Chapter 6.
HOW SOLOMON FORTIFIED THE CITY OF JERUSALEM, AND BUILT GREAT
CITIES; AND HOW HE BROUGHT SOME OF THE CANAANITES INTO SUBJECTION, AND
ENTERTAINED THE QUEEN OF EGYPT AND OF ETHIOPIA.FJAJ 8.46
1. Now when the king saw that the walls of Jerusalem stood in need of
being better secured, and made stronger, (for he thought the wails that
encompassed Jerusalem ought to correspond to the dignity of the city,)
he both repaired them, and made them higher, with great towers upon them;
he also built cities which might be counted among the strongest, Hazor
and Megiddo, and the third Gezer, which had indeed belonged to the Philistines;
but Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, had made an expedition against it, and
besieged it, and taken it by force; and when he had slain all its inhabitants,
he utterly overthrew it, and gave it as a present to his daughter, who
had been married to Solomon; for which reason the king rebuilt it, as a
city that was naturally strong, and might be useful in wars, and the mutations
of affairs that sometimes happen
Moreover, he built two other cities not
far from it, Beth-horon was the name of one of them, and Baalath of the
other
He also built other cities that lay conveniently for these, in order
to the enjoyment of pleasures and delicacies in them, such as were naturally
of a good temperature of the air, and agreeable for fruits ripe in their
proper seasons, and well watered with springs
Nay, Solomon went as far
as the desert above Syria, and possessed himself of it, and built there
a very great city, which was distant two days' journey from Upper Syria,
and one day's journey from Euphrates, and six long days' journey from Babylon
the Great
Now the reason why this city lay so remote from the parts of
Syria that are inhabited is this, that below there is no water to be had,
and that it is in that place only that there are springs and pits of water.
When he had therefore built this city, and encompassed it with very strong
walls, he gave it the name of Tadmor, and that is the name it is still
called by at this day among the Syrians, but the Greeks name it Palmyra.FJAJ 8.47
2. Now Solomon the king was at this time engaged in building these cities.
But if any inquire why all the kings of Egypt from Menes, who built Memphis,
and was many years earlier than our forefather Abraham, until Solomon,
where the interval was more than one thousand three hundred years, were
called Pharaohs, and took it from one Pharaoh that lived after the kings
of that interval, I think it necessary to inform them of it, and this in
order to cure their ignorance, and to make the occasion of that name manifest.
Pharaoh, in the Egyptian tongue, signifies a king (16)
This signification of the name Pharaoh appears to be true. But what Josephus
adds presently, that no king of Egypt was called Pharaoh after Solomon's
father-in-law, does hardly agree to our copies, which have long afterwards
the names of Pharaoh Neehob, and Pharaoh Hophrah, 2 Kings 23:29; Jeremiah
44:30, besides the frequent mention of that name Pharaoh in the prophets.
However, Josephus himself, in his own speech to the Jews, Of the War, B.
V. ch. 9. sect. 4, speaks of Neehao, who was also called Pharaoh, as the
name of that king of Egypt with whom Abraham was concerned; of which name
Neehao yet we have elsewhere no mention till the days of Josiah, but only
of Pharaoh. And, indeed, it must be conceded, that here, and sect. 5, we
have more mistakes made by Josephus, and those relating to the kings of
Egypt, and to that queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, whom he supposes to have
come to see Solomon, than almost any where else in all his Antiquities.
but I suppose they made use of other names from their childhood; but when
they were made kings, they changed them into the name which in their own
tongue denoted their authority; for thus it was also that the kings of
Alexandria, who were called formerly by other names, when they took the
kingdom, were named Ptolemies, from their first king
The Roman emperors
also were from their nativity called by other names, but are styled Caesars,
their empire and their dignity imposing that name upon them, and not suffering
them to continue in those names which their fathers gave them
I suppose
also that Herodotus of Halicarnassus, when he said there were three hundred
and thirty kings of Egypt after Menes, who built Memphis, did therefore
not tell us their names, because they were in common called Pharaohs; for
when after their death there was a queen reigned, he calls her by her name
Nicaule, as thereby declaring, that while the kings were of the male line,
and so admitted of the same nature, while a woman did not admit the same,
he did therefore set down that her name, which she could not naturally
have
As for myself, I have discovered from our own books, that after Pharaoh,
the father-in-law of Solomon, no other king of Egypt did any longer use
that name; and that it was after that time when the forenamed queen of
Egypt and Ethiopia came to Solomon, concerning whom we shall inform the
reader presently; but I have now made mention of these things, that I may
prove that our books and those of the Egyptians agree together in many
things.FJAJ 8.48
3. But king Solomon subdued to himself the remnant of the Canaanites
that had not before submitted to him; those I mean that dwelt in Mount
Lebanon, and as far as the city Hamath; and ordered them to pay tribute.
He also chose out of them every year such as were to serve him in the meanest
offices, and to do his domestic works, and to follow husbandry; for none
of the Hebrews were servants [in such low employments]: nor was it reasonable,
that when God had brought so many nations under their power, they should
depress their own people to such mean offices of life, rather than those
nations; while all the Israelites were concerned in warlike affairs, and
were in armor; and were set over the chariots and the horses, rather than
leading the life of slaves
He appointed also five hundred and fifty rulers
over those Canaanites who were reduced to such domestic slavery, who received
the entire care of them from the king, and instructed them in those labors
and operations wherein he wanted their assistance.FJAJ 8.49
4. Moreover, the king built many ships in the Egyptian Bay of the Red
Sea, in a certain place called Ezion-geber: it is now called Berenice,
and is not far from the city Eloth
This country belonged formerly to the
Jews, and became useful for shipping from the donations of Hiram king of
Tyre; for he sent a sufficient number of men thither for pilots, and such
as were skillful in navigation, to whom Solomon gave this command: That
they should go along with his own stewards to the land that was of old
called Ophir, but now the Aurea Chersonesus, which belongs to India, to
fetch him gold
And when they had gathered four hundred talents together,
they returned to the king again.FJAJ 8.50
5. There was then a woman queen of Egypt and Ethiopia; (17)
That this queen of Sheba was a queen of Sabea in South Arabia, and not
of Egypt and Ethiopia, as Josephus here asserts, is, I suppose, now generally
agreed. And since Sabea is well known to be a country near the sea in the
south of Arabia Felix, which lay south from Judea also; and since our Savior
calls this queen, "the queen of the south," and says, "she
came from the utmost parts of the earth," Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31,
which descriptions agree better to this Arabia than to Egypt and Ethiopia;
there is little occasion for doubting in this matter.
she was inquisitive into philosophy, and one that on other accounts also
was to be admired
When this queen heard of the virtue and prudence of
Solomon, she had a great mind to see him; and the reports that went every
day abroad induced her to come to him, she being desirous to be satisfied
by her own experience, and not by a bare hearing; (for reports thus heard
are likely enough to comply with a false opinion, while they wholly depend
on the credit of the relators;) so she resolved to come to him, and that
especially in order to have a trial of his wisdom, while she proposed questions
of very great difficulty, and entreated that he would solve their hidden
meaning
Accordingly she came to Jerusalem with great splendor and rich
furniture; for she brought with her camels laden with gold, with several
sorts of sweet spices, and with precious stones
Now, upon the king's kind
reception of her, he both showed a great desire to please her, and easily
comprehending in his mind the meaning of the curious questions she propounded
to him, he resolved them sooner than any body could have expected
So she
was amazed at the wisdom of Solomon, and discovered that it was more excellent
upon trial than what she had heard by report beforehand; and especially
she was surprised at the fineness and largeness of his royal palace, and
not less so at the good order of the apartments, for she observed that
the king had therein shown great wisdom; but she was beyond measure astonished
at the house which was called the Forest of Lebanon, as also at
the magnificence of his daily table, and the circumstances of its preparation
and ministration, with the apparel of his servants that waited, and the
skillful and decent management of their attendance: nor was she less affected
with those daily sacrifices which were offered to God, and the careful
management which the priests and Levites used about them
When she saw
this done every day, she was in the greatest admiration imaginable, insomuch
that she was not able to contain the surprise she was in, but openly confessed
how wonderfully she was affected; for she proceeded to discourse with the
king, and thereby owned that she was overcome with admiration at the things
before related; and said, "All things indeed, O king, that came to
our knowledge by report, came with uncertainty as to our belief of them;
but as to those good things that to thee appertain, both such as thou thyself
possessest, I mean wisdom and prudence, and the happiness thou hast from
thy kingdom, certainly the same that came to us was no falsity; it was
not only a true report, but it related thy happiness after a much lower
manner than I now see it to be before my eyes
For as for the report, it
only attempted to persuade our hearing, but did not so make known the dignity
of the things themselves as does the sight of them, and being present among
them
I indeed, who did not believe what was reported, by reason of the
multitude and grandeur of the things I inquired about, do see them to be
much more numerous than they were reported to be
Accordingly I esteem
the Hebrew people, as well as thy servants and friends, to be happy, who
enjoy thy presence and hear thy wisdom every day continually
One would
therefore bless God, who hath so loved this country, and those that inhabit
therein, as to make thee king over them."FJAJ 8.51
6. Now when the queen had thus demonstrated in words how deeply the
king had affected her, her disposition was known by certain presents, for
she gave him twenty talents of gold, and an immense quantity of spices
and precious stones.FJAJ 8.52
(They say also that we possess the root of that balsam
which our country still bears by this woman's gift.) (18)
Some blame Josephus for supposing that the balsam tree might be first brought
out of Arabia, or Egypt, or Ethiopia, into Judea, by this queen of Sheba,
since several have said that of old no country bore this precious balsam
but Judea; yet it is not only false that this balsam was peculiar to Judea
but both Egypt and Arabia, and particularly Sabea; had it; which last was
that very country whence Josephus, if understood not of Ethiopia, but of
Arabia, intimates this queen might bring it first into Judea. Nor are we
to suppose that the queen of Sabaea could well omit such a present as this
balsam tree would be esteemed by Solomon, in case it were then almost peculiar
to her own country. Nor is the mention of balm or balsam, as carried by
merchants, and sent as a present out of Judea by Jacob, to the governor
of Egypt, Genesis 37:25; 43:11, to be alleged to the contrary, since what
we there render balm or balsam, denotes rather that turpentine which we
now call turpentine of Chio, or Cyprus, the juice of the turpentine tree,
than this precious balm. This last is also the same word that we elsewhere
render by the same mistake balm of Gilead; it should be rendered, the turpentine
of Gilead, Jeremiah 8:22.
Solomon also repaid her with many good things, and principally by bestowing
upon her what she chose of her own inclination, for there was nothing that
she desired which he denied her; and as he was very generous and liberal
in his own temper, so did he show the greatness of his soul in bestowing
on her what she herself desired of him
So when this queen of Ethiopia
had obtained what we have already given an account of, and had again communicated
to the king what she brought with her, she returned to her own kingdom.FJAJ 8.53