King Solomon: Encyclopedia - King Solomon

King Solomon

Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh, meaning "peace"; Arabic: سليمان Sulayman) in the Hebrew Bible (Old Testament), also called Jedidiah, was the third king of the united ancient Kingdom of Israel (there was no Kingdom of Judah in his time).

Solomon was the builder of the first Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple in Jerusalem. He was renowned for his great wisdom, wealth, and power, but also blamed for his later pacifism toward his converted wives in their worship of other gods. He is the subject of many later legends. He is also in a line of the greatest Kabbalah masters, legendary kabbalists.

King Solomon - The name Solomon

The name Solomon (Shlomo) means "peaceful," or "complete", from the Hebrew Shelomoh (Arabic Sulaiman). The name given by God to Solomon in the Bible is Jedidiah, meaning "loved by God", (2 Samuel 12:25), and some scholars have conjectured that Solomon is a "king name" taken either when he assumed the throne or upon his death.

Solomon's case is one of the few in the Bible where the name given by God does not stay with the character. Solomon's birth is considered a grace from God, after the death of the previous child between David and Bathsheba.

King Solomon - The Biblical account

Solomon is David's second son by Bathsheba. In the Hebrew Bible, the prophet Nathan informs David that God has willed that his firstborn son must die, as punishment for David's method of execution of Uriah the Hittite, and his relationship with Bathsheba, Uriah's wife, which was fornication (although whether or not it was adulterous is disputed ¹.) [1]. After praying and fasting for a week, David heard the news that his son had died, and comforted the grieving Bathsheba, who became pregnant with Solomon.

King Solomon - Succession

Solomon's history is recorded in 1 Kings 1–11 and 2 Chronicles 1–9. He succeeded his father (reigned circa 1011/1010 BC to 971/970 BC BC) on the throne in about 971 or 970 BC, not 1037 BC (1 Kings 6:1), following E. R. Thiele. His father chose him as his successor, passing over the claims of his elder sons, by women other than Bathsheba. His elevation to the throne took place before his father's death, and is hastened on mainly by Nathan and Bathsheba, in consequence of the rebellion of Adonijah.

During his long reign of 40 years the Hebrew monarchy gained its highest splendour. This period has well been called the "Augustan Age" of the Jewish annals. In a single year he collected tribute amounting to 666 talents of gold, according to 1 Kings 10:13.

The first half of his reign was, however, by far the brighter and more prosperous; the latter half was clouded by the idolatries into which he fell, mainly, according to the scribes, from his intermarriages. According to 1 Kings 11:3, he had 700 wives and 300 concubines. As soon as he had settled himself in his kingdom, and arranged the affairs of his extensive empire, he entered into an alliance with Egypt by a marriage with the daughter of the Pharaoh.

King Solomon - Solomon's Wisdom

In 1 Kings 3:5-14 there is written an account of an encounter between the newly crowned Solomon and the God of the Kingdom of Israel in which he offers Solomon anything he pleases. Solomon asks for "an understanding heart to judge thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to judge this thy so great a people?" Pleased with his non-materialistic wish God tells him that not only will he recieve a foundation in epistemology greater than any other man, but also great wealth, power and prosperity.

The idea that Solomon's Wisdom is God-given is very important to various Judeo-Christian beliefs. The biblical Book of Proverbs, written by Solomon, is a dogmatic guideline for morality and manners in many Jewish and Christian denominations. Some believe that Solomon also wrote the biblical book of Ecclesiastes in which there is an established sense of absurdity of man's feeble accomplishments. Here Solomon attacks the vanity of human actions and the importance of a relationship with God that many religions embrace. Solomon's writings also support Søren Kierkegaard's Christian existentialism and the two assumptions:

• Having a personal relationship with God superseded all set moralities, social structures and communal norms.
• Social conventions was essentially a personal aesthetic choice made by individuals.

King Solomon's idea's are also essential to Christian Anarchism and Christian Pacifism.

King Solomon - Buildings and other works

He surrounded himself with all the luxuries and the external grandeur of an Eastern monarch, and his government prospered. He entered into an alliance with Hiram I, king of Tyre, who in many ways greatly assisted him in his numerous undertakings. For some years before his death David was engaged in the active work of collecting materials for building a temple in Jerusalem as a permanent abode for the Ark of the Covenant.

After the completion of the temple, Solomon erected many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem and in other parts of his kingdom. For the long space of thirteen years he was engaged in the erection of a royal palace on Ophel. Solomon also constructed great works for the purpose of securing a plentiful supply of water for the city, Millo (Septuagint, Acra) for the defence of the city, and Tadmor in the wilderness as a commercial depot as well as a military outpost.

During his reign Israel enjoyed great commercial prosperity. Extensive traffic was carried on by land with Tyre and Egypt and Arabia, and by sea with Tarshish (Spain), Ophir and South India and the coasts of Africa. The royal magnificence and splendour of Solomon's court are unrivaled. Solomon was known for his wisdom and proverbs. People came from far and near "to hear the wisdom of Solomon", including queen Makedah or Bilqis of Sheba, (identified with a country in Arabia Felix). Their son Menelik I, according to Ethiopian tradition, would become the first emperor of Ethiopia. His thoughts are enshrined in storytelling, though probably, not all the clever thinking in the stories originates with the one man.

King Solomon - Decline and fall

Blamed for his decline and fall from his high estate were his polygamy and his great wealth, causing him to become decadent and involved in various forms of idol worship which are contrary to the religious law. Because of this idol worship, a prophet visits Solomon and tells him that after his death his kingdom would be split in two (Israel and Judah) and that his son, Rehoboam, would suffer because of his sin. He died, after a reign of forty years, and was buried in Jerusalem.

In 1 Kings3:15-28 an account of Solomon's wisdom can be viewed as symbolic of the split in the Kingdom of Israel following the death of Solomon. In the story there are two new mothers, one of which who had smothered her baby during sleep and claimed the other woman's baby as her own. The problem is presented to King Solomon who proposes the baby be split in half, each woman receiving one half of the baby. The woman who was lying went along with the plan while the real mother immediately feels sympathy for her offspring and would rather see the other woman raise it than see it die. Solomon instantly grants the real mother the baby realizing that a true mother would compromise to see her offspring survive. This act, though not truely biblically significant it is a metaphor for what was about to happen to the Israelites and their nation.

King Solomon - Solomon in the Qur'an

Solomon also appears in the Qur'an, where he is called Sulayman. The Qur'an refers to Solomon as the son of David, as a prophet and as a great ruler imparted by God with tremendous wisdom, favor, and mystical powers. Solomon was said to have under his rule not only people, but also hosts of invisible beings (i.e., jinn). And like his father David, Solomon is said to have been able to understand the language of the birds, and to see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to common human beings.

Surah 27 (An Naml/Ant):15 “And, indeed, We granted [true] knowledge unto David and Solomon [as well]; and both were wont to say: 'All praise is due to God, who has [thus] favored us above many of His believing servants!' And [in this insight] Solomon was [truly] David's heir; and he would say: 'O you people! We have been taught the speech of the birds, and have been given [in abundance] of all [good] things: this, behold, is indeed a manifest favor [from God]!'”

Surah 34 (Saba):12 “And unto Solomon [We made subservient] the wind: its morning course [covered the distance of] a month’s journey, and its evening course, a month’s journey. And we caused a mountain of molten copper to flow at his behest; and [even] among the invisible beings there were some that had [been constrained] to labour for him by his Sustainer’s leave – and whichever of them deviated from Our command, him would We let taste suffering through a blazing flame –: they made for him whatever he wished of sanctuaries, and statues, and basins as [large as] great watering-troughs, and cauldrons firmly anchored.”

King Solomon - George Rawlinson's evaluation

"The kingdom of Solomon," says George Rawlinson, "is one of the most striking facts in Biblical history. A petty nation, which for hundreds of years has with difficulty maintained a separate existence in the midst of warlike tribes, each of which has in turn exercised dominion over it and oppressed it, is suddenly raised by the genius of a soldier-monarch to glory and greatness."

Rawlinson continues, "an empire is established which extends from the Euphrates to the borders of Egypt, a distance of 450 miles; and this empire, rapidly constructed, enters almost immediately on a period of peace which lasts for half a century. Wealth, grandeur, architectural magnificence, artistic excellence, commercial enterprise, a position of dignity among the great nations of the earth, are enjoyed during this space, at the end of which there is a sudden collapse."

Rawlinson concludes, "the ruling nation is split in twain, the subject-races fall off, the pre-eminence lately gained being wholly lost, the scene of struggle, strife, oppression, recovery, inglorious submission, and desperate effort, re-commences."

King Solomon - Later legend

To Solomon are attributed by rabbinical tradition but not internally, the Biblical books of Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Then comes the Wisdom of Solomon, probably written in the 2nd century BC where Solomon is portrayed as an astronomer. Other books of wisdom poetry attributed to Solomon are the "Odes of Solomon" and the "Psalms of Solomon".

The Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BC, included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre.

The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st or 2nd century, refers to a legend in which Solomon sends out an army of demons to seek a virgin who had fled from him, perhaps the earliest surviving mention of the later common tale that Solomon controlled demons and made them his slaves. This tradition of Solomon's control over demons appears fully elaborated in the early Christian work called the "Testament of Solomon" with its elaborate and grotesque demonology.

Solomon's mastery of demons is a common element in later Jewish and Arab legends, and is often attributed to possession of a magic ring called the "Seal of Solomon".

The ancient Imperial legend of Ethiopia, as told in the Kebra Nagast maintains that the Queen of Sheba returned to her realm from her Biblical visit to Solomon, pregnant with his child, and giving birth to a son by the Mai Bella stream in the province of Hamasien, Eritrea. This child would eventually inherit her throne with the new rank and title of Menelik I, Emperor of Abyssinia. The dynasty he would establish would reign in Abyssinia with few interruptions until the overthrow of Emperor Haile Selassie in 1974.

The Table of Solomon was said to be held in Toledo, Spain during the the Visigothic rule and was part of the loot taken by Tarik ibn Ziyad during the Islamic conquest of Spain, according to Ibn Abd-el-Hakem's History of the Conquest of Spain.

King Solomon - Solomon in fiction

The Toni Morrison novel Song of Solomon makes allusions to Solomon.

The Star Trek: The Original Series episode "Requiem for Methuselah" indicated that Solomon was an immortal man named Flint, born in Mesopotamia in the year 3834 BC. His wealth, power, and knowledge were the result of centuries of acquisition. Other identities included Lazarus, Merlin, Leonardo Da Vinci and Johannes Brahms. Flint was portrayed in the episode by actor James Daly.

Solomon is one of the patrons of the superhero Captain Marvel.

In Neal Stephenson's The Baroque Cycle, alchemists like Isaac Newton believe that Solomon created a kind of "heavier" gold with mystical properties and that it ended in the Solomon Islands where it was found by Spanish discoverers.

King Solomon - Solomon in the arts

Handel composed an oratorio entitled Solomon in 1749. The story follows the basic Biblical plot.

King Solomon - Footnote

Note 1: According to Jewish law, the custom was that a soldier sent to the front lines, such as Bathsheba's husband, would give his wife a retro-active "divorce" annuling their marriage were he to die or disappear, thus allowing the wife to remarry. This was a "loophole" that David and Bathsheba seem to have relied upon, and which has caused some to accuse them of "adultery" when in fact the legal status of Bathsheba's marriage was "suspended" and subject to question, according to the rabbinic commentators. No basis for this explanation is found in the Biblical account, where Uriah was not commanded to go to the front of the battle until after David had slept with Bathsheba.

See also

• Kingdom of Israel
• Kingdom of Judah
• David
• Kabbalah

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "King Solomon", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki