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within thy locks: thy hair is like a flock of goats that appear from Mount Gilead.”

Meaning—Christ setteth forth the graces of the church.

Verse 8: “Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse,” etc.

Meaning—He showeth his love to her.

Verse 16: “Awake O north wind; and come thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden and eat his pleasant fruits.”

Meaning—The church prayeth to be made fit for his presence.

Chapter v, verse 1: “I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse. I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drunk my wine with my milk; eat O friends; drink ye, drink abundantly, O beloved.”

Meaning—Christ awaketh his church with his calling.

Verse 2: “I sleep, but my heart waketh, it is the voice of my beloved that knocketh, saying, Open to me, my sister, my love, my dove, my undented; for my head is filled with dew, and my locks with the drops of the night.”

Meaning—The church having a taste of Christ’s love, is sick of love.

Verse 9: “What is my beloved more than another beloved, O thou fairest among women? What is thy beloved more than another beloved, that thou dost so charge us?”

Meaning—A description of Christ and his graces.

Chapter vi, verse 1: “Whither is my beloved gone, O thou fairest among women? Whither is my beloved turned aside? that we may seek him with them.”

Meaning—The church professeth her faith in Christ.

Verse 4: “Thou art beautiful, O my love, as Tirzah, comely as Jerusalem, terrible as an army with banners.”

Meaning—Christ showeth the grace of the church.

Verse 10: “Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?”

Meaning—And his love towards her.

Chapter vii, verse 1: “How beautiful are thy feet with shoes, O prince’s daughter! the joints of thy thighs are like jewels, the work of the hands of a cunning workman.”

Meaning—A further description of the church’s graces.

Verse 10: “I am my beloved’s, and his desire is towards me.”

Meaning—“The church professeth her faith and desire.”

Chapter viii, verse 1: “O that thou wert as my brother, that sucked the breasts of my mother! When I should find thee without, I would kiss thee; yea, I should not be despised.”

Meaning—The love of the church to Christ.

Verse 6: “Set me as a seal upon thine heart, as a seal upon thine arm, for love is as strong as death; jealousy as cruel as the grave; the coals thereof are coals of fire, which hath a most vehement flame.”

Meaning—The vehemency of love.

Verse 8: “We have a little sister; and she hath no breasts; what shall we do for our sister in the day when she shall be spoken for?”

Meaning—The calling of the Gentiles.

Verse 14: “Make haste, my beloved, and be thou like to a roe or to a young hart upon the mountain of spices.”

Meaning—The church prayeth for Christ’s coming.

These are the verses specifically interpreted and marked for Christian worshipers. It must be remembered that the most decent were selected. To say the interpretations are absurd, is putting it very mildly. Solomon had no more idea of Christ than he had of the laws of gravitation.

He was describing and writing about that which was constantly occupying his mind and his time. He portrays a love-sick swain, with all the details that are pleasing both to his eye and to his fancy. He gloats and feeds upon his passions, thus:

“His left hand should be under my head, and his right hand should embrace me” (viii, 4).

“How fair and how pleasant art thou, O love, for delights” (vii, 6).

“There are threescore queens and fourscore concubines, and virgins without number” (vi, 8).

“His mouth is most sweet; yea, he is altogether lovely. This is my beloved,” etc. (v, 16).

“Thy lips, O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb; honey and milk are under thy tongue” (iv, 11).

“Behold his bed, which is Solomon’s; threescore valiant men are about it,” etc. (iii, 7).

“His left hand is under my head, and his right hand doth embrace me” (ii, 6).

“Behold thou art fair, my love, behold thou art fair; thou hast doves’ eyes” (i, 15).

It is an outrage on decency even to attempt to construe the intent of these songs. The man sang about his woman, like any other swain who delights in his love. Solomon enjoyed nude beauties, as many men do in our day, and he represented the various parts of the female anatomy most accurately. He reveled in the luxurious contemplation of them. Pull down the curtain of hypocrisy and falsehood and let’s have the truth—as it was, as it is.

Solomon died at a pretty fair old age, having lived ninety-four years. The country had been harassed by robbers, the factions began to be restless, conspiracies were forming, and the people were nervously yet patiently waiting for a chance to revolt. No sooner was he dead than the nation split into two kingdoms. Henceforth this people as a nation is doomed. It soon disappears from the family of nations.

But—where is Jehova all this while?

Note.—“Solomon’s wickedness became intolerable, fully confirming my former observations, that his wickedness began early and continued very long” (Josephus, Bk. viii, Chapter vii).

THE TWO KINGDOMS—JUDAH, ISRAEL.

David was dead; Joab the great general had been decapitated by Solomon; and what Samuel, Saul, and David had built up, Solomon had been very successful in pulling down.

Ten tribes revolted immediately and formed the kingdom of Israel, selecting Jeroboam as their king, 975 B.C. In order to establish a church, a temple, of his own, and his own gods, Jeroboam made two golden heifers and built two little temples for them, claiming that men had built the Temple at Jerusalem as men had built the temples here, and so there was no difference between them. Besides, they would save the journey to Jerusalem. This change was immediately put into effect. One class or tribe was dissatisfied. Those were the Levites, and they emigrated to Judea. This new kingdom of Israel was not over-tranquil. Prophets, and stump orators, agitators, naturally arose. Dissension, bickering, and quarrels appeared. The outlook for the kingdom was not of the brightest.

Meantime Jeroboam was in clover.

Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, was made king of the two tribes, Judah the fighting tribe and Benjamin the king-giving tribe. Besides these two tribes, we must not forget the Levites, for because of them his kingdom was augmented. The priests of all Israel were Levites, and there were quite a multitude of them.

Rehoboam was a Solomon on a very small scale. He had only eighteen wives and thirty concubines, and twenty-eight sons and threescore daughters. He followed in his father’s footsteps and led a jolly life, as we should call it in our present age. In 971, four years after he ascended the throne, Shishka, king of Egypt, knowing of all the gold and silver Solomon had stuck into the Temple, invaded Judea with some four hundred thousand men, etc., without opposition, cleared the temple of all the gold and everything of value, and returned home without striking a blow. Rehoboam was a coward, he was afraid. As soon as Judea was clear of Shishka’s army, Rehoboam had these gold ornaments that had formerly decorated the temple, which had been carried away by Shishka, replaced by brass trimmings of the same make and style, and delivered them to the keeper of the king’s palace.

These people were too like their brethren in Israel, for “they built them high places, and images, and groves on every hill, and under every green tree” (1 Kings xiv, 23).

“And there was war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all the days of his life” (1 Kings xv, 6). These two nations therefore have been launched at a pretty fair pace on the downhill grade.

Judah, however, had the best of it. For the kingdom of Israel lasted only two hundred and fifty-four years. Shalmanezer, king of Nineveh, takes Samaria and carries the Ten Tribes into captivity. These are what are usually known as the lost tribes. Lost nonsenses!—they had forsaken their former method of worship and adopted another.

The kingdom of Judah lasted to the time the Temple was burnt, 588 B.C., having lasted three hundred and eighty-seven years—one hundred and thirty-three years longer than the kingdom of Israel. And what is more, these are the very Jews that are scattered all over the world. These latter are the representatives of these three tribes, Levi, Benjamin, and Judah. And if any person is curious enough to inquire of any Jew to what tribe he belongs, he will receive the answer that he belongs to one of the three above mentioned, that originally formed the kingdom of Judah. Why they were preserved is nothing miraculous. It has nothing to do with God or Jehova, or the ark, or any special grace, as people generally believe. The reason is plain and perfectly natural. The Levites preserved them, the Levites sustained them, the Levites were the brainy race. The Levites, the priestly tribe who were appointed by Moses, himself one of that tribe, to be the rulers, governors, lawgivers, fosterers, priests and preachers, were the brain of the whole nation. They clung to the idea of nationhood with all their priestly might, craft, and ingenuity, and are still clinging to it, with all their might and main. Judah and Benjamin survived only because of the Levites.

THE MIRACLE-MONGERS.

At 958 B.C. Abijah is king over Judah. He reigns only three years. King Asa follows, 955.

Nadab follows Jeroboam, king of Israel; dies; and Baasha reigns in 954.

“And there was war between Asa, and Baasha king of Israel, all their days” (1 Kings xv, 16).

These facts go to show that fighting continued between Israel and Judah. Foreign powers are now invited to help, and the struggle continues.

In 918 Ahab is king of Israel. It is during his reign that a new class of men rise, agitators, talkers, prophets, and small miracle-makers.

Elijah makes his appearance. Jehu had already prophesied against Baasha; he was a minor star in the field of prophecy. Elijah the Tishbite, who was of the inhabitants of Gilead, “said unto Ahab,” etc., says 1 Kings xvii, 1. Ahab was king of Israel 918.

No miracles are reported to have occurred after Moses. Joshua did not perform any, except that incident about the sun. During all these centuries from 1443, the date of Joshua’s death, up to the reign of Ahab, not a miracle-maker appears. There are strong men, bad men, fighting men, priests, brave generals, very wicked men, etc., but none performs a miracle.

Another class of men are soon to appear. They, however, do not make their appearance until a century later, or so. I mean the nervous men, the visionary dreamers and prophets of the type of Isaiah. In addition, any number of soothsayers, necromancers, fortune-tellers, and quacks had entered into the business of miracle-making on a small scale. And a new school of skeptics and philosophic speculators slowly developed.

Civilization had not advanced much, but it nevertheless was progressing. The minds of men had undergone an evolution. The Jehova of Moses, or the simple abstract form of the Chaldean idol of Abraham, had lost its force, prestige, and importance. The ark, that sacred box, is completely lost sight of in these stirring times of revolution, rebellion, dissension, and fighting.

The high priest since the time of Saul had to take a subordinate position. He was the minor oracle,

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