Solomon is a son of David and Bathsheba. Second Samuel says that the Lord loves him and that, through the prophet Nathan, he is also given the name Jedidiah. First Kings follows his life in detail from the struggle over the succession in David’s old age through his own years as king.
As David grows old, Solomon’s elder brother Adonijah announces that he will be king. Joab and the priest Abiathar support him, and he holds a feast for his supporters. Solomon and Nathan are not invited. Nathan alerts Bathsheba. She and Nathan then remind David of his promise that Solomon will succeed him.
David sends Zadok the priest, Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah to take Solomon to Gihon on the royal mule. Zadok anoints him, and the people celebrate. Adonijah’s guests scatter when they hear the news. Adonijah grasps the altar’s horns and asks for his life to be spared. Solomon lets him return home, on the condition that he prove himself worthy.
Near death, David tells Solomon to keep God’s commands and walk in his ways. He also gives instructions concerning Joab and Shimei and asks Solomon to show kindness to the sons of Barzillai, who had helped him. After David’s death, conflict continues within Solomon’s royal household.
Adonijah asks Bathsheba to obtain Abishag the Shunammite as his wife. Abishag had cared for David in his old age. Solomon treats this request as asking for the kingdom on Adonijah’s behalf and orders Benaiah to kill him. The brother he had first allowed to return home is now executed.
Solomon sends Abiathar to his fields at Anathoth and removes him from the priesthood. Joab, who had supported Adonijah, flees to the altar but is killed by Benaiah. Shimei is also executed after traveling to Gath in violation of the order to remain in Jerusalem. These deaths are part of the account of how Solomon’s rule becomes firmly established.
Solomon makes a marriage alliance with Pharaoh of Egypt and marries his daughter. Before the temple has been built, he goes to the great high place at Gibeon and offers a thousand burnt offerings. There God appears to him in a dream at night and invites him to ask for what he wants. Solomon asks for wisdom to govern the people.
He needs an understanding heart to judge so many people and distinguish good from evil. God is pleased that he has asked for discernment rather than long life, riches, or the death of his enemies. He grants wisdom and also promises riches and honor. The promise to lengthen Solomon’s life carries a condition: he must walk in God’s ways and keep his commands.
Two women who share a house come before the king, each claiming that a living baby is her son. When Solomon calls for a sword and orders the child divided, one woman pleads that the other may have him if his life is spared. The other says to divide him. Solomon gives the baby to the woman who asks that he be kept alive. The people hear the verdict and stand in awe of the king, seeing God’s wisdom in his judgment.
Twelve officers each supply food for the king and his household for one month of the year. First Kings describes Judah and Israel living safely under their vines and fig trees. Visitors from many nations come to hear Solomon’s wisdom. He speaks three thousand proverbs, composes 1,005 songs, and discusses plants and many kinds of animals.
To prepare for the temple, Solomon makes an agreement with Hiram king of Tyre. Hiram supplies cedar and cypress timber by sea, while Solomon sends wheat and oil for his household. Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders prepare the timber and stone. Cooperation with a neighboring kingdom helps make the project possible.
The building work involves many people. Solomon raises thirty thousand workers from Israel and sends them to Lebanon in groups of ten thousand. Each group spends one month there and two months at home. Seventy thousand carry loads, and eighty thousand cut stone in the mountains. The temple’s construction depends on this large labor force.
Solomon begins the temple in the fourth year of his reign. Stone and timber form the building, and gold covers its interior. The temple takes seven years to complete; his own house takes thirteen. During the construction, God’s word links the promise to dwell among Israel with Solomon’s obedience to his commands.
The priests bring the covenant ark into the temple’s most holy place. As they come out, a cloud fills the building, preventing them from standing to minister. Solomon blesses the people and prays. He acknowledges that even heaven cannot contain God, much less the house he has built, and asks God to hear prayers directed toward this place.
His prayer includes foreigners who come from distant lands. He asks God to hear them so that all peoples may know his name and fear him. Solomon also acknowledges that no one is without sin. If the people are taken captive because of their sins, then return to God wholeheartedly and pray, he asks that God hear and forgive them.
After the temple and royal house are completed, God appears to Solomon again. He promises to establish the throne if Solomon walks uprightly and keeps his commands. If Solomon or his descendants turn to serve other gods, God warns that Israel will be removed from the land and that he will reject the temple.
Solomon continues building cities, storehouses, and places for his chariots. He makes the descendants of the other peoples remaining in the land serve as bondservants, while Israelites serve as soldiers, officials, and commanders. First Kings 9 distinguishes this status by saying that he makes no Israelites bondservants. Read alongside the earlier account of rotating Israelite labor, it shows that the workers do not all have the same position.
The queen of Sheba comes to test Solomon with difficult questions after hearing of his fame. He answers them all. She is overwhelmed by his wisdom, palace, table, officials, and the way up to the Lord’s house. What she sees exceeds the reports she had heard. She praises God, gives Solomon gold, spices, and precious stones, and receives what she asks before returning home.
Trade and tribute bring Solomon great wealth. He sends ships with Hiram’s sailors to bring gold from Ophir and makes gold shields and an ivory throne covered with gold. First Kings describes silver as common as stone in Jerusalem. He also gathers chariots and horsemen, importing horses and chariots from Egypt and supplying other kings.
Besides Pharaoh’s daughter, Solomon loves many women from Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and the Hittites. He has seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines. God had warned Israel against marrying among these peoples because they would turn the people’s hearts toward other gods. Solomon disregards that warning and holds fast to these women in love.
In his old age, his wives turn his heart toward other gods. He follows Ashtoreth and Milcom and builds high places for Chemosh and Molech on the mountain before Jerusalem. He does the same for his other foreign wives, who burn incense and sacrifice to their gods. First Kings says that Solomon does not follow God wholeheartedly as his father David had done.
God is angry that Solomon has turned away despite two appearances and direct commands. Because he has not kept the covenant, God says the kingdom will be given to his servant. For David’s sake, this will happen in the time of Solomon’s son rather than during Solomon’s lifetime. One tribe will remain for his son, for the sake of David and Jerusalem.
Hadad and Rezon become Solomon’s adversaries. Jeroboam, who oversees the labor of the house of Joseph, also rebels. The prophet Ahijah meets Jeroboam, tears the new garment he is wearing into twelve pieces, and gives him ten. He announces that God will take the kingdom from Solomon’s son and give Jeroboam ten tribes. Jeroboam is also promised God’s presence and a secure dynasty if he obeys God’s commands.
When Solomon seeks to kill Jeroboam, Jeroboam escapes to Egypt and remains there until Solomon dies. After describing the king’s wealth and fame, First Kings tells of these adversaries and the announced division. The account follows both the wisdom Solomon receives at the beginning and the consequences of his later departure from God’s commands.
Solomon rules all Israel from Jerusalem for forty years. He dies, is buried in the city of his father David, and is succeeded by his son Rehoboam. First Kings refers to another record of his acts and wisdom but does not describe a final repentance in this closing account. His son’s reign begins with the division of the kingdom already announced.