Today’s Question of the Day – December 15, 2020.
“In the Bible, who is the Book of Proverbs attributed to?”
The historical biblical figure of Solomon is a complex one – much like his father, David, and other kings. He’s far from perfect. He sins. He reigns. He despairs. He conquers. While he makes mistakes, he keeps the appearance of the philosopher-king, pontificating and writing poetry which became the book of Proverbs in the bible and is, perhaps, Solomon’s most lasting legacy into the modern day.
Solomon reigned from 970 BC to 931 BC when Israel was at the height of it’s power, what’s often called “The Golden Age” of Israel. Here are some fun facts that you may not know about Solomon.
Fun Facts about King Solomon
1. Solomon was the youngest son of King David
As you would suspect, the next king was typically the oldest son of the reigning monarch. However, the bible has a history of the oldest sons being overtaken by the younger, dating back to Cain & Abel, Jacob & Essau, and Joseph & his brothers. In fact, Solomon’s father David is the eight son of his father.
It’s difficult to say what internal power struggles contributed to Solomon’s rise. But we do know that Solomon’s brother, Absalom, killed his half-brother, Amnon, the eldest son of David, because Amnon allegedly raped their sister. With the death of Amnon, Absalom became the eldest son and attempted to overthrow David at one point. He was unsuccessful, and obviously, this did not bode well for the relationship. It’s likely that Solomon’s rise to king was most influence by his mother, Bathsheba, who was the favorite wife of King David. So despite not being an elder son, Solmon was able to come out on top.
2. Solomon was the last king of a united Israel
The first king was Saul, the second David, and the third Solomon. After the death of Solomon, the kingdom of Israel split into the north and the south. This was mainly because Solmon’s son, Rehoboam, was such a subpar king. He said:
“The king answered the people harshly. Rejecting the advice given him by the elders, he followed the advice of the young men and said, “My father made your yoke heavy; I will make it even heavier. My father scourged you with whips; I will scourge you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:13-14).
3. He was very wealthy
During this time of his reigh, Solomon is said to have received 25 tons of gold for each of the 39 years of his reign, which would be worth billions of dollars per year today. Based off of this data and other historical account, scholars estimate Solmon’s wealth to be approximately $2 trillion US dollars.
To put that in perspective, the wealthiest American who ever lived was John D. Rockefeller, the oil magnate. In today’s dollars, his wealth peaked at $400 billion when adjusted for inflation. Solomon was 5x as wealthy as Rockefeller.
4. He may have had a romantic relationship with the Queen of Sheba
The Queen of Sheba was one of the wealthiest and most powerful rulers during the time of Solomon, and she controlled access to the Indian Ocean via the Red Sea. Her kingdom was very powerful due to it’s strategic location but also because of the goods it produced. Solomon also needed her products to sell to other countries as a sort of middle-man. But Solmon controlled access to the Mediterreanean Sea and trading with the countries around it.
So with these mutual needs, came a commercial trading relationship as well as what scholars believe to be a romantic relationships. Biblical legend makes much of a romance between the Queen and Solomon. It is said that he granted her “all that she desired, whatever she asked” (1 Kings 10:13) which is widely interpreted to include a child.
5. Solomon was a great builder of public works
Tradition recognizes Solomon as an ambitious builder of public works. His empire demanded fortresses and garrison cities throughout and made it necessary for Solomon to embark on a vast building program. The prosperity of Israel made this possible. Solomon was especially generous with his capital city, Jerusalem, where he erected a royal palace, built fortifications around the city, and constructed the first famous Temple.
Around Jerusalem (but not in the Holy City itself), he built facilities, including shrines, for the main groups of foreigners on trading missions in Israel. Solomon’s Temple was to assume an importance far beyond what its dimensions might suggest, for its site became the site of the Second Temple (c. 5th century BCE–70 CE).
6. He was renowned as wise
Solomon was renowned as a sage. When two women each claimed to be the mother of the same baby, he determined the real mother by observing each woman’s reaction to the prospect of dividing the child into two halves; he acknowledged the woman who protested as the mother. Solomon was deemed wiser than all the sages of Egypt and the Middle East—even wiser than some ancient paragons of wisdom. The biblical Book of Proverbs contains collections of aphorisms and other wise teachings attributed to him.
7. He had 700 wives
Perhaps this is an instance of the victors writing history as they see fit, but tradition maintains that Solomon was a great lover. This reputation came from both the size of his harem – he had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines – as well as the verses about him in the bible’s Song of Solomon. This book is one of the more erotic portions of the bible and largely an ode from Solomon to his lover(s).
Keep in mind that Solomon wrote the Song of Solomon about himself. So it’s ultimately an ode to himself and hardly unbiased. Furhtermore, as king, he could have however many lovers he desired. The quantity is not idicative of his skill as a lover, though Solomon apparently wanted the world to think otherwise.
8. Solomon’s Temple is one of the “Wonders of the World”
In the 6th century, a list of seven wonders was compiled by St. Gregory of Tours. The temple was looted and destroyed around 586 BCE at the hands of the Babylonian king Nebuchadnezzar II, so of course, Gregory never saw the temple himself. But the bible outlines the layout of the temple, including details like the Holy of Holies, a gold-covered altar, and a sanctuary lined with cedar,