Solomon
Son of David and Bathsheba and king of Israel after him. He built the first temple in Jerusalem and was famed for wisdom and wealth. Kings blames his foreign wives and their gods for the division of the kingdom after his death.
Solomon was the son of David and Bathsheba. The prophet Nathan gave him the second name Jedidiah (2 Samuel 12:24–25). In David’s old age he was anointed king at Gihon, ahead of his brother Adonijah, who had claimed the throne (1 Kings 1:5, 32–40). At Gibeon, Kings says, he asked in a dream for an understanding heart to govern the people, and was promised wisdom, riches and honour (1 Kings 3:5–14). He built the temple in Jerusalem with the help of Hiram of Tyre (Solomon Builds the Temple). Kings credits him with three thousand proverbs and tells how the queen of Sheba came to test him with hard questions (1 Kings 4:29–34) (1 Kings 10:1–10).
Kings ends his story with a judgment. His many foreign wives turned his heart to other gods, he built high places for those gods near Jerusalem, and he was told that most of the kingdom would be torn from his son (1 Kings 11:1–13). He reigned forty years (1 Kings 11:42–43). The dates given here follow the usual reckoning, which David Becomes King explains. In the Gospels Jesus speaks of “Solomon in all his glory” and of “someone greater than Solomon” (Matthew 6:29) (Matthew 12:42).
In the timeline
- about 966 BC to 959 BC, estimated dateSolomon Builds the Temple
In the fourth year of his reign Solomon begins a temple for the Lord in Jerusalem, with cedar and craftsmen from Hiram of Tyre. Seven years later the ark is carried into its inner room and the house is dedicated.