Solomon

Solomon (Hebrew שְׁלֹמֹה Šălōmō "peaceful"), also called Jedidiah (Hebrew: יְדִידְיָהּ Yedidyah), He was, according to the Tanach (Old Testament) a wise man and king of the unified Kingdom of Israel who succeeded his father: David. His life and work are described in First Kings and Second Chronicles. According to the scriptures, he was the third and last monarch of the United Monarchy (that is, before the separation of Israelite territory into the kingdoms of Judah and Israel.) His reign lasted four decades, traditionally between the years 965 and 928. to. C.

The mentioned texts say that King Solomon inherited a considerable empire conquered by his father King David, which stretched from the Egyptian border to the Euphrates River in Mesopotamia. This kingdom was made up of by the territory of Israel, administered with a system of twelve districts, and numerous vassal or subject kingdoms.

He favored trade relations with the Phoenicians, to one of whose sovereigns, Hiram of Tire, he delivered twenty cities of Galilee. With sailors of that origin he organized a commercial expedition that left Eilat, in the Red Sea, to the country of Ophir (identified with Ethiopia or India). He also maintained contact with the sovereign of the Kingdom of Saba (in Yemen).

He is described as wise and immensely wealthy, with a large harem, which included "Pharaoh's daughter", and it is added that he devoted his reign to major building projects, notably the Temple of Jerusalem. He is presented as a fervent worshiper of Yahveh, becoming a polytheist in his old age.

In addition, the authorship of some biblical books is attributed to him, namely: Ecclesiastes, Proverbs and Song of Songs, some psalms and, later, the books of Wisdom and the Odes of Solomon, both pseudepigraphical.

In the Qur'an, Solomon is considered one of the most important prophets. Muslims generally refer to him by the Arabic variant, Sulayman. In the Kebra Nagast (Book of the Glory of the Kings of Ethiopia), an allegedly historical chronicle of the kings of Ethiopia, Solomon's descent from his son Menelik I (son of Solomon from the Queen of Sheba) is described..

In hermetic traditions, it is associated with magic and the knowledge of hidden wisdoms.

In the Bible

The Dream of Solomon (Luca Giordano).

King Solomon beside the Queen of Sheba (Ghiberti).

Solomon writes the Proverbs (Doré).

Solomon's trial (1617) by Peter Paul Rubens.

The story of Solomon is narrated in the First Book of Kings, 1-11, and in the Second Book of Chronicles, 1-9, both included in the Bible, being the only source on this monarch. Contemporary inscriptions mentioning it are lacking, as well as archaeological evidence confirming the Biblical data.

The prophet Nathan informed David that Yahweh had ordered the death of his first son as punishment for the sin of the king, who had sent Bathsheba's husband Uriah to his death to marry her (2Samuel 12:14: «You have made the enemies of God blaspheme» (literally: 'you have despised the precepts of God'). After a week of prayer and fasting, David learned the news of the death of his son and married Bathsheba who became pregnant, this time by Jedidias, later known as Solomon.

He succeeded his father, David, to the throne of Israel around 970 B.C. C., who named him heir at the request of Bathsheba and Nathan, although he had older children with other women. He was proclaimed before his father's death, as his half-brother Adonijah had announced his claim to the throne. Adonijah was later executed by order of Solomon, and the priest Abiathar, his supporter, deposed from office, in which he was replaced by Zadok. General Joab was also assassinated without respecting the sanctuary's right of asylum. From the biblical account it seems to be deduced that upon Solomon's ascension to power a political purge took place in the leading cadres of the kingdom, who were replaced by people loyal to the new king.

On the occasion of offering a sacrifice in Gibeon, according to the biblical account:

The Lord appeared to Solomon and said, Ask what you want me to give you. And Solomon said, Give your servant a magnanimous heart to judge your people, to discern between good and evil [...] And the LORD said, I have done it according to thy words: behold, I have given thee a wise and understanding heart.

1Kings 3:5,9 and 1Kings 3:11,12

That wisdom, according to the story, allowed him to take the kingdom of Israel to his greatest splendor. In the legend it appears attested in the episode known as Solomon's judgment.

Solomon according to his name, he was a Pacific King, who remained in good terms with the neighboring sovereigns and was an ally of Hiram I of Tire, who helped him in many of his companies.

Internal security and control of the communication channels had facilitated an extensive expansion of the Hebrew trade, where their ships arrived to Ofir, somewhere in the Red Sea, where 14,300 kg of gold loaded.

The splendor of his court caught the attention of the queen of Saba, who came to visit him.

CONSTRUCTION OF THE FIRST TEMPLE

undertook numerous architectural works, among which the construction of the Jerusalem temple stands out above all as a place for the permanence of the Ark of the Alliance, although it also highlights the building of a luxurious palace and the construction of a embankment that He linked the temple area with the city of Jerusalem.

In its constructions a large number of foreign technicians participated, such as masons and thyrovish bronchists or biblos carpenters. Among them, the architect Hiram stands out, and luxurious materials were also imported from Phenicia.

After the temple finished, in a prayer that Solomon makes Yahweh reminds him of the promise made to his father David which was “… you will not miss a male in front of me, who feels on the throne of Israel, with such that your children keep my way... "God granted them tranquility at their borders. Order and joy prevailed.

Vanity of vanities, and all sorts of vanity. Oil representing King Solomon already old and meditative (Isaak Asknaziy, Russia, centuryXIX).

Solomon's Decline

However, to consolidate Israel's political power in the region, he married one of Pharaoh's daughters (probably Siamón) and surrounded himself in luxuries. This caused, however, that in the second half of his reign he fell into idolatry, induced by his numerous foreign wives. According to 1Kings 11: 3 , he "had seven hundred queen wives and three hundred concubines, and these women turned his heart away"

Kingdom of Israel (united monarchy) in times of Saul and David, 1020–966 B.C. The territory continued united until the death of Solomon in 928 a. C.

Both the king and the people engaged in trade; they were trapped by the lust for riches and fell into materialism. Here was the turning point towards a way of life that would later be the cause of reproach by the prophets:

“they walk astray, all have become perverted. There is no one who practices good, there is not one” Instead of administering justice, the Hebrews themselves… “oppressed the poor” “they stalked… people. Their houses were full of frauds; with these frauds they have become great and rich…”

In transactions, the king demonstrated that he was no longer fair. He revived the issue of slavery among infidels. He allowed priests who in many cases were unworthy. He covered himself with elements of war (chariots and horses).

That sin of Solomon (prioritizing obtaining wealth over God's Law) was the cause of the division of the kingdom of Israel upon his death.

But even though he committed this sin, he repented and later wrote the Book of Ecclesiastes to advise others not to follow his example. There he mentions "vanity of vanities, all is vanity" and this refers to his wicked life. Solomon writes this book as a testimony and example that the things of this world are not lasting.^{[citation needed]}

He was succeeded by his son Rehoboam, whose mother was Naamah, an Ammonite. But soon, the northern part would appear as 'rebel' (10 of the twelve tribes of Israel, all except Judah and Benjamin). Thus the kingdom would be divided.

Dating

The conventional dates of Solomon's reign derive from biblical chronology and from the campaign of Pharaoh Sisak who supposedly besieged Jerusalem during the reign of Rehoboam, Solomon's son and successor. The American Adventist missionary Edwin R. Thiele has placed Solomon between approximately 970 and 931 B.C. C.

Causes for the division of the kingdom

Israeli stamp dedicated to King Solomon, 1960. Their attributes are the balance of Justice and the plan of the Temple.

The constructions undertaken by the King and the Boato of his Court demanded huge contributions in money and labor, that the most prosperous part of the people - also imbued with greed - did not want to contribute. The privileges granted to Judea made Grow the discontent between the ten northern tribes (the most wealthy), where Jeroboam echoed this discontent and put himself in charge of the uprising that would later lead to the separation of the kingdoms of Israel and Judea.

In archeology

In recent decades the progress of archeology, the implementation of more precise techniques and the study of sites in context have questioned the biblical story. The academic consensus is that the biblical descriptions of its great kingdom, its constructions and its wealth are subsequent inventions. In general, except for a few scholars, the existence of a ruler named Solomon is accepted in the second half of the x a. C., but it is known that Jerusalem at that time was little more than a village and not the great capital described in the book of kings. Some authors, however, attribute greater credibility to the biblical story, granting that there are many Anachronistic elements in the description of the Solomon reign.

In other religions and traditions

In the tradition of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church, it is pointed out that Solomon had a son with the queen of Saba, called Menelik I, who would be the future king of Ethiopia, and from whom the tradition says that he took out the ark from the alliance of Israel, taking her to her kingdom: Kebra Nagast's book tells this story.

In Islamic traditions, and in Arab texts such as the thousand and one nights, several stories indicate it as a powerful king, who possessed sorcery qualities that allowed him to consolidate an empire and imprison the numerous demons of the desert (Ifrit). To the Iphrit (geniuses), he locked them in mud vessels sealed with the name of God, for refusing these to follow the mandates of the Most High and submit to men. In the story he is called Sulaymán, son of Daud (David).

The presence of the most wise and fair monarch of history is not limited to the Bible, the Torah and the Qur'an, since it is also named in the golden legend, an influential medieval book that contains stories, myths and legends of Santos, when he narrates the legend of the Vera Cruz. His seal, the hexagram, also known as the " star of David ", it is the cornerstone of Judaism, a symbol of "Hagia Sophia" (Divine Wisdom) that reigned for forty years in Israel and has become symbolize The union of consciousness and the unconscious. Relating the triangle to the vertex up with consciousness, wisdom, divine; While the inverted triangle is linked to the world of unconscious, darkness, darkness and negative.

They also relate to him " the mines of King Solomon " or within medieval esotericism " the Solomon ring ", which was granted by the Archangel Gabriel. The magical power of the famous and wise Hebrew king, was in his ring, since thanks to him, Solomon managed to dominate the world of spirits and could carry out the great company to build the temple of Jerusalem. This tradition mentions that he knew the language of animals and that his father, King David, taught him the language of birds called the natural language. His curiosity was such that he acquired knowledge about crystals and stones; the mysteries of alchemy such as metal transmutation; The plant world and eternal life. He also had the gift of doing miracles, writing hundreds of books in this regard, highlighting the missing " Solomon's Secret Manuscript " which contains spells, invocations, formulas and talismans; It is currently the most wanted text by the scholars of the esoteric arts.

In cinema and television

PRECESSION AND SUCCESSION

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