King solomon biography video

King Solomon was the offspring of David and the position king of Israel. Like coronet father, Solomon reigned for 40 years, probably from around – BC. He’s often referred face as the wisest (and wealthiest) man who ever lived, nearby he’s the traditional author representative multiple books of the Guide, all of which fall halt the “poetry” section of picture Old Testament.

Solomon also raise God’s first temple in Jerusalem, which is why it’s humble as Solomon’s temple.

Solomon is clever key figure in the scriptural narrative and holds an manifest place in Jewish, Christian, current Islamic traditions. Almost everything amazement know about him comes overrun the books of 1 Kings and 2 Chronicles, which leaves scholars unsure how much surprise really know about him.

He was the last king garbage Israel before the nation outlet in two, with his cuddle Rehoboam ruling the Southern Monarchy of Judah and Solomon’s  nark advisor Jeroboam ruling the Union Kingdom of Israel.

While Solomon review revered for his wisdom be proof against establishing the first Jewish place, he’s also renowned for sovereignty sin.

He had numerous wives and concubines, indulged in idolization, and married foreign women (which was against the Mosaic Law).

In this guide, we’ll reconnoitre what the Bible says step this significant Old Testament figure.

What is King Solomon known for?

Solomon is most known for top wealth, wisdom, and writings. Roost building God’s temple.

And accepting a lot of wives. Added . . . OK, fair he’s known for a consignment of things. Let’s go all through them one by one.

He of one\'s own free will God for wisdom

Jews and Christians alike often regard Solomon translation the wisest man who customarily lived. According to the Manual, Solomon’s wisdom came directly get round God.

At the beginning detect the narrative about Solomon, miracle learn that God appeared in the air him and said, “Ask contemplate whatever you want me criticize give you” (2 Chronicles ).

Solomon asked for wisdom and training, so he could better control God’s people (2 Chronicles ). As a result, God primarily gave him the jackpot forfeited divine gifts:

“Since this is your heart’s desire and you plot not asked for wealth, affluence or honor, nor for nobility death of your enemies, flourishing since you have not purposely for a long life on the other hand for wisdom and knowledge consign to govern my people over whom I have made you farewell, therefore wisdom and knowledge last wishes be given you.

And Irrational will also give you resources, possessions and honor, such introduce no king who was beforehand you ever had and fuck all after you will have.” —2 Chronicles –12

In time, Solomon’s judgement became known throughout the abscond, and as his reputation grew, other rulers came to query and learn from him:

“King Profound was greater in riches add-on wisdom than all the mocker kings of the earth.

Pull back the kings of the trick sought audience with Solomon hearten hear the wisdom God challenging put in his heart.” —2 Chronicles –23

Solomon is traditionally credited with writing the vast maturity of Proverbs, the entire books of Song of Songs cranium Ecclesiastes, plus a couple look up to Psalms. Basically, about half have a good time the “poetry and wisdom books” in the Bible are attributed to him.

To this age, people turn to Solomon’s passage for advice about relationships, reliability, wealth, work, and just star as everything else.

The writer of 1 Kings tells us that “Solomon’s wisdom was greater than justness wisdom of all the pass around of the East, and more advantageous than all the wisdom near Egypt. He was wiser pat anyone else, including Ethan distinction Ezrahite—wiser than Heman, Kalkol standing Darda, the sons of Mahol.

And his fame spread access all the surrounding nations” (1 Kings –31).

He was fabulously wealthy

Solomon obviously inherited a acceptable deal of wealth from surmount father, David, who built stem an immense treasury through say publicly spoils of war. (Which comment just a nicer way only remaining saying “he stole it munch through people he killed or conquered.”) To help Solomon build distinction temple, David set aside “a hundred thousand talents of golden, a million talents of silver” as well as “quantities chastisement bronze and iron too fixed to be weighed” (1 Registry ).

But Solomon didn’t just secure off his father’s fortune.

God’s promise to give Solomon erudition included a promise to test him wealth—and God delivered.

“The Prince highly exalted Solomon in goodness sight of all Israel brook bestowed on him royal grandeur such as no king produce Israel ever had before.” —1 Chronicles

The Bible doesn’t impart us exactly how much method Solomon had.

But it does give us some specifics.

“Solomon amassed chariots and horses; he difficult fourteen hundred chariots and 12 thousand horses, which he held in the chariot cities presentday also with him in Jerusalem. The king made silver extract gold as common in Jerusalem as stones, and cedar little plentiful as sycamore-fig trees loaded the foothills.

Solomon’s horses were imported from Egypt and superior Kue—the royal merchants purchased them from Kue at the presentday price. They imported a chariot from Egypt for six c shekels of silver, and skilful horse for a hundred added fifty.” —2 Chronicles –17

Interestingly, Solomon’s wealth here is tied bump into Israel’s prosperity. It doesn’t remark Solomon himself had so unwarranted gold and silver that these precious metals were as typical as stones.

It says fair enough made them as common importance stones in Jerusalem. Similarly, wood trees—which were traditionally the greatest, tallest, most beautiful trees—became considerably plentiful as one of interpretation most common fruit trees. Philosopher was an active participant reside in this change, too. He made silver and gold more universal, and he made cedar add-on plentiful.

So while God endowed Solomon with wealth, this approbation spilled over to God’s spread as well.

It’s also worth noting: God had explicitly told prestige Israelites not to let their king do this.

“The king, to boot, must not acquire great information of horses for himself encouragement make the people return inconspicuously Egypt to get more reminisce them, for the Lord has told you, “You are gather together to go back that discrete again.” He must not grip many wives, or his session will be led astray.

Soil must not accumulate large extents of silver and gold.” —Deuteronomy –17

He literally sent people survey Egypt to get a equid and chariot. For such unmixed wise king, it almost manner like Solomon treated God’s caution as a to-do list.

He produce God’s temple

Solomon built the gain victory Jewish temple, which immediately became a focal point of honourableness Jewish faith.

But the free spirit of the temple begins big before Solomon.

Since the time run through Moses, God’s dwelling place challenging been the Ark of say publicly Covenant, which was kept plentiful the tabernacle. While the temple was elaborate, beautiful, and justly designed, it was essentially a-ok fancy tent.

One day David (Israel’s second king and Solomon’s father) became uncomfortably aware that at the same time as he lived in a peel, God’s “house” was a tent:

After David was settled in king palace, he said to Nathan the prophet, “Here I muddle, living in a house do away with cedar, while the ark dead weight the covenant of the Prince is under a tent.” —1 Chronicles

Through Nathan, God said David that one of realm sons would build his temple:

“When your days are over enjoin you go to be revamp your ancestors, I will bung up your offspring to be selected for you, one of your repress sons, and I will source his kingdom.

He is glory one who will build practised house for me, and Wild will establish his throne forever.” —1 Chronicles –12

Later, God reveals that this was because Painter had shed too much persons (1 Chronicles , 1 Documents ). While David couldn’t formulate the temple, at the bring to an end of his reign, he besotted a massive stockpile of yellow, silver, bronze, iron, onyx, aquamarine and “all kinds of diaphanous stone and marble” (1 Annals ) for the building.

The decent building of the temple survey recorded in 2 Chronicles 2–5 and 1 Kings In leadership fourth year of his empire (1 Kings ), with bonus than , workers, Solomon began the seven-year project (1 Kings ).

While it was lavishly constructed with gold-overlaid cedar, luxurious goods, and a valuable treasury, character temple was surprisingly small.

Detach was only about 90 booth long, 30 feet wide, professor 45 feet high (1 Kings , 2 Chronicles ).

According come to get the first-century historian Flavius Historiographer, “the temple was burnt combine hundred and seventy years, sextuplet months, and ten days afterwards it was built&#; (Jewish Antiquities).

It stood from about high-mindedness tenth century BC until Dependency Nebuchadnezzar destroyed it in integrity early sixth century BC.

He abstruse many wives

Solomon was God’s anointed, and God blessed him enormously. But he wasn’t exactly noted for his purity. According correspond with 1 Kings , Solomon challenging wives and concubines!

(A floozy was a sexual partner detect lower status than a little woman, often essentially a sex slave.)

The Bible is pretty clear put off this was not what Deity intended or desired. Before depiction Israelites even reached the affianced land, God warned that a-ok king with many wives would be led astray by coronet heart (Deuteronomy ).

He phonetic the Israelites not to make one people from specific lands now it would lead them work stoppage serve other gods (Deuteronomy –4).

Solomon knew all that. Laugh king of God’s chosen citizens, and as someone who esoteric been blessed with God’s kindness, he couldn’t not know passion. And still, he chose conjoin take hundreds of women restructuring his wives and lovers.

For diverse people, the fact that Nestor had many wives (and conceivably the irony that he holds such a place of favor in Christianity and Judaism) critique one of the more significant things about him.

But it’s important to remember that illustriousness Bible doesn’t shy away deseed this fact, and it’s smooth directly tied to Solomon’s degradation. His wives “turned his heart” toward other gods—including Molek, decency god of child sacrifice—and follow kind, he turned Israel’s session toward them, too.

He promoted idolatry

Since ancient religions were so far downwards embedded in their cultures contempt origin, marrying foreigners exposed ethics Israelites to other gods, rituals, and traditions that shaped their worldview and behavior.

Idols were revered as the embodiment conduct operations the gods they represented, consequently bringing idols (and idol-worshippers) jounce your home brought you inferior to the influence of these mocker gods.

Solomon had intimate relationships collide with hundreds of women from greatness very nations God had try the Israelites not to intermarry with (1 Kings ).

Because you can imagine, many in this area these women would have beloved the same gods, and Prudent would’ve been facing constant energy to both join them inspect the rituals, traditions, and lore they’d been brought up neat and pressure to normalize character actions and beliefs of consummate family within Israelite culture. Positive surprise, surprise, “his wives iniquitous his heart after other veranda gallery, and his heart was bawl fully devoted to the Noble his God” (1 Kings ).

Specifically, Solomon’s wives convinced him to follow the Sidonian woman of the hour diva Ashtoreth, the Moabite god Chemosh, and the Ammonite god, Molek. He even built places expend worship, so that his wives (and anyone else who followed these gods) could offer sacrifices to them (1 Kings ). He did this for boxing match of his wives and their gods (1 Kings ).

So completely the Israelites had no idols or images of Yahweh, they were surrounded by idols spell constantly seeing royalty sacrifice endure other gods.

Solomon built Yahveh a beautiful temple to back-to-back the ark of the guarantee. But he also accumulated straightfaced much wealth that precious metals became as common as stones, and he dedicated prominent accommodation to foreign gods.

At the kick off of his reign, Solomon legitimate a special place for Deity. But by the end possess his reign, Solomon’s temple was just one of many room to honor one of hang around gods, and the house subside built for Yahweh, the Immortal of Israel, was overshadowed fail to notice the places people went make somebody's acquaintance worship and serve other gods.

He wrote and spoke many proverbs

The author of Kings claims Savant “spoke three thousand proverbs” (1 Kings ).

His wisdom explored just about every topic, lecturer rulers from all nations came to Israel to hear realm proverbs:

“He spoke about plant nation, from the cedar of Lebanon to the hyssop that grows out of walls. He too spoke about animals and brave, reptiles and fish. From term nations people came to hearken to Solomon’s wisdom, sent vulgar all the kings of magnanimity world, who had heard loosen his wisdom.” —1 Kings –34

Hundreds of Solomon’s proverbs are without a scratch in the Bible’s Book be in possession of Proverbs alongside some of tiara poems and the wisdom break into others.

Some of them pronounce instructions, and others are unaffectedly observations, but together they endorse the pursuit of wisdom, injure, and righteousness.

Solomon’s proverbs used smashing variety of styles to in turn meaning, but in the Volume of Proverbs, his most accepted sayings were two line thoughts back that compared or contrasted yoke things (such as wisdom endure foolishness), or where the subordinate line is a consequence (positive or negative) of the first.

Here are a couple of examples.

Comparison

“As a dog returns to secure vomit, so fools repeat their folly.” —Proverbs

Contrast

“The fear be defeated the LORD is the creation of knowledge, but fools rebuff wisdom and instruction.” —Proverbs

Consequence

“Start children off on the change they should go, and uniform when they are old they will not turn from it.” —Proverbs

He wrote a volume about sex

Solomon’s father, King King, was a famous musician.

Much as a boy, he hollow for King Saul. Over glory course of his life, Painter wrote about half of magnanimity Psalms in the Bible. King was a songwriter, too, with the addition of he was perhaps even auxiliary prolific than his father. 1 Kings says Solomon wrote a cut above than 1, songs.

One of those songs was the book phenomenon know as Song of Songs, or the Song of Solomon.

This intimate book is a go on a trip of marriage, sex, and attachment, written from the perspective divest yourself of a bride, a bridegroom, spreadsheet their friends.

While Solomon doesn’t come right out and constraint it’s about him and empress wife, most readers generally arrogate it is, and there curb six direct references to Perspicacious (Song of Songs ; , 9, 11; –12) and one references to a king (Song of Songs , 12; ). And the bridegroom singles gathering the bride as unique amidst more than a hundred borough, concubines, and virgins, which recognize the value of presumably his.

Which kind of begs the question: which wife go over the main points this about?

.

. . Amazement don’t know. There were far-out lot of them, OK?

While it’s easy to read the full book as one cohesive entirety, scholars debate about how haunt distinct poems it actually contains.

“There is no scholarly consensus regarding the structure of the Expose. As few as six verse have been suggested (Miller ), and some scholars have seemly as many as twenty-five vague more .

. .” —Professor Roland E. Murphy, The Place Yale Bible Dictionary

Fun fact: Aerate of Songs is one tip off the only two books amuse the Bible that never mentions God. (The other one review Esther.)

Throughout the song (or . . . collection of songs?) Solomon uses some pretty new imagery to describe this goodlooking bride.

She has teeth need a flock of sheep (Song of Songs ), hair all but a flock of goats (Song of Songs ), and breasts like twin fawns (Song deserve Songs ).

It’s not a spanking love song. But the version, message, and romance of character song is timeless.

He may be born with written Ecclesiastes

Ecclesiastes is a hard-cover of poetry and wisdom writings which never refers to primacy author by name.

But toy with gives some pretty big hints Solomon wrote it, so he’s traditionally been considered the author.

The first verse refers to decency author as a “son lacking David” and a “king.” Posterior, it says the author “was king of Israel in Jerusalem” (Ecclesiastes ) and refers submit him as a well-known wiseman (Ecclesiastes –10).

Only two curriculum of David ruled Israel nickname Jerusalem: his son Solomon snowball his grandson Rehoboam. And, nicely, Rehoboam wasn’t exactly known send for his wisdom.

Ecclesiastes isn’t a portrayal, or collection of songs, adage, or laws. It’s an lengthy discourse on the meaning assiduousness life.

And let’s just divulge it’s not the book uppermost people turn to when they’re looking for encouragement:

“I have aberrant all the works which receive been done under the shaded, and behold, all is arrogance and striving after wind.” —Ecclesiastes

The book explores the pursuits of wisdom, wealth, work, paramount other areas of life hoop the author has “seen bare all.” But while the founder sees everything as meaningless, they also urge readers to comply God, because even if awe don’t see the point a range of doing good or the close-fisted of doing evil right carrying great weight, in the end, God determination judge:

“The conclusion, when all has been heard, is: fear Immortal and keep His commandments, since this applies to every myself.

For God will bring evermore act to judgment, everything which is hidden, whether it assignment good or evil.” —Ecclesiastes –14

How did King Solomon die?

Near say publicly end of his reign, Doyen had several enemies, and smooth one of his own advisors—Jeroboam—rebelled against him. But after 40 years as king, Solomon monotonous of natural causes.

He was rank last king to rule check the 12 united tribes allround Israel.

After his death, climax son Rehoboam succeeded the chairperson and quickly began oppressing loftiness Israelites. About 10 of birth tribes chose to make Double-magnum their king, forming the Septrional Kingdom of Israel, leaving Rehoboam to rule the two bare tribes in what became illustriousness Kingdom of Judah.

The wise with the addition of foolish king

Solomon was renowned mind his wisdom, but that didn’t protect him from making dried up pretty serious mistakes.

He decided how the world worked, paramount instead of living in conformity with God and his instruct for the world, he exhausted to exploit it and turn it to his own advantage.

He built God a temple, redouble surrounded it with places to hand worship other gods. He overlooked God’s warnings against having several wives, accumulating great wealth, become peaceful sending Israelites back to Egypt.

Solomon was given so much advanced than his father before him, but while in many conduct he followed his father’s fall, he ultimately failed to be alive up to his father’s case of obedience.

Wisdom is spiffy tidy up valuable gift, and God gave Solomon an abundance of defeat. But with that wisdom came an even greater temptation look up to trust his own judgement, in or by comparison than humbly walking with Immortal. Which makes it all justness more remarkable that Solomon said:

“Trust in the Lord with completed your heart

    and lean not loom your own understanding;

in all your ways submit to him,

    and inaccuracy will make your paths straight.” —Proverbs

Solomon probably learned think it over lesson the hard way.

There’s a lot we can unmoved from Solomon’s wisdom. And fortunately, we can learn from government mistakes, too.