THE MANY FACES OF KING SOLOMON

The Old Testament History Books

I Kings The historical books of the Old Testament are very even-handed and realistic in the portrayals of their “heroes,” to the point where some scholars even deny that there are any true heroes in the Bible, save God Himself. Thus, when we come to the main events in King Solomon's life in I Kings we get about as close as we ever will get to a realistic, three-dimensional, warts-and-all view of what he was really like.

On the plus side, he is seen to have his priorities straight when he asks God to give him an understanding heart (I Kings 3:5-7). This is followed up by the well-known story of his wise decision given over the correct ownership of a baby disputed by two prostitutes (I Kings 3:16ff). Of course, the wisdom literature of the Old Testament is in large part attributed to him, as reflected in the comments given in I Kings 4. Finally, Solomon proved to be a financial genius who accumulated great wealth for Israel through advantageous trading partnerships, as reflected in I Kings 9-10.

But there is a very dark side also: Solomon had Adonijah killed when he requested the hand of David's last female companion Abishag (I Kings 2:25); he established tax districts in Israel and demanded exorbitant amounts of money from the people for support of his court (I Kings 4:7); he recruited citizens into forced labor for his building projects (I Kings 5:13ff); he handed over twenty cities in Galilee to his friend King Hiram (I Kings 9:10ff) to secure a loan from him; he lived a much more lavish lifestyle than his father David, as reflected in I Kings 10 while, as Hubbard says, “Israelites did not profit uniformly.” But, of course, his greatest flaw, as pointed out by Hubbard and many others, was the harem of foreign wives Solomon accumulated. “Marrying foreign wives was expedient politically, but not spiritually. The historian does not chide Solomon for sensuality but for disobedience to Israel's monotheistic ideal. Foreign marriages brought foreign religions, and the king compromised the convictions which he had expressed in his dedicatory prayer for the Temple (I Ki. viii. 23,27) by engaging in syncretistic worship to placate his wives.”

II Chronicles By carefully comparing the parallel accounts in I Kings and II Chronicles, we can see how the Chronicler has subtly changed Solomon's portrait. II Chronicles 2:17-18 has Solomon only forcing non-Jews living in the land into forced labor, not Jewish citizens; he deletes the fact that Solomon had married Pharaoh's daughter in I Kings 7:8; and the Chronicler throughout his account emphasizes the roles of the priests and Levites to a much greater extent than is found in I Kings. But by far the most telling omission made by the Chronicler is to totally delete the statements in I Kings 11 regarding Solomon's apostasy and the enemies God raised up against him in his final years. In other words, the Chronicler seems determined to whitewash the King's personal character simply because at least he built the Temple, all important to the welfare of the priests and Levites.

As Myers says, “The writer has in mind two things as he proceeds with his account of Solomon: (a) the fact that Yahweh had blessed him beyond parallel and (b) that his interest in the temple – religious institution – must not be obscured by other matters however important. That is why he disposes of the other matters pertaining to Solomon's kingdom so quickly.”

Old Testament Poetry Books

Psalm 127 Most people don't realize that one of the psalms is actually attributed to Solomon. It falls into two parts. In verses 1-2 we have the memorable statement: “Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.” That could refer to the building of the Temple by Solomon. Also, it is noteworthy that the three-fold phrase “in vain” in these verses is even more familiar to readers as the repeated statement found in Ecclesiastes “Vanity, vanity, all is vanity.”

Then in verses 3-5 we have a statement which would be even more at home in the Book of Proverbs: “Sons are a heritage from the LORD...like arrows in the hand of a warrior are the sons of one youth.”

Old Testament Wisdom Books

In keeping with the historical picture of Solomon as the epitome of a wise man (at least in his earlier years), he is listed as the putative author of the Wisdom Books. However, even conservative OT scholars admit that this may be a convenient fiction. Thus, it is a very complicated question as to whether Solomon was the author, historical subject, fictional subject of these books; a combination thereof; or whether these books were just written in his honor.

Proverbs Books I, II, and IV of this compilation each begin with the statement that they were proverbs of King Solomon, Son of David. So the conservative approach says there is no real reason to doubt that fact. But, unfortunately, even if that is true, there is really no biographical information regarding Solomon's life found in these sections. We must also keep in mind that Book III (chapters 23-24) contains a miscellany of material which does not necessarily originate from Solomon himself. And the same can certainly be said concerning Proverbs 30-31.

Ecclesiastes Although Solomon is never actually stated to be the author of this book, the opening words certainly were meant to imply that fact: “The words of the preacher [Qoheleth], the son of David, king in Jerusalem.” In the first nine chapters of this book we certainly get the kind of nuanced picture of Solomon that we found in II Kings. Qoheleth tries a number of different approaches to living a fulfilled life, but he admits after each each attempt that it is all “vanity and a striving after the wind.”

Nonetheless, the book is punctuated by more positive statements (which some scholars feel were added by pious scholars at a later date to make the book more acceptable to the reader) declaring that the author decided to just enjoy all the things God gives him on earth while remembering that they will all pass away and that there will come an inevitable time of judgment.

In that manner, as Seow concludes in an essay exhaustively comparing this book with similar royal proclamations of surrounding cultures, “Qohelet's imitation of the genre is poignant in its irony. In the end the text makes the point that none of the deeds – even the royal deeds that are assiduously preserved in memorials – really matters. For human beings, even kings, there is no immortality of any sort...The legendary acts, wealth, and wisdom of Solomon turned out not to have abiding significance after all. The genre of a royal inscription is utilized to make the point about the ephemerality of wisdom and human accomplishments.”

The Song of Solomon (Song of Songs) The role of the king in this book is even a harder question to answer than in the above two wisdom books since it is totally unclear if Solomon is supposed to be the author, is in fact the author, Solomon is masquerading as a poor man, he is the hero who appears in his love's eyes as glorious as Solomon, or whether he might be the hero's rival for the affections of the woman in the poems. Each commentator has his or her own take on the situation. Thus, it is impossible with any degree of certainty to say what kind of picture of Solomon we are meant to see here.

The Apocrypha

There is one book in the Apocryphal writings ascribed to Solomon. It is called simply Wisdom in the Catholic canon, and Wisdom of Solomon by Protestants. It is supposedly written in the first person by Solomon himself, although few scholars of any denomination would ascribe the book to him. As Dentan states, “For dramatic purposes it is written in the form of an essay by King Solomon, but the disguise is a transparent one, and it is doubtful that it was ever intended to be taken seriously. From early times, it was recognized as pseudonymous.”
Nevertheless, it is interesting for our present purposes as demonstrating another view of that early king of Israel, especially in the more supposedly autobiographical comments found in chapters 6-7. These chapters serve as an introduction to the extended poem in praise to wisdom which follows. Solomon begins by addressing other kings and judges of the earth and urging them to acquire wisdom above all else if they want to rule as wisely as he has. And then he warns them that if they don't do so, God's judgment will fall on them – good advice that the historical Solomon would have been well to heed himself.

Then in chapter 7, “Solomon” starts out by saying that he began as all kings do as a baby. However, he prayed for wisdom and God gave it to him. Again, unlike the historical figure, he states that he really cared very little for riches or prestige, but only for wisdom. Then he brags that (with God's grace) he came to know all there was concerning the physical world, including the “secret” things. This is quite at odds with the more humble picture of Solomon we get in the Book of Ecclesiastes.

The New Testament

Considering the great importance Solomon is given in the OT, it is perhaps surprising that, other than in genealogical listings, he is virtually ignored in the NT writings. In fact, though that king is featured in two of Jesus' sayings, they are both rather backhanded compliments to the greatness of Solomon since that figure is only used to highlight something which is even greater in comparison.

Matthew 6:29 // Luke 12:27

This is the famous saying of Christ in which he states that even Solomon in all his glory couldn't begin to compare to the sight of a field of wildflowers in bloom. “All in all...tradition remembered Solomon for the great prosperity which marked his reign, and for his 'wisdom,' rather than for his piety. When later kings were measured according to a spiritual standard, the yardstick of judgment was always the life of David (II Kings 16:2; 18:3; II Chron. 17:3; 28:1; 29:2; etc.) never that of Solomon.” (Hendricksen)

Matthew 12:42; Luke 11:31

Similarly, these parallel passages allude to Solomon's great wisdom, but then put it into perspective by comparing it to the wisdom of Jesus. Geldenhuys explains: “The queen of the south (I Kings x) came from the uttermost ends of the world as known at that time, and spared no trouble or expense in order to listen to the wisdom of Solomon given to him by God, and she believed the report she had heard of him. But most of the Jews who saw Jesus, who is immeasurably greater than Solomon, in spite of all their privileges did not listen to Him with the desire for salvation, but rejected Him in their unbelief. So the queen of the south will on the day of judgment justly condemn them as people who neglected and abused such incomparable opportunities.”

Pseudepigraphical Writings

Finally, there were later books utilizing the name of Solomon, but with only the slightest pretense of being taken as genuine works of him. Two such spurious productions are described briefly below.

Psalms of Solomon

These share their greatest similarity with the authentic OT psalms, especially the psalms of petition for help in time of need. However, the contents reveal that the author is crying to God for aid at a time when Jerusalem is being attacked by her enemies due to the people's great sin, which has been hidden from Solomon. That alone should make one suspicious for two reasons: (1) In the Bible, Solomon was said to have knowledge of all things, including those completely hidden from sight, and (2) There was no such sacking of Jerusalem during Solomon's reign. Instead, it is the concensus opinion that this document was obviously written concerning the time of General Pompey's military actions in the Near East and Jerusalem in particular in 63 BC.

W.N. Guthrie notes, “These psalms had an important position and were widely circulated in the early Church. They are frequently referred to in the various codexes and histories of the first few centuries of the Christian Era.”

Odes of Solomon

Even more spurious are these poetic works, which have absolutely no connection with the historical Solomon. Only portions of this ancient document have been uncovered, and it appears to be an Aramaic translation of a Greek original. Its purely Christian origin is betrayed by its references to the Holy Spirit hovering over the Messiah, mention of the Incarnation, a chapter in which Christ Himself is the speaker, the virgin birth is confirmed, the sign of the cross appears, the Virgin Mary exhorts the people, there is an allusion to Christ walking on the water