PART III. may be probably denoted thus much, that as all the men of Shechem, i. e. all the commonalty or inferior inhabitants, so also all the house of Millo, i. e. all the principal inhabitants who made up the governing part of the city, and were wont to assemble together in the public town-house, or guild-hall, did consent to and attend on the setting up of Abimelech for King. And accordingly the place at Jerusalem called by the same name of Millo is thought to have been designed for much the same use. That it was some public building may, I think, be probably inferred from the peculiar notice taken of it among the other public works of Solomon. For in 1 Kings ix. 15. we read, that the reason of the levy, (or tax,) which King Solomon raised, was this; for to build the house of the Lord, and his own house, and Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, &c. Where since we find Millo joined with the house of the Lord, and the royal palace, it may probably be inferred, that it was also itself a public building, or house, especially since it is expressly called, 2 Kings xii. 20. the house of Millo. And the circumstance, for which it is mentioned in this last text, seems further to confirm the opinion I am speaking of, that Millo was a place where the principal persons of the state did meet together. For we are told in the said text, that the servants of King Joash arose, and made a conspiracy, and slew him in the house of Millo; namely, when he was come thither probably to debate or consult with his princes, and other principal persons, upon some state 'affair. An instance of the like nature is very well known to all, that have any acquaintance with the Roman history, in reference to the murder of the famous Julius Cæsar, slain in the senate-house at Rome, by a party that had formed a conspiracy against him, and thought no place more proper to put it in execution, than the said Roman Millo, or senate-house.

As, from what has been said, it may, not without probability, be supposed, that the house at Jerusalem, called Millo, was a public house of state; so I think, from what is said concerning the same, in 2 Chron. xxxii. 5. it may

be further inferred, that this public house of state was also CHAP. II. a sort of armoury, or place where arms were wont to be kept; or at least a place of more than ordinary strength, For in the chapter last cited we read, that when Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib was come, and was purposed to fight against Jerusalem, he took counsel with his princes; and, among other things thought proper to be done on that occasion, he strengthened himself and built up all the wall that was broken, and raised it up to the towers, and another wall without, and repaired Millo in the city of David, and made darts and shields in abundance. Now it being in this place particularly said, that among other methods used by Hezekiah to fortify Jerusalem against Sennacherib, one was this, the repairing Millo; hence it naturally follows, that Millo was a place of more than ordinary importance to the strength of the city Jerusalem. And since, immediately after the repairing of Millo, there is mention of making darts and shields in abundance, this may possibly proceed from the defect of these found to be in the house of Millo, where they were usually reserved against times of war, or the like occasions.

The situation of the house of Millo is expressly said in 11. this 32d chapter of Chronicles, ver. 5. to be in the city of where David; and SO either upon mount Sion, or some place ad- situated. joining thereto. And it is further remarkable, that though it be said in 2 Sam. v. 9. that David built round about from Millo and inward, yet it seems evident, that this must be understood proleptically, i. e. as if it had been said, David built round about, from that place where Millo was afterwards built by Solomon. For it is expressly said, 1 Kings ix. 15. that Solomon raised a levy to build (among other places) Millo; and ver. 24. of the same chapter it is said, or at least plainly intimated, that after Solomon had built an house or palace for the daughter of Pharaoh, his queen, then he built Millo.

12.

Another

But there is another opinion concerning this Millo at Jerusalem, which is not to be passed by in silence, be- opinion cause embraced by several learned men. Whereas then concerning

Millo.

PART III. there was a valley or hollow, that lay between mount Sion and the other mount or hill, on which the old city, or the city of Melchisedek, stood; they supposed Solomon filled up this hollow, and had it evened so as that from mount Sion to mount Moriah, on which he built the Temple, there was a plain even way. Whence the way or causey thus made by filling up the forementioned hollow, they suppose to be called Millo, in reference to the signification of the root, whence this word is thought to be derived, the said root (as has been before observed) signifying to be full, or filled up. That there was a causey raised by Solomon from mount Sion to the Temple, they infer from 2 Chron. ix. II. where it is said, that the King made ter-. races to the house of the Lord, and to the King's palace. The word here rendered terraces may be otherwise translated (as is observed in the margin of our Bible) stays, or supports, to keep up the said terraces. But in neither sense will these last words amount to a good proof, that the said terraces or causeys were such as were made by filling up the hollow between mount Sion and mount Moriah. And therefore I rather think the opinion I am now speaking of concerning the import of the name Millo is wholly founded on the vulgar Latin version of 1 Kings xi. 27. For whereas the latter part of this text is rendered in our translation agreeably to the Hebrew, thus: Solomon built Millo, and repaired (or closed) the breaches of the city of David his father; instead hereof, in the vulgar Latin version it is rendered after this manner: Salomon ædificavit Mello, et coæquavit voraginem civitatis David patris sui; i. e. Salomon built Mello, and evened the hollow of the city of David his father. How the author of this Latin version came thus to render the Hebrew text, is hard to conjecture; the Hebrew words, which he renders, coœquavit voraginem, evened the hollow, having no affinity thereto, and therefore he is single in his interpretation, all the other ancient interpreters following the same sense that our translators have done. Particularly it is not so easy to account, how the Latin interpreter came to make choice of

the word vorago; unless in the said hollow or small deep CHAP. II. valley there was a whirlpool or quagmire, as the said word does properly denote in the Latin tongue.

In short, it seems to me (considering the several ancient versions, and what is said by commentators) most probable, that Solomon made a noble magnificent way from the royal palace on mount Sion, to the temple on mount Moriah, and in order hereunto there was a noble causey raised across the valley between the said two mountains; not so high as to make the way all along upon a level, but, however, so as to make the ascent and descent from one to the other very easy. Hence, as we read (1 Kings x. 5.) of the ascent by which Solomon went up unto the house of the Lord, and (1 Chron. xxvi. 16.) of the causey of the going up or ascent; so we read (2 Kings xii. 20.) that Joash was slain in the house of Millo, which goes down to Silla. Which word Silla is thought by some learned commentators to denote the same that Mesillah is elsewhere put for; namely, a causey. And it is further thought, that as from the valley between the two mounts, Sion and Moriah, there were two steepnesses, one towards the temple or mount Moriah, the other towards the palace or mount Sion; so this last was that which is peculiarly denoted by the descent of Silla; and that the house of Millo stood near this descent.

It remains only to observe, in reference to the forementioned expression, viz. David built round about from Millo and inward, that the original word rendered inward may also be translated, to the house; and so thereby might be denoted, that David built round about, from the place where Millo was afterwards built by Solomon, to his own house or palace. And consequently it is not improbable, that the palace and Millo stood on two opposite sides of mount Sion: so that to say, that David built round about from Millo to the palace, was as much as to say, that David built from one part of mount Sion quite round to the opposite part. And consequently by this expression

PART III. thus understood was aptly enough described the largeness of the city of David.

13.

In 1 Kings ii. 10. we are informed, that David was buOf the royal ried in the city of David. And the same we read of Sosepulchres. lomon, 1 Kings xi. 43. And in the series of the sacred

history we read that Rehoboam, Abijam, Asa, &c. were buried with their fathers in the city of David. Whence it appears, that those famous grots at Jerusalem, now-a-days called the sepulchres of the Kings, cannot be the place, where either the Kings of all Israel, David and Solomon, or their successors in the kingdom of Judah, were generally buried: forasmuch as these grots lie without (what is now-a-days called) the gate of Damascus, and on the north side of the city, and so at a considerable distance from the city of David, where the Scripture expressly asserts David and Solomon, and most of the Kings of Judah, to have been buried.

Whoever was buried here, this is certain, says Mr. Maundrell, that the place itself discovers so great an expense both of labour and treasure, that we may well suppose it to have been the work of Kings. You approach to it at the east side, through an entrance cut out of the natural rock, which admits you into an open court of about forty paces square, cut down into the rock, with which it is encompassed, instead of walls. On the south side of the court is a portico nine paces long, and four broad, hewn likewise out of the natural rock. This has a kind of architrave running along its front, adorned with sculptures of fruits and flowers, still discernible, but by time much defaced. At the end of the portico on the left hand you descend to the passage into the sepulchres. The door is now so obstructed with stones and rubbish, that it is a thing of some difficulty to creep through it. But within you arrive in a large fair room, about five or six yards square, cut out of the natural rock. Its sides and ceiling are so exactly square, and its angles so just, that no architect with levels and plummets could build a room more regular. And the