"I made me great works." (Ecclesiastes 2:4) "[Solomon built] Millo and the wall of Jerusalem, and Hazor, and Megiddo, and Gezer." ... And Beth-horon the nether, And Baalath, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, And all the cities of store that Solomon had, and cities for his chariots, and cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build in Jerusalem and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion." (1 Kings 9:15,17-19)
"Millo" was a strong fortification, or tower, that protected the city of Jerusalem on the north. It was renewed by Herod, and by him named Hippicus in honor of one of his friends; and as it stood completed by Herod, it was about one hundred feet high. It was made of white marble, each stone about thirty feet long by fifteen feet wide and seven and one-half thick.
"The wall of Jerusalem" began at Millo, or Hippicus, and extended clear around the city; upon it were sixty towers. As the city grew and spread beyond this wall, a second one was built in after years, and still another, so that at the final destruction of the city by the Romans, there were three very strong walls about it, the outer one having ninety towers, the middle one, forty, and the "old wall," as before stated, having sixty, besides two other large towers corresponding to Hippicus, built also by Herod, and called respectively Phasaebes, and Mariamne.
"Hazor" was the principal city and stronghold of the whole of North Palestine. "Megiddo" was a fortified city which commanded one of the main passes from the north into the hill country. "Gezer" was also a fortified city that commanded the Mediterranean coast road of communication between Egypt and Jerusalem.
The two "Beth-horon's," "the upper," and "the nether," lay on the boundary line between the tribes of Ephraim and Benjamin, and guarded a pass on the road from Gibeon to the Philistine plain. Through this pass was the main way of approach into the interior of the country Philistia on the west, and from Moab and Ammon on the East.
"Tadmor" (Palmyra) was built in an oasis in the desert of Hamath above Syria, "two days' journey from the Euphrates, and six long days journey from Babylon." This was built so that he might control the great caravan trade from the East. Even the ruins of Tadmor are a wonder and an astonishment, and what magnificence must have been displayed when it stood in its splendor. "I built me houses." (Ecclesiastes 2:4)
The chief one of these was one hundred and fifty feet long, seventy-five feet broad, and forty-five feet high, and was in three stories. It had a grand porch seventy-five feet long and forty-five broad, and all the pillars and beams and floors were of the finest cedar of Lebanon, and the pillars were so many and so costly, and those in the porch were so tall, that it was called: "The house of the forest of Lebanon." (1 Kings 7:2)
Close to this was "the tower of David built for an armory, [on the walls of which there hung] a thousand bucklers, all shields of mighty men." (Song of Solomon 4:4)
Then there was the great Judgment Hall, lined with cedar wood, where stood the ivory throne inlaid with gold, with its six steps, and two graven lions on each step, and also a lion at each arm; the seat a golden bull, and the back ending in a half-circle. Then there was the house for Pharaoh's daughter, and houses for all his wives and concubines. Then there were the cloisters, and reception rooms, and the magnificent banqueting hall. These all were made with walls and foundations of white stone, many of them twelve, and many fifteen feet in length. All were supported with pillars and beams of cedar and fir, decked with gold and silver, and the roofs and walls ornamented with beautiful stones set with gold and silver, after the style of the temple. Besides all these buildings in Jerusalem, he built a summer palace in Lebanon. "I planted me vineyards: I made me gardens and orchards, and I planted trees in them of all kind of fruits." (Ecclesiastes 2:4-5)
Literally, "I made me paradises, beautiful parks for pleasure grounds."
There was one of these, probably the principal one, about six miles from Jerusalem, at Etham. There he would go in stately progress out of the city in the morning, dressed in snow-white raiment, riding in his chariot of state, which was made of the finest cedar, decked with gold and silver and purple, carpeted with the costliest tapestry, worked by the daughters of Jerusalem. A body-guard of sixty valiant men attended him, of the tallest and handsomest of the young men of Israel, arrayed in Tyrian purple, their long black hair, freshly sprinkled with gold-dust every day, glittering in the sun. "I made me pools of water, to water therewith the wood that brings forth trees." (Ecclesiastes 2:6)
These were necessary to keep his parks fresh and beautiful. There were three of them, all in the side of the valley of Etham. The upper pool was 380 feet long, 236 wide at the eastern end, and 229 at the western end, and 25 deep. Below this 160 feet was the middle pool, 423 feet long, 250 broad at the eastern end, and 160 at the western, and 39 feet deep. Below this 248 feet lay the lower pool, 582 feet long, 207 broad at the eastern end, and 148 at the western, and 50 feet deep. Each pool therefore covered somewhat more than two acres. They were partly hewn out of the solid rock, and partly built of masonry. All were lined with cement, all had flights of steps from top to bottom, and all three were connected together by conduits, and by an aqueduct connected with Jerusalem, so that not only his "paradise" at Etham was watered by them, but from them also his palaces and gardens at the city were supplied. "I gathered me also silver and gold." (Ecclesiastes 2:8) "And all King Solomon's drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the house of the forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver; it was nothing accounted of in the days of Solomon. ... And the king made silver to be in Jerusalem as stones." (1 Kings 10:21,27)
He "had at sea a navy" (1 Kings 10:22) that went to Ophir, and once in three years came the navy bringing gold, and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks. The gold that came to Solomon in a year was about $17,752,640.--PP Editor's note: These money values must be multiplied x33 to get their equivalents in 2024. This with what David left to him, $2,904,000,000, amounted to $2,921,752,640, or enough to have given nearly $390 (About $12,870 in dollar value for 2024) to each man, woman, and child in the whole kingdom. And all this was "Besides that he had of the merchantmen, and of the traffic of the spice merchants, and of all the kings of Arabia, and of the governors of the country." (1 Kings 10:15)
That is, all this was beside the regular customs duties and taxes from his own kingdom. His navy brought at one voyage from Ophir $13,068,000; (2 Chronicles 8:18) at another it brought $12,196,800; (1 Kings 9:28) the queen of Sheba gave him $3,484,800; (1 Kings 10:10) and Hiram also gave him $3,484,800. (1 Kings 9:14) Surely gold was plenty.
After enjoying everything to the full, withholding not his "heart from any joy," (Ecclesiastes 2:10) then he could only look on all the works that his hands had wrought and exclaim, "all was vanity and vexation of spirit!" (Ecclesiastes 2:11)
The word translated "vanity" means "breath" or "light wind," and its parallel is found in Isaiah 40:6 and James 1:10-11. All vanishes, all fades away, even life itself is but a vapor, appearing but "for a little time and then vanishes away." (James 4:14)
From verse twelve it seems that after he had seen all this greatness, and glory, and folly, he turns to the contemplation of himself and the time when he walked in "wisdom," and compares it with the years of his "madness and folly," and as his firm decision he leaves us this apple of gold in a picture of silver: (Proverbs 25:11) "Then I saw that wisdom excels folly As Far As Light Excels Darkness." (Ecclesiastes 2:13)--Signs of the Times, November 27, 1884--Notes on the International Lesson, December--Ecclesiastes 2:1-13
A.T. Jones