Then king Solomon said, "Bring me a sword.” And they brought a sword before the king. And the king said, "Divide the living child in two, and give half to the one, and half to the other."

Then the heart of the mother of the living child yearned with love and pity towards her son, and she cried to the king, and said, "O my lord, give her the living child, and in no wise slay it." But the other woman answered, “Let it be neither mine nor thine, but divide it."

Then Solomon discerned who was really the mother of the living child; for he knew that no mother could bear to see her child slain. And he commanded his servants to give the living child to the first woman, and in no wise slay it; for he said, "She is the mother of it."

And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king; for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him.

And the fame of the wisdom of king Solomon was in all nations round about. For God gave him "wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart." And he used the under

standing and wisdom which God gave him to gain knowledge of all things. He gave his heart to seek and search out by wisdom concerning all things that are done under heaven; and he gained certain knowledge of all things, because God had given him the spirit of wisdom, and he learned diligently. And he spoke three thousand proverbs, and wrote a thousand hymns and songs.

And people of all countries round about the land of Israel came to Jerusalem to hear the wisdom of Solomon. For his wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the East country, and all the wisdom of Egypt; and he was wiser than all men.

1 Kings iii. 16-28. iv. 29–34. Eccles. i. 13.

To yearn, is to be moved with love and affection; to grieve or be distressed in heart.

To discern, is to find out, to perceive.

To excel, is to be greater, to do any thing better than others. A proverb, is a wise saying.

Chapter CXL.

THE BUILDING OF THE TEMPLE BY SOLOMON.

As soon as Solomon had ordered all things for the government of his kingdom, he began to make preparations for building the temple of the Lord, as David his father had charged him to do before he died. And first he sent messengers to Hiram, the king of Tyre, who had been a friend of David his father, from the beginning of his reign, to tell him that he purposed to build a house to the name of the Lord God of Israel, to be dedicated to Him, for the sacrifices, and incense, and the offerings which His people were commanded to offer. And he asked king Hiram to send him cedar-trees from mount Lebanon, and also skilful workmen, to work in gold and silver, and to carve wood and stone, and weave cloth of different colours; for the people of Tyre and Sidon, over whom king Hiram reigned, were very skilful in all work of this kind. And he said that he would give to the servants of Hiram who hewed the

timber, twenty thousand measures of wheat or barley, and twenty thousand measures of wine and oil; and would also send his servants to help to cut the cedars on mount Lebanon, that they might prepare timber in abundance; because the house which he was about to build was to be great and wonderful.

Then Hiram answered Solomon in writing, and sent the letter to Jerusalem, saying, "Because the Lord hath loved His people, therefore He hath made thee king over them. Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, that made heaven and earth, who hath given David a wise son, endued with prudence and understanding, that he might build an house for the Lord." And he said that he would do all that Solomon required, and would send him skilful workmen to help those whom king David had prepared, and would cause his servants to cut the timber on mount Lebanon, and bring it by sea on floats to Joppa, a place on the sea coast of the land of Ephraim; from whence the servants of Solomon could carry it to Jerusalem.

Then Solomon caused all the strangers who

dwelt in the land of Israel to be numbered; and of these he appointed eighty thousand to be hewers of wood and stone on mount Lebanon, and seventy thousand to be bearers of burdens. And he commanded them to prepare stones of a vast size, squared and polished, for the foundation of the temple.

These strangers were the children of the Canaanites, who had once inhabited the land of Israel, who had not been destroyed by Joshua and the judges who ruled in Israel after him. They had been allowed by David to remain in the land, because they had renounced the worship of idols; but they were made to work as servants or slaves for the children of Israel.

And Solomon also raised a band of thirty thousand men from among the children of Israel, to cut timber on mount Lebanon. And he divided them into three companies, and sent one every third month to Lebanon; so that they were two months at home and one away.

B.C.

And when every thing was prepared, Solomon began to build the temple, in the fourth year of 1012.