The animal was first of all killed and cut into pieces.The blood was either smeared upon the altar of incense,or was poured down before it.The rest of the animal (or a part of it containing the fat)was then allowed to be consumed by the coals of the Altar of Offering,which was made of brass and which stood outside of the temple in the so-called Court of the Priests,where the smoke could easily rise toward Heaven.
Whatever remained after the offering was then eaten by the people who made the sacrifice,or it was given to the priests,who together with their families,occupied three entire tiers of rooms which were conveniently built against the sides of the temple.
When the temple had been finished and was ready to open its doors to the faithful,Solomon dedicated the holy edifice with great and solemn festivities.
He invited all the leaders of the Jewish people to come to Jerusalem.
Together they first walked from Jerusalem to Zion to fetch the Ark.
Zion was the name of one of the hills on which the original village of Jerusalem had been situated.It had been a fortress which had belonged to the Jebusites,some of the original inhabitants of the land of Canaan.Their king had been killed by Joshua but they had maintained their independence for several centuries longer.
Finally David had captured Zion.
He had called it the City of David and had made it the nucleus for his future capital.
When he had brought back the Ark from Kirjath-jearim,it had been placed in a temporary tabernacle which had been constructed inside the old royal palace.
From there the priests now carried the Ark to its final resting place inside the Holy of Holies.
As soon as this had been done,a cloud filled the Temple,to show that the spirit of Jehovah was present.Then Solomon knelt down and prayed for his people and a bolt of fire descended from Heaven and it consumed the offering which had been placed upon the altar and the King and all his subjects knew that Jehovah was well pleased with his new home.
The feast which followed lasted two full weeks.
Solomon slaughtered twenty-two thousand oxen and one-hundred-and-twenty thousand sheep and the other people made offerings to the best of their ability.
All this greatly increased the fame of the King of the Jews.
For the first time in history,his country attracted international attention.There were visitors from many lands.Trade became more brisk than it had been before.Many of the Jewish merchants established offices of their own in the cities of Egypt and in those that were situated along the shores of the Mediterranean and the banks of the Euphrates and the Tigris.
It was the beginning of a great era of prosperity.
But the money did not prove an unmixed blessing.Solomon now rarely left his palace.He increased his body-guard and he was the first of the Jewish rulers to maintain separate regiments of cavalry.As he grew older,he withdrew completely from all business of state.He ceased to regard himself as the king of a few simple tribes of shepherds.He became undisputed ruler of a powerful oriental nation.
For reasons of state he had married the daughters of several of his more powerful neighbours.
Each of these women,whether Egyptian,Moabite,Hittite,Edomite,Ammonite or Phoenician,had of course remained faithful to the religion of her own country,and within the enclosure of the royal palace there might be found altars to Isis and to Baal and to the other heathenish gods of Africa and Asia.
Sometimes,to please a favourite wife,Solomon had allowed her to build a little temple of her own that she might worship her own gods as she had done when she was a child in the valley of the Nile or among the hills of Aram.It showed that the King was still a man of large and liberal views.But it did not increase his popularity among the masses who were strict followers of the only true God.
They had slaved and they had laboured and they had suffered untold hardships that the Temple might be built.
And now their King (of all people)deserted the House of Jehovah that he might sit in the dim splendours of some heathenish sanctuary.
It caused a great deal of discontent.
It kindled the spirit of revolt which was to break out into open rebellion as soon as Solomon should have passed away.
We know very little about his last years.They were minutely described in the “Acts of Solomon,”but the book has unfortunately been lost.
Solomon died peacefully and was buried with his fathers in the family vault in the City of David.
He might have laid the foundations for a strong Jewish state.His personal love of luxury and his spiritual indifference had made this impossible.
As soon as he was dead,the storm broke.
