Solomon is one of the Bible’s most charismatic figures. His 40-year reign is widely regarded as a golden age, but it is during the first 20 years, when he builds the First Temple, that he proves himself as a glorious monarch and faithful servant of God. He fulfills his father King David’s dream of building God’s First Temple and he turns Israel into one of the wealthiest and most powerful nations in the world by expanding trade and executing a program of construction.

From father to son

In around 970 BCE, King David passes the throne of a unified Israel to Solomon, his surviving son by Bathsheba. David exhorts his son to love and obey God so that the kingdom will prosper and their descendants will always be kings (1 Kings 2:2–4). Solomon follows his father’s advice.

A little later (3:5), God appears to Solomon in a dream and says He will give the young king anything he desires. Modestly, Solomon asks only for a discerning heart and wisdom to distinguish between right and wrong. Pleased by this response, God grants the wish, and also bestows long life, wealth, and power “so that in your lifetime you will have no equal among kings” (3:13).

The wisdom of Solomon

As God has promised, Solomon is all-powerful and famously wise. He puts his wisdom to good use when two women claim to be the mother of the same baby. The women, both prostitutes, come before Solomon to plead their case. Their story is that they live in the same house and recently gave birth within days of each other. One woman claims the other has accidentally smothered her child by lying on it and then swapped the dead child for her living infant. Legally, the case is highly contentious. There are no witnesses nor any evidence, other than the word of one woman against the other. Both women are vehement in their protestations of affection for the child.

After listening to both women, Solomon devises a judgment that is simple but effective. He calls for a sword and gives orders to divide the child so that each woman can have half. One woman readily agrees while the other, horrified, pleads for the child’s life. If only the baby can live, she will willingly give him up to her rival, who does not realize that she has exposed the emptiness of her claim by agreeing to the grisly solution. Solomon orders that the baby be handed to the woman who has given him up, saying, “Do not kill him; she is his mother” (1 Kings 3:27).

The Judgment of Solomon (1649) by Nicolas Poussin depicts the moment Solomon delivers his ruling. The balance of color and form in the composition mirrors the justice of God and Solomon.

Building God’s Temple

Solomon achieves much during his reign—he fortifies the kingdom, builds a palace, and constructs a fleet of ships to boost maritime trade. His crowning achievement is the construction of God’s First Temple, which takes seven years to complete. This Temple will be the dwelling of God and a safe home for the Ark of the Covenant. It supersedes the Tabernacle, built during the time of Moses and used by the Israelites in the wilderness. Many detailed plans and preparations have already been drawn up by King David, who had wanted to undertake the project himself. God had told David (through the prophet Nathan) that he could not build the Temple because he was a warrior and had shed blood.

The responsibility and plans for building the Temple therefore pass to Solomon. David tells his son that these are divinely inspired, “All this … I have in writing as a result of the Lord’s hand on me” (1 Chronicles 28:19). Solomon builds the Temple, which, with pillars and courtyards, reflects the style familiar to the Phoenician craftsmen who worked on it, next to the royal palace to allow access between the two most important buildings in Jerusalem. This proximity symbolizes the king’s status as God’s appointed ruler.

Specifications

Although ornate and beautiful, the Temple itself is not particularly large. The specifications given in the Bible are expressed in cubits, an ancient unit of length, estimated at about 18 inches (45 cm). The Temple building is described as being 60 cubits long, 20 cubits wide, and 30 high, or three stories high, with a towering porch 120 cubits high. Modern estimates give the dimensions as 120–150 feet (35–40m) long by 45–60 feet (15–20m) wide. At the entrance are two bronze pillars known as Jachin and Boaz, symbolizing God’s greatness.

The complex consists of three main areas: the great court (1 Kings 7:9), where people assemble to worship, the inner court or court of the priests (2 Chronicles 4:9), with a large sacrificial altar, and the inner sanctuary (1 Kings 6:5), comprising the Holy Place (hekal), in which there are ten gold menorah, a table of showbread (for offerings), and a golden incense altar (1 Chronicles 28:18). Around the inner sanctuary are chambers for the priests.

Behind the incense altar lies the Holy of Holies, the resting place of the Ark of the Covenant and the tablets of the Ten Commandments. These are guarded by two huge statues of olive-wood cherubim overlaid with gold. One of the most striking features is the “bronze sea,” a huge bronze basin that provides water for the priests to purify themselves, with ten wheeled basins for carrying water.

No expense is spared for either the construction or the furnishing of the Temple. Solomon conscripts 30,000 Israelites to build it, with a further 80,000 to quarry stone, 70,000 to carry stone, and 3,300 managers to oversee the work (1 Kings 5:13 and 2 Chronicles 2:2). Large, expensive stones are cut for the foundations, and the finest materials, including gold, silver, bronze, cedarwood, and precious stones, are used throughout. The King of Tyre (Phoenicia), Solomon’s ally and neighbor, supplies cedar for the paneling as well as labor. According to 1 Kings 6:7, the stone is finished at the quarry before being transported to the Temple, so that “no hammer, chisel or any other iron tool was heard at the Temple site while it was being built.”

The priests move in

Once the Temple has been completed, the priests move God’s ceremonial equipment from the tabernacle to the Temple and a feast is held for 14 days. From then on, a daily sacrifice of lamb is made in the morning, with a second lamb and cereal sacrificed by the high priest Zadok on the Sabbath. Singing and prayers are part of worship. Only the high priest is permitted to enter the Holy of Holies, and then only on the Day of Atonement (see here). Jerusalem is now established as a holy city. Zadok and his descendants control the Temple until the Babylonian Exile in 597 BCE.

It is difficult to pinpoint when Solomon’s Temple was completed. The Bible says construction started in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign and that it took seven years, which puts completion at around 964 BCE. Rabbinic sources say the Temple stood for 410 years, yet records show that it was destroyed by the Babylonians in around 587 BCE, 30 years earlier than those dates indicate. The most likely site is Temple Mount, now occupied by the Dome of the Rock, an Islamic shrine, where the Prophet Muhammad is said to have ascended to heaven.

The Queen of Sheba

A visit to Jerusalem by the Queen of Sheba is mentioned in the Hebrew Bible, the Qur’an, and the Ethiopian holy book, the Kebra Nagast. The Bible passage is brief but ambiguous. It states that the unnamed queen hears of Solomon’s fame and wishes to test his wisdom. Traveling from the land of Sheba (believed to be modern-day Yemen or possibly Ethiopia), she arrives with gifts of gold, precious stones, spices, and incense. Solomon answers all her questions and she is impressed, praising God for placing Solomon on the throne. She leaves after Solomon gives her “all she desired and asked for” (1 Kings 10:13). Open to interpretation, this phrase could simply mean that she is satisfied with Solomon’s answers or that she is carrying his child. Ethiopians believe that the Sheban queen bore Solomon a son, Menelik I, from whom all Ethiopian kings are descended. They also believe that when Menelik later traveled to Jerusalem to visit his father, he smuggled the Ark of the Covenant back to Axum in northern Ethiopia, where it still resides.

Solomon’s Temple was similar to the Tabernacle but incorporated Phoenician elements such as the two columns “Jachin” and “Boaz,” reflecting the input of architects and craftsmen loaned to Solomon by King Hiram of Tyre.

See also: The Ark and the Tabernacle • David and Bathsheba • The Fall of Jerusalem • Rebuilding Jerusalem