68 Facts About Solomon

Solomon, called Jedidiah, was the fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah, according to the Hebrew Bible.

The hypothesized dates of Solomon's reign are from 970 to 931 BCE.

Solomon is the subject of many later references and legends, most notably in the Testament of Solomon, part of biblical apocrypha from the 1st century CE.

The historicity of Solomon is the subject of significant debate.

In primarily 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.

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

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

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

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

The biblical narrative shows that Solomon served as a peace offering between God and David, due to David's adulterous relationship with Bathsheba.

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

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.

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

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

Solomon is considered the most wealthy of the Israelite kings named in the Bible.

Solomon was the biblical king most famous for his wisdom.

In 1Kings he sacrificed to God, and God later appeared to him in a dream, asking what Solomon wanted from God.

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

Pleased, God personally answered 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.

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

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

Solomon has traditionally been considered the author of several biblical books, including Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs.

Solomon is traditionally ascribed authorship of the Wisdom of Solomon which is included in the Scriptures of the Eastern Orthodox and Catholic Church, but is considered apocryphal in Protestant traditions.

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

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

Solomon is described as undertaking the construction of the temple, with the help of an architect, named Hiram, and other materials, sent from King Hiram of Tyre.

Solomon's throne is said to have been spectacularly opulent and possessed moving parts, making it one of the earliest mechanical devices in history.

However, excavations of Jerusalem have discovered no monumental architecture from the era, and no remains of either the Temple or Solomon's palace have been found.

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.

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

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

Solomon then sent the bird to request the queen's visit.

Some classical-era Rabbis, attacking Solomon's moral character, have claimed instead that the child was an ancestor of Nebuchadnezzar II, who destroyed Solomon's temple some 300 years later.

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

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

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 the united Kingdom of Israel.

Solomon is associated with the peak "golden age" of the independent Kingdom of Israel and is a legendary source of judicial and religious wisdom.

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 description of his apparent empire's lavishness is almost surely an anachronistic exaggeration.

However, no material evidence indisputably of Solomon's reign has been found.

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.

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

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.

The archaeological remains that are considered to date from the time of 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.

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

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.

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

Solomon assumed incorrectly that ordinary people would be as wise as himself and keep idolatry at arm's length.

The Seder Olam Rabbah holds that Solomon's reign was not in 1000 BCE, but rather in the ninth century BCE, during which time he built the First Temple in 832 BCE.

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

Statues of King David and Solomon stand on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial, Philip's palace, and Solomon is depicted in a great fresco at the center of El Escorial's library.

In Islam, Solomon is known as Sulaiman ibn Dawud, and is considered a prophet and a messenger of God, as well as a divinely appointed monarch.

Solomon inherited his position from his father as the prophetic King of the Israelites.

Unlike in the Bible, according to Muslim tradition Solomon never participated in idolatry.

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

In other stories from the One Thousand and One Nights, protagonists who had to leave their homeland and travel to the unknown places of the world saw signs which proved that Solomon had already been there.

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

The Seal of Solomon is the legendary signet ring attributed to Solomon in medieval mystical traditions, from which it developed in parallel within Jewish mysticism, Islamic mysticism and Western occultism.

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.

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

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

Angels helped Solomon in building the Temple, though not by choice.

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

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 Solomon's men found the bird's nest, and covered it with glass.

Early adherents of the Kabbalah portray 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 Solomon, using the magic ring, would compel the two angels to reveal every mystery he desired to know.

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.

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

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.

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.