begins with the
5 W's of investigations
Solomon
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solomon,
Solomon (
//;
Hebrew:
שְׁלֹמֹה,
Modern Shlomo,
Tiberian Šəlōmō ISO 259-3 Šlomo;
Syriac:
ܫܠܝܡܘܢ Shlemun;
Arabic:
سُليمان
Sulaymān, also
colloquially:
Silimān or
Slemān;
Greek:
Σολομών Solomōn), also called
Jedidiah (Hebrew
יְדִידְיָהּ), was, according to the
Bible (
Book of Kings: 1 Kings 1–11;
Book of Chronicles: 1 Chronicles 28–2, 2 Chronicles 1–9),
Qur'an, and
Hidden Words[2] a king of Israel and the son of
David.
[3] The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BC. He is described as the third king of the
United Monarchy, which would break apart into the northern
Kingdom of Israel and the southern
Kingdom of Judah shortly after his death. Following the split, his
patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone.
According to the
Talmud, Solomon is one of the 48
prophets.
[4] In the
Qur'an, he is considered a major
prophet, and
Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant
Sulayman, son of
David.
The
Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the
First Temple in Jerusalem.
[3] It portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sins, including
idolatry and turning away from
Yahweh, led to the kingdom's being torn in two during the reign of his son
Rehoboam.
[5] Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends, most notably in the 1st-century
apocryphal work known as the
Testament of Solomon. In later years, in mostly non biblical circles, Solomon also came to be known as a
magician and an
exorcist, with numerous
amulets and medallion seals dating from the
Hellenistic period invoking his name.
[6]
Biblical account
Childhood
Solomon was born in
Jerusalem,
[7] the second born child to
David and his wife
Bathsheba, widow of
Uriah the Hittite.
The first child (unnamed in that account), a son conceived adulterously
during Uriah's lifetime, had died before Solomon was conceived. Solomon
had three named full brothers through Bathsheba,
Nathan, Shammua, and Shobab,
[8] besides six known older half-brothers through as many mothers.
[9]
Succession
Cornelis de Vos, The Anointing of Solomon. According to 1
Kings 1:39, Solomon was
anointed by
Zadok.
According to the biblical
First Book of Kings, when David was old, "he could not get warm."
[10] "So they sought for a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found
Abishag the
Shunammite,
and brought her to the king. The young woman was very beautiful, and
she was of service to the king and attended to him, but the king knew
her not."
[10]
While David was in this state, his fourth son
Adonijah,
heir apparent to the throne after the death of his elder brothers
Amnon and
Absalom, acted to have himself declared king, but
Bathsheba, a wife of David and Solomon's mother, along with the prophet
Nathan,
convinced David to proclaim Solomon king. Adonijah fled and took refuge
at the altar, and received pardon for his conduct from Solomon on the
condition that he show himself "a worthy man" (
1 Kings 1:5–53).
Adonijah asked to marry Abishag the Shunammite, but Solomon
disallowed that, although Bathsheba now pleaded on Adonijah's behalf. He
was then seized and put to death (1 Kings 2:13-25). As made clear in
the earlier story of Absalom's rebellion, to possess the royal
harem was in this society tantamount to claiming the throne;
[11] this applied even to a woman who had shared the bed of a king advanced in age, though she had no intimate relations with
King David.
David's general
Joab was killed, in accord with David's deathbed request to Solomon, because he had killed generals
Abner and
Amasa during a peace (2 Samuel 20:8–13; 1 Kings 2:5). David's priest
Abiathar was exiled by Solomon because he had sided with Adonijah. Abiathar is a descendent of
Eli, which has important prophetic significance (1 Kings 2:27).
[12] Shimei was confined to Jerusalem and killed three years later, when he went to
Gath
to retrieve some runaway servants, in part because he had cursed David
when David's son Absalom rebelled against David (1 Kings 2:1–46).
[13]
Wisdom
Luca Giordano - Dream of Solomon - God promise Solomon Wisdom.
One of the qualities most ascribed to Solomon is his
wisdom. The book of 1 Kings recounts how Solomon prays for wisdom:
And the king went to Gibeon to sacrifice there; for that was the
great high place: a thousand burnt offerings did Solomon offer upon that
altar. In Gibeon the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream by night: and
God said, Ask what I shall give thee. And Solomon said, Thou hast shewed
unto thy servant David my father great mercy, according as he walked
before thee in truth, and in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart
with thee; and thou hast kept for him this great kindness, that thou
hast given him a son to sit on his throne, as it is this day. And now, O
Lord my God, thou hast made thy servant king instead of David my
father: and I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come
in. And thy servant is in the midst of thy people which thou hast
chosen, a great people, that cannot be numbered nor counted for
multitude. Give therefore thy servant an understanding heart to judge
thy people, that I may discern between good and bad: for who is able to
judge this thy so great a people? (1 Kings 3:4–9)[14]
"So God said to him, 'Since you have asked for this and not for long
life or wealth for yourself, nor have asked for the death of your
enemies but for discernment in administering justice, I will do what you
have asked...'" (1 Kings 3:11–12).
[14]
The Hebrew Bible also states that "The whole world sought audience with
Solomon to hear the wisdom God had put in his heart." (1 Kings 10:24)
[15]
The judgment of Solomon, painting on ceramic, Castelli, 18th century, Lille Museum of Fine Arts
In one account, known as the
Judgment of Solomon,
two women came before Solomon to resolve a quarrel over which was the
true mother of a baby. When Solomon suggested they should divide the
living child in two with a sword, one woman said she would rather give
up the child than see it killed. Solomon then declared the woman who
showed compassion to be the true mother, and gave the baby to her.
Solomon is also noted as one of many authors of
wisdom literature. The
apocryphal/
deuterocanonical Wisdom of Solomon, along with the Book of
Sirach,
"are the familiar personalities and the events of Israel's history
combined with the wisdom tradition. Much of this literature, however, is
attributed to Solomon."
Solomon became a favorite author and contributor of different kinds of
wisdom literature, "including not only the collections of
Proverbs, but also of
Ecclesiastes and the
Song of Solomon and the later apocryphal book the Wisdom of Solomon."
Wives
According to the Bible, Solomon had 700
wives and 300
concubines. The wives are described as foreign princesses, including
Pharaoh's daughter and women of
Moab,
Ammon,
Sidon and of the
Hittites. In a subject called in art the
Idolatry of Solomon, the foreign wives are depicted as leading Solomon away from
Yahweh toward
idolatry because they worshiped gods other than Yahweh (
1 Kings 11:1–3). This forms part of the
Power of Women topos in the Middle Ages and Renaissance, showing the dangers women posed to even the most virtuous men.
[17] The only wife mentioned by name is
Naamah, who is described as the
Ammonite.
[18] She was the mother of Solomon's successor,
Rehoboam.
Relationship with Queen of Sheba
Main article:
Queen of Sheba
The Visit of the Queen of Sheba to King Solomon', oil on canvas painting by Edward Poynter, 1890
In a brief, unelaborated, and enigmatic passage, the Hebrew Bible
describes how the fame of Solomon's wisdom and wealth spread far and
wide, so much so that the queen of
Sheba
decided that she should meet him. The queen is described as visiting
with a number of gifts including gold, spices and precious stones. When
Solomon gave her "all her desire, whatsoever she asked," she left
satisfied (
1 Kings 10:10).
Whether the passage is simply to provide a brief token, foreign
witness of Solomon's wealth and wisdom, or whether there is meant to be
something more significant to the queen's visit is unknown; nevertheless
the visit of the Queen of Sheba has become the subject of numerous
stories.
Sheba is typically identified as
Saba, a nation once spanning the
Red Sea on the coasts of what are now
Eritrea,
Somalia,
Ethiopia and
Yemen, in
Arabia Felix. In a Rabbinical account (e.g.
Targum Sheni),
Solomon was accustomed to ordering the living creatures of the world to
dance before him (Rabbinical accounts say that Solomon had been given
control over all living things by Yahweh), but one day upon discovering
that the mountain-cock or
hoopoe (Hebrew name:
shade) was absent, he summoned it to him, and the bird told him that it had been searching for somewhere new.
The bird had discovered a land in the east, exceedingly rich in gold, silver, and plants, whose capital was called
Kitor
and whose ruler was the Queen of Sheba, and the bird, on its own
advice, was sent by Solomon to request the queen's immediate attendance
at Solomon's court.
An Ethiopian account from the 14th century (
Kebra Nagast)
maintains that the Queen of Sheba had sexual relations with King
Solomon (of which the Biblical and Quranic accounts give no hint) and
gave birth by the Mai Bella stream in the province of
Hamasien,
Eritrea. The Ethiopian tradition has a
detailed account of the affair. The child was a son who went on to become
Menelik I, King of
Axum, and founded a
dynasty that would reign as the first Jewish, then Christian
Empire of Ethiopia for 2900+ years (less one
usurpation episode, an interval of c. 133 years until a legitimate male heir regained the crown) until
Haile Selassie was overthrown in 1974. Menelik was said to be a practicing Jew who was given a replica of the
Ark of the Covenant by King Solomon; and, moreover, that the original was switched and went to
Axum
with him and his mother, and is still there, guarded by a single priest
charged with caring for the artifact as his life's task.
The claim of such a lineage and of possession of the Ark has been an
important source of legitimacy and prestige for the Ethiopian monarchy
throughout the many centuries of its existence, and had important and
lasting effects on Ethiopian culture as a whole. The Ethiopian
government and church deny all requests to view the alleged ark.
[a]
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.
[19]
Sins and punishment
According to
1 Kings 11:4
Solomon's "wives turned his heart after other gods", their own national
deities, to whom Solomon built temples, thus incurring divine anger and
retribution in the form of the division of the kingdom after Solomon's
death (
1 Kings 11:9–13).
1 Kings 11 describes Solomon's descent into idolatry, particularly his turning after
Ashtoreth, the goddess of the
Sidonians, and after
Milcom, the abomination of the
Ammonites. In
Deuteronomy 17:16–17,
a king is commanded not to multiply horses or wives, neither greatly
multiply to himself gold or silver. Solomon sins in all three of these
areas. Solomon collects
666 talents of gold each year (
1 Kings 10:14),
a huge amount of money for a small nation like Israel. Solomon gathers a
large number of horses and chariots and even brings in horses from
Egypt. Just as
Deuteronomy 17
warns, collecting horses and chariots takes Israel back to Egypt.
Finally, Solomon marries foreign women, and these women turn Solomon to
other gods.
According to
1 Kings 11:30-34, it was because of these sins that "the Lord punishes Solomon by removing 10 of the 12 Tribes of Israel from the Israelites.
[20]
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned
away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and
had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after
other gods. But he did not keep what the Lord commanded. Therefore the
Lord said to Solomon, "Since this has been your practice and you have
not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will
surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet
for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I
will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away
all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of
David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.
Enemies
Near the end of his life, Solomon was forced to contend with several enemies, including
Hadad of
Edom,
Rezon of
Zobah, and one of his officials named
Jeroboam who was from the tribe of
Ephraim.
[5]
Death, succession of Rehoboam, and kingdom division
According to the
Hebrew Bible, Solomon died of natural causes
[21] at around 80 years of age. Upon Solomon's death, his son,
Rehoboam, succeeded him as king. However, ten of the
Tribes of Israel refused to accept him as king, causing the
United Monarchy to split and form the northern
Kingdom of Israel ruled by
Jeroboam, while Rehoboam continued to reign in the southern
Kingdom of Judah.
Apocryphal texts
Rabbinical tradition attributes the
Wisdom of Solomon to Solomon, although this book was probably written in the 2nd century BC. In this work, Solomon is portrayed as an
astronomer. Other books of
wisdom poetry such as the
Odes of Solomon and the
Psalms of Solomon also bear his name. The Jewish historian
Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BC, included copies of
apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of
Egypt and
Tyre.
The
Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st or 2nd century, refers to a legend in which Solomon sends out an army of
demons
to seek a virgin who had fled from him, perhaps the earliest surviving
mention of the later common tale that Solomon controlled demons and made
them his slaves. This tradition of Solomon's control over demons
appears fully elaborated in the early
pseudographical work called the
Testament of Solomon with its elaborate and grotesque
demonology.
[22]
Jewish scriptures
King Solomon is one of the central Biblical figures in
Jewish heritage that have lasting religious, national and political aspects. As the builder of the
First Temple in
Jerusalem and last ruler of the united
Kingdom of Israel before its division into the northern
Kingdom of Israel and the southern
Kingdom of Judah,
Solomon is associated with the peak "golden age" of the independent
Kingdom of Israel as well as a source of judicial and religious wisdom.
According to Jewish tradition, King Solomon wrote three
books of the Bible:
- Mishlei (Book of Proverbs), a collection of fables and wisdom of life
- Kohelet (Ecclesiastes), a book of contemplation and his self-reflection.
- Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs),
an unusual collection of poetry interspersed with verse, whose
interpretation is either literal (i.e. a romantic and sexual
relationship between a man and a woman) or metaphorical (a relationship
between God and his people).
The Hebrew word "To Solomon" (which can also be translated as "by Solomon") appears in the title of two hymns in the book of
Psalms (
Tehillim), suggesting to some that Solomon wrote them.
[citation needed]
Historicity
An engraving,
Judgment of Solomon, by
Gustave Doré (19th century)
Historical evidence of King Solomon other than the biblical accounts is minimal.
Josephus in
Against Apion, citing
Tyrian court records and
Menander, gives a specific year during which
King Hiram I of Tyre sent materials to Solomon for the construction of the temple.
[23] However, no material evidence indisputably of Solomon's reign has been found.
Yigael Yadin's excavations at
Hazor,
Megiddo,
Beit Shean and
Gezer uncovered structures that he and others have argued date from his reign, but others, such as
Israel Finkelstein and
Neil Silberman, argue that they should be dated to the
Omride period, more than a century after Solomon.
[25]
Solomon's Wealth and Wisdom, as in 1 Kings 3:12–13, illustration from a
Bible card published 1896 by the Providence Lithograph Company.
According to Finkelstein and Silberman, authors of
The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts,
at the time of the kingdoms of David and Solomon, Jerusalem was
populated by only a few hundred residents or less, which is insufficient
for an empire stretching from the
Euphrates to
Eilath. According to
The Bible Unearthed,
archaeological evidence suggests that the kingdom of Israel at the time
of Solomon was little more than a small city state, and so it is
implausible that Solomon received tribute as large as 666
talents
of gold per year. Although both Finkelstein and Silberman accept that
David and Solomon were real kings of Judah about the 10th century BC,
they claim that the earliest independent reference to the Kingdom of
Israel is about 890 BC, and for Judah about 750 BC. They suggest that
due to religious prejudice, the authors of the Bible suppressed the
achievements of the
Omrides (whom the Hebrew Bible describes as being
polytheist), and instead pushed them back to a supposed golden age of Judaism and monotheists, and devotees of
Yahweh. Some
Biblical minimalists like
Thomas L. Thompson go further, arguing that Jerusalem became a city and capable of being a state capital only in the mid-7th century.
[28] Likewise, Finkelstein and others consider the claimed size of Solomon's temple implausible.
These views are criticized by
William G. Dever, and André Lemaire,
[30] among others. Lemaire states in
Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple[30] that the principal points of the biblical tradition of Solomon are generally trustworthy.
Kenneth Kitchen
agrees, arguing 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. Kitchen calculates that over 30 years,
such a kingdom might have accumulated up to 500 tons of gold, which is
small compared to other examples, such as the 1,180 tons of gold that
Alexander the Great took from Susa. Similarly Kitchen
[32]
and others consider the temple of Solomon a reasonable and typically
sized structure for the region at the time. Dever states "that we now
have direct Bronze and Iron Age parallels for every feature of the
'Solomonic temple' as described in the Hebrew Bible".
[33]
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 – indeed
comparing pottery from areas traditionally assigned to Israel with that
of the Philistines points to the Philistines having been significantly
more sophisticated. However there is a lack of physical evidence of its
existence, despite some archaeological work in the area.
[25] This is not unexpected because the area was devastated by the
Babylonians, then rebuilt and destroyed several times.
[32] Little archaeological excavation has been done around the area known as the
Temple Mount, in what is thought to be the foundation of Solomon's Temple, because attempts to do so are met with protest by Muslims.
[34]
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 also described as building places of worship for a
number of other deities
[19] (
1 Kings 11:4).
Some scholars and historians argue that Solomon's apparent initial
devotion to Yahweh, described in passages such as his dedication prayer (
1 Kings 8:14-66), were written much later, after Jerusalem had become the religious centre of the kingdom, replacing locations such as
Shiloh and
Bethel. Some scholars believe that passages such as these in the
Books of Kings were not written by the same authors who wrote the rest of the text, instead probably by the
Deuteronomist.
[33]
Such views have been challenged by other historians who maintain that
there is evidence that these passages in Kings are derived from official
court records at the time of Solomon and from other writings of that
time that were incorporated into the canonical books of Kings.
[35][36]
Chronology
The conventional dates of Solomon's reign derived from
biblical chronology are from c. 970 to 931 BC.
[citation needed] Regarding the
Davidic dynasty
to which King Solomon belongs, its chronology can be checked against
datable Babylonian and Assyrian records at a few points, and these
correspondences have allowed archeologists to date its kings in a modern
framework. According to the most widely used chronology, based on that
by
Edwin R. Thiele, the death of Solomon and the division of his kingdom occurred in the spring of 931 BC.
Wealth
Solomon and the plan for the
First Temple, illustration from a Bible card published by the Providence Lithograph Co.
Artist's depiction of Solomon's court (Ingobertus, c. 880)
According to the Hebrew Bible, the
Israelite monarchy gained its highest splendour and wealth during Solomon's reign of 40 years. In a single year, according to
1 Kings 10:14, Solomon collected
tribute amounting to 666
talents (39,960 pounds) of gold. Solomon is described as surrounding himself with all the luxuries and the grandeur of an
Eastern monarch, and his government prospered. He entered into an alliance with
Hiram I, king of
Tyre, who in many ways greatly assisted him in his numerous undertakings.
For some years before his death, David was engaged in collecting materials for building a
temple in Jerusalem as a permanent home for
Yahweh and the
Ark of the Covenant. Solomon is described as completing its construction, with the help of an architect, also named
Hiram, and other materials, sent from King Hiram of Tyre.
After the completion of the temple, Solomon is described as erecting many other buildings of importance in
Jerusalem. For 13 years, he was engaged in the building of a royal palace on
Ophel
(a hilly promontory in central Jerusalem). Solomon also constructed
great works for the purpose of securing a plentiful supply of water for
the city, and the
Millo (
Septuagint,
Acra)
for the defense of the city. However, excavations of Jerusalem have
shown a distinct lack of monumental architecture from the era, and
remains of neither the Temple nor Solomon's palace have been found.
Solomon is also described as rebuilding cities elsewhere in Israel, creating the port of
Ezion-Geber, and constructing
Tadmor
in the wilderness as a commercial depot and military outpost. Although
the location of the port of Ezion-Geber is known, no remains have ever
been found. More archaeological success has been achieved with the major
cities Solomon is said to have strengthened or rebuilt, for example,
Hazor,
Megiddo and
Gezer.
[39] These all have substantial ancient remains, including impressive six-chambered gates, and
ashlar
palaces, however it is no longer the scholarly consensus that these
structures date to the time, according to the Bible, when Solomon ruled.
[25]
According to the Bible, during Solomon's reign, Israel enjoyed great
commercial prosperity, with extensive traffic being carried on by land
with
Tyre,
Egypt, and
Arabia, and by sea with
Tarshish,
Ophir, and
South India.
Religious views
Judaism
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. When King Solomon married the daughter
of the Egyptian Pharaoh, a sandbank formed which eventually formed the
"great nation of Rome" – the nation that destroyed the Second Temple
(Herod's Temple). Solomon gradually lost more and more prestige until he
became like a commoner. Some say he regained his status while others
say he did not. In the end however, he is regarded as a righteous king
and is especially praised for his diligence in building the Temple.
[40]
Christianity
Christianity has traditionally accepted the historical existence of
Solomon, though some modern Christian scholars have also questioned at
least his authorship of those biblical texts ascribed to him. Such
disputes tend to divide Christians into traditionalist and modernist
camps.
Of the two
genealogies of Jesus given in the
Gospels,
Matthew mentions Solomon, but
Luke
does not. Some commentators see this as an issue that can be reconciled
while others disagree. For instance, it has been suggested that Luke is
using Joseph's genealogy and Matthew is using Mary's, but
Darrell Bock
states that this would be unprecedented, "especially when no other
single woman appears in the line". Other suggestions include the use by
one of the royal and the other of the natural line, one using the legal
line and the other the physical line, or that Joseph was adopted.
[41]
Jesus makes reference to Solomon, using him for comparison purposes
in his admonition against worrying about your life. This account is
recorded in Matthew 6:29 and the parallel passage in Luke 12:27
In the
Eastern Orthodox Church, Solomon is commemorated as a
saint, with the title of "Righteous Prophet and King". His
feast day is celebrated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before the
Great Feast of the
Nativity of the Lord).
The staunchly Catholic King
Philip II of Spain sought to model himself after King Solomon. 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 also depicted in a great fresco at the
center of El Escorial's library. Philip identified the warrior-king
David with his own father
Charles V,
and himself sought to emulate the thoughtful and logical character
which he perceived in Solomon. Moreover, Escorial's structure was
inspired by that of Solomon's Temple.
[42][43]
Islam
Mausoleum of Solomon, Aqsa Mosque compound, Jerusalem
In
Islamic tradition, Solomon is venerated as a prophet and a messenger of
God, as well as a divinely appointed monarch, who ruled over the
Kingdom of Israel. As in
Judaism, Islam recognizes Solomon as the son of
King David,
who is also considered a prophet and a king in Islam. Islam attributes
to Solomon the saying: "The beginning of wisdom is the fear of God" (
ra's al-hikmah makhafat Allah).
Islam tradition ascribes to Solomon a great level of wisdom and
knowledge of the unseen, as well as the traditional sciences of
cosmology. According to tradition, he knew the "language of the birds" (
kalam al-tayr).
Solomon was also known in the Islam to have other supernatural
abilities (bestowed upon him by God) such as controlling the wind,
ruling over the
Jinn and talking to ants:
And
to Solomon (We made) the wind (obedient): its early morning (stride)
was a month's (journey), and its evening (stride) was a month's
(journey); and We made a font of molten brass to flow for him; and there
were Jinns that worked in front of him, by the leave of his Lord, and
if any of them turned aside from Our command, We made him taste of the
Penalty of the Blazing Fire. (34:12) and
At length, when they
came to a (lowly) valley of ants, one of the ants said: "O ye ants, get
into your habitations, lest Solomon and his hosts crush you (under foot)
without knowing it." – So he smiled, amused at her speech; and he said:
"O my Lord! So order me that I may be grateful for Thy favors, which
Thou hast bestowed on me and on my parents, and that I may work the
righteousness that will please Thee: and admit me, by Thy Grace, to the
ranks of Thy righteous Servants." (18–19:27). The
Qur'an mentions Solomon 17 times.
Baha'i
In the
Bahá'í Faith, Solomon is regarded as one of the lesser prophets along with David, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, along with others.
[44] Baha'is see Solomon as a prophet who was sent by God to address the issues of his time.
[45] Baha'ullah wrote about Solomon in the Hidden Words.
[46] He also mentions Solomon in the Tablet of Wisdom, where he is depicted as a contemporary of Pythagoras.
[47]
Legends
One Thousand and One Nights
A well-known story in the collection
One Thousand and One Nights describes a
genie
who had displeased King Solomon and was punished by being locked in a
bottle and thrown into the sea. Since the bottle was sealed with
Solomon's seal, the genie was helpless to free himself, until freed many
centuries later by a fisherman who discovered the bottle.
[48] In other stories which are found in
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 Solomon's words which aimed
to help those who were lost and unluckily reached those forbidden and
deserted places.
Angels and magic
According to the
Rabbinical literature,
on account of his modest request for wisdom only, Solomon was rewarded
with riches and an unprecedented glorious realm, which extended over the
upper world inhabited by the angels and over the whole of the
terrestrial globe with all its inhabitants, including all the beasts,
fowl, and reptiles, as well as the demons and spirits. His control over
the demons, spirits, and animals augmented his splendor, the demons
bringing him precious stones, besides water from distant countries to
irrigate his exotic plants. The beasts and fowl of their own accord
entered the kitchen of Solomon's palace, so that they might be used as
food for him, and extravagant meals for him were prepared daily by each
of his 700 wives and 300 concubines, with the thought that perhaps the
king would feast that day in her house.
Seal of Solomon
A
magic ring called the "
Seal of Solomon"
was supposedly given to Solomon and gave him power over demons. The
magical symbol said to have been on the Seal of Solomon which made it
work is now better known as the
Star of David.
Asmodeus, king of demons, was one day, according to the classical Rabbis, captured by
Benaiah
using the ring, and was forced to remain in Solomon's service. In one
tale, Asmodeus brought a man with two heads from under the earth to show
Solomon; the man, unable to return, married a woman from Jerusalem and
had seven sons, six of whom resembled the mother, while one resembled
the father in having two heads. After their father's death, the son with
two heads claimed two shares of the inheritance, arguing that he was
two men; Solomon decided that the son with two heads was only one man.
The Seal of Solomon, in some legends known as the Ring of Aandaleeb, was
a highly sought after symbol of power. In several legends, different
groups or individuals attempted to steal it or attain it in some manner.
Solomon and Asmodeus
One legend concerning
Asmodeus
goes on to state that Solomon one day asked Asmodeus what could make
demons powerful over man, and Asmodeus asked to be freed and given the
ring so that he could demonstrate; Solomon agreed but Asmodeus threw the
ring into the sea and it was swallowed by a fish. Asmodeus then
swallowed the king, stood up fully with one wing touching heaven and the
other earth, and spat out Solomon to a distance of 400 miles. 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 gained a chance to
prepare a meal for the Ammonite king, which the king found so impressive
that the previous cook was sacked and Solomon put in his place; the
king's daughter,
Naamah,
subsequently fell in love with Solomon, but the family (thinking
Solomon a commoner) disapproved, so the king decided to kill them both
by sending them into the desert. Solomon and the king’s daughter
wandered the desert until they reached a coastal city, where they bought
a fish to eat, which just happened to be the one which had swallowed
the magic ring. Solomon was then able to regain his throne and expel
Asmodeus. The element of a ring thrown into the sea and found back in a
fish's belly also appeared in
Herodotus' account of
Polycrates, the
tyrant of
Samos from c. 538 BC to 522 BC.
In another familiar version of the legend of the Seal of Solomon,
Asmodeus disguises himself. In some myths, he's disguised as King
Solomon himself, while in more frequently heard versions he's disguised
as a falcon, calling himself Gavyn (Gavinn or Gavin), one of King
Solomon’s trusted friends. The concealed Asmodeus tells travelers who
have ventured up to King Solomon's grand lofty palace that the Seal of
Solomon was thrown into the sea. He then convinces them to plunge in and
attempt to retrieve it, for if they do they would take the throne as
king.
Artifacts
Other magical items attributed to Solomon are
his key and his Table. The latter was said to be held in
Toledo, Spain during
Visigoth rule and was part of the loot taken by
Tarik ibn Ziyad during the
Umayyad Conquest of Iberia, according to
Ibn Abd-el-Hakem's
History of the Conquest of Spain. The former appears in the title of the
Lesser Key of Solomon, a
grimoire whose
framing story is Solomon capturing demons using his ring, and forcing them to explain themselves to him.
Angels
Angels also helped Solomon in building the Temple; though not by
choice. The edifice was, according to rabbinical legend, miraculously
constructed throughout, the large heavy stones rising and settling in
their respective places of themselves. 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. According to
Midrash Tehillim,
the shamir was brought from paradise by Solomon's eagle; but most of
the rabbis state that Solomon was informed of the worm's haunts by
Asmodeus. 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. When the
bird returned, it used the shamir to break the glass, whereupon the men
scared the bird, causing it to drop the worm, which the men could then
bring to Solomon.
In the Kabbalah
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.
The palace without entrance
According to one legend, while traveling magically, Solomon noticed a
magnificent palace to which there appeared to be no entrance. He
ordered the demons to climb to the roof and see if they could discover
any living being within the building but the demons only found an eagle,
which said that it was 700 years old, but that it had never seen an
entrance. An elder brother of the eagle, 900 years old, was then found,
but it also did not know the entrance. The eldest brother of these two
birds, which was 1,300 years old, then declared it had been informed by
its father that the door was on the west side, but that it had become
hidden by sand drifted by the wind. Having discovered the entrance,
Solomon found an idol inside that had in its mouth a silver tablet
saying in Greek (a language not thought by modern scholars to have
existed 1000 years before the time of Solomon) that the statue was of
Shaddad, the son of 'Ad, and that it had
reigned over a million cities, rode on a million horses, had under it a million vassals and slew a million warriors, yet it could not resist the
angel of death.
Throne
Solomon at his throne, painting by Andreas Brugger, 1777
Solomon's throne is described at length in
Targum Sheni, which is compiled from three different sources, and in two later
Midrash.
According to these, there were on the steps of the throne twelve golden
lions, each facing a golden eagle. There were six steps to the throne,
on which animals, all of gold, were arranged in the following order: on
the first step a lion opposite an ox; on the second, a wolf opposite a
sheep; on the third, a tiger opposite a camel; on the fourth, an eagle
opposite a peacock, on the fifth, a cat opposite a cock; on the sixth, a
sparrow-hawk opposite a dove. On the top of the throne was a dove
holding a sparrow-hawk in its claws, symbolizing the dominion of Israel
over the Gentiles. 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. There was also on the top of the throne a golden
candelabrum,
on the seven branches of the one side of which were engraved the names
of the seven patriarchs Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and
Job, and on the seven of the other the names of Levi, Kohath, Amram,
Moses, Aaron, Eldad, Medad, and, in addition, Hur (another version has
Haggai). Above the candelabrum was a golden jar filled with olive-oil
and beneath it a golden basin which supplied the jar with oil and on
which the names of Nadab, Abihu, and Eli and his two sons were engraved.
Over the throne, twenty-four vines were fixed to cast a shadow on the
king's head.
By a mechanical contrivance the throne followed Solomon wherever he
wished to go. 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. From the sixth step the eagles raised the
king and placed him in his seat, near which a golden serpent lay coiled.
When the king was seated the large eagle placed the crown on his head,
the serpent uncoiled itself, and the lions and eagles moved upward to
form a shade over him. The dove then descended, took the scroll of the
Law from the Ark, and placed it on Solomon's knees. When the king sat,
surrounded by the
Sanhedrin,
to judge the people, the wheels began to turn, and the beasts and fowls
began to utter their respective cries, which frightened those who had
intended to bear false testimony. Moreover, while Solomon was ascending
the throne, the lions scattered all kinds of fragrant spices. After
Solomon's death, Pharaoh
Shishak, when taking away the treasures of the
Temple (I Kings xiv. 26), carried off the throne, which remained in Egypt until
Sennacherib conquered that country. After Sennacherib's fall Hezekiah gained possession of it, but when Josiah was slain by Pharaoh
Necho, the latter took it away. However, according to
rabbinical
accounts, Necho did not know how the mechanism worked and so
accidentally struck himself with one of the lions causing him to become
lame; Nebuchadnezzar, into whose possession the throne subsequently
came, shared a similar fate. The throne then passed to the Persians,
whose king
Darius
was the first to sit successfully on Solomon's throne after his death;
subsequently the throne came into the possession of the Greeks and
Ahasuerus.
Freemasonry
Masonic rituals refer to King Solomon and the building of his Temple.
[49] Masonic Temples, where a
Masonic Lodge meets, are an
allegorical reference to King Solomon's Temple.
[50]
In literature, art and music
Literature
- In H. Rider Haggard's King Solomon's Mines
the protagonists discover multiple settings said to belong to, or
having been built at the request of King Solomon, such as 'Solomon's
Great Road' and the mines themselves. Also, the two mountains which form
the entrance to Kukuana Land (where the mines are located in the novel)
are referred to as 'Sheba's Breasts' which could well be an allusion to
the Queen of Sheba, with whom King Solomon had a relationship; or
alternatively Solomon's mother, who was named Bathsheba. When in the
mines the characters also contemplate what must have occurred to prevent
King Solomon from ever returning to retrieve the massive amounts of
diamonds, gold and ivory tusks that were found buried in his great
'Treasure Chamber'.
- In The Divine Comedy the spirit of Solomon appears to Dante Alighieri in the Heaven of the Sun with other exemplars of inspired wisdom.
- In Friedrich Dürrenmatt's Die Physiker, the physicist Möbius claims that Solomon appears to him and dictates the "theory of all possible inventions" (based on Unified Field Theory).
- Solomon appears in Kipling's Just So Stories.
- In Neal Stephenson's three-volume The Baroque Cycle, 17th-century alchemists like Isaac Newton believe that Solomon created a kind of "heavier" gold with mystical properties and that it was cached in the Solomon Islands where it was accidentally discovered by the crew of a wayward Spanish galleon. In the third volume of The Baroque Cycle, The System of the World, a mysterious member of the entourage of Czar Peter I of Russia, named "Solomon Kohan" appears in early 18th-century London. The czar, traveling incognito to purchase English-made ships for his navy, explains that he added him to his court after the Sack of Azov, where Kohan had been a guest of the Pasha. Solomon Kohan is later revealed as one of the extremely long-lived "Wise" Enoch Root,
and compares a courtyard full of inventors' workstations to "an
operation I used to have in Jerusalem a long time ago," denominating
either facility as "a temple."
- In Bartimaeus: The Ring of Solomon, both King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba are featured prominently.
- In the Japanese manga series Magi: The Labyrinth of Magic,
Solomon was a powerful magician which united all of the world under his
peaceful rule. However, when this world was destroyed by a calamity, he
created the world Magi is set in and saved mankind by sending
them there. A special power originated from him, the "Wisdom of
Solomon", allows the main character Aladdin to talk directly with the
soul of a person, alive or dead.
- In Makai Ouji: Devils and Realist,
Solomon is a friend of Lucifer and is the "Elector" - the one who can
choose the interim ruler over Hell as its emperor rests to regain his
strength and had powers over demons known as his seventy-two pillars.
He's also known who can control Hell or Heaven with the power of his
ring.
Film
Music
- Handel composed an oratorio entitled Solomon in 1748. The story follows the basic Biblical plot.[51]
- Ernest Bloch composed a Hebraic Rhapsody for cello and orchestra entitled Schelomo, based on King Solomon.
- Toivo Tulev composed a piece for choir, soloists and chamber
orchestra entitled "Songs" in 2005. The text is taken directly from the
Song of Songs in its English, Spanish and Latin translations.
- Marc-Antoine Charpentier, a French composer of the Baroque Era, composed an oratorio entitled Solomon's Judgement.[52]
See also
Notes
- Recent History Channel promotional production about Indiana Jones’s[citation needed] positive impact on archaeology (released Mid-May 2008, the week before the 22 May 2008 USA release of Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull);
History Channel producers were shown interviewing the guardian priest,
and expert discussions about the Ark were part of the fare.
References
"In Our Time With Melvyn Bragg: King Solomon". Radio 4. UK: BBC. 7 June 2012. Retrieved 2012-06-10.
Williamson, H. G. M. (1976). "The Accession of Solomon in the Books of Chronicles". Vetus Testamentum 26 (3): 351–361. doi:10.1163/156853376X00510. JSTOR 10.2307/1517303. edit
Barton, George A. (1967). "Temple of Solomon". Jewish Encyclopedia 215 (5105). New York, NY: Funk & Wagnalls. pp. 98–101. doi:10.1038/2151043a0. Retrieved 2007-05-15.
Rashi, to Megillah, 14a
Leithart, Peter J (2000), A House for My Name, Canon, p. 157, ISBN 978-1-885767-69-1
"Archaeology, Culture, and other Religions". FMC terra santa. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
1 Chronicles 14:4
1 Chronicles 3:5
1 Chronicles 3:1-4
"1 Kings 1 (ESV)". Bible gateway. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
Hoerber, Robert G., ed. (1984) "Concordia Self-Study Bible" (St. Louis: Concordia Publishing House) p. 473
Peter J. Leithart, A House for My Name, 164, Canon Press, 2000. ISBN 978-1-885767-69-1
"Jewish Encyclopedia". Retrieved 2010-03-03.
"I Kings", KJV, The Bible, 3:4–9
"New International Version" (Passage Lookup). Bible Gateway. 10. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
H Diane Russell (ed), Eva/Ave; Women in Renaissance and Baroque Prints, pp. 162-164, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1990, ISBN 1558610391
1 Kings 14:21 and 2 Chronicles 12:13
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Jewish Encyclopedia. 1901–1906.
"NIV". Bible Gateway. 11 – Solomon’s Wives – King Solomon. Retrieved 2013-06-21.
"The Kingdom of Israel". Jewish Virtual Library. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
"Solomon, Testament of". Jewish Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
Against Apion i:17,18.
Finkelstein & Silberman 2001, pp. 186–195
Thompson, Thomas L., 1999, The Bible in History: How Writers Create a Past, Jonathan Cape, London, ISBN 978-0-224-03977-2 p. 207
Shanks, Hershel, Ancient Israel: From Abraham to the Roman Destruction of the Temple, p. 113
Kitchen 2003, p. 123
Dever 2001, p. 145
"Temple Mount: Excavation Controversy". Sacred destinations. Retrieved 2010-03-03.
Harrison, RK (1969), Introduction to the Old Testament, Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, pp. 722–24
Archer, GL (1964), A Survey of Old Testament Introduction, Chicago: Moody Press, pp. 276–77
1 Kings 9:15)
"tractate Sanhendrin", Talmud Bavli, p. 21b
Bock, Darell (1996). Luke. The NIV Application Commentary. Zondervan. p. 124. ISBN 978-0-310-49330-3.
Taylor, René, Arquitectura y Magia. Consideraciones sobre la Idea de El Escorial [Architecture and magic. Considerations on the idea of the Escorial] (in Spanish), Madrid: Siruela, enhanced from monograph in Rudolph Wittkower's 1968 festschrift.
Wittkower, Rudolf; Jaffe, Irma, "Hermetism and the Mystical Architecture of the Society of Jesus", Baroque Art: The Jesuit Contribution
Smith, Peter (2008), An Introduction to the Baha'i Faith, p. 108
Steier, E Joseph, III; Timmering, Dianne H (2008), My God! Our God?, p. 176
Ryba, Thomas; Bond, George D; Tull, Herman (2004), The Comity and Grace of Method: Essays in Honor of Edmund F. Perry, p. 399
Garlington, William (2005), The Baha'i Faith in America, p. 160
"The Story of the Fisherman", Stories from the Thousand and One Nights, The Harvard Classics, 1909–14
"Index of /". lodgechelmsford.com. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
"Freemasons NSW & ACT - Home". masons.org.au. Retrieved 2014-08-29.
"G. F. Handel's Compositions". The Handel Institute. Retrieved 2013-09-28.
- Antony, James R. (March 1, 2003). French Baroque Music from Beaujoyeulx to Rameau: (2nd ed.). Hal Leonard Corporation. p. 278. ISBN 978-0393009675.
Bibliography
- Coogan, Michael D (2009), A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament, Oxford University Press
- Dever, William G. (2001). What Did the Biblical Writers Know and When Did They Know It?: What Archaeology Can Tell Us about the Reality of Ancient Israel. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans Pub. ISBN 978-0-8028-4794-2. OCLC 45487499.
- ——— (2003). Who Were the Early Israelites and Where Did They Come From?. William B Eermans. ISBN 0-8028-0975-8.
- Finkelstein, Israel; Silberman, Neil Asher (2001), The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision of Ancient Israel and the Origin of Its Sacred Texts, Simon & Schuster, ISBN 0-7432-2338-1
- ———; Silberman, Neil Asher (2002) [2001]. The Bible Unearthed: Archaeology's New Vision. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-0-684-86913-1.
- ———; Silberman, Neil Asher (2006). David and Solomon: In Search of the Bible's Sacred Kings and the Roots of the Western Tradition. Free Press. ISBN 0-7432-4362-5.
- Higham, Levy; Higham, Thomas, eds. (2005). The Bible and Radiocarbon Dating: Archaeology, Text and Science. London; Oakville, CT: Equinox. ISBN 978-1-84553-056-3. OCLC 60453952.
- Kitchen, Kenneth A. (2003). On the reliability of the Old Testament. Grand Rapids, MI: Eerdmans. ISBN 0-8028-4960-1.
- Thiele, ER (1983), The Mysterious Numbers of the Hebrew Kings (3rd ed.), Grand Rapids: Zondervan/Kregel
External links
