Portrait of King Jedidiah

Solomon, also called Jedidiah, was, according to the Hebrew Bible, Old Testament, Holy Quran, and Hadiths, a fabulously wealthy and wise King of the United Kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father, King David.

Solomon was the tenth son of King David, the second King of ancient United Kingdom of Israel) and the second son of Bathsheba (2 Samuel 11, 12) and (1 Kings 1, 2), wife of Uriah the Hittite; who later became one of the wives of King David.

Like King Saul and David, Solomon reigned for 40 years in one of the highest and most prosperous periods in Israel's history as called by many, “The Golden Age” of Israel. According to biblical tradition, King Solomon was the third and last King of the ancient United Kingdom of Israel.

In the Bible, Solomon appears as a great builder, a very powerful biblical King most famous for his wisdom. In (1 Kings) he sacrificed to God, and God later appeared to him in a dream, asking what Solomon wanted from God? Solomon asked for wisdom.

At the beginning of his reign, King Solomon loved the God of Israel and covenanted with God that he would walk in obedience throughout his administration as King. He was promised wisdom, riches, honor, and long life if he would continue in righteousness before the Lord.

Solomon is known for being the King who built the first Temple in Jerusalem. He was also known for stories told in the Bible about his wisdom.

The Judgment of Solomon is a story from the Hebrew Bible in which King Solomon ruled between two women both claiming to be the mother of a child. He revealed their true feelings and relationship to the child by suggesting to cut the baby in two, with each woman to receive half.

The crowning achievement of King Solomon's reign was the erection of the magnificent Temple (Hebrew - Beit haMikdash) in Jerusalem the capital city of ancient Israel, c.1000 BC only to have it torn down 400 years later by troops commanded by the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar, who sent many Jews into exile.

Phoenician King Hiram of Tyre (part of present day Lebanon), is presented as a friend and the chief architect of King Solomon's Temple, in (2 Samuel 5:11) and (1 Kings 5:1-10) for having sent Cedar timber, building material, masons, and bronze workers, for the original construction of the Temple.

According to the Hebrew Bible, King Solomon's Temple, was built for God. It was built in Jerusalem, on the threshing floor of Mount Moriah, of Araunah the Jebusite, which, King David had bought to build an Altar to God (Tabernacle), under which the Ark of the Covenant is placed.

Of all the Biblical laws and commandments, the Ten Commandments alone are said to have been "written with the finger of God" (Exodus 31:18). The stone tablets were placed in the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:21) and (Deuteronomy 10:2,5). (Hebrews 9:4) states that the Ark contained "a golden jar that contained manna, Aaron's rod that budded, and the Tablets of the Covenant." (Revelation 11:19)

Whether it was destroyed, captured, or hidden, nobody knows. One of the most famous claims about the Ark's whereabouts is that before the Babylonians sacked Jerusalem, it had found its way to Ethiopia, where it still resides in the town of Aksum, in the St. Mary of Zion cathedral.

According to the Biblical account, King Solomon had 700 wives and 300 concubines. The wives were described as foreign Princesses, including women of Moab, Ammon, Edom, Sidon, and of the Hittites. His marriage to King Nahash’s daughter Naamah Princess of Ammon, (part of present day Jordan) mother of his heir, Rehoboam, according to both (1 Kings 14:21-31) and (2 Chronicles 12:13) in the Hebrew Bible, appears to have cemented a political alliance with Egypt, whereas, he clung to his other wives and concubines "in love".

The Queen of Sheba appears as a prominent figure in the Kebra Nagast (“Glory of King”), the Ethiopian national epic and foundation story. According to this tradition, the Queen of Sheba the daughter of Ilsharah Yahdib, the Himyarite King of Najran. (called Makeda) visited King Solomon's court after hearing about his wisdom. She stayed and learned from him for six months.

Both Ethiopia and Yemen Claim Queen of Sheba was a Native. According to Josephus (Ant. 8:165–173), she was the Queen of Egypt and Ethiopia, and brought to Israel the first specimens of the balsam, which grew in the Holy Land in the historian's time.

Although King Solomon established peace with surrounding rulers, he undertook the building of the first permanent Temple for the Lord, built a magnificent royal palace, spoke 3,000 proverbs, and his songs numbered 1,005. He is portrayed as great in wisdom, wealth and power beyond either of the previous Kings, but also as a King who sinned. His sins included idolatry, marrying foreign women and, ultimately, turning away from Yahweh, which, led to his Kingdom to being torn apart during the reign of his son Rehoboam…

Food for thought!