When Adonijah and his friends heard this they were filled with fear.  Every man went at once to his house, except Adonijah.  He hastened to the altar of the Lord, and knelt before it, and took hold of the horns that were on its corners in front.  This was a holy place, and he hoped that there Solomon might have mercy on him.  And Solomon said: 

“If Adonijah will do right, and be faithful to me as the king of Israel, no harm shall come to him; but if he does wrong, he shall die.”

Then Adonijah came and bowed down before King Solomon, and promised to obey him, and Solomon said, “Go to your own house.”

[Illustration:  Solomon on his throne]

Not long after this David sent for Solomon, and from his bed he gave his last advice to Solomon.  And soon after that David died, an old man, having reigned in all forty years, seven years over the tribe of Judah, at Hebron, and thirty-three years over all Israel, in Jerusalem.  He was buried in great honor on Mount Zion, and his tomb remained standing for many years.

The great work of Solomon’s reign was the building of the House of God.  It was generally called the Temple.  It was built on Mount Moriah, one of the hills of Jerusalem.  King David had prepared for it by gathering great stores of silver, stone and cedar-wood.  The walls were made of stone and the roof of cedar.  Solomon had great ships which visited other lands and brought precious stones and fine woods for the building.  Seven years were spent in building the Temple, and it was set apart to the worship of God with beautiful ceremonies in which Solomon, in his robes of state, took part.

[Illustration:  Supposed form of Solomon’s temple]

Solomon was indeed a great king, and it was said that he was also the wisest man in all the world.  He wrote many of the wise sayings in the Book of Proverbs, and many more that have been lost.

[Illustration:  Ship in Solomon’s time]

THE STORY OF ELIJAH, THE PROPHET

One of the greatest of all the kings of the Ten Tribes was Jeroboam the second.  Under him the kingdom of Israel grew rich and strong.  He conquered nearly all Syria, and made Samaria the greatest city of all those lands.

But though Syria went down, another nation was now rising to power—­Assyria, on the eastern side of the river Tigris.  Its capital was Nineveh, a great city, so vast that it would take three days for a man to walk around its walls.  The Assyrians were beginning to conquer all the lands near them, and Israel was in danger of falling under their power.

One of the kings who ruled over Israel was named Ahab.  He provoked the anger of the Lord.  His wife, Jezebel, who was a worshiper of Baal, persuaded him to build an altar to the false god.

Elijah, a prophet of the Lord, was sent to him and proposed a test.  Two altars were built; one to Jehovah and one to Baal.  The priests of Baal called upon their god to send down fire; but there was no answer.  Then Elijah called upon the Lord God of Abraham, Isaac and Israel, and fire came down and burnt up the offering.