will remember that this was not the first time that God had distinctly authorized Jeroboam's rebellion; for, as I told you before, the prophet Ahijah told him that he should have ten tribes out of twelve.

Jeroboam then took peaceable possession of the ten tribes, and set up his court at Samaria. And since he had been so plainly permitted by God to assume this power, we should have supposed that he would have remained faithful to God's authority and worship; but instead of this, he set up two golden calves as objects of worship at Dan and Bethel. His excuse for so doing was that he was afraid lest the people should return to their allegiance, if they were allowed to visit Jerusalem, even for the purpose of worship. He evidently could not trust God's promise that the people should remain faithful, and that his sons after him should reign over Israel. And his sin in setting up these calves was so heinous in the sight of God, that he is ever after quoted as "Jeroboam the son of Nebat, who made Israel to sin."

Very little more is told us of Rehoboam, save that in his time the king of Egypt came up against Jerusalem, and took away all the

treasures of the king's house, and all the shields of gold that Solomon had made, and Rehoboam had brazen ones made in their place. So soon did the riches and glory of Solomon's reign vanish. And there was also war between Rehoboam and Jeroboam all their days.

CONVERSATION ON CHAPTER XIII.

Daughter. Do you think Solomon repented of his idolatries, and of his general falling away from God?

Father. It is generally supposed that the book of Ecclesiastes was written under the influence of a spirit of penitence, but it seems rather to betoken a spirit of remorse than of that genuine "repentance not to be repented of." There seems to breathe through it very little of the assurance that God had forgiven him; but of course we must remember that the doctrine of pardon of sin through the mediation of a crucified Saviour was not yet revealed, and therefore it is hardly surprising that Solomon did not give utterance to any

well-grounded hope of pardon, even if his repentance was seen by God to be genuine.

D. The temple seems to have been built in a very costly manner; have you any idea of the expense of it ?

F. It is impossible to say accurately, though it certainly was very large. In Chronicles xxii. 14, it is said that David provided 100,000 talents of gold, and 1,000,000 talents of silver. Each talent of silver amounted, according to Dr. Prideaux, to 4507., and of gold, to 7,2007.; but on this supposition the sums that David had prepared would amount to one hundred millions of our money, a sum which could not possibly have been expended upon a building of this size; for, as the above writer observes, it might have been built of solid silver for less than that amount. In the twenty-ninth chapter there is mention made of certain sums specifically given up to the temple by David and his princes; and these, according to the same mode of computing the value of talents of gold and silver, would amount to above twenty-four millions sterling.

D. How many temples were there between Solomon's time and the final destruction of Jerusalem ?

N

F. Three first, Solomon's; then that which was built after the return of the Jews from captivity, and which was pulled down by Herod the Great, to be built upon a more magnificent scale; and, thirdly, the one built by Herod. But as the second temple was not destroyed, as the former had been, by an enemy, the third temple was considered a mere repair of the second, and was still called the second temple. This last was very splendid, as we learn from Josephus; and we know it took forty-six years to complete it. (See St. John's Gospel, ii. 20.)

CHAPTER XIV.

KINGS OF ISRAEL AND JUDAH.

THE kingdoms were from henceforward separate; and the kings of the two nations were more commonly at war with each other than at peace. There were in all nineteen kings of Israel, not one of whom was a good king throughout his life; and there were twenty-one kings of Judah, of whom very few were good ones. I cannot attempt to go through the whole history of these kings; but I will merely call your attention to those circumstances which are most prominently brought forward by the sacred writers. And you will find that these most important incidents were generally in connexion with the lives of the prophets Elijah and Elisha, and occurred when God interfered in some marked manner, either to reward or to punish. Unhappily, the wickedness of these