Absalom, a son of David, was the comeliest man in Israel. There was no blemish on him from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head. Although his father loved him greatly, he conspired to be king in his father’s stead. He would stand beside the road, and when any one came and would bow down before him, he embraced him and kissed him, and thus stole the hearts of the men of Israel from his father. He conspired with Ahithophel, David’s counsellor, and came with an army against Jerusalem, and David was forced to flee from his son. Ahithophel’s counsel was to pursue David immediately; but Hushai, David’s friend, advised Absalom to wait until he could raise a larger army. The Lord, wishing to bring destruction upon Absalom, caused Ahithophel’s good advice to be rejected, and Ahithophel went and hanged himself. David thus gained time to raise an army. He set Joab over it, and commanded him saying: Deal gently with the young man! There was a great battle in a forest. Absalom was compelled to flee, and riding under an oak, his head was caught in its boughs. The mule on which he rode ran away, and he was left hanging between heaven and earth. Joab ran and thrust three javelins through his heart. When David heard of this he wept and lamented: O Absalom, my son, would I had died for thee! O Absalom, my son, my son!--Some years later David died and Solomon, the son of Bathsheba, became king. (2 Sam. 15-18; 1 Kings 1-2.) 38. Solomon God appeared unto Solomon in a dream and said: Ask what I shall give thee. Solomon asked for wisdom. Shortly after two women came to him. They dwelt together, and each had given birth to a child. As one of them had in the night overlaid her child so that it died, she arose and took the child of the other, and laid her own in its place. Both now asserted: I am mother of the living child. Solomon said: Fetch me a sword! When the sword was brought, he said: Divide the child in two, and give half to one and half to the other. Then the one cried: Give her the child, and do not divide it. The other said: Divide it, so it shall be neither mine nor thine. Then Solomon said: Give the child to her who wills that it shall live, for she is the mother. All Israel heard the judgment and feared the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him.--Solomon was wiser than all other men, and the fame of his wisdom spread abroad, and the queen of Sheba came to hear him. He spoke 3000 proverbs, and his songs were 1005; he wrote of trees, from the cedar that grows on Lebanon to the hyssop that springs out of the wall; he wrote of beasts of the field, of birds, of creeping things and of fishes. He had peace round about and all Israel dwelt safely, each man under his vine and fig tree. He traded with distant lands and gathered gold and silver and precious stones in great abundance. On Mount Moriah in Jerusalem he built a magnificent temple instead of the Tabernacle, and put the Ark in the Holy of Holies.