written at that time, would of course make reference to Zion and not yet to Moriah.
And his dwelling-place in Zion."
Psalm lxxvi. 2.
And even after the ark had been carried up to the Temple, Mount Zion would retain its sanctity by tradition; or perhaps the name Zion would be extended so as to include Moriah, as they may in truth be related as the slope and the summit of the same hill.[1]
His foundation is in the holy mountains,
More than all the dwellings of Jacob."
Psalm lxxxvii. 1.
So shall ye know that I am the Lord your God dwelling in Zion, my holy mountain. (Joel iii. 17 and Zech. viii. 3).
Human nature would not be what it is if theory and practice always went hand in hand. Laws may be good, but universal obedience to them cannot always be secured. Solomon himself, who had built the temple, and by bringing the Tent of Meeting into it, had disestablished Gibeon, set the example, in his later years, of recognising afresh other high places and the gods of the heathen. Having married "women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites," besides the daughter of Pharaoh, he doubtless thought it only an enlightened toleration to let them worship in their own way, and as a logical consequence he supplied them with the means, and perhaps occasionally accompanied them to their respective places of worship. "For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the
- ↑ See the chapter on Jerusalem.
