The surprising feature to most students is the fact that the system of education given by God will, when followed, open to man such material benefits. It is not, as it is often accused of being, ideal and theoretical, but lacking the practical. On the contrary, it is of the most practical nature, and opens to its followers all legitimate lines of prosperity, placing its devotees above all contestants. This is seen in the experience of the king just mentioned. As a statesman and lawyer, Solomon was noted; as a scientist, he excelled the scholars of the world; for wealth and splendor, the half has not been told; during his reign Jewish architecture, as exemplified in the temple, assumed such grandeur that it became the model for even the æsthetic Greek. In tilling the soil and raising fruit it was always intended that Israel should excel other nations.[27] Youth were trained to fill positions of trust, and were taught the practical duties of everyday life. Such training was given to girls as well as to boys, fitting them to fill properly their allotted sphere as housewives and mothers in Israel.[28] From the fall which followed this exaltation, Israel never recovered. The educational system losing its true character, the nation was at last carried into captivity. When the Hebrew race lost the spirituality of their education, they lost everything; for political power, national reputation, all, hung upon one thread. “Jerusalem was destroyed because the education of her children was neglected.” This destruction did not come suddenly. There was a decline, then a forward lunge, and another relapse, each time the fall being greater and the reaction weaker. [Sidenote: An educational reform] Several times a halt was made, and the national life was prolonged by a return to the prescribed methods of education. Jehoshaphat, for instance, appointed Levites as teachers to the different cities of Israel, and, as a result, “The fear of the Lord fell upon all the kingdoms of the lands that were round about Judah, so that they made no war.”[29] Had the reform been carried on which was then begun, the whole national history would have been changed.