15-28, Solomon was a great builder and employed vast numbers of Canaanites, the old inhabitants of the land, as forced laborers. They performed the drudgery, while the Israelites filled the more honorable and lucrative posts. See Iso. 60:10. There are Amorites and Perizzites in our lives. Let us not be

mastered by them, but compel them to subserve our own growth in grace.

Mille was the key to the fortifications of Jerusalem; Hazer and Megiddo, Baalath and Tadmor guarded the northern frontier. On the extreme south, the navies visited distant realms, and returned laden with gold. Such were Israel’s midsummer days. But as, in the latter days of summer, there is the faint odor of decay in the air, and we know that the autumn comes apace, so beneath all this splendor and imperial glory, as we turn to the earlier chapters of Ecclesiastes, we learn that decadence was at its heart.

1 Kings 10: 1-13. Sheba, to the Jewish mind, was at the ends of the earth, Matt. 12:42. It probably lay in southern Arabia, fifteen hundred miles from Jerusalem. The queen brought munificent presents of spices, gold, precious stones, and sweet-scented wood. The lastnamed Solomon used for musical instruments and for stairs in his Temple and palace, 2 Chron. 9:11. But the queen’s heart was set on plying him with hard questions, for which she had sought in vain a satisfactory solution.

We may come to ‘‘a greater than Solomon,’’ Matt. 12:42. Our native country may lie far away, but he will receive us, and give us the right to live forever in his palace, listening to his words and beholding his face. Let us bring him, as our gifts, the faith, love, and loyalty of our-hearts. Above all, let us lay before him our perplexities and questions. He may not immediately reveal an answer, as Solomon did, but will put his Spirit into our hearts. And having the anointing of the Spirit, we shall know all things, 1 John 2: 27, Though the mind cannot grasp, the heart will be at rest. The Bible, as someone says, does not teach us philosophy, but makes us philosophers. Be sure to obtain and use your share of his royal bounty.

1 Kings 10: 14-29. How dazzling is this description of Solomon’s glory! And yet our Lord said that it was excelled by a single lily of the field, Matt. 6:28. Solomon’s glory was put on from without; the real beauty is that which unfolds from within. If only your soul is planted in the soil of God’s grace, it will array itself in the beauties of a holy life. The stainless robes are those which are washed in the blood of the Lamb.

Observe again—this was not the glory of June, but of October. Already the germs of disease were in Solomon’s heart; already the autumn decay was in the air. The secret is told in the significant words of Neh. 13:26. Among many nations there was none like him and he was beloved of his God, but strange women were turning away his heart. It was a true statement that our Lord made concerning the rich, that with difficulty they enter the Kingdom, A holy man had good reason to pray earnestly for a young believer, who- had suddenly come into a large estate.