I gave him a name Solomon and promised that his reign would proceed in peace and tranquility (1 Chron. 22, 9-10). In addition, the Lord commanded through the prophet Nathan to name Solomon Yedidia(2 Kings 12:25).
Solomon loved God and walked according to his father's rules. The prophet Nathan is called his teacher. Thanks to Nathan's intervention, young Solomon was anointed king and proclaimed king during his father's lifetime. The solemn anointing, by the will of King David, was performed by the prophet Nathan and the priest Zadok in Gion (3 Kings 1, 32 -40). Before his death, David ordered Solomon to use the materials he had collected to build the temple of God (1 Chron. 22:6-16). He also left a testament to the heir to be firm and courageous, to keep the covenant of the Lord God and to give appropriate retribution and reward to David’s opponents and associates (1 Kings 2:1-9).
Solomon's ascension to the throne thwarted the first attempt at accession by his older brother, Adonijah. However, Adonijah soon turned to the young king with a request to give him Abishag, the girl who looked after the aged David, as his wife, hoping with her help to fulfill his ambitions. Solomon saw in this request a new encroachment on the throne, and according to his will, Adonijah was killed. The main military leader Joab, who supported Adonijah, was also killed, and the high priest Abiathar was exiled to Anathoth; their places were taken by the military commander Benaiah and the high priest Zadok (1 Kings 2, 12 -35).
In the year of Solomon’s accession, Naamah the Ammonite gave birth to a son and future heir, Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:21). At the same time, the young king strengthened his power by marrying the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh (1 Kings 3:1), receiving the city of Gezer as a dowry - an exceptional case in the annals of Egypt, indicating recognition of the power of the Kingdom of Israel.
Finally, Solomon’s most important step to strengthen his power was making a sacrifice to God. In that era, in the absence of a temple, “the people still offered sacrifices on the high places” (3 Kings 3:2), which is why Solomon went to Gibeon, where the main altar was located, to offer a sacrifice to God there. Here the Lord appeared to him in a night dream and said: “Ask what I can give you” (1 Kings 3:5). Solomon confessed himself to be a “little child” before the greatness of God’s people, and asked for himself “an understanding heart to judge Your people and discern what is good and what is evil” (1 Kings 3:7-9). He also asked for “wisdom and knowledge, that I might be able to go out and enter before this people” (2 Chron. 1:10). The answer was pleasing to the Lord, and He gave Solomon:
"a wise and understanding heart, so that there was no one like you before you, and after you there will not arise one like you; [...] and wealth and glory, so that there will be no one like you among kings all your days. And if you walk in My way, keeping My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, I will prolong your days."(3 Kings 3:11-14).
Wisdom of Solomon
Although Solomon was granted numerous gifts of God, the first among them was the gift of reason. Soon the king showed his wisdom in the trial of two harlot women who gave birth to babies at the same time, one of whom died at night while they were sleeping in the same house. To resolve their dispute about who owned the surviving baby, the king ordered the child to be cut in two and given half to each. Then one woman agreed, and the other - the real mother - prayed that the child should be given to another woman, but left alive. So the king established the truth and gave the child to his mother. The fame of Solomon's judgment spread throughout Israel and strengthened his power: people “began to fear the king, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to carry out judgment” (1 Kings 3:16-28).
Solomon's wisdom was "above the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians [...] and his name was in glory among all the surrounding nations" (1 Kings 4, 30-31). An outstanding gift became a force that attracted and conquered the first people of other countries. Foreign kings, having heard about Solomon's wisdom, sought to meet him personally. Impressed by his intelligence, they presented him with generous gifts, becoming his free tributaries (1 Kings 10:24-25). A striking example is the Queen of Sheba - that is, the ruler of the remote Sabaean kingdom, who, taking with her especially abundant gifts, came to test Solomon and found him even wiser and richer than rumor had imagined him to be (1 Kings 10, 1-3; 2 Par 9, 1 -12).
Solomon is called the author of 3000 parables and 1005 songs (1 Kings 4:32), some of which were included in the canon of Holy Scripture.
The Rise of Solomon's Kingdom
The internal structure of the kingdom was ordered. The creation of the administrative apparatus, which began during the reign of David, continued. The list of Solomon's officials includes scribes, a scribe, a military commander, priests, a king's friend, a chief over the officers (regional governors), a chief over the royal house, and a chief over taxes (1 Kings 4:1-7). The entire state, with the exception of the inheritance of Judah, was divided into twelve regions, each of which was ruled by a special governor (1 Kings 4, 7 -19). To protect the vast kingdom, a permanent mobile army of 1,400 war chariots and 12,000 horsemen was created; 4 thousand stalls were built for horses and chariots (2 Chronicles 1, 14; 9, 25).
The Israelites under Solomon, “numbered as the sand by the sea, ate, drank and were merry” (1 Kings 4:20). The people lived calmly and in abundance, “every man under his own vineyard and under his own fig tree” (1 Kings 4:25). Israel achieved such material prosperity that gold and silver in Jerusalem were equal in price to a simple stone, and cedars to sycamore trees (2 Chron. 9, 27). At the same time, labor service was imposed on the people (1 Kings 5:13), and the Canaanites remaining in the country were converted into quit-rent laborers and low-level overseers.
Tsar Builder
The most notable material monuments of Solomon's kingdom were its numerous buildings, the most important of which was the majestic temple of God in Jerusalem. In fulfillment of God's command and father's covenant, in 480 after the exodus of the Jews from Egypt, in the fourth year of his reign (3 Kings 6:1), Solomon undertook the construction of the temple. Construction work lasted seven years and involved many tens of thousands of people. When the work on the construction of the temple was completed, Solomon put the silver, gold and things dedicated by David into its treasuries, after which he convened the leaders of the people to transfer the Ark of the Covenant from Zion to the temple (1 Kings 7, 51; 8, 1). Having solemnly placed the ark in a new place, the king blessed the people and led them in prayer to God and in making a sacrifice (1 Kings 8, 54 -55, 62). The Lord accepted and consecrated the new temple.
After completing the temple, Solomon began to build his luxurious palace, which took the next 13 years (1 Kings 7:1). He also built a wall around Jerusalem and a palace for his Egyptian wife, the daughter of Pharaoh, due to which Jerusalem expanded to the north. The biblical narrative, supported by archaeological finds, also testifies to the construction of garrison cities where the chariot army was stationed, and casemate cities throughout the kingdom and, possibly, in the border areas in Hammat (1 Kings 9, 17 -19; 2 Chron 8, 2 - 6). Public buildings, powerful city walls, four-column gates were built - parts of this urban planning program are evident in Gatsor, Megiddo, Bethsamis, Tel Bet Mirsim, Gezer. The characteristic structure of a four-room Israeli house built of cut stone has taken shape.
Decline of Solomon's kingdom
The prosperity of Israel under Solomon was a consequence of the blessing of God received by the king at the beginning of his reign. However, over time, devotion to the Creator began to weaken in Solomon’s heart. When, after the completion of the construction of the temple and palace, the Lord appeared to him for the second time, the words of God sounded a formidable warning against the worship of foreign gods (1 Kings 9, 1-9; 2 Chron 7, 11-22). But the king could not resist the temptation and over time fell into idolatry, since his heart was corrupted by the numerous foreign women whom he fell in love with. The king had 700 wives and 300 concubines - in addition to the Egyptian princess, among them were Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites - and under their influence Solomon began to build temples and worship false gods - Ashtoreth, Milcom, Hamus and Moloch ( 3 Kings 11, 1 -10).
Then the Lord informed Solomon that, for the king’s unfaithfulness, He would take away his kingdom. However, for the sake of David, God decided to show His judgment on Solomon after his death, leaving one tribe for his descendants (1 Kings 11, 11-13). The will of God was also confirmed by the prophecy of Ahijah the Silomite (3 Kings 11, 29 -39).
Not only external enemies, Ader and Razon, rose up against Solomon, but also internal ones, Jeroboam. The king failed to kill the rebel, who fled to Egypt. Meanwhile, the social ground for the withdrawal of the northern tribes from the royal house was prepared by duties and taxes, which the Israelites called “cruel work” and “a heavy yoke” (1 Kings 12:4), as well as the luxury of the royal court and the privileged position of the tribe of Judah. If we accept the dating of the book of Ecclesiastes to the last years of Solomon’s life, it appears as evidence that the sinful king, according to the word of St. Philaret of Chernigov, " did not remain without repentance, and the truth in the soul of Solomon was not eclipsed". The theme of the vanity of worldly life and the consciousness of “the only thing needed” act as the epitaph of the wise king:
Let us listen to the essence of everything: fear God and keep His commandments, because this is everything for man.(Ecclesiastes 12, 13)
On the other hand, the Venerable Joseph of Volotsk, although he calls Solomon “wise,” says that the king “ died in sins" .
Solomon died after reigning in Jerusalem over all Israel for forty years, and was buried in Zion (1 Kings 11:42-43). The throne passed to his son Rehoboam, but then Jeroboam returned and led a successful uprising of 10 tribes against Judah. Thus, God’s judgment over the house of David and the Jewish people was expressed in the division of the kingdom into Israel (North) and Judah (South), which were no longer destined to unite and achieve their former power.
The death of Solomon and the division of the unified kingdom is usually attributed to the period between and around the year BC. Since the Holy Scripture indicates the duration of his reign - 40 years, his accession is dated accordingly - in years. Opinions differ much more about Solomon's lifespan. As a result, the authors of significant studies about Solomon present different versions of the dating. For example, Kaplinsky dates the birth to the year, the accession to the year, and the death and division of the kingdom to the year BC. . Dubnov believes that Solomon lived 64 years. The version about Solomon's accession to the throne at the age of twelve is found in the Armenian historian Moses of Khoren. The ancient historian Josephus stands apart, claiming that Solomon lived for 90 years, of which he reigned for 80 years.
Memory
The significance of Solomon, his deeds and his era made his name unforgettable for a number of reasons. The one whose name proclaimed him the king of “peace” is a prototype of Christ - God’s great King-Peacemaker. Solomon occupies a unique place as the first builder of the temple of God in history. His illustrious wisdom - the main gift Solomon asked from God - is revealed in the Holy Scriptures as his most stable attribute. Jesus, the son of Sirach, extols Solomon:
How wise you were in your youth and, like a river, full of intelligence! Your soul covered the earth, and you filled it with mysterious parables; your name spread to the distant islands, and you were loved for your peace; Countries marveled at you for your songs and sayings, for your parables and explanations.(Sir 47, 16 -19)
The Holy Scriptures contain a fairly extensive narrative about Solomon - in the Third Book of Kings, ch. 1-11 and in 2 Chronicles, ch. 1-9; the lost Book of Solomon’s works is also known (3 Kings 11, 41). The Bible also includes four books associated with Solomon's name: Proverbs, Wisdom, Ecclesiastes, and Song of Songs. Although Solomon's authorship of some of these texts is not in dispute, they reveal the depth of wisdom, edification, and prophetic gifts that are traditionally attributed to this king. The significance of Solomon explains the appearance of other writings that began to be signed with his name (pseudepigrapha) - such as the Psalms of Solomon and the Songs of Solomon. At the time of the incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ, the image of Solomon among the Jews was a widely accepted standard of wisdom and glory. This recognition determines the power of the Lord’s words when He says that He is “greater than Solomon” (Matt. 12:42; Luke 11:31), and when He points out that “and Solomon in all his glory was not dressed like any from the lilies of the field (Matt. 6:29).
The New Testament Church, as the canon of worship and iconography was formed, more accurately comprehended the place of Solomon in the life of the people of God. In his Great Canon, St. Andrew of Crete speaks impartially about Solomon:
"Solomon, wonderful and full of grace and wisdom, having sometimes done this evil thing before God, depart from Him [...] I am drawn by the pleasures of my passions, having become defiled, alas for me, the healer of wisdom, the guardian of prodigal women, and strange from God"(Tuesday, canto 7).
Although Solomon's apostasy from the faith was not a complete falling away, the Church does not glorify him for his godly life, like all other honest forefathers. In the sequence of the Week of Saints, other forefathers are mentioned repeatedly, with specific indications of the characteristics of their feat, but Solomon is mentioned only once: " Let us praise Adam, Abel, Seth [...] David and Solomon"(luminous).
Solomon reigned for forty years. In his life there were both great deeds and difficult falls. His name(Heb. Sholomo- world) symbolically pointed to the Messiah. Among the ancient Jews, names had important life significance. Names given at birth usually express a particular activity or life destiny of the one who will bear this name. To change the name meant to give a new assessment of personality. So God changes Abraham's name: Abraham (father of the multitude) instead of Abram (high father). Jacob is renamed Israel.
Wisdom of Solomon. The young king was distinguished by his piety. The sacred writer says: And Solomon loved the Lord, walking according to the statute of David his father(1 Kings 3, 3). The king went to Gibeon, where the main altar was then, to offer sacrifice. At night, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and said: ask what to give you. Solomon asked to give him reasonable heart to judge the people and manage wisely them. This request was pleasing to the Lord. Because Solomon did not ask for wealth or the souls of his enemies, but asked for reason, God said that he would give Solomon a wise and understanding heart and that there was nothing like him before and there won’t be anything like him after. The generous Lord promised the young king what he did not ask for - wealth and glory. Blessed Theodoret sees here a prototype of the Gospel commandment: Seek first the Kingdom of God and His righteousness, and all these things will be added to you(Mt 6:33).
Solomon's wisdom was revealed at the beginning of his reign, when two women came to him and asked him to judge their lawsuit. One slept with her baby and when she woke up, she saw that her child was dead. She began to demand a living child, claiming that it was her child. Each proved to the king that it was her child who was alive. The king ordered the sword to be brought and said: cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other(3 Kings 3:25). The woman who was the mother of this baby became very agitated with pity for her son. She asked to give him to another woman, but not to kill him. This decision, in form, bears little resemblance to legal proceedings, but achieved its goal better than a formal investigation, because it was based on a deep and accurate knowledge of the mother’s heart.
Jesus Christ himself points to the wisdom of Solomon as prototype of His Wisdom(Mt 12:42). Solomon's wisdom was manifested not only in court and government of the people, but also in numerous parables. The sacred writer says that he spoke three thousand parables. The king's knowledge was extensive: he spoke about trees, animals, birds, reptiles, fish. And they came from all nations to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all the kings of the earth who had heard of his wisdom(3 Kings 4:34). The king's wisdom was imprinted in three books that were included in the Holy Bible: Proverbs, Song of Songs and Ecclesiastes.
Name: Solomon
Date of Birth: in 1011 BC uh
Date of death: in 928 BC uh
Age: 62 years old
Place of Birth: Jerusalem
A place of death: Jerusalem
Activity: King of the Kingdom of Israel
Family status: was married
King Solomon - biography
The name Solomon, Shlomo, that is, “peaceful,” under which the son of King David entered history, was given to him by his mother. His other name, which the prophet Nathan gave him at birth, was Jedidiah - “favorite of God.”
There are many people in history who are not quite deservedly known as great sages. But only Solomon, the king of Israel, although he committed many sins, managed to become a saint of three religions at once.
Solomon was fabulously lucky. To begin with, the vast majority of his contemporaries do not even have their names left, and we know almost everything about his life and deeds. After all, the books of Kings telling about him were included in the Holy Scriptures. although there is nothing particularly sacred about them. Here is what, for example, it tells about the events preceding the birth of little Prince Solomon in the family of King David:
“One evening, David, getting out of bed, was walking on the roof of the king’s house and saw a woman bathing from the roof; and that woman was very beautiful. And David sent to find out who this woman was? And they said to him, This is Bathsheba, the daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite. David sent servants to take her; and she came to him, and he slept with her.”
To get rid of the beauty’s husband, King David ordered him to be sent on a military campaign and gave instructions; “Put Uriah where the strongest battle will be and retreat from him so that he will be defeated and die.” When Urin died, the king was able to marry Bathsheba, and in due course they had a son.
The king’s treacherous act could not be hidden, and a scandal broke out in Jerusalem. The prophet Nathan openly cursed the house of David, dooming it to fratricidal strife. In addition, he predicted that the baby born to Bathsheba would die. And so it happened. David then repented before the Lord, and Nathan declared that he was forgiven. Soon the beautiful Bathsheba gave birth to a second son, named Solomon, or Shlomo, from the word “shalom”, that is, peace.
This name was not chosen by chance: peace was the main thing that the king dreamed of then, exhausted from the struggle with the warlike people of the Philistines and other enemies, external and internal. By the time the prince was born, in the mid-900s BC, the kingdom, which was called either Israel or Judah, occupied less than half of the territory of present-day Israel. Every piece of land had to be fought for, often exterminating all its inhabitants. For example, after conquering the country of the Ammonites, David “put them under saws, under iron threshers, under iron axes, and threw them into kilns.”
By the time Solomon was born, forty-year-old King David already had two dozen offspring from different wives. Naturally, they accepted another heir without enthusiasm, and they did not treat each other like brothers. Soon after Solomon was born, his older brother Amnon raped his sister Tamar, his father forgave him. but another brother, Absalom. stood up for his sister's honor and ordered his servants to kill Amnon. After this, the prince fled to a neighboring country, but three years later David forgave him and even declared him the official heir.
But Absalom did not want to wait - he had long considered himself worthy of the throne, for he was the strongest and most handsome young man in Israel. The Bible writes that his luxurious hair, when he cut it once a year, weighed two hundred shekels - 2.4 kg. Having charmed or bribed many Israelis with generous gifts, he one fine day declared himself king. David, not wanting to fight with his son, went with his guard beyond the Jordan, but Absalom decided to get rid of his father once and for all. He and his followers caught up with David in the Forest of Ephraim, and his father had to start a battle. His seasoned fighters quickly put Absalom's inexperienced warriors to flight. The prince himself, while running away, got his hair entangled in the branches of a tree and was pierced by arrows.
The king’s worries did not end there - now the next eldest son, Adonijah, began to lay claim to the throne. In addition, in Israel, the northern half of the kingdom, a certain Sheba raised an uprising, and the Philistines again attacked from the west. David again defeated all his enemies, but he was already nearly seventy, and his iron health - in his youth he defeated the giant Goliath with one throw of a stone - was greatly weakened. At night he could not get warm, and the elders found a beautiful maiden named Avisaga for him. so that she would warm the king at night. - but he, the Bible explains, “knew it not.”
It seems that David's health was not at all good. Realizing this, his entourage divided into two factions: the commander-in-chief Joab and the high priest Abiathar wanted to place Adonijah on the throne, and the prophet Nathan and Bathsheba, who still owned the king’s heart, supported Solomon. Adonijah, confident of victory, had already appointed his coronation, but Bathsheba entered the king’s chambers and reminded him of the promise given to her: “Did you not, my lord the king, swear to your servant, saying: “Your son Solomon will be king after me”? Why did Adonijah reign?" And David appointed 18-year-old Solomon as his successor.
Adonijah, having learned that all his intrigues to become king were in vain, ran, fearing reprisals, to the temple and grabbed the horns of the altar, made in the form of a bull's head - this meant that he was asking for protection from God. He was forgiven, but David soon died, and Adonijah again tried to make his way to power. Here Solomon’s patience ran out, and he ordered the faithful general Vanei to kill Adonijah. At the same time, Joab was killed, although he also tried to find refuge at the altar. But Solomon spared the high priest Abiathar, telling him: “You are worthy of death, but at the present time I will not kill you.”
“And Solomon sat on the throne of his father David,” the Bible laconically writes. During the coronation, the new high priest Zadok anointed the forehead of the king, who was dressed in a linen dress embroidered with gold, and a scarlet cloak. The Levites at this time sang the psalm: “I have anointed My King over Zion, My holy mountain.” As usual, the people were given bread and meat from lambs that were roasted right there. When the celebrations were over, it was time to get down to business.
A government was created consisting of Vanei, Minister of Finance Adoniram, Minister of the Court Ahisar and Minister of Police Azaria. With them, the king began to carry out his reforms, about which, oddly enough, we know almost nothing. The Bible is not a history book, and its compilers were primarily interested in moral tales and miracles. Solomon had plenty of the first in his life, but the legends attributed him with plenty of the second.
The first miracle happened at the beginning of his reign - as was customary, Solomon went to the sanctuary in Gibeon and spent the night there, and God, appearing to him in a dream, asked: “What can I give you?” The king asked for wisdom for himself, and the Almighty liked it so much that he gave Solomon not only wisdom, but also wealth and glory: “So there was no one like you before you, and after you there will not arise one like you.”
The king proved his wisdom by marrying the daughter of the Egyptian pharaoh: this ended the many years of enmity between the Jews and Egypt, which arose during the time of Moses. The princess gave birth to Solomon's daughters, who received the Egyptian names Basemat and Tafat. True, it was not she who became the king’s first wife, but Abishag, who warmed his father; the young people must have become close during David’s lifetime.
The Bible says: “And God gave Solomon wisdom and very great understanding, and a broad mind, like the sand on the seashore. And the wisdom of Solomon was greater than the wisdom of all the children of the east and all the wisdom of the Egyptians.” Unlike David, the king practically did not wage wars, but at the same time managed to expand the territory of Israel from the Nile to the Euphrates.
Most often this was done through marriages: he married the daughters of neighboring kings, after whose death - sometimes cleverly arranged - he took over their possessions. Since the “kings” of that time were only the elders of nomadic tribes or tiny towns, and in Palestine alone there were about three hundred of them, Solomon’s harem continually grew. According to the Bible, he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines.
The king’s wisdom was also evident in this. that he decided to unite his people with a common cause - namely the construction of a new grandiose temple, where it was supposed to place the Ark of the Covenant (aron ha-brit) - the greatest shrine, inside which were kept the tablets received by Moses from the Lord himself. David moved the ark from Gibeon to Jerusalem and wanted to build a worthy container for it, but did not have time. Now Solomon entered into an agreement with the king of Phoenician Tire, Hiram, in whose country the Lebanese cedars, famous throughout the Middle East, grew.
In exchange for the cedar wood, he agreed to give Hiram large quantities of oil, meat and grain every year. 30 thousand people were sent to Tire to harvest wood; another 150 thousand residents of Israel mined stones in the mountains and transported them to Jerusalem. Almost all healthy men were forced to build the temple. The construction lasted 7 years, and a famous legend is associated with it about the chief mason, whose name was either Hiram, like the king, or Adoniram, like Solomon’s minister. He refused to reveal the secrets of his craft and was killed for it. Hiram's heirs allegedly founded the brotherhood of "free masons" (Freemasons) to protect the secrets, making its emblems the compass, square and sheer tools of the master and at the same time the instruments of his murder.
The completed temple was a huge building, which, according to theologians, could accommodate up to 50 thousand worshipers. In the center of the temple was the “holy of holies” (Davir), where an ark was installed on a stone pedestal, guarded by gilded statues of cherubs - not angels, but winged ones bulls five meters high. The temple was destroyed in 586 BC. Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, but before that the ark mysteriously disappeared.
Mystery lovers are still looking for it, like the other ark, Noah's. A new temple was built after the return of the Jews from Babylonian captivity, but was also destroyed, this time by the Romans. Today only one wall remains of him - the famous Wailing Wall, and of all the treasures of Solomon listed in the Bible, only the golden garnet, which the king gave to the high priest Zadok, has survived.
Israel under Solomon grew rich through agriculture and trade. The king's annual income was 666 talents - almost 23 tons of gold. The royal court consumed every day “thirty cows (cor = 220 liters) of wheat flour and sixty cows of other flour, ten fattened oxen and twenty oxen from pasture, and one hundred sheep, besides deer, and chamois, and saigas, and fattened birds.” “Silver was worth nothing in the days of Solomon,” says the Bible.
During excavations in Jerusalem, many cups for cosmetics, mirrors, hair pins, and jugs for imported incense were found - this proves that the ladies of the court vigilantly followed fashion. In the border city of Megiddo, archaeologists found huge stables - it seems that Solomon organized the supply of horses from Asia to Egypt, where the pharaoh's army urgently needed them. The king established the mining and smelting of copper, and also built a large fleet, which sailed to the country of Ophir every three years, bringing gold and valuable wood from there.
Scientists are still arguing where this Ophir was located and what relation the famous Queen of Sheba (Sheba) has to him, who arrived to Solomon “with very great wealth,” wanting to “test the king with riddles.” The ancient kingdom of Saba was located in Yemen; in Ethiopia, the queen is considered their countrywoman, but the Bible hints that she came specifically from Ophir. The queen came to test Solomon's wisdom and was so delighted that she handed him all the riches she had brought with her.
The biblical story ends here, but legends say that the beautiful Sheba, or Bilqis, as she is called in the Koran, fell in love with the king, and they did not marry only because the queen’s legs - or even all of her - were thickly covered with hair. This did not prevent, however, the queen from giving birth to Solomon’s son Menelik, who allegedly founded the dynasty of the Ethiopian Negus. In one of the churches in Ethiopia, according to rumors, the Ark of the Covenant is still kept, which the queen took with her - maybe that’s why it disappeared from Jerusalem?
The Bible does not list Solomon’s wars and other glorious deeds, besides the construction of the Temple - perhaps this was the main evidence of his wisdom. But the king was engaged in intensive literary creativity: “And he spoke three thousand parables, and his songs were a thousand and five; and he spoke about trees. .. and about animals, and about birds, and about reptiles, and about fish.” Last words.
misunderstood, later gave rise to the belief that Solomon understood the language of animals and birds.
Many legends have been preserved - Jewish, Christian, Muslim - about the wise deeds of Solomon. The most famous story is that when two women argued over a child - each insisted that she was his mother - the king ordered the boy to be cut in half and given half to each. The one who screamed in horror: “Give it to her, just don’t kill her!” - and was recognized as her own mother. No less famous is the story of the ring with the inscription: “Everything passes,” which was given to Solomon by one wise man. He said: “In difficult times, look at this ring and you will be comforted.”
The king did just that, but one day. looking at the ring, he only became more angry and tore it off his finger to throw it into the pond. Then on the inside of the ring he read the inscription: “This too shall pass.” Sometimes this story is continued: having grown old, the king grieved, realizing that the ring was telling the truth, and suddenly noticed a barely noticeable inscription on his rib. which read: “Nothing passes.”
Many such stories are contained in the biblical books The Proverbs of Solomon and the Wisdom of Solomon, the author of which is considered to be the king, although, most likely, this is a product of collective creativity. It is unlikely that another book belongs to him - the famous Ecclesiastes (“Speaking in the Assembly”). Bitter thoughts about the vanity of all things could, of course, belong to the aged king, but scientists found Persian and Aramaic words in the book, proving that it was written several centuries later.
Solomon is also credited with the “Song of Songs” (“Shir Ha-shirim”), a great book about love, which in a pious interpretation is interpreted as love for God. But is it? “Oh, you are beautiful, my beloved, you are beautiful! your dove eyes under your curls; your hair is like a herd of goats coming down from Mount Schlaad... Your lips are like a scarlet ribbon, and your lips are kind: like halves of a pomegranate apple are your cheeks under your curls... Your two breasts are like the twins of a young chamois grazing among the lilies "
Yes, Solomon could write something like this to one of his lovers, but he would hardly have dared to turn such sublime eroticism to the Almighty. In addition, half of the “Song of Songs” was written from the girl’s point of view - most likely, this is a collection of ancient wedding songs, wisely included in the Bible and thanks to this, preserved for the benefit of all lovers.
Already in the Middle Ages, many other works were attributed to Solomon - mostly occult and magical. Astrologers and alchemists, in order not to be accused of heresy, declared the king, recognized as a saint, as their patron. He supposedly had a wonderful throne guarded by golden animals, a flying carpet and a ring with the secret name of God engraved on it - with its help it was possible to command angels and demons. The five-pointed star, or pentagram, was nicknamed the “seal of Solomon” - according to legend, he stood at its center when he summoned the spirits.
One of the experiments ended sadly: the demon Asmodeus threw the king into the desert. from where he managed to get out only after three years, while the unclean one, who took his form, ruled in his place. In Islamic legends, Solomon (Suleiman ibn Daoud) is more fortunate: he commands an entire army of genies, and naughty ones, such as the genie Hottabych, beloved by Soviet children, from the book of Lazar Lagin. plants in jugs.
In fact, Solomon's power was not so great. For some time now, the king’s income did not cover his expenses. Having owed the Tyrian ruler Hiram a huge sum, he was forced to give him 20 cities. The population, oppressed by taxes, grumbled - especially the Israelis, who were more numerous than the inhabitants of Judea, but much poorer. Their fellow countryman Jeroboam, who held a prominent position in the royal administration, rebelled and then fled to Egypt, where he was warmly received by Pharaoh Shusakim. Another threat was the bandit Razon, who captured Damascus and became king there, constantly attacking the northern lands of Israel.
Solomon's numerous wives caused him no less trouble. And the point was not that they, as often happened in the royal harems, were intriguing. promoting their children as heirs. Solomon was not as prolific as his father: we know only one of his sons, Rehoboam. son of Naamah the Ammonite. This solved the problem of inheritance, but another problem arose, which the Bible writes about: “When Solomon was old, his wives turned his heart toward other gods, and his heart was not completely devoted to the Lord his God...
And Solomon began to serve Ashtoreth, the deity of Sidon, and Milcom, the abomination of the Ammonites... Then Solomon built a temple for Chemosh, the abomination of Moab, on the mountain that is before Jerusalem, and for Molech, the abomination of the Ammonites. He did this for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and made sacrifices to their gods.” It seems that the king decided that serving his native deities would distract his faithful from intrigues, but for the temple servants this was not an argument.
They conveyed to Solomon the verdict of an angry God: “Because this is how you do it, and you have not kept My covenant and My statutes, which I commanded you. I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant.” The king was sad, but decided not to upset the seductive foreign women - they were his last consolation in old age, full of sorrows and illnesses. Old age in those days came early - Solomon died when he was only 62 years old. According to another legend, he ordered not to bury him until the worms began to sharpen his staff, made of sycamore. When this happened, he was declared dead and buried in a rich tomb on Mount Zion next to David.
After the death of the king, the returning Jeroboam started a rebellion in Israel. The legal heir, Rehoboam, retained power only over Judea and Jerusalem. The kingdom of Israel was divided in two, and both parts plunged into chaos of palace coups, rebellions and foreign invasions. Against this background, Solomon's reign seemed especially peaceful and happy - that is why the king began to be considered an unsurpassed sage.
He himself would hardly have agreed with such a definition and, looking at the disappointing results of his reign, he could well have uttered the sad words put into his mouth by the author of the book of Ecclesiastes: “I have given my heart to know wisdom and to know madness and stupidity: I have learned , that this too is languor of spirit: because in much wisdom there is much sorrow: and whoever increases knowledge increases sorrow.”
King Solomon - ruler of the Kingdom of Israel in 965-928. BC e. Before this, he was co-ruler with his father David for 2 years. He proved himself to be a wise statesman. Under him, the Israeli state reached its greatest wealth and power. At the same time, it should be noted that there is no historical evidence indicating the existence of this person.
Information about Solomon is contained only in biblical stories. Moreover, they were set out 400 years later than his reign. However, many experts believe that this person actually lived in the 10th century BC. e. Her name is associated with the construction of the Jerusalem Temple, which was the religious center of the Jewish people until the 1st century AD. e. Until 622 BC. e. the Ark of the Covenant was kept in it.
The construction of several cities is also associated with the name of this king. His reign is characterized as the "golden age". The ruler himself is credited with many virtues and a powerful intellect. He is considered the author of such books of the Old Testament as “The Book of Proverbs of Solomon”, “The Book of Ecclesiastes or Preacher”, “The Book of Song of Solomon”.
Briefly about King Solomon
Solomon's father was King David, and his mother was Bathsheba. Towards the end of his reign, David fell out of favor with God. The prophet Nathan came to him and advised him to transfer power to Solomon, whose mentor he was. At the same time, David’s 4th son Adonijah set his sights on the royal crown. He entered into a criminal conspiracy with the military leader Joab and the high priest Abiathar. Supported by them, he proclaimed himself heir to the throne.
The impostor even appointed a coronation, but Nathan and Bathsheba turned the weak and old David against him. Adonijah was forced to flee Jerusalem and soon repented of the excessive pride that had gripped him. After this, no one stopped Solomon from taking power into his own hands. He did not touch Adonijah, but executed Joab and deprived Abiathar of the priesthood. On the eve of the coronation, God endowed the young heir with wisdom in exchange for faithful service to him.
Unlike David, King Solomon did not wage wars of conquest. The kingdom of Israel already had a very large territory, so the policy pursued was aimed at friendship with neighbors, and not at military expansion of nearby lands. In addition, a trade route passed through the lands of Israel, connecting Ancient Egypt with the cities of Western Asia. This was a very serious source of income, and therefore the state treasury was never empty.
It was with the money received from merchants that new cities were built and the Jerusalem Temple was erected. Friendly relations with the Queen of Sheba played a major role in the prosperity of the state. She ruled the state of Saba. It was located on the Arabian Peninsula in the lands that are now Yemen. It should be noted here that to this day it is unknown whether this woman actually existed, but her visit to Solomon is described in the Old Testament.
The ruler of the fertile lands was interested in a smart king who ruled far in the north, and therefore the Queen of Sheba, who, like any woman, was characterized by curiosity, decided to meet this man. She arrived in Jerusalem under the pretext of “testing it with riddles.” She saw the life of the Israelis with her own eyes and was convinced of the wisdom of Solomon. He “gave the guest everything she wanted.”
After this meeting, as stated in the Old Testament, the kingdom of Israel became even more prosperous and prosperous. Apparently the queen played an important role in the Middle East, and therefore her recommendations attracted a large number of rich people to Israel.
This visit gave rise to the legend of King Solomon’s love affair with the Queen of Sheba. Legend is legend, but the rulers of Ethiopia who converted to Christianity created the Solomon imperial dynasty. She allegedly descended from Menelik, who was born from the relationship of the king of Israel and queen Saba. The boy was born a year after the woman visited Jerusalem. This is an example of the fact that any legend can be clothed in an ideological dogma beneficial to the ruling group of people.
Only a few stand the test of success and glory with dignity. King Solomon did not belong to these units. In the “Third Book of Kings” of the Old Testament, in chapter 11 it is written: “And he had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines; and the wives corrupted his heart. During Solomon’s old age, his wives inclined his heart to other gods, and his heart was not completely devoted to the Lord.” It is further said that the king built a pagan temple for Chemosh and other pagan gods, who were worshiped by his foreign wives, who had enormous influence on the ruler.
It is quite natural that God was angry with the king of Israel. He promised a lot of grief to the people of Israel, but only after the reign of Solomon ended. The point here is that the Lord promised prosperity to Israel as long as the current king lives.
In the 40th year of his reign, the formidable ruler died. According to legend, he died while overseeing the construction of a new altar. For many days the courtiers did not bury the body, because they believed that the king could come to life by the will of God. But when the process of decomposition became obvious, the remains were buried. Immediately after this, the rapid impoverishment of the prosperous kingdom of Israel began.
After the death of King Solomon, his son Rehoboam ascended the throne. And immediately popular uprisings swept across the country. The northern regions separated and formed the new kingdom of Israel. And Rehoboam only had the kingdom of Judah left. The new king tried to reunite the lands into a single state, but the prophet Samey explained that this was God's punishment for the sins of his father. Thus ended the history of the mighty Israeli state, which ceased to exist due to the sins of its rulers.
All life on earth is just a myth.
I see it as far away
Shulamith walks through the flowers
With an amber bunch in hand, Basalt profile of the king -
And kissing him on the lips,
The dawn rises on the bed
My last day.
Tthird Jewish king, legendaryruler of the united kingdom of Israel in 965 - 928 BC, during its peak period. Son of King David and Bathsheba. Considered the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes", books "Song of Solomon» , « Books of Proverbs of Solomon» , as well as some psalms. During Solomon's reign in JerusalemJerusalem Temple was built- the main shrine of Judaism.
Name Shlomo(Solomon) in Hebrew comes from the root ( shalom- “peace”, meaning “not war”), as well as ( shawl- “perfect”, “whole”).
Solomon is also mentioned in the Bible under a number of other names. So, sometimes it's called Iedidiah(“beloved of God”) - a symbolic name given to Solomon as a sign of God’s favor towards his father David, after his deep repentance for the story with Bathsheba.
Coming to reign
Solomon's father, David,was going to transfer the throne to Solomon. However, when David became decrepit, his other son, Adonijah, tried to usurp power.. He entered into a conspiracy with the high priest Abiatharand the commander of the troops, Joab,and, taking advantage of David’s weakness, declared himself successor to the throne, scheduling a magnificent coronation.
Solomon's mother, Bathsheba, and also the prophet NathanNotified David about this.Adonijah fled and hid in the Tabernacle, grasping "by the horns of the altar" , after his repentance, Solomon pardoned him.After coming to power, Solomon dealt with the other participants in the conspiracy. So, Solomon temporarily removed Abiathar from the priesthood and executed Joab, who tried to hide on the run. The executor of both executions, Benaiah, was appointed by Solomon as the new commander of the troops.
God gave Solomon kingship on the condition that he would not deviate from serving God. In exchange for this promise, God endowed Solomon with unprecedented wisdom and patience.
Foreign policy
Solomon, like most rulers of that time, adhered to imperial views. The states of Israel and Judea united under his ruleoccupied a huge territory.
Solomon ended five hundred years of hostility between Jews and Egyptians, taking as his first wife the daughter of an Egyptian pharaoh.
End of Solomon's reign
According to the Bible, Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, among whom were foreigners. One of them, who by that time had become his beloved wife and had great influence on the king, convinced Solomon to build a pagan altar and worship the deities of her native land. For this, God was angry with him and promised many hardships to the people of Israel, but after the end of Solomon’s reign. Thus, the entire reign of Solomon passed quite calmly.
Solomon died in 928 BC.at the age of 62. According to legend, this happened while he was overseeing the construction of a new altar. To avoid the mistake (assuming that this may be a lethargic dream), those close to him did not begin to bury him until the worms began to sharpen his staff. Only then was he officially declared dead and buried.
Even during Solomon's lifetime, uprisings of conquered peoples began (Edomites, Arameans ); Immediately after his death, an uprising broke out, as a result of which a unified statesplit into two kingdoms of Israel and Judah
Legends of Solomon
King Solomon's Court
Solomon showed his wisdom first of all at the trial. Soon after his accession, two women came to him for trial. They lived in the samehouse, and each had a baby. At night, one of them crushed her baby and placed it next to another woman, and took the living one from her. In the morning, the women began to argue: “The living child is mine, and the dead one is yours,” each said. So they argued before the king. After listening to them, Solomon ordered: “Bring the sword.”
And they brought the sword to the king. WITHOlomon said: “Cut the living child in half and give half to one and half to the other.” At these words, one of the women exclaimed: “Better give her the baby, but don’t kill him!” The other, on the contrary, said: “Cut it, don’t let it get to her or me.” Then Solomon said: “Do not kill the child, but give him to the first woman: she is his mother.” The people heard about this and began to respect the king, because everyone saw what wisdom God had given him.Ring of Solomon
One day, King Solomon was sitting in his palace and saw a man walking down the street dressed from head to toe in golden robes. Solomon called this man to him and asked: “Are you not a robber?” To which he replied that he was a jeweler: “And Jerusalem is a famous city, many wealthy people, kings and princes come here.” Then the king asked how much the jeweler earns from this? And he proudly answered that there was a lot. Then the king grinned and said that if this jeweler is so smart, then let him make a ring that makes the sad people happy and the happy people sad. And if in three days the ring is not ready, he orders the jeweler to be executed. No matter how talented the jeweler was, on the third day he went to the king with fear with a ring for him. At the threshold of the palace he met Rahabam, the son of Solomon, and thought: “The son of a sage is half a sage.”. And he told Rahavam about his trouble. To which he grinned, took a nail and scratched three Hebrew letters on three sides of the ring - Gimel, Zain and Yod. And he said that with this you can safely go to the king. Solomon turned the ring and immediately understood the meaning of the letters on three sides of the ring in his own way - and their meaning is the abbreviation גם זו יעבור “This too shall pass.” And just as the ring spins, and different letters appear all the time, so the world spins, and the fate of a person spins in the same way. And thinking that now he was sitting on a high throne, surrounded by all the splendors, and that this would pass, he immediately became sad. And when Ashmodai threw him to the ends of the world and Solomon had to wander for three years, looking at the ring, he realized that this too would pass, and he felt happy.
Image in art
The image of King Solomon inspired many poets and artists: for example, the German poet of the 18th century. F.-G. Klopstockdedicated a tragedy in verse to him, the artist Rubens painted "The Judgment of Solomon", Handeldedicated an oratorio to him, and Gounod- opera. A film was made based on the corresponding legend.« Solomon and the Queen of Sheba» (1959). In 2009, the film was shot by director Alexander Kiriyenko« The illusion of fear» (based on the book by Alexander Turchinov), where the image of King Solomon and legends about him are used to reveal the image of the main character, entrepreneur Korob, by drawing analogies between antiquity and modernity. Chechen bard Timur Mutsuraevdedicated a song to Solomon of the same name.
From myself: it’s completely unclear why I wasn’t included in this magnificent list« Shulamith » A.I. Kuprina, if you still haven’t read it, I advise you to take the time.
Prophet Solomon, first quarter. 18th century
Nicolas Poussin. Solomon's Judgment. 1649
Stasis Krasauskas, from illustrations to Shulamith
