This palace consisted of several halls,
the chief of which were: The Forest of Lebanon, the Hall of Pillars,
and the Hall of Judgment. Near the palace was the residence of the
king himself and his Egyptian Queen-a house that would compare well
with the royal palaces of her native land. Indeed all Moriah and the
ground about its base were covered with immense structures.

Besides the temple, palace and other great buildings at the capitol,
Solomon undertook various other great building enterprises. He built
many great cities not only in the territory of ancient Palestine but
in his now extended empire. The most famous of these were Tadmor or
Palmyra and Baalath, or Baalbic. The former built at an oasis of the
Syrian desert seems to have been a sort of trade emporium for the
traders of Syria and the Euphrates to exchange wares with the
merchants of Egypt. The latter was near Lebanon and was chiefly
notable for its temple of the sun which was one of the finest edifices
of Syria.

It would be difficult to put too high a value upon the influence
wrought by these vast building enterprises. It can hardly be doubted
that the building of the temple was the most important single event of
the period of the United Kingdom. From this time on Israel ceased to
look back to Sinai and regard Jerusalem as the dwelling place of
Jehovah. Its priesthood and services became the support of all the
coming kings. The prophets proclaimed their immortal messages from its
sacred precincts and through it was nurtured the pure religion of
Jehovah.

Solomon's Writings. During this period as in the previous one literary
culture made a great advance. Solomon, like David his father,
possessed extraordinary literary gifts and as a writer had large
influence. Three books of the Scripture are ascribed to him. (1) _The
Book of Proverbs_. There is no reason to believe, however, that he
wrote all of them. It is a collection of proverbs or rather several
collections. Some were written by Solomon, collected by him from the
wise sayings of others and still others were added collections of
later times. (2) _Ecclesiastes_. The purpose of this book seems to be
to show the result of successful worldliness and self-gratification
compared with a life of godliness. It is intended to show that the
realization of all one's aim and hopes and aspirations in the matters
of wealth, pleasure and honor will not bring satisfaction to the
heart. (3) _The Song of Solomon_. To