Solomon
Kings opens with an account of King David's last days. It describes the efforts of the prophet Nathan and David's wife Bathsheba to have her son, Solomon, rather than David's oldest son, Adonijah, succeed to the throne. On his deathbed, David reminds Solomon that although he has promised to spare surviving enemies who had participated in Absalom's revolt, his successor is bound by no such vow.
Taking his father's advice, Solomon begins his administration by murdering Adonijah and also David's loyal general Joab. In addition, Solomon takes out numerous others who might threaten the security of his crown. The narrator tells of the LORD appearing to Solomon in a dream and telling him to ask what he should be given. Instead of asking for great riches, Solomon asked for wisdom to govern his people. The LORD, in turn, promised both wisdom and riches (3:1-15). He soon earned international fame for the astuteness of his policies.
Solomon, the Organizer (1 Kings 4:1-28)
Solomon reorganized the kingdom of Israel. He divided the land as evenly as possible.
1. He did this to provide for the systematic support of his elaborate court and for other taxation purposes.
2. He did this also to break down the old tribal distinctions by paying little or no attention to tribal lines when dividing the country into tax districts.
In his first purpose, he succeeded; in the second, he failed.
Solomon, the Builder
While David built an empire by conquest, Solomon covered it with buildings.
Although the final verdict on Solomon's long reign is decidely critical (Chapter 11), most of the narrative expresses strong admiration for his material accomplishments, particularly his wealth and extensive building program.
Solomon spent a lot of time building an elaborate system of palaces and government buildings. Thirteen years were spent in building his palace which had several sections. The palace covers 11,250 square feet. The palace is much larger than the Temple.
The Temple is 2700 square feet. According to both biblical and archaeological evidence, the Temple was divided into three parts:
1. a porch or vestibule, fifteen feet deep and thirty feet wide.
2. the Holy Place, sixty feet long and thirty feet wide.
3. the Holy of Holies, which was a perfect cube -- thirty feet long, thirty feet wide, and thirty feet high.
The interior height of the rest of the building was forty-five feet. Along the outside of the building were three levels of rooms, used for storage and other purposes. The Holy Place contained three principal items: the altar for incense, the seven branched lampstand, and the table for the sacred bread. The Holy of Holies originally contained the sacred box, the Ark of the Covenant, on which Yahweh's "glory" is enshrined. Once a year, on the Day of Atonement (Yom Kippur), the high priest would enter the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies represented the meeting place between God and people.
According to 1 Kings 8, Phoenician architects, designers, and artisans played a major role in constructing the Temple. Hiram, a Phoenician king supplied both materials and skilled craftsmen. Despite his large income from commercial enterprises and increasingly heavy taxation of Israel's citizens, however,
Solomon is eventually forced to cede twenty Galilean towns to Hiram to pay off his debts. That these cities belonged to the northern tribes probably did nothing to increase Solomon’s popularity there (9:10-14).
Dedication of the Temple
Solomon was the first Israelite king to be raised in an urban palace rather than rural villages and pastures. Solomon assumes more of the trappings of royal privilege than his two predecessors. Solomon assumes priestly duties in dedicating the Jerusalem Temple. This is evidence that royal power had increased since the days of King Saul. The long dedicatory prayer ascribed to Solomon emphasizes that although Yahweh accepts the Temple, in reality "the heavens cannot contain [him]," much less the "house that [Solomon has] built" (1 Kings 8:27).
There is generally positive evaluation of Solomon's accomplishments. These accomplishments include his unprecedented opulence, fame, wisdom, and diplomatic prowess. (Ch. 10) After this generally positive view, the narrator's final estimate of the king's significance is quite negative and seems almost incongruous.
Chapter 11 marks a change in attitude toward Solomon. Beginning here in 11, the editors severely criticize his taking of foreign wives. Solomon is said to have married 700 princesses and appropriated 300 concubines. These wives and concubines were part of Solomon's political strategy to gain alliances and property. From the writer's perspective, Solomon had compromised his faith by allowing his wives to worship their national gods, and more than that, by building altars for these gods in the Temple precincts (Ch. 11). Solomon is judged critically primarily from a religious standpoint.
However, the king's economic policies probably played a more important role in the breakup of Israel that followed his death. Solomon ignored the old tribal allocations of Israelite territory, Instead, Solomon had divided the country into twelve administrative districts, each obligated to provide supplies for the royal court one month of every year. Even more unpopular was Solomon's practice of compelling Israelite citizens to work on his building projects, possibly using forced Israelite labor to construct the Temple (1 Kings 4:7-19; 5:13-18).
These negative aspects of Solomon's administration, implicitly evokes Samuel's impassioned warning about the grave disadvantages of establishing a monarchy (1 Sam. 8; cf. Deut. 17:14-20).
Out of respect for David, Solomon is allowed to die peacefully. The date of his death is 922 B.C.E. However, Solomon's heirs will lose the largest part of the kingdom. Judah, however, the nucleus of the Davidic realm, is to remain under the rule of his successors.