Solomon
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Solomon or Shlomo (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה; Standard Hebrew: Šəlomo; Tiberian Hebrew: Šəlōmōh: Arabic: سليمان Sulayman) was the third king of the united ancient Kingdom of Israel, which at that time also included the Kingdom of Judah.
The name Solomon (Shlomo) means "peaceful," or "complete", from the Hebrew Shelomoh. The name given by God to Solomon through the prophet Nathan is Jedidiah, meaning "friend of God" (2 Samuel 12:25). 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.
According to the bible, Solomon was the builder of the first Temple in Jerusalem, also known as Solomon's Temple. He was world-renowned for his great wisdom, wealth, and power. He is described as an Israelite potentate of unequaled reach in biblical history, his empire's borders stretching from the Euphrates to the Nile. However, this king of a supposedly great empire is nowhere evident in ancient sources from his time outside of the bible.
The biblical portrait of Solomon is paradoxical. On the one hand, he is portrayed as a pious king of supreme, divinely-endowed wisdom. On the other, he foolishly allows his love for his foreign wives to lead him into idolatry. His sin is ultimately responsible for the the splitting of his kingdom in two and the eventual fall of both Israel and Judah into the hands of foreign invaders.
In terms of his contribution to literature, Solomon is traditionally credited with the authorship of the Song of Solomon, the Proverbs, and Ecclesiastes, along with a large number of apocryphal and pseudepigraphal works. He is the subject of many later legends and is also in a line of the greatest Kabbalah masters.
The Biblical account
Solomon's Early Reign
Solomon is David's second son by Bathsheba. His history is recorded in 1 Kings]] 1–11 and 2 Chronicles]] 1–9. He succeeds his father (reigned circa 1005 B.C.E. to 965 B.C.E.) to the throne while still a teenager before David's death. David choses him as his successor, passing over the claims of his elder sons. Solomon's early enthronement is hastened in consequence of the attempt of David's eldest surviving son, Adonijah to usurp the kingship.
Supported by David's military chief, Joab, and the venerable priest Abiathar, Adonijah's attempt to reign is cut short when the prophet Nathan and Bathsheba prevail on David to have young Solomon publicly anointed and proclaimed as king, at the very moment when Adonijah is celebrating his own ascendancy. Sensing defeat, Adonijah seeks sanctuary in the sacred tent that houses the Ark of the Covenant, clinging to the horns of the altar. Solomon grants him clemency, if "he shows himself to be a worthy man" (1 Kings 1).
Near death, David charges Solomon to follow God's commands "as written in the Law of Moses". He also advises the young monarch to collect certain blood debts David himself has not been able to collect, especially that of Joab, David's erstwhile general who lately had supported Adonijah's aborted coup. "Do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace," David commands. After David dies, Solomon dutifully obeys his father's last wish. He also takes Adonijah's request to marry David's bearutiful young concubine, Abishag, as evidence of his elder brother's unworthiness, and orders his death as well. "The kingdom was now firmly established in Solomon's hands", the biblical author concludes (1 Kings 2).
Despite this bloody beginning, the rest of Solomon's reign is remarkably peaceful until near its close. Solomon's next action is to form an alliance with the king of Egypt, taking the pharoah's daughter as his primary wife to seal the bargain.
He proceeds to an ambitious building project in Jerusalem, constructing a glorious palace for himself, expanding the city walls, and creating the unifying religious symbol of his reign, the Temple. Until this time, a biblical writer concedes, "The people were still sacrificing at the high places" (1 Kings 3:2). Whether Solomon intended the Temple as the exclusive abode of Yahweh or as a cosmopolitan center honoring the religious traditions of the various peoples over which he ruled is a matter of much debate. (See "The Historical Solomon," below.)
Solomon's Wisdom
While his ruling concerning the two women who both claimed the same child is by far the most famous of Solomon's judgments, there is no doubt the biblical authors intend his response to God's promise in 1 Kings 3 to be even more emblematic of his wisdom. "Ask for whatever you want me to give you," God offers in a dream. "Give your servant a discerning ear to govern your poeple and to distinguish between right and wrong," Solomon replies. Pleased with his non-materialistic wish, God tells him that not only will he receive wisdom greater than any other man, but also great wealth, power and prosperity. The story of Solomon's wise ruling in the case of the two women follows immediately after this, as evidence of God's boon of great wisdom. Solomon orders the disputed infant to be brought forth and commands his aides to hack it into two equal pieces. He ultimately awards the child to the woman who offers to rescind her claim of motherhood so that the child may live.
The idea that Solomon's wisdom is God-given is important to various Judeo-Christian beliefs. The biblical Book of Proverbs, ascribed to Solomon, is a dogmatic guideline for morality and manners in various Jewish and Christian denominations. Many believe that Solomon also wrote the biblical book of Ecclesiastes in which there is established a sense of the vanity of man's feeble accomplishments, characterized as "a striving after wind".
The bible is quite specific as to the number of Solomon's literary works and the extent of his wisdom: "He spoke three thousand proverbs and his songs numbered a thousand and five. He described plant life, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He also taught about animals and birds, reptiles and fish. Men of all nations came to listen to Solomon's wisdom, sent by all the kings of the world" (1 Kings 4:33-34).
A Glorious Empire
During Solomon's long reign of forty years the Hebrew monarchy reaches its greatest splendor. This period has well been called the Golden Age of Jewish history, a veritable precursor of the Messianic Age. "Judah and Israel dwelt safely, every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan even to Beersheba" (1 Kings 4:25).
The bible describes Solomon as a great imperial potentate, who "ruled over all the kingdoms from the River [Euphrates] to the land of the Philistines, as far as the border of Egypt." His yearly tribute income is reported as 666 talent talents (weight) of gold (1 Kings 10:13). While this figure may or may not be accurate, the reason for the gifts is clear, since Solomon possesses no less that 40,000 stalls for horses and chariots and 12,000 mounted cavalry.
On the other hand, the biblical account also describes the tribute-giving as a two-way street. While Hiram of Tyre presents Solomon with both gold and copious amounts of valuable raw materials for his building projects, Solomon, in exchange, sends large yearly allotments of food to Tyre. He even conscripts no less than 30,000 "men of Israel" to serve Hiram, as a gesture of peace (1 Kings 5). Later Solomon cedes to Hiram twenty towns in Galilee, with which Hiram is still not satisfied (1 Kings 9).
Solomon's building projects in Jerusalem are impressive. Construction of the Temple takes seven years to complete, while Solomon's palace takes thirteen. Forced labor on a massive scale is involved, but this time not invovling "men of Israel". Instead Solomon conscripts slaves from among the non-Israelite tribes of Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites (1 Kings 9). When the Ark of the Covenant is finally installed in the Temple, the king celebrates by offering 22,000 oxen and 120,000 sheep as a sacrifice. There follows a fourteen-day feast involving a "great congregation".
The first twenty years of Solomon's reign are now finished. Not only is his kingdom firmly established, but his glory is unparalleled throughout the world. Solomon now has another dream. Once again God promises wisdom and prosperity, but this time a warning is also given: "If you or your sons turn away from me... to serve other gods and worship them, then I will cut off Israel and the land I have given them and will reject this temple I have consecrated for my Name" (1 Kings 9:6-7).
Solomon erects many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem and in other parts of his kingdom. The bible reports that he fortified the walls of Jerusalem as well as the strategic towns of Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer. It describes impressive water works, desert fortresses, store cities, ship building projects, and large housing projects for his military, including huge stables (1 Kings 9).
Solomon engages in extensive trade on land with Tyre, Egypt, and Arabia and by sea with Tarshish (Spain), Ophir, South India, and Africa. Impressed by tales of his wisdom, the wonderfully rich Queen of Sheba visits with generous gifts of gold and spices, and Solomon in turn gives her "all she desired" (1 Kings 10). According to a later Ethiopian tradition, a son was born of this union, Menelik I, who would become the first emperor of Ethiopia.
Decline and fall
The rest of Solomon's reign as described in the Book of Kings is far less bright and prosperous, as his fatal flaw, namely his weakness for women, manifests. This portion of his reign is clouded by idolatry, mainly resulting from his intermarriages, which the biblical historian denounces as contrary to God's will. Besides his famous marriage to the princess of Egypt, according to 1 Kings 11:4, he accumulates 700 wives and 300 concubines. Even if the numbers are exaggerated, many of these must have been political marriages sealing alliances with neighboring tribes and clans; the bible specifically names Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites among Solomon's wives. For their sakes, and no doubt to honor the peoples and kings they represent, Solomon offers sacrifice to their deities as well as to Yahweh of the Israelites.
The sacred historian declares that God now turns against Solomon, mobilizing the Edomite prince Hadad and the Aramean leader Rezon against him. Finally, one of Solomon's own officials, Jeroboam son of Nebat, rebels against him, with the encouragement of the prophet Ahijah (1 Kings 11). Later, Jeroboam would go on to become the first king of the northern Kingdom of Israel, while Solomon's son Rehoboam would rule over the southern Kingdom of Judah.
A less distressing end to Solomon's reign is described in the Book of Chronicles, which does not mention Solomon's idolatry, just as it does not mention the story of Bathseba's adultery with King David. It concludes: "Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king" (2 Chron. 9: 30-31).
The Historical Solomon
Solomon's Kingdom
Just how literally we should take the story of Solomon's glory boils down to a chicken-and-egg enigma. Which came first, the reality of Solomon's expansive empire centering on a glorious temple dedicated to the Israelite God, or the need of later biblical historians to explain the reality of their own times wih reference to a Golden Age from which the kings of Judah and Israel had fallen?
A theory proposed by archaeologist Israel Finkelstein is that Solomon's kingdom is a kind of back-dated version of that of the Israelite dynasty of Omri, the first truly historical Israelite empire. Omri and his sons are denounced by the bible for honoring the deities of their vassal states, and the story of Solomon is written to demonstrate that this practice is the root cause of Israel's woes. The glorious Temple of Yahweh in Jerusalem, too, is anarchonistic. It seems patterned after the magnificent pagan temples of a later era. Nor is it certain that Solomon's Temple was devoted exclusively to Yahweh.
Biblical deconstructionists base their arguments on archeology as well as literary criticism of the bible. For example, archaeological evidence indicates that Jerusalem in Solomon's time, the tenth century B.C.E., was far too small to have served as an administrative center for an empire such as that of the biblical Solomon's. Also, some of the city walls that the bible describes as being built by Solomon have been uncovered, and they seem to date for a century or so after his reign. The large stables and other structures unearthed by earlier archaeologists and cited of proof of the bible's accuracy are now dated to the time of the Omrian dynasty.
Biblical literalists answer these challenges in various ways. They reject the basic theses of biblical criticism and presume the bible's accuracy, as well as its claim to be a document of divine inspiration. In describing Solomon's activities, the biblical authors were wroking from actual court documents, and whatever editorial additions they made to these were inspired by God. Bible defenders also argue that the fact that a large building such as Solomon's Temple has not been found is no proof that it never existed. They point out that bible critics often disagree among themselves as to what is factual and what is legendary in the bible. Finally, they challenge the dating procedures and other archaeological methods of the critics.
Solomon's Religion
The Bible describes the young Solomon as being committed to "walk in [God's] ways... as it is written in the law of Moses" (1 Kings 2:3). But biblical critics wonder: did the Law of Moses, as such, even exist in Solomon's time? This is the question serious students of the bible, both pious and secular, must confront.
Bible critics generally agree that while the Law of Moses may have ancient roots, it was first compiled and implemented nationally as late as the time of King Josiah in the sixth century B.C.E. According to this theory, the people of Israel and Judah did not originally view their God as the only deity, nor did they think that this God alone must be worshiped. They may have believed that the various names of major deities were essentially different words for the same idea. Clearly, the Israelites worshipped their own God both as "El" and as "Yahweh", since both names are given in the bible for the God of Israel. A feminine counterpart to Yahweh or El was also worshiped as Astarte, Ashera, Ishtar, etc. The "Yahweh-only" ethic eventually prevailed during the Babylonian captivity, but before that time gained supremacy only occasionally and had never been widely accepted by the common people. Thus it was only natural that Solomon, who lived during the time when the concept of God was not so exclusive, would honor other deities besides that of is own tribe, Judah. What we have in the Book of Kings, then, is an anachronism, the projection of sixth-century religious values onto a tenth-century reality.
Such a theory, of course, calls into question the basic presumptions of the sacred history presented in the bible. Instead of Solomon's apostasy causing God's enmity and resulting in the division of his kingdom, his honoring of "foreign" deities could be seen as natural, or even a manifestation of his wisdom. In this view, it would have been economic, political, and military issues that truly caused Judah and Israel to go their separate ways, rather than the idolatry of King Solomon. Indeed the description of Jeroboam's rebellion in 1 Kings 12 describes it more in terms of a labor dispute than a religious one.
Solomon's Writings
The bible says that Solomon was a prolific writer of proverbs and other works. Although the tradition of Solomon as a fount of Jewish wisdom literature is thus quite ancient, it is questionable whether he wrote any of the works traditionally ascribed to him.
Ecclesiastes claims to be the work of someone called "The Preacher" (Hebrew: Koheleth), a "son of David" who is a ruler of considerable worldly wisdom. Solomon, of course, is the personage implied. However, most scholars consider the work to reflect the literary style and philosophy of a considerably later era: either the period of Babylonian exile of even as late as the third century B.C.E.
The Book of Proverbs is a collection of wisdom sayings. Its philosophy contains little of the worldly-wise cynicism of Ecclesiastes and could hardly have been composed by the same writer. On the other hand, the first proverb in the collection, as well as the opening verse of Proverb 10, provides the heading: "The Proverbs of Solomon". Yet, since King Hezekiah is mentioned in Proverb 25, the collection itself cannot date from earlier than the seventh century B.C.E. While some of individual proverbs may be more ancient, it is generally agreed that the book in its current form dates from the post-exilic period.
The work usually referred to as the Song of Solomon, is in reality entitled "Song of Songs." It is a love poem or dialog between a young nobleman and his bride or lover. Most scholars consider it to be a composite work by several anonymous authors. Because of this, it is not easy to date. The romantic notion that it is a love song composed by Solomon for his Egyptian wife is attractive, but unlikely.
A great number of non-biblical works are also attributed to Solomon, from the apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon to the so-called Psalms of Solomon, as well as numerous magical and kabbalistic writings. The idea that the historical Solomon penned these works must be viewed with a high degree of skepticism.
Solomon in the World's Religions
Solomon in Judaism
Solomon is an important if controversial figure in Judaism and occupies a very important part in rabbinical legend. He is one of the zaddikim (the just), a friend of God, and "he who built the Temple". He is particularly honored by the Rabbis for asking the Lord for wisdom after God had promised to grant him whatever he wished. He is considered to have been a prophet, and a godly judge without equal. Some later rabbinical legends endow him with magic powers, portraying him as being able to fly by means of a huge eagle or magic carpet. His majestic throne was the most opulent ever created and also had wondrous mechanical qualities. Some rabbis esteem Solomon so highly that they deny that he fell into idolatry, claiming instead that he only failed to restrain his wives from the practice.
However, the Tanakh (the Hebrew bible) clearly holds Solomon's idolatry responsible for God's division of the United Kingdom. Talmudic authorities, too, focus on Solomon's weakness for women and his sin of idolatry. His marriage to Pharoah's daughter is particularly condemned, as is his idolatry in association with his other foreign wives. It is indicative of the the ambiguous place of Solomon in Jewish tradition that when the Talmudic sage Rabbi Eliezer was asked by his students for his opinion of Solomon's place in the life in the world to come, he reportedly gave an evasive answer.
Solomon also serves as a link between Judaism and Africa, where several African tribes have claimed descent from Solomon and identify themselves as Jews, including the Falasha (moved) though many also see them as from the lost tribe of Dan. They have been granted the right of return (to live in the modern state of Israel). The Lembo in South Africa also claim a Jdewish identity.
Solomon in Christianity
In Christian tradition, Solomon is viewed as a great king of Israel who reigned in peace with godly wisdom with the tragic exception of his worshiping foreign deities. He represents Israel's Golden Age before it fell into the sin of idolatry and rebellion against God. Solomon is one of the ancestors of Jesus Christ listed in Matthew 1. Jesus himself refers to both Solomon's wisdom and his splendor (Matthew 6:29; 12:42). In the Christian scriptures, Solomon is traditionally credited with the authorship of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon. The Catholic bible includes the Wisdom of Solomon in the approved Old Testament Apocrypha. Other works supposedly about or by Solomon, some of which are deemed heretical, are included in the New Testament Apocrypha (see "The Solomon of Legend" below).
Solomon in Islam
The Qur'an refers to Solomon as Sulayman. He is the son of David, a prophet, and 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]!'”
In Arabic legend, Solomon is well represented. A letter purporting to be from him to the Queen of Sheba invites her to convert to Islam. He is said to possess a magical ring by which he commands various natural forces. Arabic tradition, unlike its Jewish counterpart, makes much of Solomon's ability as a warrior, especially his love for horses. In one story, Solomon dies at age 53, having reigned 40 years, but without entirely completing his work on the Temple. The angel of death takes his soul while he is leaning upon his staff, so that the jinn who assisted him in constructing the Temple would not know that he had passed away. Only a year later, when the jinn had completed the task, was Solomon's death recognized.
Solomon in Unificationism
In Unification teaching, Solomon's most important contribution was the establishment of the Temple on the foundation of King David's successful work in unifying the northern and southern kingdoms. The Temple was to be the central object of faith for the people of Israel during their national course of restoration in preparation for the coming of the Messiah. However, Solomon's sin of idolatry allowed Satan to invade this foundation. If Solomon had succeeded in his course, the Messiah could have come at the end of Solomon's reign and would have been Solomon's own son. Instead, the providence centering on the Temple was prolonged through the 400-year period of the Divided Kingdoms. This too failed, and the Temple was destroyed by foreign invaders. After the Babylonian exile, it was rebuilt; but not until the time of Solomon's descendant, Jesus of Nazareth, was the foundation for the Messiah on the national level finally accomplished.
The Solomon of Legend
Rabbinical tradition attributes to Solomon the Biblical books of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes and the Song of Solomon. Then comes the Wisdom of Solomon, probably written in the 2nd century B.C.E. 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 B.C.E., included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre. As the kabbalistic tradition developed, many other legends and works of Solomon emerged in association with his wisdom and other powers. Solomon's mastery of demons is a common element in later Jewish and Arabic mythology legends, and is often attributed to possession of the magic ring called the "Seal of Solomon".
The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st century 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.
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 1974C.E.
The Table of Solomon was said to be held in Toledo, Spain]] during 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. Finally, numerous stories, novels, and even motion pictures, have been made about the fabulous wealth contained int King Solomon's mines.
| Preceded by: David |
Kingdom of Israel | Succeeded by: Rehoboam (Judah) Jeroboam (Israel) |
ReferencesISBN links support NWE through referral fees
- Deaver, William. Did God Have A Wife? Archaeology And Folk Religion In Ancient Israel, Grand Rapids, MI: Wm. B. Eerdmans (2005). ISBN: 0802828523
- Finkelstein, Israel, and David Silberman. David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition. NY: Free Press (Simon and Schuster), 2006. ISBN: 0743243625
See also
External links
- Jewish Encyclopeida (1901-1905)
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Solomon entry by Gabriel Oussani (1913)
- Web links on Solomon
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