hat presents; and he had riches and honour in And his heart was lifted up in the ways of oreover, he took away the high places and groves influence of this pious feeling, in the third year * 2 Chron. xvii. 3—6. xvii. 9-13. The names of his officers were Adnah, r-in-chief; Jehohanan, the captain; Amaziah, a voda, of Benjamin; Jehozabad; and their united force 1,160,000 men, besides the troops in garrison. 2 Chron. 2 Chron. xviii. 1—3. before you, but go and serve other gods, and worship them; then will I cut off Israel out of the land which I have given them; and this house which I have hallowed for my name, will I cast out of my sight; and Israel shall be a proverb and a by-word among all people; and at this house, which is high, every one that passeth by it shall be astonished, and shall hiss; and they shall say, Why hath Jehovah done thus unto this land, and to this house? And they shall answer, Because they forsook Jehovah, their God, who brought forth their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and have taken hold upon other gods, and have worshipped them, and served them; therefore hath Jehovah brought upon them all this evil.† Besides the cedar wood and artificers with which Hiram had supplied Solomon for these important erections, he also sent him six score talents of gold,‡ and four hundred and fifty talents of gold from Ophir ;§ and Solomon in return, over and beyond the corn, wine, and oil, which he had contracted to pay his servants,|| gave him also twenty cities in the land of Galilee; with which, however, he does not appear to have been satisfied, for he called them Cabul.¶ This highly favoured monarch also built Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hagor, and Megiddo, and Gezer, * How is it possible that an infidel can resist the effect of the exact fulfilment of this and similar prophecies, in every Jew he sees or hears of, from the richest to the poorest amongst them? +1 Kings, ix. 1-9. 2 Chron. vii. 11–22. 1 Kings, ix. 14. §1 Kings, ix. 28. 2 Chron. ix. 10. || 2 Chron. ii. 10. 1 Kings, v. II. ¶ 1 Kings, ix. 11–13. fies displeasing or dirty. 2 Chron. viii. 2. The word Cabul signiThey seem to have been small towns in the vicinity of Tyre, beyond the boundaries of the land, as divided by Joshua, and lately taken from the ancient inhabitants. ScOTT, in 1 Kings, ix. which Pharaoh, king of Egypt, having taken and burnt, and slain the Canaanites who dwelt there, gave for a present to his daughter. He also went to Hamathzobah, and prevailed against it, and built Bethhoron the upper, and Bethhoron the nether, Baalath, and Tadmor* in the wilder Tadmor in the wilderness; afterwards the city and powerful state of Palmyra, whose splendid ruins still constitute one of the grandest monuments of the remains of antiquity, and one of the most interesting spectacles to travellers. "To the west, about midway between Orouros and Emesa, in the vast desert which connects Syria with Arabia, is Palmyra, or Tadamora, the city of palm trees. It was a most powerful city under its celebrated queen, Zenobia, the wife of Odenatus. She opposed the Emperor Aurelian, in the plains of Syria, at the head of 700,000 men, and had nearly defeated him, but was overthrown and carried captive to Italy, A. D. 273, where she had large possessions assigned to her near the Tiber. She was no less an accomplished than a brave princess, and had for her secretary the celebrated Longinus, the reputed author of the well-known treatise on the sublime." Butler's Geography, 203. See more particular accounts of Palmyra, &c. in the following works: Ancient Universal History, vol. i. 367. Guthrie's General History, vol. i. 167. Prideaux, vol. iv. 590. Gibbon, chap. xi. Buckingham's Travels among the Arab Tribes, 428. Volney's Travels in Syria and Egypt, vol. ii. chap. 20. The most minute account is given by Dawkins, Wood, and Bouverie, from whom the above writers have largely borrowed; and by Dr. Halley, in the Philosophical Transactions; but the most interesting statements may be seen in Wells's Scripture Geography, vol. ii. 61-79. C. T. Middleton's Geography, vol. i. 87-90. Folio. London, 1778. And Crevier's Lives of the Roman Emperors, vol. ix. 147–175. See also Seller's Antiq. of Palm. London, 1696. And Quarterly Journal of Education, No. iii, p. 134. The valley of salt, where David got him a name by smiting the Syrians, is about four miles from this city. 2 Sam. viii. 13. Harmer, amongst a variety of interesting remarks, has the following: "To those who feel something of an incredulous anxiety, about the accounts which the sacred writers have given us, of the extent of the kingdom, and of the fame of Israel in the days of David and ness, and cities of store in Hamath, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, fenced cities, with walls, gates, and bars; for all which purposes he raised a levy of 30,000 men, besides 170,000 bearers of burdens, and hewers in the mountains.* Jehovah had promised Solomon great wisdom† for government, and one instance, in particular, is recorded of his extraordinary discrimination: two women laid claim to the same child, and each persisting that it was her own offspring, the judicious monarch, by ordering the child to be cut asunder alive, and divided between them, ascertained, from the force of maternal feeling, the rightful claimant. And all Israel heard of the judgment which the king had judged, and they feared the king; for they saw that Solomon, I would recommend the curious account which Wood (Ruins of Palmyra) has given of that state. Let them consider that it was a small territory in the midst of a desert, and yet extended its conquests over many rich countries and considerable states; that the great kingdoms of the Seleucidæ and of the Ptolomies became part of the dominions of a single city, whose name we in vain look for in history; and this, though it flourished in modern times, in comparison of the age of David; none of the dates found there (Palmyra) being earlier than Christ, and in times concerning which we have large accounts. That Palmyra and Balbec, which are perhaps the two most surprising remains of ancient magnificence now left, should be so neglected in history, as in a great measure to be left to tell their own story, appears a very remarkable fact, replete with more sorts of instruction than one. For, besides the moral lessons which Wood refers to, it removes at once all the imaginary difficulties derived from the supposed silence of profane history, concerning the kings and affairs of Jerusalem, a city which stood in the neighbourhood of Palmyra and Balbec, both of which are passed over in as great or greater silence; to which is to be added the consideration, that Jerusalem was much more ancient than either of them." Vol. iii. 367. 1 Kings, v. 13—15. 1 Kings, ix. 15-19. ii. 18 2 Chron. viii. 2-6. 1 Kings, iii. 12. 2 Chron. i. 12. the wisdom of God was in him to do judgment.* And God gave Solomon wisdom and understanding exceeding much, and largeness of heart, even as the sand that is on the sea shore. And Solomon's wisdom excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country, and all the wisdom of Egypt. For he was wiser than all men : than Ethan, the Ezrahite, and Heman, and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol: and his fame was in all nations round about. And he spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five. And he spake of trees, from the cedar tree that is in Lebanon, even unto the hyssop that springeth up out of the wall; he spake also of beasts, and of fowl, and of creeping things, and of fishes. And there came of all people to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, which had heard of his wisdom.† At that early period, too, it may be considered no small indication of superior intelligence, that Solomon turned his attention to commercial pursuits; for he built a navy of ships in Eziongaber, which is beside Eloth, on the shore of the Red Sea, in the land of Edom; and his servants traded to Ophir, with the servants of Hiram, king of Tyre, for gold,+ almug trees, and precious stones.§ In one year he received 666 talents of gold, besides that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country.|| He had, also at sea a navy of Tarshish,¶ with the navy of Hiram, which, once in three years, brought him gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.** * 1 Kings, iii. 16-28. +1 Kings, iv. 29–34. 1 Kings, ix. 26-28. 2 Chron. viii. 17, 18. §1 Kings, x. 11. | Kings, x. 14, 15. 2 Chron. ix. 13, 14. As to these places, see Bruce's Travels, vol. ii, 354. A. CLARKE, apud finem, 1 Kings, x. |