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A few centuries before Homer was singing his wonderful songs through the streets of Greece, a great king of the Jews was singing other wonderful songs in Canaan. This king was named David, and he wasn't born a king. He was only a shepherd boy in King Saul's army. This is the way he happened to become king.
At first, as you remember, the Jews had no kings; but they had asked for kings, and at last they were given one by the name of Saul.
David had killed the giant Goliath. We all love this Bible story because we are always glad when the skillful little chap beats the great, big, bragging bully.
Well, King Saul had a daughter, and she fell in love with this brave and athletic young David the Giant-Killer, and at last they were married.
After Saul died, David became king, and he was the greatest king the Jews had ever had. Although Saul had been king, he had lived in a tent, not in a palace, and he didn't even have a capital city.
David eventually conquered a city in Canaan called Jerusalem and made this city the capital of the Jews.
David was not only a brave warrior and a great king; he wrote beautiful songs as well.
The blind poet Homer sang of his fairy-tale gods. The great King David sang of his one God.
These songs are the Psalms, which are still read and sung in churches and synagogues.
Nowadays even a popular song is popular for only a few months, but the songs that David wrote almost three thousand years ago are still popular today! The Twenty-third Psalm, which starts, “The Lord is my shepherd,” is one of the most beautiful and a good one to learn by heart. David likens himself to a sheep and his Lord to a good shepherd, who tenderly looks out for the comfort and safety of his sheep.
David's son was named Solomon, and when David died Solomon became king.
If a good fairy had asked you what you would rather have than anything in the world, I wonder what you would have chosen. When Solomon became king, God is said to have appeared to him in a dream and asked him what he would rather have than anything else in the world. Instead of saying he wanted to be made rich or powerful, Solomon asked to be made wise, and God said He would make him the wisest man that ever lived. Here is a story that shows how wise he was.
Once upon a time two women came to Solomon with a baby, and each woman said the baby was her own child. Solomon called for a sword and said, “Cut the baby in two, and give each a half.” One of the women cried out to give the baby to the other rather than do this, and Solomon then knew who was the real mother and ordered the baby to be given to her.
Solomon built a magnificent temple made of cedar-wood, from the famous forest of Lebanon, and of marble and gold and studded with jewels. Then he built himself a wonderful palace, which was so gorgeous and splendid that people came from all over the world to see it. The Bible tells us just how large this temple and palace were, not in feet but in cubits. A cubit was the distance from a man's elbow to the end of his middle finger, which is about one foot and a half.
The queen of Sheba, among others, came a long distance across Arabia to hear the wise sayings of Solomon and see his palace and the temple he had built.
Although the palace and temple were considered extraordinarily magnificent at that time, you must remember that this was a thousand years before Christ.
Solomon's temple and palace have disappeared long since. But his wise sayings are preserved in many languages and read by many people all around the world. There are thousands of buildings now in the world that would make his palace, if still standing, look like a child's toy house. But no one has ever been able to say any better the things he said. Do you think you could? Suppose you try. Here are some of them. They are called proverbs.
A soft answer turneth away wrath;
but grievous words stir up anger.
What's that mean?
A good name is rather to be chosen than great
riches and loving favor rather than silver and gold.
What's that mean?
Let another man praise thee and not thine own mouth.
What's that mean?
Solomon was the last great king the Jews ever had. After he died the Jewish nation gradually broke up and then came back together again. Then, six hundred years later it finally went to pieces and, for about two thousand years, the Jewish people were without a king, without a capital, and without a country of their own, though they are found in many other countries of the world. Then at last they formed a new country, a country called Israel. Israel is in the land that used to be called Canaan.
在荷马吟唱他美妙的诗歌穿过希腊大街小巷之前的几个世纪，一位伟大的犹太国王也在迦南吟唱另一种精彩的诗章。这位国王名叫大卫，他并非生来就是国王。他原来只是犹太国王扫罗军队里的一个牧童。以下说的就是他怎么碰巧当上国王的故事。
你们还记得吧，最初犹太人是没有国王的；但是他们要求有国王，最终他们有了一个国王，名叫扫罗。
圣经记载，大卫杀死了巨人歌利亚。我们都喜欢这个故事，因为当那个武艺高超的小家伙打败了那个又高又大又爱吹牛的恶霸时，我们总是高兴的。
国王扫罗有个女儿，爱上了这个勇敢健壮、年纪轻轻就杀了巨人的大卫，最后他们结婚了。
扫罗死后，大卫当了国王，他是犹太人历史上最伟大的国王。虽然扫罗也当过国王，但是他那时还住在帐篷里而不是宫殿里，他甚至连一个都城都没有。
大卫最终征服了迦南的一个叫耶路撒冷的城市，并将它定为犹太人的都城。
大卫不仅是勇敢的武士和伟大的国王，而且他还写了很多优美的诗歌。
盲诗人荷马歌颂的是神话故事中的众神，而伟大的大卫王则颂扬他唯一的主。
这些颂歌是圣经中的《诗篇》，也就是现在教堂和犹太会堂里仍然还在诵读和歌唱的赞美诗。
如今即使一首大众喜爱的歌曲也只能流行几个月，但大卫王在几乎三千年前写的那些歌至今还在传唱。第二十三首赞美诗《耶和华是我的牧者》是最优美的赞美诗之一，让人铭记在心。大卫将自己比作一只羊，将上帝比作善良的牧羊人，细心呵护着羊群，让羊生活得自由自在。
大卫的儿子叫所罗门，大卫死后，所罗门成了国王。
如果有位善良的仙女问你，世界上你最想要什么，我想知道你会选什么呢？所罗门成为国王后，据说上帝出现在他的梦中，问他在世界上他最想要什么。所罗门不想要财富和权势，他只请求让他变成有智慧的人，于是上帝说会让他成为世界上最有智慧的人。下面这个故事说明他多么有智慧。
有一次，两个妇女抱着个婴儿来找所罗门，各自都说婴儿是自己的亲骨肉。所罗门让人拿来一把剑，然后说：“把这个婴儿劈成两半，给她们一人一半。”其中一个妇女大声哭了起来，说宁愿把孩子让给另一个妇女，也不愿要这样的结果。所罗门就知道了谁才是婴儿的生母，下令把孩子还给她。
所罗门建造了一座宏伟壮观的圣殿，所用材料有大理石、黄金和闻名于世的黎巴嫩雪松，殿里点缀着颗颗珠宝。然后，他又为自己建了一座辉煌的宫殿，它是那样的美轮美奂，吸引了世界各地的人前来参观。圣经中说起所罗门的圣殿和王宫有多宏大时，都是用肘尺而不是用英尺来计算的。肘尺是人从肘部到中指尖的距离，长度相当于一英尺半。
在来访者中，有位示巴女王穿越阿拉伯半岛，长途跋涉前来聆听所罗门的隽语箴言，参观他建造的圣殿和王宫。
尽管当时这座圣殿和王宫被认为是奢华无比，但是你必须记住那可是在公元前1000年。
所罗门的圣殿和王宫早已荡然无存了，但是他睿智的名言却被译成多种语言保存至今，世界各地的人们现在还在阅读它们。如果他的王宫今天还在，和世界上成千上万座高大建筑物相比看上去就像孩子的玩具房一样了，但是至今也没有人能说出比所罗门的隽语箴言更有智慧的话了。你觉得你能吗？要不你试试？以下是其中的几句，现在称作谚语了。
回答柔和，使怒消退；
言语暴戾，触动怒气。
这是什么意思？
美名胜过大财，恩宠强如金银。
这是什么意思？
任他人赞美而不自夸。
这又是什么意思呢？
所罗门是犹太人最后一位伟大的国王。他死后，犹太民族开始了分而又合的过程。六百年后，犹太王国最终还是分崩离析了。将近两千年来，犹太人一直都没有国王，没有国都，也没有一个属于自己的国家，虽然现在许多国家都可以见到犹太人。最后，他们建立了一个新的国家，一个叫以色列的国家。以色列就位于过去被称为迦南的那块土地上。