54 Facts About King Solomon

1.

King Solomon is described as having been the penultimate ruler of an amalgamated Israel and Judah.

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2.

Bible says King Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem, dedicating the temple to Yahweh, or God in Judaism.

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3.

King Solomon is portrayed as wealthy, wise and powerful, and as one of the 48 Jewish prophets.

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4.

King Solomon is the subject of many later references and legends, most notably in the Testament of Solomon.

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5.

In mostly non-biblical circles, Solomon came to be known as a magician and an exorcist, with numerous amulets and medallion seals dating from the Hellenistic period invoking his name.

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6.

Life of Solomon is primarily described in 2Samuel, 1Kings and 2Chronicles.

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7.

Conventional dates of King Solomon's reign are derived from biblical chronology and are set from about 970 to 931 BCE.

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8.

King Solomon was born in Jerusalem, the second born child of David and his wife Bathsheba.

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9.

King Solomon had three named full brothers born to Bathsheba: Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab, besides six known older half-brothers born of as many mothers.

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10.

Biblical narrative shows that King Solomon served as a peace offering between God and David, due to his adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

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11.

David's heir apparent, Adonijah, acted to have himself declared king, but was outmaneuvered by Bathsheba and the prophet Nathan, who convinced David to proclaim Solomon king according to his earlier promise, despite Solomon's being younger than his brothers.

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12.

King Solomon, as instructed by David, began his reign with an extensive purge, including his father's chief general, Joab, among others, and further consolidated his position by appointing friends throughout the administration, including in religious positions as well as in civic and military posts.

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13.

King Solomon greatly expanded his military strength, especially the cavalry and chariot arms.

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14.

King Solomon founded numerous colonies, some of which doubled as trading posts and military outposts.

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15.

King Solomon asked for wisdom in order to better rule and guide his people.

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16.

Pleased, God personally answered King Solomon's prayer, promising him great wisdom because he did not ask for self-serving rewards like long life or the death of his enemies.

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17.

King Solomon easily resolved the dispute by commanding the child to be cut in half and shared between the two.

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18.

King Solomon declared the woman who showed compassion to be the true mother, entitled to the whole child.

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19.

King Solomon is described as surrounding himself with all the luxuries and the grandeur of an Eastern monarch, and his government prospered.

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20.

King Solomon entered into an alliance with Hiram I, king of Tyre, who in many ways greatly assisted him in his numerous undertakings.

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21.

King Solomon constructed great water works for the city, and the Millo for the defense of the city.

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22.

King Solomon is described as rebuilding cities elsewhere in Israel, creating the port of Ezion-Geber, and constructing Palmyra in the wilderness as a commercial depot and military outpost.

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23.

Biblical narrative notes with disapproval that King Solomon permitted his foreign wives to import their national deities, building temples to Ashtoreth and Milcom.

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24.

When Solomon gave her "all her desire, whatsoever she asked", she left satisfied.

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25.

Jewish scribes say that King Solomon's teacher was Shimei, and while he lived, he prevented King Solomon from marrying foreign wives.

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26.

King Solomon gathered multitudes of horses and chariots from as far as Egypt, and as Deuteronomy 17 warns, took Israel back to Egypt in spirit.

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27.

King Solomon is a central biblical figure, who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the last ruler of a united Kingdom of Israel.

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28.

Current consensus states that regardless of whether or not a man named Solomon truly reigned as king over the Judean hills in the tenth century BCE, the Biblical descriptions of his apparent empire's lavishness is almost surely an anachronistic exaggeration.

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29.

Andre Lemaire states in Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple that the principal points of the biblical tradition of Solomon are generally trustworthy, although elsewhere he writes that he could find no substantiating archaeological evidence that supports the Queen of Sheba's visit to king Solomon, saying that the earliest records of trans-Arabian caravan voyages from Tayma and Sheba unto the Middle-Euphrates etc.

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30.

Kenneth Kitchen argues that King Solomon ruled over a comparatively wealthy "mini-empire", rather than a small city-state, and considers 666 gold talents a modest amount of money.

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31.

William G Dever argues that Solomon only reigned over Israel and did build a temple, but that descriptions of his lavishness and the other conquests are strongly exaggerated.

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32.

Archaeological remains that are considered to date from the time of King Solomon are notable for the fact that Canaanite material culture appears to have continued unabated; there is a distinct lack of magnificent empire, or cultural development—indeed comparing pottery from areas traditionally assigned to Israel with that of the Philistines points to the latter having been significantly more sophisticated.

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33.

From a critical point of view, King Solomon's building of a temple for Yahweh should not be considered an act of particular devotion to Yahweh because King Solomon is described as building places of worship for a number of other deities.

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34.

King Solomon sinned by acquiring many foreign wives and horses because he thought he knew the reason for the biblical prohibition and thought it did not apply to him.

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35.

When King Solomon married the daughter of the Egyptian Pharaoh, a sandbank formed which eventually formed the "great nation of Rome"—the nation that destroyed the Second Temple.

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36.

King Solomon gradually lost more and more prestige until he became like a commoner.

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37.

Seder Olam Rabba holds that King Solomon's reign was not in 1000 BCE, but rather in the 9th century BCE, during which time he built the First Temple in 832 BCE.

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38.

Jesus refers to King Solomon, using him for comparison in his admonition against worrying about life.

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39.

In Islamic tradition, Solomon is recognised as a prophet and a messenger of God, as well as a divinely appointed monarch, who ruled over the Kingdom of Israel.

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40.

Unlike in the Bible, according to Muslim tradition, Solomon never participated in idolatry himself, but is rebuked for allowing it to happen in his kingdom.

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41.

King Solomon was known in Islam to have other supernatural abilities bestowed upon him by God, like controlling the wind, ruling over the jinn, enslaving demons, and hearing the communication of ants:.

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42.

In Medieval traditions, when Islam spread through Persia, Solomon became merged with Jamshid, a great king from Persian legends whom similar attributes are ascribed to.

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43.

Sometimes, protagonists discovered words of King Solomon that were intended to help those who were lost and had unluckily reached those forbidden and deserted places.

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44.

The Rabbis claim this was a divine punishment for Solomon's having failed to follow three divine commands, and Solomon was forced to wander from city to city, until he eventually arrived in an Ammonite city where he was forced to work in the king's kitchens.

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45.

Solomon gained a chance to prepare a meal for the Ammonite king, which the king found so impressive that the previous cook was sacked and Solomon put in his place; the king's daughter, Naamah, subsequently fell in love with Solomon, but the family disapproved, so the king decided to kill them both by sending them into the desert.

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46.

King Solomon was then able to regain his throne and expel Asmodeus.

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47.

King Solomon then convinces them to plunge in and attempt to retrieve it, for if they do they would take the throne as king.

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48.

The general opinion of the Rabbis is that King Solomon hewed the stones by means of a shamir, a mythical worm whose mere touch cleft rocks.

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49.

The shamir had been entrusted by the prince of the sea to the mountain rooster alone, and the rooster had sworn to guard it well, but King Solomon's men found the bird's nest, and covered it with glass.

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50.

Early adherents of the Kabbalah portray King Solomon as having sailed through the air on a throne of light placed on an eagle, which brought him near the heavenly gates as well as to the dark mountains behind which the fallen angels Uzza and Azzazel were chained; the eagle would rest on the chains, and King Solomon, using the magic ring, would compel the two angels to reveal every mystery he desired to know.

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51.

King Solomon ordered the demons to climb to the roof and see if they could discover any living being within the building but they found only an eagle, which said that it was 700 years old, but that it had never seen an entrance.

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52.

King Solomon's throne is described at length in Targum Sheni, which is compiled from three different sources, and in two later Midrash.

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53.

The first midrash claims that six steps were constructed because Solomon foresaw that six kings would sit on the throne, namely, Solomon, Rehoboam, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah.

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54.

Supposedly, due to another mechanical trick, when the king reached the first step, the ox stretched forth its leg, on which Solomon leaned, a similar action taking place in the case of the animals on each of the six steps.

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