Individual Details
King Solomon King of Israel
(Ca 1024 BC - )
King Solomon is a name that conjures extraordinary images out of history and legend: A glittering court known throughout the world. A thousand harem princesses. Idolatry. A gift of divine wisdom. Demonic possession. And above all, the magnificence of the Holy City’s First Temple. From the bloody birth of King David’s wars came a golden age in Jerusalem, with a glory and mystery that would never be repeated.
Thousands of years after King Solomon’s reign, tales still endure of the splendor of Solomon’s court in Jerusalem, his wisdom, and the lush indulgence of his lifestyle, which included a vast harem of foreign princesses. Solomon’s crowning achievement was the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, which would create a deep impact on the kingdom for centuries to come. The towering majesty of the Temple elevated Jerusalem to the status of a Holy City.
Solomon boasted a vast army of 1,400 chariots, the most advanced military technology of the period. His father David, a war hero from the first, had conquered substantial lands of the Philistine and Edomite peoples, and it was Solomon who reaped the rewards. He married the Pharaoh’s daughter, cementing an alliance with the powerful Egyptian kingdom.
Solomon’s reign is shrouded in many mysterious legends which feature him communing with demons, performing magic, and even being imprisoned by a demonic spell. His servant Benayahu son of Yehoyada is said to have carried out quests for him which involved magical beings.
The most famous of Benayahu’s adventures is his fabled quest for the Shamir, a worm that could eat through stone. Legend tells of Solomon’s unwillingness to use knives to cut the stones that would build the First Temple. No warlike tools, he believed, should be used to erect a symbol of peace.
According to legend, Solomon’s wisdom was a divine gift—a gift so powerful that he could understand the speech of animals. God, it is said, asked Solomon what he most desired, and Solomon’s request was for the ability to govern wisely. Thus people came far and wide to Jerusalem for Solomon’s celebrated wit in adjudicating court cases. The Queen of Sheba, in admiration of Solomon’s wisdom, came bearing gifts of gold and her allegiance.
But perhaps the most powerful legend of King Solomon is that at the end of his reign, he was possessed by the demon prince Asmodai.
The First Temple was to exert a deep influence on the future development of religion in Judea. But Solomon still built shrines to other gods, and the heavy burden of taxation that he imposed upon Israel tore the kingdom apart after his death. Solomon is therefore judged a failure in the Scriptural texts, but a magnificent failure: like a meteor rising high, aflame with power and light, only to fall with a devastating crash to earth.
Solomon’s kingdom, which ended in blood, also began in blood. David’s illicit cohabitation with Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, started it all; and before Solomon was to become king, he would first be tested in a raging gauntlet of family intrigues, betrayal and murder.
Thousands of years after King Solomon’s reign, tales still endure of the splendor of Solomon’s court in Jerusalem, his wisdom, and the lush indulgence of his lifestyle, which included a vast harem of foreign princesses. Solomon’s crowning achievement was the construction of the First Temple in Jerusalem, which would create a deep impact on the kingdom for centuries to come. The towering majesty of the Temple elevated Jerusalem to the status of a Holy City.
Solomon boasted a vast army of 1,400 chariots, the most advanced military technology of the period. His father David, a war hero from the first, had conquered substantial lands of the Philistine and Edomite peoples, and it was Solomon who reaped the rewards. He married the Pharaoh’s daughter, cementing an alliance with the powerful Egyptian kingdom.
Solomon’s reign is shrouded in many mysterious legends which feature him communing with demons, performing magic, and even being imprisoned by a demonic spell. His servant Benayahu son of Yehoyada is said to have carried out quests for him which involved magical beings.
The most famous of Benayahu’s adventures is his fabled quest for the Shamir, a worm that could eat through stone. Legend tells of Solomon’s unwillingness to use knives to cut the stones that would build the First Temple. No warlike tools, he believed, should be used to erect a symbol of peace.
According to legend, Solomon’s wisdom was a divine gift—a gift so powerful that he could understand the speech of animals. God, it is said, asked Solomon what he most desired, and Solomon’s request was for the ability to govern wisely. Thus people came far and wide to Jerusalem for Solomon’s celebrated wit in adjudicating court cases. The Queen of Sheba, in admiration of Solomon’s wisdom, came bearing gifts of gold and her allegiance.
But perhaps the most powerful legend of King Solomon is that at the end of his reign, he was possessed by the demon prince Asmodai.
The First Temple was to exert a deep influence on the future development of religion in Judea. But Solomon still built shrines to other gods, and the heavy burden of taxation that he imposed upon Israel tore the kingdom apart after his death. Solomon is therefore judged a failure in the Scriptural texts, but a magnificent failure: like a meteor rising high, aflame with power and light, only to fall with a devastating crash to earth.
Solomon’s kingdom, which ended in blood, also began in blood. David’s illicit cohabitation with Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba, started it all; and before Solomon was to become king, he would first be tested in a raging gauntlet of family intrigues, betrayal and murder.
Events
| Birth | Ca 1024 BC |
Families
| Spouse | Naamah the Amonite (-990 - ) |
| Child | Basemath ( - ) |
| Child | Rehoboam King of Judah ( - ) |
| Father | David King of Israel (-1042 - ) |
| Mother | Bathsheba ( - ) |