ation of the
house with wrought stone. And Solomon's builders and Hiram's builders
did fashion them, and prepared the timber and the stones to build the
house.

{459}{460}

[Illustration]
THE LEBANON RANGE AND A GROVE OF CEDARS.

The grand mountain range called Lebanon, "white," from the snow
which lies for seven months on its summits, is very often mentioned
in the Old Testament. The highest summits are from five thousand
five hundred to seven thousand feet.
[End illustration]

{461}

SOLOMON'S TEMPLE.

_The House of the Lord Is Built_.

Then Solomon began to build the house of the Lord at Jerusalem in
Mount Moriah, where the Lord appeared to David his father, which he
made ready in the place that David had appointed, in the
threshing-floor of Araunah the Jebusite.

And he began to build in the second day of the second month, in the
fourth year of his reign. Now these are the foundations which Solomon
laid for the building of the house of God. The length by cubits after
the first measure was threescore cubits, and the breadth twenty
cubits. And the porch that was before the house, the length of it,
according to the breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the
height an hundred and twenty: and he overlaid it within with pure
gold.

And the greater house he ceiled with fir tree, which he overlaid with
fine gold, and wrought thereon palm trees and chains. And he adorned
the house with precious stones for beauty: and the gold was gold of
Parvaim. He overlaid also the house, the beams, the thresholds, and
the walls thereof, and the doors thereof, with gold; and graved
cherubim on the walls.

And he made the most holy house; the length thereof, according to the
breadth of the house, was twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof
twenty cubits: and he overlaid it {462} with fine gold, amounting to
six hundred talents. And the weight of the nails was fifty shekels of
gold. And he overlaid the upper chambers with gold. And in the most
holy house he made two cherubim of image work; and they overlaid them
with gold. And the wings of the cherubim were twenty cubits long: the
wing of the one cherub was five cubits, reaching to the wall of the
house; and the other wing was likewise five cubits, reaching to the
wing of the other cherub. And the wing of the other cherub was five
cubits, reaching to the wall of the house: and the other wing was five
cubits also, joining to the wing of the other cherub. Th