characteristics of solomon in the biblecharacteristics of solomon in the bible

Then Solomon asked for "a discerning heart to governand to distinguish between right and wrong." God was so pleased, He not only gave Solomon what he asked for but also added riches and honor. Possible evidence for the described wealth of Solomon and his kingdom was discovered in ancient silver hoards, which were found in Israel and Phoenicia and recognized for their importance in 2003. Throughout the whole story of Solomons life, interjections about his great wisdom are made. Even dating an unbeliever is playing with fire. In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Solomon is commemorated as a saint, with the title of "Righteous Prophet and King". Perhaps the best known story of his wisdom is the Judgment of Solomon; two women each lay claim to being the mother of the same child. [27], Solomon was traditionally considered the author of several biblical books, "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."[28]. Sin has consequences. [39] Scholarly consensus in this field holds that "Solomon's wives/women were introduced in the 'Josianic' (customarily Dtr) edition of Kings as a theological construct to blame the schism [between Judah and the Northern Kingdom of Israel] on his misdeeds".[39]. Now you can see why the biblical author of 1 Kings 1-10 went into all that detail. Although the location of the port of Ezion-Geber is known, no remains have ever been found. The metals from Tarshish were reportedly obtained by Solomon in partnership with King Hiram of Phoenician Tyre (Isaiah 23) and the fleets of Tarshish and ships that sailed in their service. SOLOMON sl' mn (, peaceable; LXX ).This was the regal name of the third king of Israel. Did we keep our end of the deal? 3:1). What excuse do you think Solomon might have offered for marrying these women? Salmon ( Hebrew: almn) or Salmah ( alm, Greek: ) is a person mentioned in genealogies in both the Hebrew Scriptures (Old Testament) and in the New Testament . According to the Bible, Solomon was the third king of a united Israel, reigning in the latter half of the 10th century BCE. 6. The Shulammite woman, or Shulammite maiden, is the bride of Solomon who features in the Song of Songs. Life Title:A devoted king derailed by compromise. He was the son of David and Bathsheba, the former wife of Uriah the Hittite whom David had killed to cover his infidelity with Bathsheba while her husband was on the battlefront. However, we may leave Him. Online library for Christian discipleship resources incorporating digitized classic studies presented during the past 60 years. In fact, He warned kings specifically against accumulating many wives. He would have been trained in the ways of the court and in warfare and in how to run a nation. She is most likely called the Shulammite because she came from an unidentified place . Targum Sheni, Colloquy of the Queen of Sheba), Solomon was accustomed to ordering animals to dance before him (a power granted by God), and upon summoning the mountain-cock or hoopoe (Aramaic name: nagar tura), the bird told him it had discovered a land in the east, rich in gold, silver, and plants, whose capital was called Kitor and whose ruler was the Queen of Sheba. Of the two genealogies of Jesus given in the Gospels, Matthew mentions Solomon, but Luke does not. word shalom, and means "peace" or . Like with Solomon, this process includes many compromises and bad choices. The queen is described as visiting with gifts including gold, spices and precious stones. When David was dying, Bathsheba successfully conspired with the prophet Nathan to block Adonijah 's succession to the throne and to win it for Solomon. The Quran[88][89][90] ascribes to Solomon a great level of wisdom, knowledge and power. [48], As with most biblical personages in the middle era of Israelite society, the historicity of Solomon is hotly debated. Twice before, God had appeared to him and warned him of the dangers of disobedience ( 1 Kings 11:9-10 ). He remained loyal to King Saul, despite Saul's crazed pursuit. These are mostly dependent on our obedience. Unfortunately starting well and ending badly is a common refrain in the line of the kings of Israel. In the end this is a sad indictment of Solomons life and the wasted opportunities therein. A strong start in the Christian life doesnt guarantee a strong finish. 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. Training and occupation:As a member of the royal court, Solomon would have had access to the best education possible, likely including all types of tutors. Marrying pagan women (Deuteronomy 7:3, 1 Kings 3:1-2, 1 Kings 11:1-8) Why did God give this command? [76][77][78] More recent 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. Davies, Philip R. 1992. And, you . They had pagan alters, which the Israelites had destroyed and replaced. Some of Solomon's most famous achievements were his building projects, particularly the temple in Jerusalem. Solomon is the perfect case study of why God gave this warning originally to the Jews before they even entered the land and why similar commands are repeated throughout Scripture and in the New Testament. 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). Jesus refers to Solomon, using him for comparison in his admonition against worrying about life. [82] However, the 1906 Jewish Encyclopedia gives the more common date of "971 to 931 BCE".[12]. [32], 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.[33]. Rev." xi. Solomon did not finish his life well (at least until perhaps the very end) . They generally end in the believer either outright rejecting God or slowly turning away from God by growing cold and giving into various temptations one by one. Leadership is a crucial aspect of society. It is hard to keep on resisting temptation and faithfully following God all of ones life. [95], In Medieval traditions, when Islam spread through Persia, Solomon became merged with Jamshid, a great king from Persian legends whom similar attributes are ascribed to. The hypothesized dates of Solomon's reign are 970931 BCE. Henceforth the two kingdoms were never again united. In fact, "King Solomon was greater in riches and wisdom than all the other kings of the earth" ( 1 Kings 10:23 ). An Ethiopian account from the 14th century (Kebra Nagast) maintains that the Queen of Sheba had sexual relations with King Solomon and gave birth beside the Mai Bella stream in the province of Hamasien, Eritrea. According to one legend, while traveling magically, Solomon noticed a magnificent palace to which there appeared to be no entrance. Solomon asked God for wisdom and discernment instead of money or fame (1 Kings 3:6-13) . It is possible that at times Solomons mind was telling him doing something wasnt wise (such as marrying all of these foreign women), but his fleshly side ignored these warnings and continued on anyway. [42] Some scholars and historians argue that the passages, such as his dedication prayer (1 Kings 8:1466), that describe Solomon's apparent initial devotion to Yahweh were written much later, after Jerusalem had become the religious centre of the kingdom, replacing locations such as Shiloh and Bethel. 'peaceful'),[3][a] also called Jedidiah (Hebrew: , Modern: Yddyah, Tiberian: Yyh, "beloved of Yah"), was a monarch of ancient Israel and the son and successor of David, according to the Hebrew Bible and the Old Testament. David's son and the third king of Israel. He then convinces them to plunge in and attempt to retrieve it, for if they do they would take the throne as king. His two names mean "peaceful" and "friend of God", both considered "predictive of the character of his reign". Sometimes, protagonists discovered words of Solomon that were intended to help those who were lost and had unluckily reached those forbidden and deserted places. Samuel. 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. After a reign of forty years, he died of natural causes[44] at around 60 years of age. For the Ghanaian football team, see, Death, succession of Rehoboam, and kingdom division, Arguments in favour of biblical description, Biblical criticism: Solomon's religiosity. 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. Solomon was a mixed character, like all the characters we've met so far. Throughout his entire life, David loved God deeply and passionately. Trade relationships were a focus of his administration. Bible, the sacred scriptures of Judaism and Christianity. Solomon sinned in all three of these areas. Marrying many women. While David was in this state, court factions were maneuvering for power. A person can grow prideful and give glory to himself, just like Nebuchadnezzar in the book of Daniel looked at his great gardens and praised himself for building them. 2. order a paperback version of the Character Studies book from Amazon. 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. The biblical passages that understand Tarshish as a source of King Solomon's great wealth in metalsespecially silver, but also gold, tin and iron (Ezekiel 27)were linked to archaeological evidence from silver-hoards found in Phoenicia in 2013. More archaeological success has been achieved with the major cities Solomon is said to have strengthened or rebuilt, for example, Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. After the completion of the temple, Solomon is described in the biblical narrative as erecting many other buildings of importance in Jerusalem. Thirdly, it is very easy to begin to get prideful at all the accomplishments you have made and the wealth you have accumulated. Sign up for our newsletter to receive your free 36 lesson Bible study E-book of Revelation. 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. She was especially loyal to her son Solomon, making sure he followed David as king, even though Solomon was not David's firstborn son. As king, Solomon faced a lot of responsibilities and needed to make a lot of tough decisions, decisions that would affect the lives of hundreds of thousands of people. 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. 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. The demons taking over Solomon's kingdom, is mirroring Sufistic concept of the mind giving in to evil urges. 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 Ark was switched and went to Axum with him and his mother, and is still there, guarded by a single dedicated priest. An immense amount of gold was used and so much bronze that it was too much to reasonably weigh. Secondly, when you have a lot of money and possessions and a great army, there is a great temptation to rely on these things instead of God. King Solomon is a central biblical figure, who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the last ruler of a united Kingdom of Israel. Throughout Scripture (James 1:22-25) we learn that God appreciates the doer, but knowledge by itself is not enough to satisfy God. Solomon was very humble and expressed gratitude for all that God had done so far. The Ethiopian tradition has a detailed account of the affair. It is a shame that both Solomon and his son Rehoboam later violated many of the wise principles found taught in Proverbs. The Bible says Solomon built the First Temple in Jerusalem,[5] dedicating the temple to Yahweh, or God in Judaism. There would be many such cases of quarrels between the citizens of his country. The Shulammite (from Hebrew shulammit, "woman of Jerusalem") is the central figure in the Song of Solomon (also called Song of Songs or Canticles) and one of the most positive representations of young womanhood in the Hebrew Bible.As the embodiment of erotic pleasure, innocent and savored for its own sake, she is to be contrasted, on the one hand, with the wily seductress of Proverbs 7 . Grace of God be with you all. 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. It was often depicted in the shape of either a pentagram or a hexagram. [b], 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. He gave the very best of what he had from the palace treasury to be used in the building of the temple. [19] Solomon was born after David was forgiven. [49], As for Solomon himself, scholars on both the maximalist and minimalist sides of the spectrum of biblical archeology generally agree that he probably existed. [22] "So they sought a beautiful young woman throughout all the territory of Israel, and found Abishag the Shunamite, and brought her to the king. From government officials to business executives, leaders play a critical role in inspiring and guiding others Thank you for a indepth look into Solomons character, and some great lessons I will apply to my life. A lot of this instruction is focused on obeying God, pursuing a relationship with God, avoiding worldly temptations, rejoicing in the wife of your youth, avoiding immoral women, worshiping God, etc. Strengths David was courageous and strong in battle, trusting in God for protection. [36][37] The only wife mentioned by name is Naamah the Ammonite, mother of Solomon's successor, Rehoboam. 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