grew,"
until it stood complete on Mount Moriah, an inspiration to the people, a
continual benediction to the nation, and the envy of many a covetous
conqueror.
The name of one man only has been handed down the ages as having
specially signalised himself in the decoration of the temple. Solomon
must procure the best of human talent and genius for the perfection of
the work he meditated. Therefore he not only made a treaty with Hiram,
King of Tyre, for supplies of material, but of workmen, and chief of
these, one whose artistic productions were to be the best adornments of
the House of God for succeeding centuries. He was a tried veteran in
decorative work, an expert in almost every kind of art, and fit to be
placed in the position of chief superintendent of so superb a building.
The King of Tyre sent to Solomon a testimony which was eloquent in his
praise: "_I have sent a cunning man endued with understanding . . . .
the son of a woman of the daughters of Dan, his father was a man of Tyre,
skilful to work in gold, and in silver, in brass, in iron, in stone, and
in timber, in purple, in blue, and in fine linen, and in crimson; also to
grave any manner of graving, and to find out every device_" (2 Chron. ii.
13, i4). Another record says: "_He was filled with wisdom, and
understanding, and cunning to work all works in brass_" (1 Kings vii. 14).
It is a significant fact in the history that Hiram, this expert
artificer, bearing the same name as his king, should have had an
Israelitish mother, and a Gentile father who had also been a worker in
metal. Thus he got his artistic taste and training from the father, his
religious knowledge and sympathy from the mother. Religious feeling and
sympathy he certainly had, as his magnificent work in the temple fully
demonstrated.
Hiram constructed of bright, burnished brass, an immense laver, called "a
molten sea," to be used for the ablutions of the priests. It was capable
of containing from fifteen to twenty thousand gallons of water, and the
ornamentation was elaborate exceedingly. Under the brim were two rows of
balls or bosses, encircling the laver. Twelve oxen, three looking in
four different directions, supported it, and the brim was wrought like
the brim of a cup with flowers of lilies. Beyond this, there were ten
lavers, smaller in size, for the washing of such things as were offered
in sacrifice. These were carefully decorated with lions, oxen, and
cherubim on the borders of the ledges. They stood upon bases, measuring
6 feet by 4 1/2 feet, ornamented carefully on each side with garlands
hanging in festoons, literally, "garlands, pensile work." Each base had
brasen wheels attached, with brasen axletrees, and brackets which
stretched from the four upper corners of the bases to the outward rim of
the laver. All the furnishings were also made by Hiram, such as pots,
basons, shovels; probably also the golden altar, and table, with the
seven-branched lamp stands, of which there were ten, of beautiful
construction and ornamentation. But the most glorious work of Hiram was
the construction of the two majestic brasen pillars, called Jachin and
Boaz, They were stately in height, the shaft of each measuring 27 feet, a
base of 12 feet, and two capitals of 13 1/2 feet, thus the whole height
of each pillar being 52 1/2 feet. The decoration was equally graceful
and elaborate, especially upon the capitals. The lower capitals had a
fine network over the whole, and chain-work hanging in festoons outside.
There were also pomegranates wrought upon them. The upper capitals,
forming a cornice to the whole pillar, were ornamented with lily-work.
At Persepolis there still stands a pillar, the cornice of which is carved
with three rows of lily leaves. These pillars were esteemed the most
important ornaments in the magnificent temple, the erection of which was
the best feature of Solomon's reign. They were of such prominent
importance that a name was affixed to each of them. One was called
"Jachin," which means, "he will establish," the other was called "Boaz,"
which means "in strength." The ideas involved are stability and
strength. Possibly the Psalmist had these pillars in his mind when he
wrote, "_Strength and beauty are in His sanctuary_" (Ps. xcvi. 6);
strength first, then beauty; strength as the foundation of divine work,
then beauty, graceful finish, and ornament.
Hiram was an inspired artist and artificer. He was "_filled with wisdom
and understanding, and cunning to work_." We are told the same as to the
great decorative workers of the Tabernacle, concerning whom the Lord
said: "_See, I have called by name Bezalel, the son of Uri, the son of
Hur of the tribe of Judah: and I have filled him with the spirit of God,
in wisdom, in understanding, and in knowledge, and in all manner of
workmanship, to devise cunning works, to work in gold, and in silver, and
in brass, and in cutting of stones for setting, and in carving of wood,
to work in all manner of workmanship_" (Exod. xxxi. 2-5). So also it is
written of Aholiab, Ahisamach, and other Tabernacle workers.
It is instructive to find that in Scripture, genius as displayed in
literary insight and facility, in ingenuity and inventiveness as to the
various arts, and even in the conception of instruments of husbandry, is
attributed to Divine inspiration. It may not be the same order of
inspiration by which "_men spake from God, being moved by the Holy
Ghost_"; "_Searching what time or manner of time the spirit of Christ
which was in them did point unto when it testified beforehand the
sufferings of Christ and the glories that should follow them_" (2 Peter
i. 21; 1 Peter i. 11); but the fact is clear, whether it was inspiration
of a different nature or in a different degree, that on men of special
gifts in various departments and of the highest order, wisdom and
understanding are a direct gift of the Holy Spirit. This truth was
acknowledged in earliest times, and skilled experts in art or handicraft
were reckoned to be under the inspiration of God. Among the heathen this
belief lingered long. The ancient poets invoked the aid of their deities
when entering on some great composition, and the devout earnestness of
some recorded prayers is remarkable. There should be a line of
demarcation drawn in this connection between a man of talent and a man of
genius. Talent may be a matter of cultivation and perseverance. A man
of ordinary intelligence may, by determined resolution, push his way to
power in many directions, and the one talent may become ten talents. But
genius is not mere cleverness, however well directed and carefully
developed. Genius is creative and inventive; it has insight, it has
imagination, it "bodies forth the forms of things unknown," and "gives to
airy nothings a local habitation and a name." Isaiah speaks of the
inspiration of the inventor of the agricultural instrument: "_His God
doth instruct him aright, and doth teach him . . . This also cometh from
the Lord of hosts, which is wonderful in counsel and excellent in
wisdom_" (Isa. xxviii. 26-29).
When man required in the old time direct teaching of great religious
truths and realities, God inspired prophets and seers, but the world
required also to be educated, regulated, civilised. Therefore poets,
painters, _litterateurs_, artists, and artificers were called for, by
deep needs of humanity. God answered the need by giving the marvellous
gift in various forms and degrees to men who had understanding of their
times, and who by special insight were able to give impulses to progress
in every direction. This truth is powerfully stated by a German
metaphysician:--"Nothing calls us more powerfully to adore the living God
than the appearance and embodiment of genius upon the earth. Whatever in
the ordinary course of things we may choose to attribute to the
mechanical process of cause and effect, the highest manifestations of
intellect can be called forth only by the express will of the original
Mind, independent of second causes. Genius descends upon us from the
clouds precisely where we least look for it. Events may be calculated,
predicted--spirits never; no earthly oracle announces the appearance of
genius: the unfathomable will of the Creator suddenly calls to it--Be!"[1]
The Apostle Paul says concerning the Christ, "_IN HIM were all things
created_" (Col. i. 16). Everything in the universe became objective,
because they were first subjective in Christ, the second Person in the
adorable Trinity. All things were made from forms and types which were
in Himself before they were impressed on Creation. The infinite glories
of sky, and air, and sea, the beauties of the tree, the flower, the bird,
and all forms of life, the fleeting and recurring grandeurs that paint
the seasons and the years, are all but revelations of the boundless
resources and the ineffable beauties and qualities of the mind of Christ,
our Master and Teacher. Our craving of genius, and its never-dying
ambition, is to come ever nearer to the perfection of the Infinite Artist
and Architect. The inspiration which filled the soul of Bezalel or Hiram
may not be so elevated or elevating as that which enabled Isaiah to soar
to the throne of the Eternal in speechless rapture, or which enabled
Michael Angelo to represent in form and colour his vast conceptions of
the beautiful and sublime; but it was as real, and in some aspects as
serviceable in suggestion and realisation, as these. "God fulfils
Himself in many ways." As the Divine Spirit plays on the minds of
special men, one is turned to music, another to painting, another to
sculpture, another to architecture, another to mechanics, and another to
a smith's imaginings; but it is still the same Spirit that worketh in all
and through all, and each may be perfected instruments by which He
accomplishes His wise and gracious purposes in the uplift of men.
What a living force among men is the true poet, the man who can take
words and weave them into forms of perfect rhythm, rhyme, and measure,
and then fill them with thoughts so suggestive and burning, as that they
become for ever a force in the hearts of men, thrilling the souls of men
and women with lofty ideals, prompting them to noble deeds, nerving them
to patience in suffering and courage in battle. What may not the artist
accomplish by throwing on the canvas landscapes or seascapes, like
Turner, Scripture scenes, like Raphael, or heroic deeds, like Millais?
Do these things not speak to the heart through the eye effectually? And
what refining influences may not be silently absorbed into the nature by
the artificer, who works in metals, or in pottery, in glass, or in wood,
producing shapes of graceful contour, and decoration of delicate beauty,
so that the articles of the household or the warehouse may be an
education to the mind, and become to it patterns of things in the
heavens. The command to Moses on the Mount was, concerning all the
furniture of the Tabernacle, which Bezalel and Aholiab had to construct
was, "_See that thou make all things according to the pattern showed to
thee in the mount_" (Heb. viii. 5). The beautiful things were in the
mind of God first, and then had to be produced by the inspiration of the
artist, in the house of prayer by the wisdom and deftness imparted by the
Spirit.
It is possible, we sorrow to think, to misuse the Divine gift of artistic
inspiration. The poet may devote his genius to animalism, like Byron, or
to teach immoral license, like Swinburne; the painter may crowd his
canvas with degrading ideas and vulgar representations, and the artificer
may be ingenious in the production of forms of ugliness and degrading
grotesqueness. Such desecration of great endowments is alike displeasing
to God and ruinous to the man. Of such it may be said: "_He feedeth on
ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his
soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand_?" (Isa. xliv. 20).
Thank God, that we may say truly that generally the superlatives might
have been found sitting at the feet of Jesus. The heavy, dull masses of
meaningless masonry which belonged to Egypt or Assyria, flowered into the
pure, delicate, ideality of the Greek builders, and this again developed
into the warm, spiritual, suggestive style of Christianity which has
covered Christendom with consecrated buildings like the cathedrals of
Cologne or Chartres. The art of twenty centuries has been proclaiming
the Christ as perfect in beauty, in grace and refinement, as He is
perfect in love and in sacrifice. The music of the past, in all its
highest reaches from Gregory to Mendelssohn, celebrates His grand
redemption. The most gifted poets, from Dante, pealing his threefold
anthem from the topmost peak of Parnassus, to Shakespeare, with "his
woodnotes wild"; from Milton, with his "sevenfold chorus of hallelujahs
and harping symphonies," to Tennyson, with his "happy bells," which
"Ring in the valiant man and free,
The larger heart, the kindlier hand,"
but chief of all which
"Ring in the Christ that is to be,"
are resonant with loyalty and devotion to Him. Thus, all voices and all
gifts, as they come from Christ, and are claimed by Christ, should be
used for Him and Him alone. The lofty reach of genius is called to
glorify Him, and the humblest gift of the peasant in the cottage, or the
workman in the mill, or the little child at the mother's knee, are all
due to Christ, to be devoted to Him, and also to be appreciated and
rewarded by Him.
[1]Gustav Schwab, quoted by Ullmann, in _The Worship of Genius_.