Solomon

Solomon (Hebrew Shelomoh, "peaceable," from shalom; also named Jedidiah, "beloved of the LORD," 2 Samuel 12:25) was the son of David and Bathsheba and the third king of Israel, whose forty-year reign (c. 970–931 BC) marked the golden age of the united monarchy and whose later apostasy sowed the seeds of its division. He is remembered above all as the builder of the temple and as the wisest of kings, yet also as a sobering example of how wisdom and privilege can be undone by a divided heart.

Solomon came to the throne amid intrigue: his older brother Adonijah attempted to seize the crown, but David, prompted by Bathsheba and Nathan, had Solomon anointed king by Zadok the priest (1 Kings 1:39). Early in his reign, the LORD appeared to him at Gibeon and offered him whatever he might ask; Solomon requested not long life or riches but "an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil" (1 Kings 3:9). God granted him wisdom surpassing all others, and riches and honor besides (1 Kings 3:12–13). His discernment was displayed at once in the famous judgment between the two mothers (1 Kings 3:16–28), and his fame drew the Queen of Sheba, who confessed that the half had not been told her (1 Kings 10:7).

The crowning work of Solomon's reign was the building of the temple in Jerusalem, begun in the fourth year of his reign, 480 years after the exodus (1 Kings 6:1), and dedicated with a great prayer and the descent of the glory of the LORD (1 Kings 8:10–11). He also built his own palace, fortified cities, and developed extensive trade and tribute, so that "silver was as common in Jerusalem as stones" (1 Kings 10:27). Tradition credits him with authorship of much of the wisdom literature — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs (Proverbs 1:1; Ecclesiastes 1:1).

Yet Solomon's many foreign wives turned his heart after their gods, and in his old age he built high places for Chemosh and Molech, so that "his heart was not wholly true to the LORD his God" (1 Kings 11:4). For this the LORD announced that the kingdom would be torn from his son, though not in his own day for David's sake (1 Kings 11:11–13). His heavy taxation and forced labor bred the discontent that erupted under Rehoboam, splitting the realm into Israel and Judah. The New Testament treats Solomon both as a figure of unrivaled earthly splendor — surpassed by the lilies of the field (Matthew 6:29) — and of wisdom now eclipsed: "behold, something greater than Solomon is here" (Matthew 12:42). His temple and his peaceable name alike point beyond him to the true Son of David, in whom wisdom and lasting peace are found.