When was solomon alive

In order to accomplish his ubiquitous construction projects, Solomon relied on widespread conscripted labor of Israelites, slave labor of foreigners and heavy taxation. Solomon was very active in foreign relations, creating budding political relationships with major powers such as Egypt , Tyre and Sidon ; all the while, having many protectorates and tributaries paying into the royal treasury.

In the process of his politics, Solomon accumulated a massive harem consisting of nearly 1, foreign women as wives, concubines and maidens. These women brought their own foreign gods from their countries, so they led Solomon to offer sacrifices to gods like Molech , Ashtoreth and Chemosh at high places. The life of Solomon is documented in the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles with supplementary information and commentary found throughout the Old Testament and New Testament.

Even before Solomon was born or conceived, David was promised a son who would complete his vision of a permanent house of worship for Yahweh. While the identity of the future heir was ambiguous, God promised David that his lineage would last forever and that he would have a close relationship with him similar to that of a father and son.

Unlike with Saul , God would allow the future king to remain on the throne, despite disobedience. Shortly thereafter, a child resultant of the affair was born to them- only to die seven days later.

The result of the union, this in time in the bed of marriage, was the conception of Solomon. Through the prophet Nathan , Yahweh expressed his own love and blessing of the child, so he was given a blessing name- Jedidiah meaning loved by Yahweh. Solomon's father had many sons before and many sons after him. Like all of his brothers and step-brothers, Solomon would have been tutored by Jehiel [3] and raised by his mother on a daily basis.

However, God told David that Solomon would be his successor and the builder of the Temple. When Solomon was young and inexperienced his father began to make preparations so that one day he could build the Temple. In addition David explained the high expectations of the Temple and that he had great resources at his disposal to one day build it.

When David became old, Adonijah , one of Solomon's step-brothers, claimed the throne for himself and held several sacrificial offerings, which he invited all of his siblings and steps, except for Solomon.

So Nathan went to Solomon's mother, Bathsheba and asked her to remind her husband the oath he had given, promising Solomon to the throne. Solomon's mother went to her husband and reminded him of the oath. In her plea, Bathsheba also noted that after he died, Solomon would be a wanted fugitive and would be executed. Then David decided, that on that very day, Solomon would be officially anointed as the next King of Israel.

Orders were given and that day Solomon was taken down to the city of Zihon on his father's mule. There Solomon had oil poured on his head and his throne rights were made official. Afterwards loud sounds of chanting and instruments erupted in celebration of the newly anointed King; while Solomon's step-brother Adonijah and his followers fled for their lives.

Shortly before his father died, his father reminded Solomon about obeying God's commandments. By obeying God's commandments Solomon's throne would be firmly established. Also, David gave instructions to Solomon on how to deal with various people who either wronged or helped him in times of need.

Shortly thereafter, David died, thus Solomon became the King. Now that Solomon was on the throne, Adonijah, who tried to take the throne made a request to Bathsheba. Adonijah asked to have the virgin Abishag the Shunammite, who was in service to Solomon's predecessor. Bathsheba went to her son's court, where she was given a throne to sit at Solomon's right hand. Solomon was asked by his mother if Abishag could be given in marriage to Adonijah.

Upon hearing this Solomon was outraged, thinking perhaps it was an attempt by his mother to favor his older brother. Then Solomon swore by God that Adonijah would pay with his life, for his request. Then Solomon addressed the priest Abiathar, who he decided not to kill because he had carried the Ark , and had gone through many hardships with his father.

Solomon did strip him of his position in the priesthood, thus fulfilling [15] the curse Samuel gave Eli. Solomon had him executed and then replaced Abiathar with Zadok and Joab with Benaiah. Solomon also put Shimei , who verbally harassed his father, in house arrest. Shimei broke the house arrest when he went to look for some missing servants, three years later. As a result, Solomon had him executed. After all of this, Solomon's reign was firmly recognized and respected throughout Israel.

At one point Solomon made an alliance with Egypt and its Pharaoh , with his daughter given to Solomon in marriage as part of the agreement. Solomon faithfully walked and obeyed the instructions of God and his father, excluding that he sacrificed on altars outside of the Tabernacle. Since he had done this, he went to the city Gibeon, where the Tabernacle was and made one-thousand burnt offerings. Solomon stayed in Gibeon for the night, where during his sleep he had a dream.

God appeared to him in the dream and told him to ask for whatever he wanted. Solomon told God that he wanted the knowledge and wisdom to be able to discern, in order that he may keep the throne intact and properly govern God's people, Israel.

God was pleased that he had not asked for wealth or power, but for wisdom to govern His chosen people, thus God gave Solomon the wisdom he wished for [18] and also gave him wealth that would surpass anyone before or after him. The wisdom Solomon had been given was enormous. His wisdom was greater than anyone east of the Euphrates River , greater than the minds of Egypt, beyond the wisdom of Ethan the Ezrahite and Heman the Ezrahite.

Afterwards Solomon returned home to Jerusalem and gave a feast for his court. Later on two prostitutes came and stood before Solomon. One of them had lied on top of their baby and killed it, but then switched it out with the other's child. This lead them to dispute over who the living child belonged to. So Solomon asked for a sword to be a brought and commanded for the living infant to be cut into two, one half for each prostitute.

Before this could be done one fearfully asked the infant be given to the other, and so Solomon knew this was the mother. The news of this case spread throughout Israel and the people were in awe of Solomon's wisdom. Islamic stories portray Solomon as marrying the Queen. In contrast Jerusalem is the capital of Israel and its largest city in both population and area, with a population of , residents. The city has a history that goes back to the 4th millennium BCE, making it one of the oldest cities in the world.

Jerusalem i The period in which the First Temple presum The Second Temple is the term used for the Jewish holy temple, which stood on the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, actually two temple complexes which succeeded each other and allowed almost uninterrupted temple service between c. It gav He then appointed his friends to key military, governmental and religious posts. Solomon accumulated enormous wealth. He controlled the entire region west of the Euphrates and had peace on his borders.

Kings I states that he owned 12, horses with horsemen and 1, chariots. Remains of stalls for horses have in fact been found in Megiddo. Solomon strengthened his kingdom through marital alliances. Kings I records that he had wives and concubines, although some regard this number as an exaggeration. He established Israelite colonies around his province to look after military, administrative and commercial matters. The empire was divided into twelve districts, with Judah constituting its own political unit and enjoying certain privileges.

Although Solomon was young, he soon became known for his wisdom. The first and most famous incident of his cleverness as a judge was when two women came to his court with a baby whom both women claimed as their own. Solomon threatened to split the baby in half. One woman was prepared to accept the decision, but the other begged the King to give the live baby to the other woman.

Solomen then knew the second woman was the mother. He composed 3, proverbs and 1, songs. One of the most celebrated visits to Solomon was that of the Queen of Sheba, who came from southern Arabia.