=The development of commerce.=—­Now that peace and security had been achieved, David did much to make the daily lives of all his people happier.  One way was through commerce.  The great merchants of those days were the Phoenicians, the people of Tyre and Sidon, whose daring sailors steered their ships into every harbor on the Mediterranean Sea and even out upon the stormy Atlantic and up to the tin mines of Britain.

Very wisely David made a treaty of friendship with Hiram, king of Tyre, and as a result Phoenician artists and artisans came down to Jerusalem and helped to beautify the city.  Phoenician wares also began to be peddled in all the towns of Canaan:  fine linen fabrics, such as the Hebrews did not know how to weave; beautiful jars and cups, such as Hebrew potters had not learned to fashion; jewels of silver and gold and precious stones, over which Hebrew maidens hovered with longing eyes.  Soon one could see that the homes in these little towns of Judah and Benjamin and Ephraim were cleaner and better furnished, and the people were more neatly dressed.  Commerce of the right kind is always a blessing.

=Education.=—­Better than fine clothes and jewels and furniture are the things that feed the mind.  David himself was a skillful harpist, and no doubt this helped to make harp-playing popular.  On one occasion the ark of Jehovah, the sacred chest which had been carried in the desert, was brought up to Jerusalem.  It was accompanied by a chorus of singers and a band of instrumental players, “with harps and lyres and cymbals.”  In the worship of the temple at Jerusalem music from this time on had an important place.  And all up and down the land here and there, one could hear in humble homes the tinkle of harp strings; and boys and girls who liked music could learn to play.

If not in David’s time, then very soon after, the first Hebrew history books were written.  These contained stories which had been handed down from generation to generation; stories about the beginnings of things; stories about Abraham and Moses and other early heroes.

There were, of course, only a few copies of written rolls of stories, as compared with the millions of volumes which are constantly being turned out to-day by our great printing presses.  But these few were much read, and those who read committed many of the stories to memory so that they could repeat them again and again in their home circles.  In this way life grew more rich in pleasure and interest for many a Hebrew youth and maiden.

DAVID’S SUCCESSOR, SOLOMON

After David’s death his son Solomon was made King.  He also encouraged commerce, both by land and by sea.  His ships sailed down the Red Sea to India, and back, and over the Mediterranean Sea to Spain.  They brought back, according to the author of First Kings, “gold and silver, ivory, and apes and peacocks.”

=Solomon’s folly.=—­Alas for the happiness of the people, Solomon was a different kind of a man from his father.  Like so many other sons of good kings he was spoiled by too much luxury and too little discipline.  He had the reputation of being very wise, but in reality he was very foolish.  His chief ambition was to have splendid palaces, and to make a great display of riches, like the kings of Egypt and Babylonia.