PERSON · KING

Solomon

Solomon presided over the zenith of the united Israelite monarchy and constructed the first Temple in Jerusalem, fulfilling what David had planned. His reign is presented in Scripture as a period of peace, extensive trade, and international diplomatic contact, during which the fame of Israel's God was proclaimed among surrounding nations through the king's wisdom and the Temple's splendor.

1 Kings 1:1–53

Capital: Jerusalem
Reign: 40 years

The Story

He came to the throne not by conquest but by covenant — a son chosen before his birth to carry a promise his father would never be permitted to fulfill. David had fought the wars, unified the tribes, and brought the ark to Jerusalem. But it was Solomon, the son Bathsheba bore him after sorrow had already visited their house, who would be given the peace in which to build. Scripture records that the LORD loved him, and that through the prophet Nathan he was given another name — Jedidiah, beloved of the LORD — as if heaven itself were marking this child as set apart before he ever wore a crown.

²⁴And David comforted Bath–sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him. ²⁵And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.
2 Samuel 12:24–25·KJV

The transition of power was anything but quiet. Solomon's elder brother Adonijah had already moved to claim the throne while David lay aged and feeble, gathering chariots and horsemen and declaring himself king before the matter was settled. It fell to Nathan the prophet and Bathsheba to move quickly, and David, stirred from his decline, made his intentions plain: Solomon would reign. The young man was anointed at the spring of Gihon, brought back into the city, and set upon the throne of Israel while his rival's feast dissolved in fear. The kingdom, Scripture says, was established in Solomon's hand.

What Solomon did next reveals the shape of the man he was, at least in those early years. At Gibeon, where the great high place stood and the tabernacle of Moses still held its place before the Temple was built, the new king offered a thousand burnt offerings. That night, God came to him in a dream and asked what he wished to be given. The request Solomon made is one of the most arresting moments in all of Israel's royal history — not wealth, not victory over enemies, not long life, but a hearing heart, an understanding mind, the capacity to judge the people rightly and to discern between good and evil.

⁹Give therefore thy servant 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? ¹⁰And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. ¹¹And God said unto him, Because thou hast asked this thing, and hast not asked for thyself long life; neither hast asked riches for thyself, nor hast asked the life of thine enemies; but hast asked for thyself understanding to discern judgment; ¹²Behold, I have done according to thy words: lo, I have given thee a wise and an understanding heart; so that there was none like thee before thee, neither after thee shall any arise like unto thee.
1 Kings 3:9–12·KJV

God answered that because he had asked this rather than the things men typically grasp for, wisdom would be given — and with it, the riches and honor he had not asked for as well.

Life & Legacy

Death

Scripture

Solomon died and was buried in the city of David his father after reigning forty years over all Israel, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

1 Kings 11:43

Legacy

Scripture

Solomon built the Temple in Jerusalem for the LORD and a royal palace, accumulating unprecedented wealth, wisdom, and international renown. He is credited with composing or collecting Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Solomon, and with writing three thousand proverbs and one thousand five songs. His later years were marked by turning to foreign gods under the influence of his many foreign wives, which Scripture records as causing the LORD to announce the division of the kingdom after his death.

1 Kings 4:32; 1 Kings 6:1–38; 1 Kings 11:1–13

Character

Scripture

Scripture records that Solomon asked God for an understanding heart to judge the people and to discern between good and evil rather than for riches or long life, and God granted him unparalleled wisdom. In his later years Scripture records that his heart was turned away after other gods and was not wholly devoted to the LORD his God as the heart of his father David had been.

1 Kings 3:9–12; 1 Kings 11:4

Significance

Scripture

1 Kings 4:20–34; 1 Kings 8:1–66; 1 Kings 10:23–24

DeathScripture

Solomon died and was buried in the city of David his father after reigning forty years over all Israel, and his son Rehoboam reigned in his place.

1 Kings 11:43

LegacyScripture

1 Kings 4:32; 1 Kings 6:1–38; 1 Kings 11:1–13

CharacterScripture

1 Kings 3:9–12; 1 Kings 11:4

SignificanceScripture

1 Kings 4:20–34; 1 Kings 8:1–66; 1 Kings 10:23–24

Roles

King

In Scripture

1 Kings 1:1–53key

¹Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat. ²Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat. ³So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king. ⁴And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not. ⁵Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him. ⁶And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom. … (47 more)

KJV

1 Kings 3:1–28key

¹And Solomon made affinity with Pharaoh king of Egypt, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. ²Only the people sacrificed in high places, because there was no house built unto the name of the Lord, until those days. ³And Solomon loved the Lord, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places. ⁴And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that altar. ⁵In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and God said, Ask what I shall give thee. ⁶And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. … (22 more)

KJV

1 Kings 6:1–38key

¹And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were come out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel, in the month Zif, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. ²And the house which king Solomon built for the Lord, the length thereof was threescore cubits, and the breadth thereof twenty cubits, and the height thereof thirty cubits. ³And the porch before the temple of the house, twenty cubits was the length thereof, according to the breadth of the house; and ten cubits was the breadth thereof before the house. ⁴And for the house he made windows of narrow lights. ⁵And against the wall of the house he built chambers round about, against the walls of the house round about, both of the temple and of the oracle: and he made chambers round about: ⁶The nethermost chamber was five cubits broad, and the middle was six cubits broad, and the third was seven cubits broad: for without in the wall of the house he made narrowed rests round about, that the beams should not be fastened in the walls of the house. … (32 more)

KJV

1 Kings 11:1–43key

¹But king Solomon loved many strange women, together with the daughter of Pharaoh, women of the Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Zidonians, and Hittites; ²Of the nations concerning which the Lord said unto the children of Israel, Ye shall not go in to them, neither shall they come in unto you: for surely they will turn away your heart after their gods: Solomon clave unto these in love. ³And he had seven hundred wives, princesses, and three hundred concubines: and his wives turned away his heart. ⁴For it came to pass, when Solomon was old, that his wives turned away his heart after other gods: and his heart was not perfect with the Lord his God, as was the heart of David his father. ⁵For Solomon went after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Zidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. ⁶And Solomon did evil in the sight of the Lord, and went not fully after the Lord, as did David his father. … (37 more)

KJV

2 Samuel 12:24–25

²⁴And David comforted Bath–sheba his wife, and went in unto her, and lay with her: and she bare a son, and he called his name Solomon: and the Lord loved him. ²⁵And he sent by the hand of Nathan the prophet; and he called his name Jedidiah, because of the Lord.

KJV

1 Kings 10:1–29

¹And when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the Lord, she came to prove him with hard questions. ²And she came to Jerusalem with a very great train, with camels that bare spices, and very much gold, and precious stones: and when she was come to Solomon, she communed with him of all that was in her heart. ³And Solomon told her all her questions: there was not any thing hid from the king, which he told her not. ⁴And when the queen of Sheba had seen all Solomon’s wisdom, and the house that he had built, ⁵And the meat of his table, and the sitting of his servants, and the attendance of his ministers, and their apparel, and his cupbearers, and his ascent by which he went up unto the house of the Lord; there was no more spirit in her. ⁶And she said to the king, It was a true report that I heard in mine own land of thy acts and of thy wisdom. … (23 more)

KJV

2 Chronicles 1:1–17

¹And Solomon the son of David was strengthened in his kingdom, and the Lord his God was with him, and magnified him exceedingly. ²Then Solomon spake unto all Israel, to the captains of thousands and of hundreds, and to the judges, and to every governor in all Israel, the chief of the fathers. ³So Solomon, and all the congregation with him, went to the high place that was at Gibeon; for there was the tabernacle of the congregation of God, which Moses the servant of the Lord had made in the wilderness. ⁴But the ark of God had David brought up from Kirjath–jearim to the place which David had prepared for it: for he had pitched a tent for it at Jerusalem. ⁵Moreover the brasen altar, that Bezaleel the son of Uri, the son of Hur, had made, he put before the tabernacle of the Lord: and Solomon and the congregation sought unto it. ⁶And Solomon went up thither to the brasen altar before the Lord, which was at the tabernacle of the congregation, and offered a thousand burnt offerings upon it. … (11 more)

KJV

Proverbs 1:1–7

¹The proverbs of Solomon the son of David, king of Israel; ²To know wisdom and instruction; to perceive the words of understanding; ³To receive the instruction of wisdom, justice, and judgment, and equity; ⁴To give subtilty to the simple, to the young man knowledge and discretion. ⁵A wise man will hear, and will increase learning; and a man of understanding shall attain unto wise counsels: ⁶To understand a proverb, and the interpretation; the words of the wise, and their dark sayings. … (1 more)

KJV

Ecclesiastes 1:1–18

¹The words of the Preacher, the son of David, king in Jerusalem. ²Vanity of vanities, saith the Preacher, vanity of vanities; all is vanity. ³What profit hath a man of all his labour which he taketh under the sun? ⁴One generation passeth away, and another generation cometh: but the earth abideth for ever. ⁵The sun also ariseth, and the sun goeth down, and hasteth to his place where he arose. ⁶The wind goeth toward the south, and turneth about unto the north; it whirleth about continually, and the wind returneth again according to his circuits. … (12 more)

KJV

Song of Solomon 1:1–17

¹The song of songs, which is Solomon’s. ²Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth: for thy love is better than wine. ³Because of the savour of thy good ointments thy name is as ointment poured forth, therefore do the virgins love thee. ⁴Draw me, we will run after thee: the king hath brought me into his chambers: we will be glad and rejoice in thee, we will remember thy love more than wine: the upright love thee. ⁵I am black, but comely, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, as the tents of Kedar, as the curtains of Solomon. ⁶Look not upon me, because I am black, because the sun hath looked upon me: my mother’s children were angry with me; they made me the keeper of the vineyards; but mine own vineyard have I not kept. … (11 more)

KJV

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