KING OF ALL ISRAEL · UNITED KINGDOM

Solomon. Forty years in Jerusalem; the builder of the temple.

REIGNEDi

40 years c. 971–931 BC (dates vary)

CAPITAL

Jerusalem

HOUSE

House of David 4th of 4 in The united kingdom

VERDICT

◐ Mixed “Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father”

PROPHETS

Nathan · Ahijah the Shilonite · Iddo the seer

THE UNITED KINGDOM: 4 RULERS SAUL → SOLOMON

THE ANOINTING

How Solomon was anointed

  • Born to David and Bathsheba in Jerusalem; “the LORD loved him”. 2 Samuel 12:24–25
  • Chronicles records the word David received: “a son shall be born to thee, who shall be a man of rest … his name shall be Solomon”. 1 Chronicles 22:9
  • When David was old, his elder son Adonijah declared himself king, with Joab and Abiathar the priest on his side. 1 Kings 1:5–10
  • Nathan and Bathsheba reminded David of his oath that Solomon would reign. David had Zadok and Nathan anoint Solomon at Gihon, riding David's own mule, and the people cried, “God save king Solomon”. 1 Kings 1:11–40
  • Adonijah took hold of the horns of the altar and was spared. After David's death, when he asked for Abishag, Solomon had him killed; Abiathar was sent home to Anathoth, and Joab and Shimei were put to death. “And the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon.” 1 Kings 1:50–53 1 Kings 2:13–46
  • Chronicles says only that David “made Solomon his son king over Israel”, and later that “they made Solomon the son of David king the second time”, with all David's sons submitting to him. 1 Chronicles 23:1 1 Chronicles 29:22–24

SUCCESSION

The two kingdoms

ON THE WORLD STAGE: Egypt · Tyre · Sheba · Edom · Aram (Damascus)

THE VERDICT

How Scripture judges the reign

“Solomon did evil in the sight of the LORD, and went not fully after the LORD, as did David his father”

1 Kings 11:6 (KJV) →

“Solomon loved the LORD, walking in the statutes of David his father: only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places”

1 Kings 3:3 (KJV) →

BUT ALSO

  • Kings first praises him, with one reserve: “Solomon loved the LORD … only he sacrificed and burnt incense in high places”. 1 Kings 3:3
  • “when Solomon was old, … his wives turned away his heart after other gods”. He built high places for Chemosh and Molech “in the hill that is before Jerusalem”. 1 Kings 11:4–8
  • The LORD's word to him: “I will … rend the kingdom from thee”, yet not in his days, for David's sake, and one tribe would stay with his son. 1 Kings 11:11–13
  • From the textChronicles gives no verdict on Solomon, and does not tell of his foreign wives' gods or of the adversaries the LORD raised against him. 2 Chronicles 9:29–31
  • Nehemiah later recalled him: “among many nations was there no king like him, who was beloved of his God … nevertheless even him did outlandish women cause to sin”. Nehemiah 13:26
  • In the Gospels Jesus speaks of “Solomon in all his glory”, and of the queen of the south who came “to hear the wisdom of Solomon”. Matthew 6:29 Matthew 12:42

THE UNITED KINGDOM: 4 RULERS

✓ Did right ✕ Did evil ◐ Mixed ● No verdict formula

THE KINGDOM

Jerusalem and the places of the reign

The united kingdom · tribe of Judah. Only places Scripture names are shown, each where the Atlas puts it.

EVENTS

Wars, works and turning points

Each mark sits at the year of the reign the Bible gives for it.

UNDATED IN SCRIPTURE

THE NATION

What the nation did

  • The house of the LORD, seven years in building, begun in his fourth year. 1 Kings 6:1 1 Kings 6:37–38
  • His own house, thirteen years; the house of the forest of Lebanon; the porch of pillars; the porch of judgment; a house for Pharaoh's daughter. 1 Kings 7:1–8
  • Millo, the wall of Jerusalem, Hazor, Megiddo, Gezer, nether Beth-horon, Baalath, Tadmor, store cities and chariot cities. 1 Kings 9:15–19
  • Ships at Ezion-geber, beside Eloth on the Red sea. 1 Kings 9:26
  • Chronicles adds that he prevailed against Hamath-zobah, built store cities in Hamath, and built Beth-horon the upper as well as the nether. 2 Chronicles 8:3–5

PROPHETS

Prophets of the reign

  • Na Nathan Nathan named him Jedidiah at birth, warned Bathsheba of Adonijah's bid, and anointed him with Zadok. Chronicles names “the book of Nathan the prophet” as a source for his reign.
  • Ah Ahijah the Shilonite “I will rend the kingdom out of the hand of Solomon, and will give ten tribes to thee”
  • Id Iddo the seer Named only as a source: “the visions of Iddo the seer against Jeroboam the son of Nebat”.

ON THE WORLD STAGE

The powers of the day

EGYPT

Pharaoh, Solomon's father-in-law · Shishak

TYRE

Hiram

SHEBA

The queen of Sheba

EDOM

Hadad

ARAM (DAMASCUS)

Rezon

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · —

Nothing from his lifetime

OUTSIDE THE BIBLE · ARABIC VERSION DATED AD 1314–1344 IN ITS COLOPHONS

The Kebra Nagast (later tradition)

TWO ACCOUNTS

Where Samuel–Kings and Chronicles differ

Each ribbon joins the two accounts of one matter, passage to passage.

His mother's name

2 SAMUEL

1 CHRONICLES

How he became king

1 KINGS

1 CHRONICLES

The sacrifice at Gibeon

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Stalls for horses

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Overseers of the work

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Chief officers

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Gold from Ophir

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

The molten sea

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

The two pillars

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Cities and Hiram

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

The site of the temple

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

The dedication

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

Pharaoh's daughter moves house

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

His last years

1 KINGS

2 CHRONICLES

DATES DIFFER

When was it?

SCRIPTURE'S NUMBERS

No years given

Age at accession not given. The temple was begun in his fourth year, “in the four hundred and eightieth year” after the Exodus (1 Kings 6:1), and finished in his eleventh (6:38). His own house took thirteen years (7:1); both were done “at the end of twenty years” (9:10).

THIELE, AS REVISED BY MCFALL AND YOUNG

c. 971–931 BC[2][3]

Young (2003) puts Solomon's first official year in 972 or 971 BC, the start of the temple in spring 967 BC, and his death between spring and autumn 931 BC; Thiele had placed the death in 931/930 BC. McFall (2010) has Solomon succeed David in 970 BC.

COUNTED BACK FROM ALBRIGHT'S 922 BC

c. 962–922 BC[4]

Albright (1945) dated the division of the kingdom, and so Solomon's death, to 922 BC. The start, 962 BC, is our own count: Scripture's forty years (1 Kings 11:42) added to 922. Albright's own figure for Solomon's accession was not checked for this page.

TRADITIONAL (USSHER, 1658)

c. 1015–975 BC[1]

Made king 1015 BC; temple founded 1012 BC, finished 1005 BC, dedicated 1004 BC; died 975 BC.

A literal count back to the Exodus

Rodger C. Young (2003); Leslie McFall (2010)

Young counts back from the start of the temple in 967 BC to an Exodus in 1446 BC, and finds the same date from the Jubilee cycles; McFall notes the figure means 479 complete years. 1 Kings 6:1 [2][3]

Twelve generations of forty years

Julius Wellhausen (tr. 1885)

Wellhausen read 480 as twelve generations of forty years, one of two periods of 480 years in the Jewish chronology behind these books.[7]

IN SCRIPTURE

Every passage

CHAPTERS · 25

2 Samuel 12 1 Kings 1 1 Kings 2 1 Kings 3 1 Kings 4 1 Kings 5 1 Kings 6 1 Kings 7 1 Kings 8 1 Kings 9 1 Kings 10 1 Kings 11 1 Chronicles 22 1 Chronicles 23 1 Chronicles 28 1 Chronicles 29 2 Chronicles 1 2 Chronicles 2 2 Chronicles 3 2 Chronicles 4 2 Chronicles 5 2 Chronicles 6 2 Chronicles 7 2 Chronicles 8 2 Chronicles 9

PASSAGES · 5

2 Samuel 12:24–25 1 Kings 1:1–11:43 1 Chronicles 22:5–23:1 1 Chronicles 28:1–29:30 2 Chronicles 1:1–9:31

WHAT SCRIPTURE DOES NOT SAY

  • Kings and Chronicles do not give Solomon's age when he began to reign.
  • Scripture does not name the Pharaoh whose daughter he married, nor the queen of Sheba.
  • The history books do not say that Solomon repented at the end of his life.
  • Kings says he “spake three thousand proverbs: and his songs were a thousand and five” (1 Kings 4:32); the history books do not say which of them survive.
  • Scripture does not say how many years of his reign remained when Ahijah spoke to Jeroboam.

IDENTIFICATIONS THIS PAGE RELIES ON

  • Jedidiah is the name Nathan gave him at birth, “because of the LORD”. 2 Samuel 12:24–25
  • From the textHis mother is “Bath-sheba, the daughter of Eliam” in 2 Samuel and “Bath-shua the daughter of Ammiel” in 1 Chronicles. The site's person record treats them as one woman, and so does this page. 2 Samuel 11:3 1 Chronicles 3:5

SOURCES

Where this page comes from

  • James Ussher, The Annals of the World (English translation of the Annales, 1650–54) (1658), pp. 33–41 (years of the world 2909–3029, with the years before Christ in the margin).
  • Rodger C. Young, "When Did Solomon Die?", Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 46/4 (2003), pp. 589–603, esp. 590 and 599–603 (facts only; copyrighted).
  • Leslie McFall, "The Chronology of Saul and David", Journal of the Evangelical Theological Society 53/3 (2010), pp. 475–483, 486–487, 494–495, 498–501, 526–528 (facts only; copyrighted).
  • W. F. Albright, "The Chronology of the Divided Monarchy of Israel", Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 100 (1945), p. 20: the division of the kingdom in 922 BC (as cited by McFall 2010, p. 486 n. 24; facts only).
  • C. F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, tr. James Martin, Biblical Commentary on the Books of Samuel (Clark's Foreign Theological Library; translation first published 1866, this printing 1876) (1866), pp. 123–124 (1 Sam 13:1), 285–286 (2 Sam 1), 294–296 (2 Sam 2:8–11), 318–321 (Hiram), 459–460 (2 Sam 21:19), 502–503 (2 Sam 24:1).
  • S. R. Driver, Notes on the Hebrew Text of the Books of Samuel (1890), pp. 74–75, on 1 Sam 13:1.
  • Julius Wellhausen, tr. J. Sutherland Black and Allan Menzies, Prolegomena to the History of Israel (1885), ch. VI, §I.1–3 (Chronicles on David's accession, the census, Solomon at Gibeon); ch. VI, §III.2 (480 years as twelve generations of forty); ch. VII, §II.1 (the numbers in 1 Sam 13:1 and 2 Sam 2:10).
  • Avraham Biran and Joseph Naveh, "An Aramaic Stele Fragment from Tel Dan", Israel Exploration Journal 43 (1993), pp. 81–98, esp. 95–98 on the reading 'house of David' (facts only; copyrighted).
  • Philip R. Davies, "'House of David' Built on Sand: The Sins of the Biblical Maximizers", Biblical Archaeology Review 20/4 (1994), pp. 54–55 (facts only; copyrighted).
  • E. A. Wallis Budge (tr.), The Queen of Sheba and Her Only Son Menyelek (the Kebra Nagast) (1922), Introduction (the colophons' date for the Arabic version, AD 1314–1344; the names Makeda and Balkis).

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