and a half years, when all the tribes gave their
allegiance to David, who then fixed his seat at Jerusalem, which he had
wrested from the Jebusites, and his illustrious reign began, when he was
thirty years of age, B.C. 1048, after several years of adversity and
trial.

CHAPTER VII.

THE JEWISH MONARCHY.

(M122) We can not enter upon a detail of the conquests of David, the
greatest warrior that his nation has produced. In successive campaigns,
extending over thirty years, he reduced the various Canaanite nations that
remained unconquered--the Amalekites, the Moabites, the Philistines, the
Edomites, and the Syrians of Tobah. Hiram, king of Tyre, was his ally. His
kingdom extended from the borders of Egypt to the Euphrates, and from the
valley of Coelo-Syria to the eastern gulf of the Red Sea. But his reign, if
glorious and successful, was marked by troubles. He was continually at
war; his kingdom was afflicted with a plague as the punishment for his
vanity in numbering the people; his son Amnon disgraced him; Absalom, his
favorite son, revolted and was slain; he himself was expelled for a time
from his capital.

(M123) But David is memorable for his character, and his poetry, his
romantic vicissitudes of life, and as the founder of a dynasty rather than
for his conquests over the neighboring nations. His magnificent virtues
blended with faults; his piety in spite of his sins, his allegiance to
God, and his faith in his promises invest his character with singular
interest. In his Psalms he lives through all the generations of men. He
reigned thirty-three years at Jerusalem, and seven at Hebron, and
transmitted his throne to Solomon--his youngest child, a youth ten years of
age, precocious in wisdom and culture.

(M124) The reign of Solomon is most distinguished for the magnificent
Temple he erected in Jerusalem, after the designs furnished by his father,
aided by the friendship of the Phoenicians. This edifice, "beautiful for
situation--the joy of the whole earth," was the wonder of those times, and
though small compared with subsequent Grecian temples, was probably more
profusely ornamented with gold, silver, and precious woods, than any
building of ancient times. We have no means of knowing its architectural
appearance, in the absence of all plans and all ruins, and much ingenuity
has been expended in conjectures, which are far from satisfactory. It most
probably resembled a