The Albury MS. THE AMALGAMATED GUILD OF ... - RoseCroix.org.au

Thus the more, perhaps too highly civilized, people fell under the yoke
of the more war-like race.
On his accession Solomon found himself in the possession of territory,
physical power, and wealth; and, wisely discerning that rich
neighbours were more profitable than poor ones, he employed the
power bequeathed to him to cultivate the arts of peace, and set about
to imitate the policy of the people his father had subjugated. He,
therefore, entered into treaties with the more influential of his
neighbours, and notably with the King of Tyre and Sidon, who
commanded the seaboard, and, instead of being the first warrior of his
region, he became the first merchant of his age; he assumed a
monopoly of commerce, and drew to himself the whole import and
export trade, reducing all other dealers to the position of retailers.
Whoever wished to buy had to come to the Royal stores; the king was
the only wholesale merchant within his realms. The soil of the territory
over which Solomon ruled was anything but fertile, and, judging by its
present aridity, can never have been otherwise, though it is probable,
that before the destruction of the forests, it was less so than at
present. The denuded rocks of Judea could never have been fit for
timber; the olive and the sycamore were therefore the principal trees;
and this is evident from the necessity of sending to Lebanon for cedar
and fir. The natural resources of the country being then so limited,
commerce was the only mode by which he could accumulate wealth.
There are certain points of similarity between the policy of Napoleon
the First and that of David, and of Napoleon the Third and that of
Solomon.
Having premised so much, it will be interesting to form some idea of
the structure of that Temple which has rendered Solomon so famous
as an architect.
The account of the building of the Temple was shortly as follows: -
Solomon informs Hiram, king of Tyre, who had sent to congratulate
him on. his accession to the throne, that he was about to build a
Temple, and asked leave to hire woodmen to assist his own in felling
fir and cedar trees in Lebanon, and preparing timber for the purpose,
because the Sidonians were famous as carpenters; consequently, it
was arranged that the Sidonians should hew and transport the timber
to the sea, and float it to such place as might be required: Solomon
was to indemnify Hiram annually with 20,000 measures of wheat and
20 measures of pure oil. Thereupon Solomon raised a levy of 30,000
men to assist the Sidonians, 10,000 being on duty each month by
turns, under the superintendence of Adoniram, with 330 gangs of men