15 Facts About King Solomon Of Israel: The Wisest Man Of The Ancient World

King Solomon of Israel, who built the first Temple of Jerusalem, is well known for his wisdom.

According to the Christian Old Testament and Hebrew Bible, Solomon, also known as Jedidiah, was a wise and wealthy monarch of Israel. Solomon ruled over Israel for 40 years with his wisdom and integrity.

Solomon, the Israelite king, is an eminent figure in Christianity and Judaism while he is treated as a prophet in Islam. All the information of King Solomon's life and rule can be seen nearly from the Bible.

The evidence of the king is available mainly in the Second Book of Chronicles (first nine chapters) and in the First Book of Kings (first 11 chapters) of the Bible.

As per those sources, King David was his father, who united all the Israelites into one Kingdom and established the Judaean Dynasty. David was a great poet and a notable king.

Bathsheba, the former wife of Uriah (David's Hittite general), was Solomon's mother. She was very active at court intrigue. Through her hardships and efforts, Solomon ascended the throne in the presence of his father.

Solomon succeeded his father and became the third king of Israel, in spite of the fact that he was actually the youngest among his brothers. During the reign of King Solomon, united Israel enjoyed peace and prosperity.

If you really like reading about the facts of King Solomon, also find out articles on Kingdom of Kush facts and King Haakon VII.

King Solomon's Life And History

Like his father, the evidence of King Solomon's reign is insufficient and scant.

While some groups of scholars claim that the reign of Solomon king was in the early 10th century BC as per the artefacts that authenticate the biblical account, many other scholars strongly insist on the archaeological record that indicates that Solomon's temple and even the fortified cities actually came more than a century after.

In the latter perspective, Solomon's Kingdom was far from the huge empire that the Bible describes.

King Solomon, who was born around 1010 BC, was the tenth son of David. Solomon was only 15 years old when he ascended the throne. Like the other prominent kings such as King Saul and King David, Solomon ruled for about 40 years.

• Solomon's wealth and prosperity helped him to achieve ingenious reforms, innovations, and the advancement of defence measures. As per the Hebrew scriptures, Solomon made gold and silver as common in Jerusalem as precious stones. The main and central focus of Solomon's administration was trade relationships. Therefore, Solomon continued the profitable relationship of his father with the Phoenician king Hiram of Tyre.
• King Solomon had 700 wives and almost 300 concubines. His marriage with the daughter of Egyptian Pharaoh brought a political alliance with Egypt. He had many foreign wives too. It was believed that they lured Solomon away from Yahweh (God of Israelites) into the worship of other gods (false gods) and idols. Solomon cultivated a close relationship with the Queen of Sheba, who helped Solomon to create balanced trading with the Arabian kings. According to the Rastafarian faith, both of them conceived a child whose successor Haile Selassie I was connected to Jesus Christ of Nazareth, the central figure of Christianity.
• In spite of the early sovereign victories, the later rule of King Solomon was marred by many attacks and insurrections from the enemies. One of the most productive and prosperous kings of Israel, King Solomon died of natural causes at the age of 80, around 931 BCE.

King Solomon's Contributions To The United Kingdom Of Israel

According to the Bible, Solomon integrated his position by destroying his enemies ruthlessly once he ascended to the throne. As soon as he was relieved from his foes, Solomon placed his companions in the central posts of religious, military, and governmental institutions. Through military strength, King Solomon also strengthened his power and position.

In his military power, there was not only infantry but cavalry and chariotry too. The encounter of Solomon's powerful and successful military potency in Syria was described in the eighth chapter of the Second Book of Chronicles.

• King Solomon had presumptively fulfilled the commercial fate and destiny of the region of Palestine. Palestine was considered to be the main centre for commerce and trade as it occupies a strategic location by both land and sea. The nature of King Solomon's realm was primarily commercial, and due to that, he was able to increase his commerce through land and sea. One of the most interesting episodes in King Solomon's reign was to encounter the Queen of Sheba. Her prosperous South Arabian Kingdom spread from the Red Sea to the Indian Ocean. While Solomon required the products of the Queen of Sheba and the trade routes for balancing his trading network, the Queen also needed his partnership for marketing and promoting her goods through Solomon's Palestinian ports in the Mediterranean.
• King Solomon is recognized as a highly ambitious builder and planner of public affairs. The demand and need for garrison and fortresses throughout his realm made it mandatory for Solomon to plunge into a huge building program. And the program was also possible with the prosperity of the Kingdom. King Solomon was mainly lavish with Jerusalem, the capital city, where he established his royal palace, a city wall, and the famous first temple.
• According to Jewish tradition, Solomon wrote three biblical books - Book of Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. It was also believed that he wrote two psalms.
• Solomon also erected shrines and facilities for the foreigners who came for trading missions in Israel. The importance of Solomon's temple went far beyond, and the site eventually became the site of the Second Temple.

Accomplishments Of King Solomon

King Solomon founded Israelite colonies in order to consolidate his power in the province and also to look after administrative, commercial, and military matters. Those colonies were utilized to keep chariots and provisions.

One of the best-preserved instances is Megiddo, a town pass across the Carmel range, joining the coastal plain with the Plain of Esdraelon. Take a look at some of the other achievements of King Solomon!

• King Solomon's wisdom made him the renowned sage. He was deemed and considered wiser than all the sages of Israel, Egypt, and even the whole Middle East. His wisdom is reflected in the incident when two women quarrelled and claimed to be the mother of the same baby. Solomon easily determined the real mother by noticing each woman's reaction on dividing the child equally into two halves. King Solomon adjudged the woman who protested for the child as the real mother.
• The Book of Proverbs, the Old Testament book of wisdom, contains the wise teachings attributed to Solomon. Not only this but Solomon was also esteemed as a great poet. The Song of Solomon in the Bible is also attributed to the wisest man. The main theme in the Song of Solomon is Solomon's reputation as an ardent lover, which is reflected through the large number of wives and concubines that he had. Some of the other attributed works in the Postbiblical tradition are the Apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, Odes of Solomon, and Psalms of Solomon.
• According to the biblical narrative, King Solomon's personal reputation and wisdom were needed to sustain the powerful Kingdom he had received from his father, King David. It was said that the treasury had not been diffused among the people because it was suspected that the growth in Israel's wealth was equal to the extravagances of the Kingdom. It is also believed that the treatment of Solomon towards the northern tribes reflected favouritism.
• King Solomon's successor, Rehoboam, adopted a cruel and harsh policy towards the northern tribes. As a consequence, the tribe seceded and founded their own realm in Israel. Therefore, the successors of Solomon were left with only the Southern province of Judah. The huge empire then faded beyond recall, and the nation was divided into two hostile kingdoms.

King Solomon's Religious Views

The wise Solomon's religious views have long been the subject to debate for scholars.

• After the establishment of King Solomon's kingship firmly, God appeared in Solomon's dream and ordered him to ask anything. Solomon asked for wisdom, understanding, and enlightenment. He also asked God to aid him to rule over the Kingdom well, and God granted him everything.
• It is said that fools despise wisdom because they are on a path of loss and destruction. Although Solomon could have chosen anything, he asked for an understanding heart so that he could wisely make the best decisions for his people.
• In spite of all the great achievements, the Hebrew scriptures state that the downfall of Solomon was similar to the decline of the former kings of Israel. Solomon slowly and steadily minimized his relationship with God. In order to please his foreign wives and to protect the longevity and prosperity of his rule, he deprioritized the obligations to God. Eventually, Solomon's disloyal actions, ungratefulness, and attitude evoked the anger of God, and hence Solomon's downfall began to start. Solomon soon discovered new challenges in his Kingdom. The challenges came from Hadad of Edom, who threatened Solomon's control over the southern part of Israel, and from Rezon of Damascus, who challenged Solomon's territorial control in the northern part of Israel.
• Despite the obstacles and difficulties, King Solomon's ruling period is considered to be one of the prosperous periods in the history of Israel. The period was also considered by many historians as The Golden Age.

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