nd seventy thousand smitten by the pestilence not
on account of the king but on account of themselves, for we read

The anger of Jehovah kindled still more against Israel; therefore He
incited David against them saying, Go, number Israel and Judah (2 Sa
24:1).

245. _Solomon was allowed to establish idolatrous forms of worship._ For
he was to represent the Lord's kingdom or church in all varieties of
religion in the world. For the church established with the Israelitish
and Jewish nation was a representative church; all of its judgments and
statutes represented the spiritual things of a church, which are its
internals. The people represented the church, the king the Lord, David
the Lord to come into the world, Solomon the Lord after His coming. As
the Lord after the glorification of His humanity had all power over
heaven and earth (as He said, Mt 28:18), Solomon as representative of Him
appeared in glory and magnificence, was wise beyond all earthly kings,
and also built the temple. Moreover, he permitted and set up the forms of
worship of many nations, by which the various religions of the world were
represented. His wives, who numbered seven hundred and his concubines who
numbered three hundred (1 Kgs 11:13), had a similar signification, for
"wife" in the Word signifies the church and "concubine" a form of
religion. Hence it may be evident why it was granted Solomon to build the
temple, by which the Divine Humanity of the Lord (Jn 2:19, 21) is
signified and the church, too; and why he was allowed to establish
idolatrous forms of worship and to take so many wives. See _Doctrine of
the New Jerusalem about the Lord_ (nn. 43, 44) that in many places in the
Word the Lord who was to come into the world is meant by David.

246. _After Solomon many kings were allowed to profane the temple and the
sacred things of the church._ This was because the people represented the
church and the king was their head. The Israelitish and Jewish nation was
of such a nature that they could not represent the church for long, for
at heart they were idolaters; they therefore relapsed gradually from
representative worship, perverting all things of the church, even to
devastating it finally. This was represented by the profanations of the
temple by the kings and by the people's idolatries; the full devastation
of the church was represented by the destruction of the temple, the
carrying off of Israel, and the captivity of Judah in Babylon. Such w