Book One

EDITOR CORBETT
Book One: The Glory of the King
The First Emperor of the Ark
(The Kebra Negast -- Corbett Translation, 2005)

I

The Slaughter of the Lambs
1. JERUSALEM, 968 B.C.E.
THE RITUALISTIC slaughter of the lambs on the hill above The Ophel in Jerusalem had always drawn throngs of voyeurs, nauseatingly attracted to Shechita.
The shochet tested his chalaf with his calloused forefinger and then raised it above his shoulders and with dramatic accuracy sliced the silent animal's neck, cutting right back so that the carotoid arteries and the jugular veins were included.
The devout slaughterer was particular about the extremely sharp instrument, making certain it was perfectly smooth, without a single notch or dent, a pitch to which only very careful and trained men can bring to a knife. At once the whole of blood was spilt out of the brain, followed by unconsciousness.
This September Wednesday, some 500 sheep were meticulously herded through the narrow gate, which was hidden by a massive rock formation, leading to an open-air abbatoir, by a handful of herdsmen, all especially handpicked for their knowledge of these sacrificial animals. The priests of Azariah demanded nothing less than perfection.
Abda, the chief shochet, was aware of his divine duties and he would adhere to all the sanctuary regulations. He believed he was preordained, pure of heart and devout in the fulfillment of his obligations for, in the language of the sacred writings: "There are no mysteries before God, for He searcheth the hearts of men."
Smiling faintly, Abda searched for his son's face in the early-morning audience of more than 2,000. His pride swelled within his breast for King Solomon had just appointed Adoniram superintendent of public works for Judah and the jewel called Jerusalem.
He glanced again and noticed a full-faced, tall man, with ebony skin, sitting next to his son on the stony ridges. The man was definitely a foreigner. Probably one of those Red Sea importers, he thought.
Abda was accustomed to visitors within the City of David, for the king was courting these wealthy merchants by the score, as he proceeded with the building of the Great Temple to Yahweh.
Abda scolded himself inwardly, for he knew his mind and heart must be on the sacred task.
He uttered a blessing appropriate to the act of slaughtering. Repeating it wouldn't be necessary.
He would take care to concentrate and not let himself be interrupted by any irrevelant speech or acts.
The slaughter would be over in three hours, far in advance of the setting sun.
Then Abda and his fellow shochets would ensure the cleanliness of the abbatoir. His chief associate, Baana, would assist him in washing down the smooth rock floor.
2.
"OPINION?" Adoniram asked in flat tones, trying to hide his displeasure with his father's profession, one which Abda had, on many occasions, tried to persuade him to pursue.
A father's obsession, but he had chosen a different path, for civil engineering was much more lucrative, and tolerable than slicing animals' throats.
It was so uncivilized, but Shechita was just one pf the public relations' tools in luring foreign trading partners to Solomon's Court.
"Spectacular," Tamrin bellowed, followed by a belly laugh of titanic proportions, one which made Adoniram cringe, for he considered escorting uncouth merchants beneath his newly-acquired status.
"Where to, next?"
"My office."
The petulant engineer, only 26, in his flowing white gown, and the 44-year-old merchant and ambassador, in an off-gray outfit, still retaining the grittiness of travel, swiftly moved down the slight slope about 150 yards to the side of the unfinished eastern wing of Solomon's Palace, now being temporarily used as an official government building, which housed the Great Conference and Banquet Halls. A few steps beyond was a cluster of low-rise and interconnected non-descript rooms, one of which was Adoniram's office for public works.
Tamrin had been overwhelmed by the verdant green of the surrounding manicured lawns and with the flowers of every hue and color. He was also struck by the supenatural light which seemed to cover the slopes from the Rock and the Ophel, affectionately known as The Hump, down into the City of David. Outside the walls in the Hinnon Valley, the browns and grays of indiscriminate shrubbery was in stark contrast to the richness of Adoniram's world.
"Tamrin!"
The edge in the cabinet minister's voice broke his train of thought.
Walking into the one-floor building no more than 20 yards from a sentry tower on the eastern wall overlooking the Kidron Valley, the Ethiopian noticed a wide table of blueprints, all numbered, and rising about 15 inches off the surface.
"Cedar, from Lebanon?"
It was more a statement than a question as Tamrin stared at the top scroll, marked in fine penmanship, TEMPLE, in the right-hand corner and 1. on the left side.
Adoniram was taken aback by Tamrin's remark.
"How did you know that?"
The belly laugh again.
"I know everything. Everything. Just ask me anything."
Then with a deadpan expression sweeping across his face, which had more crevices than a Simien mountain range, the merchant from the Land of the South, he called Ethiopia, slapped his hands on both sides of his cheekbones, and said:
"What did you take me for, Adoniram, stupid?"
The engineer with the refined features, looked into Tamrin's dark eyes and, for a brief moment, saw the fire of knowledge seering into his very soul, and his perception of his visitor was forever altered.

Tamrin: I've been to the mountains.
Adoniram: The mountains?
Tamrin: Yes, the mountains of Lebanon. When I was younger, my king, Agabos, sent me to Tyre in Phoenicia to pay tribute to King Hiram. We, too, needed cedar, for the building of a palace in the Arabian Saba. But enough about me, tell me about your king's plans?
Adoniram: He wants to build a magnificent temple of cedar and also a palace for himself and his wives.
Tamrin: His wives? How many does he have?
Adoniram: Hundreds.
Tamrin: Hundreds? Greedy?

Adoniram acknowledged the flippancy by clucking his tongue against the roof of his mouth. Tamrin seemed startled, for polygamy was discouraged throughout Ethiopia and the territory of Arabian Saba, across the Narrows of the Red Sea.
"Married?"
"Yes."
No would have been a more correct answer.
Although he had no lack of women, attracted to his physical presence and charismatic personality, Tamrin savored the memory of his beloved Bela, whom he lost to the Danakil sands 20 years earlier.
"Tamrin!"
The forcefulness of his name being spoken again, brought him back to reality.
"Water?"
Adoniram poured it from a large jar with a narrow neck into his pottery cup.
To that instant, the ambassador hadn't realized his thirst; for travellers of the sand and sea learn to endure parched throats day after day until it becomes part of the numbness they have to accommodate within their bodies.
Shuffling the scrolls, Adoniram's eyes fell on one numbered 14, again in fine penmanship, in the left-hand corner.
"Look, at this one."
It was the floor plan of the Temple Proper.
"Where's the site?"
The Ethiopian, with the expressive almond-shaped eyes, had a way of cutting through expressive verbiage and swiftly reached the precise point.
"Let's go up on the roof, " Adoniram said, his voice now filled with enthusiasm.
The exterior steps were narrow and on a steep incline to a flat, but pebbly surface, which seemed to stick to the bottom of their sandals, much like strong adhesive.
As if anticipating their visit, two plans of rough cedar, with splinters intact, had been carelessly placed in the center of the roof.
"Look up there."
He pointed to a fenced-off area, where he and Tamrin had watched the slaughter of the sheep and lambs earlier in the day.
"That's Moriah."
A flash of sunlight struck like sparks off the granite surface of the massive rock formation.
"What's that?"
"That's the Rock of Abraham and Isaac."
A thousand questions flooded the Ethiopian's mind, but he asked only one.
"Where are you going to build the Temple?"
"There."
Adoniram pointed his right forefinger towards a space just east of the pock-marked rock.
"We already have the infra-structure in place."
Tamrin had briefly examined the expansive rock plateau, now being used as an abbatoir, for he was a man of detail.

3.
SUDDENLY, BOTH could hear voices in the downstairs office..
Adoniram (to Tamrin): That's Shisha's son, Elihoreph and Ahijah. They're cabinet secretaries. Prissy guys. Always worrying about money.
Eliporeph (audibly sniffling): What does Adoniram want with this Ethiopian?

The secretaries, in charge of the Temple budget, knew they could be overheard, and it was obvious, the superintendent of public works in Solomon's Court, knew that they knew, and with his voice lifted up to a higher decibel.

Adoniram: We understand you have mines of gold in Ophir, and sapphires, and some black wood, you call acacia.
Tamrin: That's correct.

The ambassador's eyes twinkled in playing a game with the two interlopers. Both Adoniram and his guest, as if by a pre-arranged signal, then lowered their voices so Elihoreph and Ahijah would have to strain to even catch a phrase here and there.

Adoniram: We used to have an overabundance of it down in the Sinai, but a tree rot disease infested the groves aboiut 10 years ago.
Tamrin: Tree rot? Acacia's not supposed to rot.

Although Ethiopia had healthy forests of black wood, Tamrin, at that moment, realized that acacia once mejestically rose close to the shoreline along the Gulf of Akaba, near the sheltered harbor close to the twin windswept points of entry, Ezion-geber and Elath, when he first went to the mountains of Lebanon.
Then they disappeared.
"Our trees are safe."
"We thought that, too."
They edged their way down the rock-hewn steps.
The secretaries made their leave, without any introductions offered or received, and Adoniram and Tamrin resumed by pouring over the blueprints while eclipsing the afternoon hours.
The Chief Merchant of the Land of the South was so enthralled by the Temple complex, he had forgotten about food and the tiredness in his arthritic bones.
The exhilaration of Shechita and the exploration of his new-found friend's keen mind had been well worth any pain.
Only the darkness, which covered Jerusalem like a loving father's hand, forced Tamrin's eyes to droop.
"Tomorrow's another day, friend," Adoniram whispered.

4.

THE RAYS of the early Thursday morning sun warmed Tamrin's craggy face and he clutched the white linen to his still taut body. He savored the luxury, for life on the road and on the sea never provided such luxury.
Outside the walls of the City of David, in the Hinnon Valley, were encampments of traders and he thought of his 150 men and their camels, who had travelled more than 1,400 miles from Marib in the Arabian Saba with a complement of acacia wood, sapphires, ebony and gold, in exchange of grains and, in particular, metals which were being smelted in the Sinai.
The Chief Merchant cared for the safety of his company of men, but his aide-de-camp, Gizaw, was a strong leader and would report to Tamrin during the continuing trade negotiations in the Great Hall on The Ophel that afternoon.
Keeping his eyes closed and lying motionless, he absorbed the sounds of Jerusalem.
The crowing of love-sick roosters.
The braying of donkeys in a distant market.
The faint tapping of instruments breaking rocks in a Kidron quarry.
A symphony of discordant notes conducted by a tone-deaf maestro.
Then the soft whimperings of a baby girl and the low voice of a man in prayer.
Such sounds needed eyes.
The Ethiopian rubbed his and was surprised to look at the kneeling forms of Adoniram and his three-year-old son, Benjamin, on the open-air roof adjacent to his bedchamber, which was protected from the elements by a slight wall of limestone.
Both father and son were facing the Hill Moriah with their arms resting on a solid cedar altar, five feet in length and only two feet in height. The two forms seemed almost draped over the place of worship.
"O God, thou art my God, early will I seek thee, my flesh longeth for thee: To see thy power and thy glory."
Adoniram and Benjamin slowly turned to the ambassador, now dressed in fresh clothing.
The pleasantries of the day were exchanged and the three moved down the exterior steps to the smells wafting from the open door of the kitchen of Adoniram's wife, Sarah, who was holding a baby girl. Her name was Naomi.

"We must take our guest to the Pool," Sarah said, while clearing off the breakfast utensils from the table. She was referring to the Pool of Siloam, near the Fountain Gate of the City of David, about a half-hour's brisk walk from the conclave of high government officials.
"Yes, I will, " Adoniram pleasantly acknowledged his wife of six years, who had bore him two children and now was four months pregnant. He was praying for anther boy.
The Pool of Siloam was fed pure water through a conduit from an underground spring, known as the Gihon, in the Kidron Valley. Both royalty and commoners flocked to it; for, it was said to have medicinal and healing qualities.
Ambassador Tamrin traversed the 39 well-worn steps and as his body knifed into its waters, he felt his aches dissipate.
Mind over matter, he thought.

5.

WHEN COMMANDER Adray of the Royal Merchant Fleet out of Ezion-Geber sent a message to the harbormaster at Adulis on the Gulf of Zula, a year earlier, Tamrin was quick to reply.
The message read: King Solomon requests your immediate meeting with Chief Negotiator Adray. Salutations.
The Ethiopian, who had 520 camels and 73 ships at his disposal, knew of the giant projects for nearly 10 years, ever since his sojourns to the mountains of Lebanon.
Rumors flew like woodchips about Solomon's father David's plans of building a temple in Jerusalem. However, when David died, the reports faded, only to be resurrected by Adray's message.
The Ethiopian and the Commander renewed acquaintances outside the Great Hall, which was nearly full to its capacity of 3,000 with delegates from all over the trading map. The Indias, the Arabias, Nubia, Syene, Egypt and Phoenicia. And, of course, Ethiopia, the port of Adulis, Marib in the territory of Arabian Saba, and the Kingdom's major city, Yeha.
Tamrin was Queen Makeda's respresentative in all business matters; her regent in practice, even though his titles were still limited to Chief Merchant and Ambassador and guardian, for Makeda had been on the throne less than three years following the death of her beloved father, Agabos.
II
His Heritage of Courage

1. GREAT CONFERENCE HALL

THE PRESENCE of Solomon at the front of the great audience was awe-inspiring, even to the oft-times cynical reactions of Tamrin.
A man's man. Tall. At least six feet. Broad-shouldered, tapering to a slim waist and bronzed, muscular legs showing under a white tunic, which was cinched by a wide gold belt.
The gods must have chiselled his face, the Ethiopian thought, for it was wide and full of character with piercing eyes, which seemed to bore into the soul.
If physical attributes of the man were to be praised, it was his speech that set him apart from all men ; speaking in parables, some said his words were sweeter than the purest honey.

2.

HIS HERITAGE was one of courage, wagered against heavy odds, for his father, David, had risen from a much-maligned shepherd boy, who had taken a circuitious route to lead a nation of one million Israelites while subduing their mortal enemies, th coastal Philistines.
When Saul, who was Commander in his early days and later King, was defeated at the base of Mount Gilboa, he committed suicide by throwing himself on his sword. Dying with him that day were his three sons and the tribal league, which had been in existence for some 200 years.
The Philistines, known for their exceptional cruelty, sliced off Saul's head and paraded it about their cities, then hung his body on the wall of Beth-Shean, in the sight of passers-by, where it was left to rot.
The scragglers from Saul's remaining tribal army scattered to their ruined villages, however, the Philistines had a taste for blood and, being brutal and urelenting rulers, they were determined to exterminate any Israelite presence in the Promised Land of Canaan.
The residue of greatness of the tribal federation of 12 tribes was reduced to small bands of roaming fanatics, distinguished from the more sane populace, by their enraptured dancing and singing to timbrels and pipes, which led to prophesying in dervish-like frenzy, often concluding with them rolling naked on the ground.
In the past, a judge-king, anointed by a priest-prophet ruled, but due to a public outcry, Saul had been named king and now he was dead, leaving only one small 600-man army left in Israel -- a private band of ruffians, led by an outcast named David, the son of Jesse, a Judean elder.
Saul had been David's nemesis, benefactor and father-in-law before his untimely death.

3.

HANDSOME, ruddy-complexioned, but rather small, David had been forced to stay at home, tending sheep, while his brothers had been conscripted into Saul's army against the Philistines.
When the enemy camped in the Valley of Elah, David took food to his brothers, little realizing it would be the turning point in his life and his generation.
There he challenged a gloating Philistine named Goliath and after killing the giant warrior, David was elevated to an officer of mercenary troops, even though he had no formal training.
Although Saul should have been pleased with his young recruit, he wasn't. In fact, he grew resentful because of his successful forays. He actually believed David was becoming a threat to his throne because of his public popularity.
Even the friendship with one of king's sons, Jonathan, was a sore spot, causing Saul to fly into a rage, believing somehow David was plotting to steal the monarchy by manipulating his naive son.
Then in his half-mad state, Saul tried to have David killed by the Philistines in a bizarre manner.
In exchange for the hand of his second daughter, the cold and indifferent Michal, Saul asked for a dowryof the foreskins of 100 Philistines, believing there was no way the young officer could escape their wrath. He not only mutiliated 100 of the enemy, but brought back 200 foreskins to Saul.
So enraged by his son-in-law's exploits, court agents were sent into David's bedroom to kill him, but Michal aided his escape into the night, without any weapon to defend himself.
What followed were years of wandering, trying to escape Saul's vindictiveness.
At Ramah, David met the aging prophet, Samuel, in the company of zealots, and then in the court sanctuary of at Nob, where the priest Ahimelech, unaware of Saul's obsession, fed him and handed over Goliath's sword, which had been kept there as a treasure of war.
The priest certainly paid for his unwitting generosity, for Saul would order him and his priestly family murdered by the Edomite mercenary, Doeg, after the Israelite soldiers refused to obey the king's edict.

4.

BESIDES BEING a talented musician and writer of poetry, David proved to be an accomplished actor when he fled to the Philistine city of Gath, where he was immediately recognized.
Foaming at the mouth with froth staining his red beard, he played the madman to the hilt, so much so the Gath king feared he was possessed and ordered him out of the city.
However, he was best suited as a warrior, and not an out-of-work actor, and so he became captain of 400 dissidents, whom he discovered hiding in the cave of Adullum, near Hebron, in the Judean hills.
It was savage country, but there in the wilderness of Paran, he offered protection to the clans of Judah against Amalekite raids while Saul continued to hunt him.
In a brilliant political move, David next offered himself as a much more sane-looking vassal to King Achish of Gath , who believed by recruiting one of their heroes, it would divide Judah and the rest of Israel even more with Philistia not having to lift a sword.
Based in the southern town of Ziklag, David's little army guarded the Philistine border from the Amalekite marauders and the clans of Judah while the Philistine army battled the Israelites in Saul's army. Using subterfuge, David raided the Amalekites and then split the booty with Achish and some of the leading families of Judah.
While Achish was convinced of the loyalty of David's expanded army of 600 hardened troops and wanted him to join Philistia against Saul, other leaders had their doubts and, while awaiting their decision, David was sent back to Ziklag.
When he was there, Saul and his sons, including Jonathan, died at Mount Gilboa, which sorely distressed David, so much so that he wrote the dirge, which begins, "Thy beauty, O Israel, upon thy high places is slain! How have the mighty fallen!"
Gathering his men and their families, he moved to Hebron, th chief city of Judah, without any opposition from Philistia; and waited for divine orders, for his faith in the Lord Jehovah -- Yahweh -- never wavered, even in the wilderness of life.
Meanwhile, Saul's surviving son, Eshbaal, an inept weakling, was made ruler from the town of Mahanaim across the Jordan in the north by Abner, Saul's commander of the tribal levies. It spurred the followers of David and those loyal to General Abner to resume hostilities.
Just when a ceasefire in the two-year civil war seemed in sight, mean-spirited Commander Joab, who happened to be David's nephew, took it upon himself to kill Abner on the pretense of a blood vengeance, for Abner had earlier killed Joab's brother in battle.
Not only were the elders of the northern tribes livid. David claimed Abner deserved to die in battle harness or old age and criticized the assassination and buried Abner with honor in Hebron.
To enflame matters even more, two of David's officers in Mahanaim murdered Eshbaal and brought him his head, expecting some kind of reward.
Mollified by the deed, David had the two slain.
Finally, the elders came to Hebron and crowned David king over all Israel by divine right, although as "the Lord's anointed," he was the constitutional and not absolute monarch, for his kingship was based on a solemn covenant with his subjects. The "anointing" was a solemn religious act, but it was performed, not by the priests, but by the heads of the tribes.
At the age of 30, he ruled the north and the south -- Judah and Israel -- after reigning from Hebron over Judah for seven and a half years.

5.

THE HUNTED MAN now became the hunter as David tried to unite Israel and Judah into a politically adhesive unit despite the existence of two capitals -- Hebron and Mahanain.
The topography also was a hindrance with a range of hills separating the two, but to the new king it became another challenge to overcome.
Midway between the two capitals stood the alien fortress of Jebus, or Jerusalem, the "Foundation of the God Shalem," which was considered impregnable, with its water supply being delivered from an underground spring.
The Jebusites were so boastful, they snarled that even the blind and the cripples could keep David out.

King David (to his troops): Go up through the water tunnel into the city and destroy those 'blind and lame' Jebusites. I really hate them, men! And what's more, the first man to kill a Jebusite, I'll make him my commander-in-chief.

Joab, the son of Zeruiah, was the first, so he became general of David's army. This is the same man who had ordered Abner killed.
David lived in the fortress of Zion, or Signpost, while Joab rebuilt the rest of Jerusalem. When it was conquered, it measured about 12 acres -- 1,250 feet from the north to south and 400 feet from the east to the west. Beginning at the old Millo section, he built northward towards the present city center.
Although Joshua had previously allotted the city to the Hebrews, a period of 515 years had passed before David's siege.
With this latest conquest, David's fame spread and King Hiram of Tyre sent lumber, carpenters and masons to build him a proper palace, since in the past he had lived a nomadic life in tents made of badger skins.
After moving from Hebron to Jerusalem, David married additional wives and concubines and fathered many sons and daughters. His children born in Jerusalem were Shammu-a, Shoabab, Nathan, Ibhar, Elishu-a, Nepheg, Japhia, Elishama, Elaida, Eliphelet and his eventual successor, Solomon.
When the Philistines heard that David had been crowned king of Israel, they tried to capture him, but he was told in advance, and he stayed in his stronghold with the Philistines crowding into the valley of Rephaim, preparing to attack.
He turned to his god, Yahweh, asking him: "'Should I go out and fight against them? Will you defeat them for me?"
"Yes, go ahead, for I will give them to you," was the reply.
At Baal-perazim, David subdued the Philistines and he wildly cried: "The Lord did it! He burst through my enemies like a raging flood."
He named the place Bursting.
His troops confiscated many idols the Philistines had abandoned, but his enemy had only retreated and no given up the fight, so when he asked the Lord what to do, he was given the answer of "don't make a front attack. Go behind them and come up by the balsam trees. When you hear the marching feet in the tops of the balsam trees, attack. For it will signify that the Lord has prepared the way for you and will destroy them."
Following the divine instructions, David slaughtered the Philistines all the way from Geba to Gezer.
III
The Terrible Golden Container
1.
THROUGHOUT MUCH of Israel's history, the Very Essence of God Yahweh was contained in the Ark of the Covenant, a small ( 3-3/4-foot x 2 1/2 wide c 2 1/4 high) golden box, which had wielded awesome and terrifying power since the Patriarch had placed the two tablets of the Law -- the Ten Commandments -- in it centuries earlier.
Its legendary power had often been translated into supreme confidence by anyone who had possessed it, even since the carpenter Bezalel had constructed it out of acacia wood and the tabernacle during the Moses-led trek across the Sinai Wilderness after fleeing the Egyptian oppressors towards the Promised Land of Canaan.
David was aware of the legends concerning it, from it being used in the conquest of Jericho, the stopping of the Jordan, to its devastation on Hebrew enemies. However, for generations the Ark had been neglected, if not ignored by the Israelites, terming it an ancient relic from the "old days."
However, the new king wanted to bring it home to Jerusalem, from Baal-judah, where it had been at the hillside home of Abinadah.
So David mobilized 30,000 special troops and the Ark was placed on a new cart and driven by Abindah's sons, Uzzah and Ahio, with Ahio walking in front and followed by David and other leaders of Israel, who were joyfully waving branches of juniper trees and playing every sort of musical instruments -- lyres, harps, tambourines, castanets and cymbals.
As they arrived at the threshing floor of Nacob, the oxen stumbled and Uzzah reached out his hand to steady the Ark. Suddenly, a flame shot out, killing him instantly. David was shocked and called the spot, The Place of Wrath Upon Uzzah.
"How can I ever bring the Ark home?" he cried into the heavens that night.
Fearing more incidents, he decided against bringing it into the City of David and had it carried into the home of Obed-edom, who had come from Gath. It remained there three months and stories reached David about how Obed-edom had prospered during this time.
Wearing priest's clothing, he led a great celebration into Jerusalem. After the men, who were carrying it, had gone six paces, they stopped and waited so that he could sacrifice an ox and a fat lamb.
And David danced naked before the Lord with all his might and as the procession came into the city, Saul's daughter, Michal, watched in disgust at her husband's antics.
A special tent had been placed in the Lower City and the monarch sacrificed burnt offerings and peace offerings and blessed the throngs in the name of the Lord of Heaven, and gave a present to everyone -- men and women alike -- of a loaf of bread, some wine, and a cake of raisins. When it was all over, and everyone had gone home, he returned to bless his own family.
"How glorious the king of Israel looked today," snapped Michal. "He exposed himself to the street girls like a common pervert."
David's joy couldn't be extinguished.
"Listen, Michal, I was dancing before the Lord, who chose me above your father and his family. He appointed me as leader of Israel, the people of the Lord! So I am willing to act like a fool in order to show my joy in the Lord. Yes, and I'm willing to look even more foolish that this, but I will be respected by the girls of whom you spoke."
From that moment on, their relationship completely deteriorated, so much so that David and Michal were childless.

2.

PROSPERITY and peace, however, spread across the region under David's rule, particularly, with the subjugation of the remaining Canaanite pockets of resistance in the coastal foothills, in the Plain of Sharon between Jaffa and Mount Carmel, and in the northern valleys.
There was also no outside interference, for Egypt was in domestic turmoil and far-off Assyria, whose brief bid for empire under Tilgath-pileser I had come to a halt, was now being pounded back to the walls of her chief city, Ashur, by invading Armameans.
His supremacy, either out of fear or being conquered, stretched into Moah, Hamath, Edom, Elat to the Euphrates River and David's finances reached into the billions by tribute which was paid to him.
He now controlled and could tax the users of the two main trade routes passing from Egypt and Arabia through his land's coastal Via Maris, over which fleeing slaves had feared once to pass, and the inland King's Highway, which some of the slaves and their children had avoided on their way to the land promised them by Yahweh with whom they covenanted at Sinai. He also took distant Jadmor, later called Palmyra, a dusty town halfway between Damascus and the Euphrates that was an income-yielding caravan stop.
So Moab, Ammon, Edom, Armaean Zobah and even Armaean Damascus, the oldest city in the known world, became David's vassals and only 20 years after Saul's death, the united kingdoms of Judah and Israel, under King David, was the greatest empire in the Near East.

3.

THE ARRIVAL of the Ark in Jerusalem wasn't without incident.
Respect for its awesome power had diminished somewhat since its construction some 570 years earlier under the mountains of the Sinai.
In their wandering desert life, the Israelites were shaped into a distinctive and well-organized community under Moses' leadership. They had a defined relatioship with Yahweh, a system of laws and a priesthood headed by Moses' brother, Aaron, and his two sons.
The Shekinah, the Divine Presence, the Glory of the King travelled with them and was associated with two sacred objects -- the Ark of the Covenant and the Tabernacle -- that together formed a portable sanctuary.
The Ark, of course, was the container for the Tablets of the Law and was put in the care of the Tribe of Levi, which was exempted from military duties.

4.

BEFORE DAVID's well-publicized confrontation with the Philistine Goliath in the Valley of Elah where the youngster selected five stones from the brook, which runs through the center oif the valley, and used them to kill the giant, the Philistines had attacked the Israelites and killed 4,000 at Aphek.
There was despair, but they suddenly remembered the Ark and so they sent for it and brought it into their camp.
This time the Philistines, not only killed 30,000 Israelites, but they stole the Ark.
Taking it to their city of Ashdod, the Philistines put it in the temple of their god, Dagon, as a trophy.
The following morning, when they came to worship Dagon, they found their idol, which had a man's head and a fish's body, had fallen off its pedestal and prostrate before the Ark. Each time they set Dagon on the pedestal it toppled over.
Following its arrival in Ashdod, a loathsome dysentery swept the city, killing thousands and this was followed up by a horde of mice which ate up all the fruits and plants. The Philistines concluded that this Israelite religious object was cause of the troubles, but before they could get rid of it, it had made the rounds of all five Philistine cities, wreaking the same havoc as it did in Ashdod.
The mayors of the five cities devised a plan a plan of building a new cart for transporting it. They were to yoke to it two cows and drive it to a place where three roads met, and there they were to abandon it and if the cows headed for Israelite territory, then they would know the Ark was the cause of all their grief.

5.

THE CELEBRATION was dampened because 70 of them died for daring to approach the Ark, since they weren't priests they were forbidden to touch it.
Taken to the house of Abinadab, a righteous Levite in Kirjath-jearim, it remained there for 20 years, after having spent seven months among the Philistines.
Its return was a cause for the people to zealously turn to Yahweh with the Prophet Samuel urging them to recover their liberty from the Philistines and if they turned from their wicked ways, the prophet promised them blessings not obtainable by arms alone.
The Israelites gathered in mass at Mizpah, fasting and offering up public prayer, but their old enemy heard of it and attacked them with a large army.
Suddenly, the earth began to tremble and shake under their feet, then it yawned open to engulf the Philistines, while thunder deafened and lightning blinded them, striking the weapons from their hands.
Samuel and his people massacred them and in the subsequent victories, they recovered fromn the Philistines all the villages they had lost, humbling the enemies' pride.

6.

WITH THE great and terrible gold container now dwelling in the makeshift tent of badgerskins in Jerusalem some 20 years later, the hero-king felt a flood of guilt since he lived in the opulent splendor on the slope of The Ophel.

David (to the Prophet Nathan): Look, here I'm living in this beautiful cedar palace while the Ark's out there in a tent.
Nathan (without hesitation): Go ahead with whatever you have in mind for the Lord's with you.

Although the prophet had told him to go ahead with construction plans, the Lord appeared to him in a vision that night.

Voice: Tell my servant David not to do it, for I've never lived in a temple and have lived in a tent ever since I brought Israel out of Egypt and I never complained. Now, tell David that I chose him to be My People's leader ever since he was a mere shepherd. And tell him I'll make his name even greater. When he dies, I'll put one of his sons on the throne and he'll build My Temple.

When he heard about Nathan's vision, which included an everlasting covenant with David and his descendants, the king went and worshipped the Ark.

7.

THE VISION of yet another covenant and Yahweh and the Israelites wasn't surprising, for the Lord had covenanted with Noah never again to destroy the world by flood and gave a sign -- a rainbow. There was a convenant with Abraham to give his offspring the land of Canaan, with circumcision being the sign. Moses was given a covenant in God's own handwriting in the Ten Commandments and sealed in a gold container, the Ark of the Covenant. And now David was given an everlasting dynasty.
However, with the promises came a severe warning.
Breaking covenant with the Almighty brought retribution.
Bolstered by Nathan's words, David's character, however, changed from the golden lad, the composer of exquisite lyrical poetry, the adventurous bandit, the king and conqueror to that of a conniver and murderer, by proxy.
Believing his invincibility, now that he'd heard from the Lord through the Prophet Nathan, and now that he possessed the Ark, David marched against the Philistines and annexed much of their territory, including their largest city, Gath, his old stomping grounds when he was running from Saul.
He followed this up by massacring two-thirds of the Moabite army and then he and his troops swept across the Euphrates, defeating neighboring monarchs, including the king of Damascus, and stationed garrisonsin Syria and Isumea.
The Ammonites suffered their greatest defeat and it came as a result of a few harsh words. After the death of the Ammonite king, Nahash, his son, Hanum, replaced him and David indicated he was to be given special respect because of Nahash's past loyalty. So David sent ambassadors to Hanum to tell him his sadness over his father's death, but Hanum's officers questioned the envoys' motives and said, "These men aren't here to honor your father. David has sent them to spy out the city before attacking it." The furious Hanum shaved off half their beards and cut their robes off at the buttocks and sent them back to Jerusalem half naked. Realizing their embarrassment, David shipped them to Jericho until their beards grew out.
The Ammonites knew it had been a serious breach of conduct so they hired 20,000 Syrian mercenaries from Rehob and Zobah, 1,000 from Maacah and 10,000 from Tob. When David heard about this, he was livid and told the Israelites' top general, Joab, to take the entuire army and attack the Ammonites.

8.

IN THE spring of the following year, at the time when the wars begin, the city of Rabbah was under siege by Joab and his men while David stayed in Jerusalem.
On a warm night, he couldn't sleep and went out for a stroll on the Palace roof on The Ophel. As he looked over his city, he watched a beautiful woman taking her bath.
David, who had a wandering eye and admired all women, found out her name was Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, and the wife of the Hittite soldier, Uriah.
Nonplussed, the king brought her to the Palace and slept with her, just after she had completed the purification rites, following her menstruation period. After returning to her home, Bathsheba found herself pregnant and sent David a message, telling him of her condition.
During this time, kings were considered diety; so to have intercourse with his subjects was considered to be a privilege of the throne.

9.

A TROUBLED David sent a memo to General Joab, ordering him to send Uriah to Jerusalem.
When he arrived the hardened warrior was curious as to the reason the king was concerned about him. Uriah was sent home to Bathsheba, but he wouldn't budge from staying with the other servants at the Palace gates.

David (to Uriah): What's the matter with you? Why didn't you go home to your wife last night? After all, you've been away a long time.
Uriah: The Ark and the armies and the general and his officers are camping out in the fields, so why should I go home to wine and dine and sleep with my wife. I swear I'll never be guilty of acting like that.
David: Well, stay here tonight and tomorrow you can go back to your army platoon.

So Uriah stayed close to the Palace and the king invited him to dinner and proceeded to get him drunk. Again he stayed by the gates and he didn't go home to Bathsheba.
David's plans to ease his conscience and make people believe Uriah had sired a child on army leave had failed.

10.

THE NEXT morning, a frustrated David wrote a letter to Joab and gave it to a hung-over Uriah to deliver. In it, the general was told to put the Hittite at the hottest spot of the battle and then to pull back and leave him there to die.
Joab did as he was ordered.
Uriah was killed along with several other Israelite soldiers.
When Bathsheba heard of her husband's death, a wave of guilt swept over her, but David brought her to the Palace to become one of his numerous wives and she had a son.
David's treachery was later repaid.

11.

THE GUILT in his heart remained, but the smile, nevertheless, cut a slash across David's face as his personal seer entered the throne room.
The king put his trust in Nathan, but this day he would be crushed by his words, which took on an air of indictment against him.

Nathan (looking directly at David): There were two rich men in a certain city. One very rich, owning many flocks of sheep and herds of goats; and the other very poor, owning nothing but a little lamb he managed to buy. It was his children's pet, feeding it from his own plate. He cuddled it in his arms, like a baby daughter. Recently, a guest arrived at the rich man's home, but instead of a lamb from his own flocks for food for the traveler, he took the poor man's lamb and roasted it and served it.
David (indignantly): I swear by the living God, any man who would do such a thing like that should be put to death; he will repay four lambs to the poor man for the one he stole and for having no pity.

Slowly, a scowling Nathan turned towards him, and said heavily: "You are that rich man!"
David began to shudder and then cry as the seer started to prophesy.

Nathan: The Lord God says 'I made you king of Israel and saved you from Saul's power. I gave you his palace and his wives and the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, and if that hadn't been enough, I would have given you much, much more. Why, then have you despised the laws of God and done this horrible deed.? You've murdered Uriah and stolen his wife and from now on, murder must be a constant threat in your family from this time on, because you've insulted Me by taking Uriah's wife.' The Lord also says, 'I vow because what you've done I will cause your household to rebel against you. I will give your wives to another man, and he will go to bed with them in public view. You did it secretly, but I'll do this openly, in the sight of Israel.'
David (wailing): I have sinned against the Lord.
Nathan: Yes, you've sinned, but the Lord has forgiven you. You won't die for this sin, but you've given great opportunity for the enemies of the Lord to despise you and blaspheme you, so your child will die.

When the prophet returned home, the new-born baby grew deathly ill and seven days later, died.
Soon afterwards, Bathsheba conceived again. This time a healthy son, they named Solomon, was born. His father gave him his nickname, Jedidiah, meaning "beloved of Jehovah."

12.

SOLOMON'S RISE to power was nearly impended by the trickery of his half-brother, Adonijah, whose mother was Haggith.
In his old age, David, the ruler of the greatest empire in the Near East, was confined with double pneumonia and no matter how many blankets were heaped on him, he was still shivering.
"The cure for this is to find a young virgin to be your concubine and nurse," his aides told him. "She'll lie in your arms and keep you warm."
Searching the country from one end to the other, they found the extremely beautiful Abishag, from Shunam, and she lay in his arms to warm him. They didn't have any sexual relations because he was feeble and withered.
With his father sick, Adonijah schemed and decided to crown himself and even went so far as to hire chariots and drivers and recruited 50 men to run down the streets before him as royal footmen.
This spoiled son, who never had so much as a scolding from his doting father, began gathering allies for his plans; recruiting General Joab and Abiathar, the priest, but David had his loyal followers in the priests Zadok and Benaiah, the prophet Nathan, Shine-i, Rei, and David's army chiefs, who refused to endorse Adonijah.
The wayward son went to En-rogel where he sacrificed sheep, oxen, and fat young goats at the Serpent's Stone. Then he summoned all his brothers -- the other sons of King David -- and all the royal officers of Judah, asking them to come to his coronation, but he didn't invite Nathan, Benaiah, the loyal officers or his half-brother, Solomon.

13.

THE CONNIVING troubled Nathan and he went to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, and asked her: "Do you realize that Haggith's son, Adonijah, is now the king and David doesn't even know about it?" Then he added, "if you want to save your own life and Solomon's life, as well, do exactly as I say."
Bathsheba listened carefully to the prophet's every word.

Nathan: Listen to me, go to the king and ask him if he didn't promise you that your son, Solomon, would be next to sit on his throne. Then ask him why Adonijah is flaunting himself as the new king and while you're still talking to him, I'll come in and confirm everything you've said.

Bathsheba entered the old man's bedroom and bowed low.

David (wheezing): What do you want?
Bathsheba: My lord, you vowed to me by the Lord your God that my son, Solomon, would be the next king, but instead, Adonijah is the new king, and you don't even know about it. He's celebrated his coronation by sacrificing oxen and sheep and has invited everyone ... your sons, Abiathar, General Joab, but not Solomon. Now, everyone's waiting for your decision as to whether Adonijah is to succeed you. If you don't act, Solomon and I will be arrested and executed as criminals as soon as you're dead.

As she was talking, the king's aides informed him that Nathan was in the outer chamber.

Nathan (bluntly): Have you appointed Adonijah the next king? Today he's celebrating his coronation and has invited your sons, Abiathar, General Joab and they're eating and drinking and shouting: 'Long live King Adonijah!' But Zadok, the priest, Benaiah, Solomon and me weren't invited. So what are you going to do?

A shadow fell across his pained face and, with great difficulty, David cried: "Get Bathsheba back in here."
As she stood nervously before him, the king said: "As the Lord lives who has rescued me from every danger, I decree that your son, Solomon, will be the next king and will sit on my throne, just as I swore to you before the Lord God of Israel."
Bathsheba was garetful.
The crisis seemed to breathe new life into the old man and he lifted himself off the bed and began barking orders: "Call Zadok, Nathan and Benaiah, now."
When they arrived, he told them to take Solomon and his special troops to Gihon.,

David: Solomon's to ride on my personal mule and Zadok and Nathan are to anoint him there as the king of Israel. Then blow the trumpets and shout, 'Long live King Solomon.' When you bring him back here, place him on my throne as the new king, for I've appointed him king of Israel and Judah.

Adonijah was consumed in a drunken haze when a messenger arrived with the news that Solomon had assumed the throne in the Palace. He started to shake in fear as his so-called friends began to forsake him.
When Solomon heard Adonijah was gripping the horns of the altar and sobbing in the sanctuary, he sent for him. He was let off the hook, but Solomon told him to behave himself in the future.

14.

WITH RENEWED vigor, David set up a proper administrative staff with the chiefs, priests and Levite families given specific duties as well as setting out regulations for the army and the treasury.
Following this, he summoned all the leaders to the Palace and introduced Solomon as his successor and explained to them that his son would build the Temple, which would be the new home of the Ark of the Covenant.
Solomon was then handed the plans for the majestic structure and David asked the Levites to help him. When he'd finished speaking, many of the priests and Levites came forward and promised him quantities of gold and silver, iron and jewels. This was followed by a great celebration.
Before he died in 971 B.C.E. at the age of 70, the old king took Solomon aside.

David (in almost a whisper): Remember the crime of Joab, who through envy killed two brave generals. Avenge their deaths in whatsoever way you think best, since Joab has so far escaped punishment. And as for Shem-ei, who cursed me, but received a pledge for the time being that he wouldn't be harmed ... find a reasonable excuse to punish him.

15.

BEFORE PUTTING his signature on his reign, Solomon had some unfinished business, including his half-brother, Adonijah, who came back to haunt him.
The troublemaker went to Bathsheba, asking that she talk to Solomon to give him Abishag in marriage since their father, David, hadn't had intercourse with her and she remained a virgin.
Abishag had been David's nurse.
Bathsheba did so, but Solomon rejected the plea, claiming Adonijah was still plotting to overthrow him with the aid of his powerful allies, Joab and Abiathar.
He sent for the chief of the bodyguards, Banaias, and ordered him to kill Adonijah. He also relieved Abiathar of the high priesthood and transferred it to the family of Zadok.
Following Adonijah's execution, Joab tried to find refuge in front of the sanctuary's altar. However, Solomon ordered Banaias to cut off his head there. He then appointed Banaias the new army commander.
Banaias wasn't finished with his executioner's role.
Solomon ordered Shem-ei to take an oath to never leave Jerusalem. However, three years later, two of his slaves escaped to Gath, and Shem-ei set out after them.
When he returned with them, the king was informed and Banaias put Shem-ei to the sword.
IV
Impressions of Solomon's Court

1. JERUSALEM, 968 B.C

A PHALANX of high government officials joined Solomon on the dias in their multi-colored robes, for the Israelites, were noted dye-makers, extending back to one of their ancestors, Joseph, who had been a governor-general in Egypt.
The king began by introducing his cabinet to the traveling salesmen, including the Ethiopian, Tamrin.

Solomon: High Priest Azariah, son of Zadok ... Jehoshapat, son of Ahilud, official historian in charge of the archives ... Benaiah, son of Jehoiada, commander-in-chief of the army ... Zabud, son of Nathan, my personal priest and adviser to the monarchy ... Chief of Staff Ahishar, manager of Palace Affairs ... Azariah, son of Nathan, secretary of state ... Adoniram, superintendent of public works ... special priests Zadok and Abiathar ... cabinet secretaries Elihoreph and Ahijah.

With the introductions completed, Solomon zestfully shouted: "Most honored men." A hush swept ove the usual clamorous behavior of aggressive merchants, each vying for a piece of the action, in the building of the Temple.

Solomon: This indeed is a momentous day in my kingdom's history, for we are united in building a great temple to our great God, Yahweh, who made heaven and earth.

Tamrin's eyes panned the audience, as he thought, "Who is this Yahweh, who made heaven and earth?"
He was a man of many gods, but these Israelites seemed to worship one and he, at th same time, knew this Yahweh was linked as if by an unbreakable chain to the mysterious light, which emanated from deep in the bowels of the City of David and stretched towards Mount Moriah.

Solomon: My good friend, King Hiram of Tyre, has agreed to provide us timber, cedar and cypress, for our temple. You honorable men are being asked to supply the fittings for both the temple and for my palace. The Lord, my God, has given Israel peace on every side. I have enemies from without and no internal rebellions. So I'm planning to build for the Lord, my God, just as he instructed my father that I should do. For the Lord told him, 'Your son, whom I will place on your throne, will build me the temple.' Now, please help me with this project.

Solomon then asked Adoniram to come to his side.
"Today," he began, "I have appointed the son of Abda, our minister of public works as general superintendent of our operations in Lebanon."
There was vigorous applause as Adoniram bowed slightly, with a toothy grin creasing his face for a moment.

The house of Adoniram shook with laughter than night. A celebration was in order. Even the usually straight-laced Abda joined in. Only a pregnant Sarah seemed to interospective, undoubtedly, realizing the general superintendency would mean her husband's imminent departure for the mountains.

2. SOLOMON'S COURT

WEDNESDAYS and Fridays were the designated days, probably from some ancient regulations passed down through the mists of time, to adjudicate disputes. Even in Makeda's court, Tamrin realized the practice had been honored for generations.
Again he returned to the Great Hall on The Ophel, where he'd been the previous day.
At an early hour, a crowd had gathered, both men and women, around a decorated elevated throne of cedar, which had a rich purple canopy, fringed with gold.
To the left of the throne stood the bearded priest Zabud, his face nearly hidden by a purple hood, and on the right, the High Priest, Azariah, a young man of Solomon's age, with none of the trappings of the normally grim priestly order.
The king, his tanned muscular forearms resting on the carved manes of two lions, which were integrated into the throne, was elegant in a long flowing robe of deep red with fringes of white at his neck and royal purple at the hem. In his right hand he held a shiny gold sceptre while his left hand was draped over the lion's noble head, On his brow was a single band, gem-studded crown of five points and encircling his neck was a loose chain of sapphires and gold nuggets.
Quietly, almost with a sense of reverence, the participants approached the king, bowing once, and Solomon would ask, in a low voice, "What is your pleasure?"
After listening to both sides, usually involving a land dispute, he would contemplate his decision for a few minutes, and then pass judgment.

3.

THE FAME of his wisdom was immeasurably increased when two prostitutes, with an argument, came into the Great Hall of Judgment.
"What's your pleasure?" asked Solomon.
"Sir, we live in the same house, just the two of us, and recently I had a baby," said Norah, with a red stain flushing her plump face.
Pointing to the other prostitute, Esther, a rather frail and pathetic-looking character, the beligerent streetwalker began berating her.

Norah: When it was three days old, this woman's baby was born, too, but her baby died during the night when she rolled over on it in her sleep and smothered it ... Then this whore got up in the middle of the night and took my son from beside me while I was asleep, and laid her dead child in mine arms and took mine to sleep beside her. In the morning when I tried to feed my baby, it was dead! When it was dawn, I saw that it wasn't my son at all.
Esther (meekly interrupting): But ... it was Norah's son, and the living one is mine.
Norah (screaming): No, no, no. The dead child is yours and the living one is mine. Do you hear me? The living one is mine.
Solomon (in a calm voice): Let's get the facts straight. Both of you claim the living child, and each says the dead child belongs to the other. All right, bring me a sword.

One of the king's bodyguards, a fierce warrior named Samson handed a savage-looking weapon to the monarch.
"Now, hand the living child to Samson," he asked one of the Palace nurses. To this time, the healthy and crying infant lay on the thick carpeting at the base of the five steps leading up to the throne, alongside the still and bloated dead child.

Solomon (firmly): Samson, take this sword and divide the living child in two and give half to each of the women.
Esther (weakly moaning): No, no, sir. Give Norah the child. Don't kill him.
Norah (contempuously): All right, it will be neither yours now mine. Divide it between us.
Solomon (in a voice as forceful as a grip): Stop! Give the child to Esther, who wants him toi live, for she's the mother.

4.

WISDOM WASN'T always a trait of Solomon's, for he made some extremely unwise choices, marrying foreign women, including Egyptian harlots, which was against the commands of Yahweh, and they introduced him to magical rites and demonic spirits of sorcery.
However, he could have maintained his purity, particularly after a dream he had after ascending to his father David's throne.
The Israelites continued to sacrifice offerings and offer incense at hilltop altars. One of the most famous was Gibeon, where Moses' Tabernacle, transported from the wilderness, had once stood. In front of the site, a bronze altar made by Bezalel, Moses' assistant who had physically constructed the golden container for the Law, was still intact.
It was there that Solomon and a wide array of army officers, judges, political and religious leaders assembled and sacrificed 1,000 burnt offerings.
That night, the Lord appeared to him in a vision, in a flowing white robe and surrounded by a pure light, telling him to ask for anything he wanted, and it would be given to him.
Rubbing his eyes, even in the dream state because of the brightness of the light, he began talking to the entity.

Solomon (hesistantly): You were wonderfully kind to my father David because he obeyed your commands and you continued your kindness to him by giving him a son to succeed him ... O Lord, my God, now you've made me king instead of my father David, but I'm as a little child who doesn't know his way around. And here I am among your chosen people, a nation so great that there are almost too many people to count ... Give me an understanding mind so that I can govern your people well and know the difference between what's right and what's wrong. For who by himself is able to carry out such a heavy responsibility?

Solomon knew the Being was pleased with such a request.

Entity: Because you've asked for wisdom in governing My people, and haven't asked for a long life or riches for yourself, or the defeat of your enemies -- yes, I'll give you what you asked for. I'll give you a wiser mind than anyone else has ever had or ever will have. And I'll also give you what you didn't ask for -- riches and honor. And I'll also give you what you didn't ask for -- riches and honor. And no one in all the world will be as rich and famous as you for the rest of your life. And I will give you a long life if you follow me and obey My laws as your father did.

The condition to the promise was to haunt Solomon as he grew old.
Then the young king woke up, with sweat covering his body, and realized it had been a dream, but the spirit's words echoed in his ears, for when he returned to the City of David, he humbly went into the Tent of the Tabernacle and stood before the hallowed Ark where he sacrificed burnt offerings.
This was followed by a great banquet for his cabinet ministers.

5.

IN THE early period of his monarchy, Solomon built a huge force of 1,400 chariots and recruited 12,000 cavalry to guard the cities where the chariots were garaged, though some, of course, were stationed at Jerusalem near the king.
During his reign, silver and gold were as plentiful in Jerusalem as rocks on the road. And expensive cedar lumber was used like common sycamore.
Solomon sent horsetraders to Egypt to buy entire stables at wholesale prices, complete with chariots and steeds. Many of these were then resold to the kings of the Hittites and Syria.

Solomon then decided that it was time to build a temple for Yahweh, to house the Ark, and a palace for himself.
Besides the Sidonian lumberjacks. King Hiram of Tyre also sent his most famous craftsman. Huramabi, the son of a Jewish woman from Dan in Israel, and a father from Tyre.
Huramabi was a skillful goldsmith and silversmith, who also did exquisite work with brass and iron. He was noted for his stonework, carpentry and weaving. Besides all these skills, he was an engraver and an inventor.
After setting up the work force, Solomon took a census of all the foreigners in the country, just as his father, David had done and found there were 153,600 of them. He classified 70,000 as common laborers, 80,000 as loggers and 3,600 as foremen.

6.

SOLOMON SEEMED to be searching for a face in the Friday morning throng.
He motioned to Samson, no relation to the legendary strongman, but just as imposing, with a slight movement of the head, his fine black hair glistening in the illumination provided by the hundreds of thousands of chips of ivory imbedded in the ceiling.
The muscular bodyguard sliced through the rabble with the confident strides of an athlete until he stood in front of Tamrin.
The Ethiopian was startled and, fearfully, thought he had done something unpardonable. He could feel the sword off his hand and his foot.
"My lord wishes to speak with you," said Samson, firmly. "Follow me."
In front of the king, the Chief Merchant bowed, realizing he was alone in a sea of unfriendly faces, for Adoniram was in his office on The Ophel, busily preparing for the journey to Lebanon to the north.

Solomon: Mr. Ambassador, I want to thank you for bringing me honor by your presence here today. I also want to tell you of my gratitude for your friendship with my minister of public works and his family and for complying in supplying out needs in our building projects. Your country of Ethiopia is greatly honored to have a man of your abilities ... Mr. Ambassador, my kingdom also wishes to extend our hands of friendship to your queen, Makeda, and an invitation to her and her entourage to be our guests in the near future ... It would also give me great pleasure if you would accompany Adoniram to Lebanon, for you have been there before, and then call on my court on your return. Until then, I bid you Godspeed.

Tamrin was overwhelmed, but all he could mumble was "thank you, my lord."

7. GREAT SIDON RIDGE, MAY, 968 B.C.E.

RIDGE UPON ridge of greens and blacks swept away into the unknown distances like billows of a vast sea; and between them lay the valleys and waterways, glad with the rippling May song of running waters, the sweet scent of early flowering time. and the joyous voice of all mating creatures.
Just under the Great Sidon Ridge lay the paradise, a meadow-like sweep of plain that reached down into the edge of the River, with dark tapestries of cedar and cypress dotting it like islets in an ocean of verdant green.
In the edge of this clump of timber, flat on his back lay Tamrin, his nostrils savoring the sweet smell of wood, and looking into the twinkling night skies. He sadly thought of having to leave this mesmerizing region and his friend, Adoniram.
The camps were scattered among the towering trees, some 10,000 Israelites and an equal number of Sidonians, for Solomon had ordered that he'd pay Hiram's lumberjacks whatever wages he asked because no one in Israel could cut timber like the Sidonians of Phoenicia.
The logs were hauled by oxen to the Mediterranean, and then loaded on to rafts and floated down the coastline, from where they were transported inland to a staging area just outside the walls of the City of David. In return for the lumber, Solomon annually sent Hiram 125,000 bushels of wheat for his household and 96 gallons of pure olive oil among other contractural arrangements, which Elihoreph and Ahijah had worked out with the Phoenician budget director.

8.

TAMRIN STARED into the heavens and suddenly an intense light caused him to shrink from its immenseness. It descended until its foreshadowing halo illuminated the expanse about him.
Drawing the Ethiopian into its vortex, he began to hear soft and melodious music, like the voice of many waters, filling the dome, where he now stood.
Before him, bathed in a shaft of pure brilliance was a raised altar of ivory and atop it a gold container, which radiated both warmth and love. Its radiation seemed to penetrate into the trader's soul, assessing his thougts and his emotions.
Tamrin blinked his eyes.
The dream had passed and he shook himself, suddenly realizing the evening coolness and he moved to his tent for a night of restless sleep and haunting thoughts.

9. JERUSALEM, JUNE, 968 B.C.E.

THE CITY of Jerusalem appeared to wear a cloak of vigorous anticipation of Solomn's massive work project.
Tamrin heard that the king had conscripted 70,000 additional laborers to the 30,000 woodcutters from Lebanon, 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country and 3,300 foremen. Outside in the Kidron Valley, the stonecutters quarried and shaped huge blocks of stone for the temple's foundation.
In the next two weeks of June, Tamrin immersed himself in Solomon's wisdom while staying in one of luxurous guests rooms of King David's Old Palace, and each day and night he felt surrounded by the mysterious light, which glowed from the Lower City.
He now knew where this light came from; it was from the gold container, they called the Ark of the Covenant, that he had envisioned as he stared into the night sky in the mountains of Lebanon.

Tamrin also knew deep within himself, he must return to Ethiopia, not only for business reasons, but because Makeda would be waiting, hoepfully, with patience.
He had developed friendships over the past number of months, which would have a lasting effect on his memory, and, with tears in his eyes, Adoniram, on a 30-day leave from the mountains, and Sarah, now very large with child, bid him goodbye. Even Benjamin and baby Naomi sensed the melancholy as did Abda, the chief shochet and family patriarch.

Their business completed in May, the Ethiopian caravan of camels and 150 men had left for the Arabian Saba, leaving only Tamrin and his aide-de-camp, Gizaw, and an Israelite officer, Geber, son of Uri -- to escort them through the conquered Edomite territory to Ezion-geber, the main entry point on the Gulf of Akaba.
A ship of Commander Adray would take Tamrin and Gizaw to the Ethiopian port of Adulis, from where the two would be escorted overland to Debre Makeda.
Ezion-gener was just one of the seemingly countless entry points throughout Solomon's kingdom which extended from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and down to the Egyptian borders. Conquered peoples west of the Euphrates from Tiphsah to Gaza, sent taxes to the king and merchants along the Frankinse Trail, all the way to th Indias, who wanted to ply their trade through the Mediterranean, had to pay travel tolls to Solomon and his coffers continued to swell, just as the Being had promised him in a dream at Gibeon.

10.

ON THE day of his departure in June, the heavens were gloomy and rain enveloped the City in a vast shroud. Even Solomon's appearance was downcast.
Bowing low before him, the Ethiopian then embraced the monarch and in an almost whisper, he said: "I don't want to go, but I have to return home." Tamrin stuttered, seemingly searching for the proper words, for he was torn between the passion for this new land and its people and his sense of duty as Chief Merchant and Ambassador of Ethiopia. "You know, Solomon, I'd stay here as one of the very least of your servants, but ..."
"That's all right, I do understand," interrupted the king. Tears flooded their eyes and after embracing, Solomon took his great chain of sapphires and gold nuggets and placed it around the ambassador's neck.
V
The Return to Makeda's Court

1. LATER IN 968 B.C.E

TAMRIN WAS a master storyteller, sometimes full of wit, sometimes subtle, at other times of morbidity, but always with a slight abberation of the truth.

Tamrin: Then this shifta, this Nubian, wields around and slices my cheek with his shelgai. I could feel the edge cutting into my skin and my blood pouring out on the ground.

He slowly and deliberately panned his piercing eyes into the faces of his companions, testing their reaction. Anguish was written on them.
With dramatic suddenness, he jerked his full bronzed face into the light emanating from the plateau fire, exaggerating the blood red gash, which reached from the corner of the left eye to his noble chin.

Gizaw (a frequent accomplice in his story-telling): Then whay happened, my lord?
Tamrin (snarling): I ... I ... killed him.

Tamrin had pre-planned the long pause, allowing them to fill in the details of the torture in their minds and at their leisure.
Gizaw knew it was probably a fabrication of Tamrin's imagination, but he kept silent, for he didn't want to taint his friend's infrequent brutish image with something as mundane as the truth. The 20-man entourage, which had been enduring the hardships of the Ethiopian highlands for a fortnight, since leaving Adulis for the City of the Throne, needed diversion, such as Tamrin's tales, but Gizaw noticed a degree of sadness in his employer's voice. Perhaps, his thoughts were elsewhere.
"One more day, friends," sighed Tamrin, realizing the arduous journey was nearly complete. He shivered in the darkness and clutched his hamma to his shoulders as he gazed into the blackened sky and all he could see was the dim outline of the dying moon god, Illumquh.
The vision of the golden container was only a distant memory, lost in the mountains of Lebanon.

2. CITY OF THE THRONE

IN THE Royal Court of Ethiopia, the whisperings became more pronounced the following morning. From bare-footed servant girls to the ancient elders, all were aware of Tamrin's return from the North Country of King Solomon.
They knew he had departed nearly a year earlier with a caravan of precious merchandise for the building of a temple to an Israelite god.
And now in the dusky haze of the late October afternoon, he could see thousands of small bonfires encircling the welcoming gates of the jewel of Makeda's great kingdom.
It was good to be home.

The 18-year old, who combined the sensuous beauty of a full-blossomed woman and the curiosity of a young girl, was waiting in the throne room.

Makeda: What was he like?
Tamrin (playfully): Who, he?
Makeda (pleading): You know. Come on, Tam, tell me, please tell me.
Tamrin (a smile causing creases at the corners of his eyes): He's ugly and he's old and he's poor.

Makeda knew these were fabrications, for she had been involved in the final negotiations of sending Kingdom's goods to Solomon, so his coffers had to be full.
Being old and ugly might have some validity except for her leading trader's facial expression, she very much doubted it.
He enjoyed the repartee between himself and Agabos' daughter, ever since she was a small child, skipping in the Royal Courtyard, playing hide and seek among the myrtles and watching, fascinated, by her transportation into a beautiful and intelligent woman, who had shown such adeptness in the science of astronomy and history, He thought of his beloved Bela when he saw the purity of Makeda's face.

Makeda: Tell me, please, tell me.
Tamrin: Bless your heart, child. He's not ugly. In fact, he's the most handsome man I've ever seen, and he's not old. He's maybe three or four years older than you, I think, and his wealth knows no bounds.

She sat mesmerized as Tamrin's words flowed, with such sincerity.

Tamrin: Solomon's a wise man. Of course, he comes from good stock, for his father was David. I tried to watch his every move in the administration of his office. You know me, child, business first.

Shifting his lanky frame on the low-slung divan, he expounded on the northern monarch.

Tamrin: The sweetness of his words is like water to the man who is thirsty.
Makeda (her face a question mark, for her adviser and friend rarely such words): Could this be true?
Tamrin (loudly): Yes, yes, yes. He has glory and riches, which his god has given him in abundance. Listen, he's got gold and silver and precious stones and rich apparel and innumerable cattle, sheep and goats.
Makeda (sighing): Oh, he sounds so wonderful.
Tamrin (matter of fact): He wants you to visit him.
Makeda: He wants me to do what?
Tamrin: He wants you to visit him in Jerusalem.

The young queen's face was now flush with excitement.
She paused to collect her thoughts.

Makeda: Why did you leave his court?
Tamrin (smiling gently): Because I missed you, my Lady.
Makeda (blushing): Oh, Tam.

It was true.

3.

MAKEDA AND Solomon, whose paths were prestined to meet and interwined through eternity, had taken different routes to their thrones, but there was one common thread, for their fathers had instilled in them an elephantine urge for wisdom.
It had been only three, almost four, years since Makeda had been thrust into power and the traumatic memories of the transition came flooding back as Tamrin continued relating his Jerusalem experience.

On the morning of her father's death, the pain reached deep into her bowels as the Old Woman slowly moved the wooden phallus against the membrane covering the virgin's womb.
This would be a ritual at every full moon for the rest of her days. Or so, she thought, for she prided herself in her virginity since it symbolized her Ethiopian monarchy.
Her father, Agabos, had offered up an oath to the Sun and the Moon in the heavens that this Land of the South would be ruled by his virgin daughter after his death.
The prodding finally ended and Makeda breathed easier. It was a deep sigh of relief, realizing the thoughts of her yourh weren't of such power to break through the membrane. Her dreams of the lustful closeness of the tawny warriors, who paid homage to her father, were, indeed, just dreams.
Flights of fancy of a young maiden.
The Emperor's daughter called for Tera, her lady-in-waiting.
A purple robe was placed around the delicate limbs of the virgin, and they both retreated into the Garden of the Pool.
Makeda loved the smell. The scent of the flower petals on the ripple of water permeated the fresh air of the morning, far removed from the stifling heat of the African afternoons.
Slipping out of the robe, she squatted in the shallow areas and with one exquisite hand she reached into her loins. Withdrawing her fingers, she noticed a slight trickle of blood. The woden phallus had induced her menstrual time. Then, slowly, out of Tera's sight, she deliberately rubbed her long fingers between her legs, feeling a mixture of excitement and disgust.
Makeda rose from her hunched position and stepped towards the deeper end and as the water inched higher on her thighs, it washed away the stain of the ritual.
Descending under the soothing waters, she savored the solitude for a few moments before surfacing. Tera was waiting with a vessel of lilac-scented oil and even before the pearls evaporated, the liquid proceeded to form rivulets down her shoulders and across her upraised breasts. It accentuated the gleaming blackness of her skin. Her nipples hardened as a rush of air swept across the Garden.
"What's wrong?" she thought.
Makeda reached for her robe, being held by her lady-in-waiting, and hugged it to her bosom while desperately trying to hide her nakedness.
Then she knew what this surge of fear was.
It may have been the strange voices.
No, it was from wails within the palace walls.
"My father!"
Hurriedly, she dressed and almost leaped across the courtyard to her father's bedchamber.
The Keeper of the Gate silently opened the door, and then bowed. Makeda could see the Kingdom's elders surrounding her father's cot.
"Your father wishes to speak with you," muttered one of the most respected elders, Dhakwan, by name.
She bent low as the ancient ones, many mournfully leaning on walking sticks, shuffled backwards a few steps to allow their Emperor's only offspring to approach the bed.
"My beloved daughter."
The rasp seemed to be centered in his throat, as if being strangled.
"My beloved daughter, I ... I'm dying."
"No, my father, it's not true."
Makeda 's eyes were now filled to overflowing with stinging tears.
"Makeda, promise me ..."
He gasped for air.
"Anything, father, anything."
"Promise me," he moaned, "to govern well and ... to seek wisdom wherever it may be found."
Then Agabos, with a lengthy wheeze rushing up from his lungs, departed into the spirit world.
The sound of despair enveloped the royal enclosure. No one tried to comfort or silence the virgin daughter.
She threw herselc across the Emperor's chest, his voice and breath now gone and his watery eyes forever closed, and she wept uncontrollably.
All the while, deep in her spirit, she could hear the words: "My daughter, seek wisdom wherever it may be found."
A great pall hovered over the Kingdom, for Agabos had been the savor of his people.
Makeda had been told many times of his exploits.

4.

THE ELDERS of Ethiopia had at one time worshipped the Cobra and as was the custom each man had to present his youngest son as a sacrifice to the serpent, along with large quantities of sweet beer and milk. The elder would tie his child to a tree and permit him to be eaten alive.
The custom continued for generations until the nobleman, Agabos, implored the people to kill the Cobra. "Nobody wants to lose his son," he cried.
Fear stalked the land, not only because of the Serpent's power, but the devious manipulations of the Snake People, the cult of priests surrounding the King Cobra.
However, Agabos stood his ground and eventually the elders relented and agreed that Agabos would kill their nemesis and if he was successful, he would be declared the leader.
The nobleman prepared a poison from a cactus plan and fed the mixture to a stray goat. Under the cover of night, he hauled the goat's corpse and tied it to the Tree of Death, and waited for the Serpent to appear.
As the Sun spread its wings, the Cobra devoured the goat and it died. Agabos watched the death from the secrecy of the nearby shrubbery.
The Snake People, those man-faced vipers, which had tails of asses attached to their loins, crept towards the Tree and stared in unbelief at their limp god, curled up and unmoving beside the truncated goat. The wailing and hissing of their high priest, Zereul, lasted well into the next night. Then the Snake People disappeared.
"Praise be to the Sun and to Agabos," cried the people.
"Let us keep our promise and Agabos will be our emperor and we will worship his god, the Sun, for he cooks our food, and moreover , he lights the darkness and he removed our fear. We will call the Sun our king and we will call him our creator and we will worship him as our god."
A great Throne of Sapphires was placed in the center of the capital and following much pomp and ceremony, the Nobleman Agabos was crowned Emperor.
"We have defeated our enemy," he bellowed, lifting the body of the once-mighty enemy over his head.
"Hail, Agabos, may he govern us well and may he seek wisdom wherever he finds it," the subjects roared in unison.
"My people, I will govern you well, and I pledge to you that upon my death, my virgin daughter will succeed me on the throne. So be it."
At the moment of his ascension, his daughter, Makeda, was suckling on her mother's breast.

Within a fortnight, the word of Agabos' death reached the Chief Merchant at the port of Adulis.
He left immediately with his aide-de-camp Gizaw, for Tamrin loved Agabos and Makeda loved Tamrin, for he was the one in her father's court, who knew the path to wisdom.

5.

AFTER THE deluge, Aksumawi, a descendant of Noah and the great-grandson of Ham, and his family lived a nomadic existence before setting across the Sea of Eritrea from the ancient land of Arabia to a garden of myrtle bushes and palms with a Vesuvian spring under a great plateau.
A man of wisdom, Aksumawi was a meticulous administrator, instituting a system of divine kingship and religiously pursuing the worship of one god -- the God of the Patriarch Noah.
He also adopted an isolationist policy of keeping his land's boundaries secure with a handpicked legion, which successfully fended off any attackers.
The idyllic setting was shattered, however, by Aksumawi's successors, some of whom were violent, and many began to send war parties into the surrounding nations, particularly Egypt.
One emperor was so bold to even move his seat of government into Egyptian territory to a place called Saba, a walled fortress, on an island in the Middle of the Mother River -- the Nile.
Meanwhile, the prestige of Aksumawi's beautiful city dissipated and with its dissolution of the worship of the God of Noah. Egyptian and Sabean infidels from Yemen brought with them their reverence for the Sun and Moon and the gods of the heavens. The most insidious was Cobra worship with its human sacrifices, a diabolic religion imported from Persia.
With the advent of aggression, the Kingdom pushed its troops into cutting titanic swaths northward along the Nile with the determination to conquer all of Egypt to the Mediterranean. So afraid were the Egyptians of these Aksumites, who had already reached Memphis, they turned to oracles and divinations and a general named Moses, which means, in Egyptian, "saved from the river."
Moses went out leading a great army and surprised his enemies with a magnificent strategy.
The Aksumites, who now had made Saba their capital, expected the Egyptians to attack them from the water since the interior of the Land was infested with poisonous snakes, but Moses took baskets full of ibises and these vicious birds drove the serpents away.
Then General Moses marched his troops down on the enemy and defeated them in a surprise attack. They fled Egypt and were pursued by Moses all the way back to Saba, where they were defeated again, to such an extent they believed they were in danger of being reduced to slavery.
Moses, a descendant of the Hebrews, who had been in exile in Egypt had watched as his generation had been reduced to little more than slaves, far removed from earlier times when they held positions of power within Egypt, however, his conquest of these people, who would be later called Ethiopians, knew when he looked up at the remparts surrounding Saba that fame was fleeting and when he returned to his homeland, that he would once more be relegated to second-class status as a Hebrew, unless the victory was total.
While he contemplated his next move, Tharbis, the daughter of the Ethiopian emperor watched this noble warrior, and she fell madly in love with him because of his bravery.
With the assistance of a faithful servant, Tharbis proposed marriage.
When Moses had punished the Egyptians, he gave thanks to God and celebrated his marriage.
Then he led th Egyptians back to their own land.

If he expected to be treated as royalty on his return, he was mistaken, for the Egyptians hated him even more, partly because they were afraid.
They thought he might take advantage of his good fortune and try to subvert their government. The Pharoah was also afraid of him, and prepared to assist in the murder of Moses. The plots thickened and Moses secretly escaped across the desert, since the roads were patrolled.
Later, Moses would lead his oppressed people across the Red Sea on a 40-year search for the Promised Land. Their security was assured by a golden container, which housed their covenant in the handwriting of their God Yahweh and known as the Ten Commandments.

With Saba in ruins, the Aksumite kingdom returned to some of its former glory despite the dominance of Cobra worship.
In this setting, Agabos, the father of Makeda, made his stand against injustice.
VI
The Temple and The Demons

1. JERUSALEM, 966 B.C.E.

TEMPLE CONSTRUCTION
PLANS ARE COMPLETED
White Marble Featured
In Solomon's Edifice


WHILE MAKEDA brooded over Tamrin's words concerning the King of the North, Solomon cupped his ear toward the heavens and heard the voice of God.
On April 17, 966 B.C.E., in the fourth year of his reign, actual construction began on the Temple. It had been 592 years after Moses had led the Hebrew children out of Egypt and now his descendants had become one of most powerful nations in the known world.
Its location was at the top of Mount Moriah, where the Lord had appeared to Solomon's father, King David, and where the threshing floor of Ornan the Jebusite had been, David had selected it as the site for the Temple.
The foundation was 90 feet long and 30 feet wide with the body of the building white marble and it stood two storeys tall. A covered porch ran along the entire 30-foot width of the house, with the inner walls and ceiling overlaid with pure gold. The roof was 180 feet high.
The main part of the Temple was panelled with cypress wood, plated with pure gold from Paravaim, and engraved with palm trees and chains. Beautiful jewels were inlaid into the walls to add to its beauty. All the walls, beams, doors, and thresholds throughout the Temple were plated with gold, with angels engraved on the walls.
Within the Temple, at one end, was the most sacred room -- the Holy of Holies -- 30 feet square. This too was overlaid with the finest gold. Twenty-six ounce gold nails were used. The upper rooms were also plated with gold.
Within the innermost room, the Holy of Holies, Solomon placed two sculptured statues of angels, and plated them with gold. They stood on the floor facing the outer room, with wings outstretched wingtip to wingtip across the room, from wall to wall. Across the entrance to this room he placed a veil of blue and crimson fine-spun linen, decorated with angels.

2.

SOLOMON ALSO built a bronze altar 30 feet long, 30 feet wide and 15 feet high. In addition, he forged a huge round tank 15 feet across from rim to rim. The rim stood 7 1/2 feet above the floor and was 45 feet around. This tank was set on the backs of two rows of metal oxen. The tank and the oxen were cast as one piece. There were 12 of these oxen standing tail to tail, three facing north, three west, three south, and three east. The walls of the tank were five inches thick, flaring out like the cup of a lily. It held 3,000 barrels of water.
He also constructed 10 vats of water to wash the offerings, five to the right of the huge tank and five to the left. The priests used the tank, and not the vats, for their own washing.
Carefully following Yahweh's instructions, he then cast 10 gold lampstands and placed them in the Temple, five against each wall; he also built 10 tables and placed five against each wall on the right and the left; and he molded 100 solid gold bowls. Then Solomon constructed a court for the priests, also the public court, and overlaid the doors of these courts with bronze. The huge tank was in the southeast corner of the outer room of the Temple.
Huramabi, the artisansent to Jerusalem by King Hiram of Tyre, also made the necessary pots, shovels, and basins for use in connection with the sacrifices. So, at last, he completed the work assigned to him by King Solomon: The construction of the two pillars; the two flared capitals on the tops of the pillars; the two sets of chains on the capitals; the 400 pomegranates hanging from the two sets of chains on the capitals; the bases for the vats, and the vats themselves; the huge tank and the the dozen oxen under it; plus the pots, shovels and fleshhooks. All these items were of polished bronze.
The king did the casting at the clay banks of the Jordan valley between Succoth and Zeredah. Great quantities of bronze were used, too heavy to weigh.
But in the Temple only gold was used, for Solomon commanded that all the utensils, the altar, and the table for the Bread of the Presence must be made of gold; also the lamps and lampstands, the floral decorations, tongs, lamp, snuffers, basins, spoons and firepans -- all were made of pure gold. Even th doorways of the Temple, the main door, and the inner doors of the Holy of Holies were of gold.

3.

WHILE THE Temple was being built to house the golden container -- the Glory of the King -- Solomon encountered a host of demonic forces, which eventually came under his control.
It began, innocently enough, when he noticed that Huramabi's young apprentice, Joseph, had begun losing weight.
"What's the matter, Joseph?" asked Solomon, with grave concern, for the king was fond of the tousled-haired youngster, so much so that he gave him double wages and provisions.
Prompted by the concern, the frail youth related a strange occurrence.

Joseph: After work on the Temple is done for the day and when sun has set, an evil spirit comes and makes off with half my pay and half my provisions. He also grabs my right hand and sucks my thumb. You can see that my soul is in distress and my body grows thinner every day.

Solomon was shocked.
He immediately went into the half-completed Temple and knelt at the great altar, praying for power to deal with this demon. While he was pleading , the Archangel Michael appeared with a ring, which had a seal engraved with a precious stone.

Archangel Michael: Solomon, son of David, take the gift which the Lord God has sent to you and with it you will imprison all the demons, both male and female, and with their help you will build Jerusalem when you bear this seal of God.

The following day, the monarch gave the seal to Joseph with certain instructions.

Solomon: At the moment the demon appears to you, fling this ring into his chest and say to him, 'Come! Solomon summons you!' and come running back to me as fast as you can before he says anything that would frighten you.

The evil spirit, named Ornais, came at his usual time, at dusk, to harass the youngster. Without hesitation, the demon was struck in the chest with the ring.

Joseph (yelling and immediately he started to run): Come! Solomon summons you!
Ornais (screaming and snarling): Why, have you done this? Remove the ring and give it back to Solomon, and I'll give you all the silver and gold of the earth.
Joseph (to Solomon): I brought the demon to you just as you commanded me. There he is standing bound in front of the gates, crying out with a great voice that he'd give me all the gold and silver on earth so I wouldn't deliver him to you.

The ruler got up from his throne and saw the black and shadowy figure trembling with fear.

Solomon: What's your name? Who are you?
The demon: I'm called Ornais.
Solomon: Tell me in which side of the zodiac do you reside?
Ornais (snarling): In Aquarias -- the Waterpourer. I strangle those who reside in Aquarias because of their passion for women whose zodiacal sign is Virgo. Meanwhile, while in a trance I undergo three transformations. Sometimes, I'm a man who craves the bodies of effeminate boys and when I sexually abuse them, they suffer great pain. (Smirking) Sometimes, I become the creature with wings flying up in the heavenly regions. Finally, I assume he appearance of a roaring lion. In addition, I'm descended from the archangel of the power of God, but I'm foiled by the Archangel Uriel.

After Solomon had sealed the demon, he ordered him into the Kidron quarry to cut Temple stones, which had been transported by way of the Gulf of Akaba and dumped along the seashore.
Ornais, being terrified to to touch any iron instruments, pleaded: "I beg you, King Solomon, let me have a measure of freedom, and I'll bring up all the demons."
Knowing that Ornais was subject to the Archangel Uriel's commands, Solomon again prayed for assistance and dramatically Uriel appeared in the skies over Jerusalem.
The entity forced Ornais to cut stones and to help complete the Temple's construction.

4.

SOLOMON GAVE the demon the seal and said, "Go and bring out the Prince of Demons, Beelzebub."
Ornais took the ring and went to Beelzebub, and said: "Come! Solomon summons you!" while jabbing the ring into the Prince's chest. He screamed as if if he had been burned with a red-hot prod.
"Tell me, who are you?" asked the king.
The chief demon, with the skeletal features, glared and bellowed arrogantly: "I am Beelzebub, the ruler of the demons."
Solomon demanded an explanation of the manifestations of the demons.
There was compliance, for Beelzebub promised to bring all the unclean spirits.
"Are there any female demons?"
"Yes."
"I want to see one."

5.

BEELZEBUB SCURRIED off and returned with one who had a woman's body, with fair complexion, but her legs were those of a mule.

Solomon: Tell me who you are?
(She identified herself as Onoskelis)
Onoskelis: I'm a spirit which has been made into a body. I recline in a den on the earth. I make my home in caves. However, I've a many-sided character. Sometimes, I strangle men; sometimes I pervert thm from their true natures. Most of the time, my habitats are cliffs, caves and ravines ... Frequently, I also associate with men, who think of me as a woman, especially with those whose skin is honey-colored, for we're of the same constellation -- Capricorn, the Goat. It's also true that they worship the star secretly and openly. They don't know that they deceive themselves and excite me to be an evildoer all the more, for they want to obtain gold by remembering me, but I grant little to those who seriously worship me.
Solomon: How did you come into being?
Onoskelis: I was generated from an unexpected voice, which is called a voice of the echo of a black heaven, emitted in matter.
Solomon: By what heavenly body do you travel?
Onoskelis: By the full moon, because by the moon, I pass over things.
Solomon: What angels foils you?
Onoskelis: One that is also in you, King.

Solomon, on hearing what he thought to be a rude remark, commanded a soldier to strike Onoskelis.
"I say to you, King, by God's wisdom I have been entrusted I have been entrusted your power," she yelped.
Solomon commanded, in Yahweh's name, that she spin hemp for the ropes used in the Temple's construction. Onoskelis was sealed and bound in such a way that she was made powerless. Shen then was forced to stand night and day spinning the hemp.
Commanding another demon be brought to him, Beelzebub brought the bound evil spirit, Asmodeus.

6.

THE FAMILIAR questioning began.

Solomon: Who are you?
Asmodeus (scowling): And who are you?
Solomon: You dare to answer so arrogantly when you've been punished like this?
Asmodeus (continuing to snarl and make threatening noises): How should I answer you? You're the son of a man. Although I was born of a human mother, I'm the son of an angel. It's impossible for one of heavly origin to speak an arrogant to one of earthly origin. My constellation is like an animal which reclines in its den in heaven; some call me the Great Bear, but others the offspring of a dragon. Moreover, a smaller constellation accompanies my constellation, for the high position and throne of my father is always in the sky. So don't ask me so many things, Solomon, for eventually your kingdom will be divided. This glory of yours is temporary. You have us to torture for a little while; then we will disperse among human beings again with the result that we will be worshipped as gods because men don't know the angels who rule over us.

Solomon had him bound even more and also ordered him flogged.

Asmodeus (crying): I am the renowned Asmodeus. I cause the wickedness of men to spread throughout the world. I'm always hatching plots against newlyweds. I mar the beauty of virgins and cause their hearts to grow cold.
Solomon: Is that all you do?
Asmodeus: I spread madness about women through the stars and I have often committed a rash of murders.
Solomon: Tell me, Asmodeus, by which angel are you foiled?
Asmodeus: Raphael, the one who stands before God and sets over all the diseases and all the wounds of mankind; but also a smoking heart and a liver of a fish from the Tigris drives me away.
Solomon: Are you hiding anything from me? Tell me the name of the fish you fear?
Asmodeus: It's called the sheatfish, a catfish found in the rivers of Assyria and it's hatched only there. I'm also found in those parts.
Solomon: Is there not something else about you, Asmodeus?
Asmodeus: The power of God which binds me with unbreakable bonds by his seal knows that which I have related to you is true. I beg you, King Solomon, don't condemn me to water.
Solomon (smiling): As the Lord, the God of my father, lives , you will have irons to wear and you will mold clay for all the vessels of the Temple, eliminating the cost of the mold.
Ordering 10 jars to be made available, the king commanded Asmodeus to be drenched with water in the jars. Then taking the liver and gall of a fish, along with the spike at the butt end of a spear shaft -- the branch of storax -- he lit a fire under the powerful entity and the voice was silenced.

7.

THE PRINCE of demons was summoned again.

Solomon: Why are you alone the Prince of Demons?
Beelezub: Because I'm the only one left of the heavenly angels who fell. I was the highest-ranking angel in heaven, the one called Beelezub. There also accompanied me another ungodly angel, Abezethibou, whom God cut off and now imprisoned here, he holds in his power the race of those bound by me in the hell of Tartarus. He was Moses' adversary in Egypt, but was trapped in the Red Sea when the part returned, but when he is ready, he will come in triumph.
Solomon: What are your activities, Beelezub?
Beelezub: I bring destruction by means of tyrants. I cause the demons to be worshipped alongside of men and I arouse the desire in holy men and select priests. I bring jealousies and murders in a country, and I instigate wars. And I will destroy the world.
Solomon: Bring back the one you said is being nurtured in the Red Sea.
Beelezub (hissing): I will bring no one back to you, but there will come a certain demon whose name is Ephippas, an Arabian wind demon, who will bind him and bring him out of the abyss..
Solomon: Tell me why he's in the abyss of the Red Sea and what his name is?
Beelezub: Don't ask me. You aren't able to learn that from me. He will come to you because I, too, am with you.
Solomon: Tell me in which star you reside.
Beelezub: The one, called by men, the Evening Star.
Solomon: Tell me, which angel foils you?
Beelzebub: The Almighty God. He is called by the Hebrews Patike, the one who descends from the heights. He is called by the Greeks Emmanuel. I am afraid of him, and trembling. If anyone adjures me with the oath called, 'the Elo-i,' a great name of his power, I disappear.

Solomon ordered him to cut blocks of Theban marble from Egypt and as he begun to cut, all the demons cried out with a loud voice because he was their king, Beelezub.

Solomon (firmly): If you want to obtain a release, inform me about heavenly things.
Beelezub: Listen, Solomon, if you burn the oil of myrrh, frankincense, and bulbs of the sea along with spikenard and saffram and light seven lamps during an earthquake, you will strengthen your house. And if, being ritually clean, you light them at the crack of dawn , just before the sun comes up, you will see th heavenly dragons and the way they wriggle along and pull the chariot of the sun.
Solomon (visibly upset by the absurdities): Shut up and continue cutting marble just as I ordered you.

8.

ASKING FOR another demon to appear, an entity accompanied by a blustering cloud of earth, broke through a large contingent of soldiers on The Ophel.
"What do we have here?" asked the monarch. Then he stood up, spat on the ground and sealed the the entity with the Ring of God.
"Who are you?"
The dust storm began again.
"What do you want, King Solomon?"
"Tell me what you're called?"
"I'm called Lix Tetrax."

Solomon: What is your activity?
Lix Tetrax: I create divisions among men. I make whirlwinds. I start fires. I even set fields on fire and make households non-functional. Usually, I carry on my activity in the summertime. If I get the chance, I slither under the corners of houses during the night or day. I am the direct descendant of the Great One, Beelezub.
Solomon: In what constellation do you reside?
Lix Tetrax: Toward the tip of the horn of the moon when it's found in the south -- there is my star. Therefore, I assigned to draw out the fever, which strikes for a day and a half. As a result, many men, when they see this, pray about the day-and-a-half fever, invoking three names, 'Baltala, Thallal, Melchal,' and I heal them.
Solomon: But when you want to do evil, who grants you the power.?
Lix Tetrax: The angel by whom the day-and-a-half fever is stopped.
Solomon: By what name are you foiled?
Lix Tetrax: The name of the Archangel Azazel.

Then Solomon placed his seal on the demon and commanded him to pick up the stones and hurl them to the heights of the Temple for the workmen. The demon complied with his orders.

9.

AGAIN, SOLOMON commanded another demon to appear before him. This time seven spirits, bound together hand and foot, was asked the familiar question: "Who are you?"
"We are heavenly bodies, rulers of this world of darkness."
The first said, "I am Deception."
The second said, "I am Strife."
The third said, "I am Fate."
The fourth said, "I am Distress."
The fifth said, "I am Error."
The sixth said, "I am Power."
The seventh said, "I am the Worst. Our stars in heaven look small, but we are named like gods. We change our positions together and we live together, sometimes in Lydia, sometimes in Olympus, sometimes on the great mountain.

Solomon (asking the first spirit): Tell me what you do?
Deception: I plot deception and devise the most evil heresies, but there's one who foils me, the angel Lamechiel.
Strife: I cause strife by making available clubs, pellets and swords, my implements of war, but I have an angel who foils me, Baruchiel.
Fate: I cause every man to fight in battle rather than make peace honorably with those who are winning. But why am I talking so much? There's an angel who foils me, Marmaroth.
Distress: I caused men to lack moderation. I divide them in factions. I keep them separated. Since Stress follows in my footsteps, I set men against each other and do similar things to them, but why am I talking so much? There's an angel , the great Balthioul, who foils us.
Error (accusingly): I'm leading you into error and I led you into error when I made you kill your brother, Adonijah. I lead people into error by hunting for graves and teach them how to dig them up. I lead men's minds to stray away from religion, and I do many other bad things. However, there's an angel, who foils me, Uriel.
Power: I raise up tyrants. I depose kings and I grant power to all those who are enemies. There's an angel who foils me, Ashtoreth.
The Worst (glaring at Solomon): You, King, I will harm when I order you to be bound with the bonds of Artemis because these things affect you. You have desire like a beloved one, but to me that's a desire that corresponds to myself which is wisdom. For if anyone is wise, he will not follow in my footsteps.

Solomon whe he'd heard these things, sealed them with the Ring of God and commanded them to dig white marble for the Temple's foundation.

10.

OTHER DEMONS began to visit Solomon; one which was a man who had all his limbs, but no head.
"Tell me who you are and what you're called?"
"I'm called Murder. for I devour heads, wishing to get a head for myself, but I don't consume enough. I long for a head to do exactly what you do, King."
The monarch stretched out his hand against the demon's chest and put his seal on him.
Murder jumped up, tore himself loose and muttered, "Woe is me! How did I fall in with a traitor, Ornais? I do not see."

Solomon: How is it possible for you to see?
Murder: My voices has taken over voices of many men; for I have closed up the heads of those among men who are called dumb. When infants are 10 days old, and if one cries in the night, I become a spirit and I rush in and attack the infant through his voice. What's more my visit to premature infants is harmful. My strength happens to reside in my hands, that is, like that which takes place at an executioner's block. I grab hold of heads, cut them off, and attach them to myself; then, by the fire which is continually burning in me, I consume them through the neck. I am the one who inflames limbs, inflicts the feet, and prodeces festering sores. It is by a fiery flash of lightning that I am foiled.

The king ordered him to stay with Beelezub until the time when a friend might arrive.

11.

THE NEXT demon came in the form of a gigantic dog, controlled by Briathos.
"Hail, O King Solomon!"
The king was astonished and said, "Who are you, dog?"
"You supposed that I am a dog; but before your time, King, I was a man. I accomplished many unlawful deeds in the world and so I'm so extremely strong that I restrained the stars of heaven and now I'm preparing more evil works, Consequently, I deceive men who follow my star and I lead them into stupidity. I also subdue the hearts of men through ytheir throats and, in this way, I destroy them."
"What is your name?"
"Scepter."
"What's your activity and why do you seem to me to be so prosperous?"
"Turn over your manservant to me and I will spirit him off to a place in the mountains where I will show him an emerald stone shaken loose from its foundation. With it, you will adorn the Temple of God.
Solomon ordered his household servant to accompany Scepter and take the ring bearing God's seal with him.
"Go with him and whosoever shows you the emerald ring, seal him with the riing, observe the place in detail and bring the ring back to me."
When the demon went out and showed him the emerald stone, the household servant sealed him with the Ring of God, and brought the emrald stone back to Solomon.
The two demons, the headless one and the dog, were bound and Solomon ordered the stone be carried about night and day as light for working artisans underneath the Temple.
The stone was locked up with 200 shekels in a treasure chest.

12.

ANOTHER DEMON came like a roaring lion and questioned Solomon.
"I have this particular form and am a spirit which can never be bound. I am the one who sneaks in and watches over all, who are lying ill with a disease and make it impossible for man to recover from the taint. I have another activity, I involve the legions of demons subject to me for I'm at the places where they are when the sun is setting. The name of all the demons, which are under me, is legion."
"What's your name?"
"The Lion-Shaped Demon."
"How are you and your demons foiled, that is, who's your angel?"
"If I tell you his name, I place not only myself in chains, but also the legion of demons under me."
"I adjure you by the name of the great God Most High, by what name are you and your demons thwarted?"
"By the name of the one who at one time submitted to suffer many things at the hands of me, whose name is Emmanuel, but now he's bound us and will come to torture us by drawing us into the water at the cliff. As he moves about, he's conjured up by means of three letters: 644."
The king sentenced his legion to carry wood from the grove of trees. Then Solomon sentenced the Lion-Shaped One to saw it up as kindling with his claws and to throw it under the perpetually-burning kiln.

13.

NEXT CAME a three-headed dragon with awful skin.

Solomon: Who are you?
Dragon: I am a three-pronged spirit, one who overpowers by means of three deeds. In the wombs of women, I blind children. I also turn their ears around backward and make them dumb and deaf. Finally, I strike men against the body and I make them fall down, foam at the mouth, and grind their teeth. But there is a way by which I am foiled, namely by the site which is marked, 'Place of the Skull,' for there an angel of the Wonderful Counsellor foresaw that would suffer, and he will dwell publicly on the cross. He is the one who will foil me, being the one among the angels to whom I am subject. But at the place where he ascended, King Solomon, he will erect a dark pillar formon on the air after Ephippes has brought gifts from the Red Sea, from inside Arabia, in the foundation of the Temple which you have begun to build, King Solomon, there is hidden away much gold. Dig it up and confiscate it.

Solomon dug it up just as the demon told him.
After sealing him with the ring, the king asked, "Tell me what you are called?"
"Head of the Dragons."
He was ordered to make bricks for the Temple.

14.

THE NEXT demon came in the darkened shape of a woman with dishevelled hair.
"Who are you?"
"And who are you?"
"And who are you? Or what need is there for you to inquire about the sorts of deeds I do? But if you want to inquire, go to the royal chambers and, after you have washed your hands, sit again on your throne and asme and then you will learn, King, who I am."
When Solomon had done this, he asked again, "Wo are you?"

Obyzouth: I do not rest at night, but travel around the world visiting women and, divining the hour when they give birth, I search for them and strangle their new-born infants. I do not go through a single night without success. You are not able to give me orders. I can make the rounds and go into the remotest areas. Otherwise, my work is limited to killing new-born infants, injuring eyes, condemning mouths, destroying minds, and making bodies feel pain.
Solomon: Tell me, evil spirit, by what angel are you foiled?
Obyzouth: By the angel Raphael; and when women give birth, write my name on a piece of papyrus and I will flee from them to the world.

Solomon ordered her bound by her hair and hung up in the front of the Temple.

15.

A DEMON in the form of a wallowing dragon, having the limbs of a dragon and wings on its back, but the face and feet of a man, appeared to Solomon.
Solomon: Who are you and from where have you come?
Winged Dragon: This is the first time I have stood before you, King Solomon, a spirit made a god among me, but foiled by the seal which was given to you by God. I do not copulate with many women, but only a few who have beautiful bodies, who possess a name of Touxylou of this star. I rendezvous with them in the form of a wing spirit, copulating with them through their buttocks. One woman I attacked is bearing a child and that which is born from her becomes Eros. Because it couldn't be tolerated by men, that women perished. This is an activity. Suppose, then, that I alone am content while the rest of the drmons troubled by you, being downcast, should speak the whole truth; they will caused the stack of wood about to be gathered by you for construction in the Temple to be consumed by fire.

As the demon was saying these things, suddenly the breath coming out of his mouth burned up all the cedar and cypress from Lebanon that already had been stockpiled outside the Temple walls.
"Tell me by what angel you're foiled?"
"By the great angel who is seated in the second heaven, who in the Hebrew is called Bazazath."
The demon was also condemned to cut marble for the Temple in penance for his destruction ways.

16.

ANOTHER SPIRIT had the shape of a woman, but on her shoulders when two separate heads with arms.
"Tell me who are you?"
She answered, "I am Enepsigos, but I am called by countless names."

Solomon: By what angel are you foiled?
Enepsigos: What are you after? What do you want? I can change my appearance, first being taken for a goddess, and then becoming one who has some other shape. In this regard, don't expect to know all things about me, but because you are here in my presence, listen to this: I hover near the moon and because of this I assume three forms. At times, I conjured up as Kronos by the wise men. At other times, I descend around those who bring me down and appear in another form. The capacity of the heavenly body is invincible, incalculable, and impossibe to foil. At any rate, changing into three different forms, I also descend and become what you see. I am foiled by the angel Rathanael, who takes his seat in the third heaven. On account of this, therefore, I say to you, this Temple can't contain me.

After invoking Rathanael, Solomon made use of the seal and sealed her down with a triple-link chain and he bound her down, he made use of the seal of God.

Enepsigos (prophesying): You're doing these things to us now, King Solomon, but after a period of time your kingdom will be divided. At still a later time this Temple will be destroyed and all Jerusalem will be demolishd by the kings of Persians and Medes and Chaldeans. Also, the implements of this Temple which you're making will serve other gods. Also with these events, all the vessels in which you have entrapped us will be broken in pieces by the hands of men. Then we will come forth with much power and we will be scattered here and there throughout the world. We will lead astray all the inhabited world for a long time until the Son of God is stretched on the cross. For there has not yet risen a king like him, one who foils all of us, whose mother shall not have sexual intercourse with a man. Who holds such authority over the spirits except one? The one whom the devil shall will seek to tempt, but will not be able to overcome, the letters whose name adds up to 644 -- he is Emmanuel. Because of this, King Solomon, your time is evil, your years are short, and your kingdom will be given to your servant.

Solomon was equally amazed and disgusted by the prophecy from the demon, for he distrusted them and didn't believe the things which were said to him until they occurred.

17.

ANOTHER DEMON came in the form of a horse in front and a fish in back.

Kunopegos (in a great voice): King Solomon, I'm a cruel spirit of the sea. I rise up and come on the open seas with the sea and I trip up the greater number of men who sail on it. I raise myself up like a wave and being transformed, I come up against ships, for this is my activity: to receive beneath the sea treasures and men. For I raise myself up, take them, and hurl them under the sea. So I'm always lusting after their bodies, but until now I have been casting the treasures out of the sea. However, since Beelezbub, the ruler of the spirits of the air and the earth and beneath the earth gives advice about the activities with respect to each of us, I therefore came up for the sea, and show myself to me. They call me Kunopegos because I change myself intoi a man. The name is true to me. Moreover, I cause a type of seasickness when I pass into men. So when I came for a consultation with the ruler Beelezbub, he bound me up and delivered me into your hands. Now, I'm standing before you and because of not having water for two or three days, my spirit is ceasing from speaking to you.
Solomon: Tell me by what angel you're foiled?
Kunopegos: By Iameth.
Then Solomon ordered him to be cast into a broad, flat bowl and 10 receptacles of seawter to be poured over it. The king fortified the top side all around with marble and he unfolded and spread asphalt and hemp rope over the vessel's mouth.
When it was sealed with Solomon's ring, he ordered it to be stored away in the Temple.

18.

THEN A SPIRIT, which had the shadowy form of a man and gleaming eyes, appeared.
"Who are you?"
"I'm a lecherous spirit of a giant man, who died in a massacre in the age of giants."

Solomon: Tell me what you accomplish on earth and where you make your dwelling?
Gleaming Eyes: My home is in inaccessible places. My activity is this: I seat myself near dead men in the tombs and at midnight I assume the form of the dead. If I seize anyone, I immediately kill him with a sword. If I shouldn't be able to kill him, I cause him to be po