The Achievements, Glory and Greatness of King Solomon
King Solomon beautified and modernized the city of
Jerusalem through infrastructural development. He put up his palace and built a
wall round Jerusalem (1 Kings 3: 1).
King Solomon was a great judge who promoted justice in
Israel. He settled a dispute between two prostitutes who were rivaling over the
ownership of a child peacefully (1 Kings 3: 16-27).
King Solomon re-organized the internal administration of
Israel. He created a new administrative structure and went on to appoint twelve
men as district governors in Israel (1 Kings 4: 1 ff).
King Solomon decentralized his power. He distributed
positions of responsibility to different officials in different departments to
ease the administration of the kingdom (1 Kings 4: 1-7).
King Solomon built a strong army in Israel. He had a
force of 40,000 chariots and 12,000 Calvary horses. These forces helped to
maintain the security and the sovereignty of Israel (1 Kings 4:26).
King Solomon composed three thousand proverbs and more
than a thousand songs using the wisdom God had given him. These were greatly
used to glorify, praise and worship God (1 kings 4:32).
King Solomon built the great Jerusalem temple for the
Lord. Attractive as it was, the temple became a central worshipping and a place
of religious significance for the people of Israel (1 Kings 6: 1 ff).
King Solomon dedicated the Jerusalem temple to the
service of the Lord in a great ceremony. It was on this day that he transferred
the covenant box from the tent where his father, King David placed it into the
temple (1 Kings 8: 1 ff).
King Solomon was a great merchant. He encouraged trade
and commerce in Israel and with the neighbours. He traded with Egypt among
others (1 Kings 10:28-29).
King Solomon strengthened Israel's diplomatic relations
with the neigbhours like Tyre, Ethiopia and Egypt. This promoted peace and
stability within the kingdom and at the borders considering that Israel had for
long been at war with her neighbours (1 Kings 5: 1- 4).
King Solomon rebuilt and reconstructed great cities in
Israel including Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer. This made Israel to become more
beautiful (1 Kings 9: 15-17).
King Solomon developed port facilities. He had a fleet of
ships at Ezion-Geber. This facilitated further trade in Israel (1 Kings
9:26-27).
King Solomon extended he boundaries of the kingdom of
Israel that he even ruled some of the neighbours (1 Kings 4:21-24).
King Solomon exploited the mineral deposits in Israel for
example, there used to be copper mining in the region of Edam (1 Kings 9:28).
King Solomon's wisdom, fame and development attracted
foreign visitors into the kingdom. The Queen of Sheba visited him carrying
along with her a large amount of gold, spices and jewels. This contributed to
King Solomon's wealth (1 Kings 10: 1 ff).
King Solomon was a God fearing person. He kept a good
relationship with the Lord through constant prayer and offering sacrifices (1
Kings 8:22 ff).
Failures
or Weaknesses of King Solomon
King Solomon's reign developed black spots here and there
as it progressed. This made him to lose the goodwill of the Lord, his father,
King David and of the people of Israel who had supported him. In the end King
Solomon sinned greatly against the Lord and against his own people.
King Solomon was involved in murder. It was him who
ordered for the killing of his own brother, Adonijah and Joab, the military
commander who had supported Adonijah as he claimed the throne of kingship (1
Kings 2 :25 and 29 ff).
King Solomon used forced labour to build the temple and
his palace. He drafted 30,000 men as forced labour from all over Israel.
However, this was a slavery condition similar to what their ancestors had
experienced in Egypt but which God hated (1 Kings 5: 13).
King Solomon over taxed the people of Israel in his
effort to raise the funds he needed for the building of the Jerusalem temple,
his palace and to sustain his luxurious life.
King Solomon was an extravagant person. He lived in
luxury that he had to be supplied with five thousand litres of fine flour and
ten well fed cattle among others each day. However, this was a time when the
effects of the famine that had hit the kingdom during the reign of his father,
David were still biting (1 Kings 4:22).
King Solomon gave away twenty towns in the region of
Galilee to King Hiram of Tyre in payment for the building materials he had
supplied. However, this land belonged to the Lord. Therefore, King Solomon's
action was against the law of the land, which had forbidden private ownership
(Kings 9: 1 0-11).
King Solomon led Israel into a huge national debt. He
failed to repay for the building materials King Hiram of Tyre had supplied him
and instead made the burden to fall on the whole nation.
Besides, King Solomon was unfair and unrealistic in his
foreign policies. He had promised to pay whatever King Hiram wanted for
supplying him with building materials but instead, he ended up giving him some
pieces of land, which he did not like (1 Kings 5:6 and 9:10-12).
King Solomon accumulated so much wealth for himself that
he was described as being richer than any other king. He could receive almost
23,000 kilogrammes of gold every year that all his drinking cups were made of
gold. However, the Lord had forbidden the kings of Israel from possessing such
amount of wealth (1 Kings 10: 14 ff and Deuteronomy 17: 16).
King Solomon married foreign wives. He married the
daughter of the King of Egypt and had women from Hittite, Moab and Ammon among
others. However, God had forbidden intermarriage for the people of Israel (1
Kings 11: 1-2).
Besides, King Solomon married many wives. He was a
polygamous man who had 700 princesses and 300 concubines even though the Lord
had forbidden the kings of Israel from this kind of marriage (1 Kings 11:3 and
Deuteronomy 17: 17).
Figure 6: Some King Solomon's wives
King Solomon worshipped foreign gods including Astarte,
the goddess of Sidon and Molech, the disgusting god of Ammon. However, this was
against the monotheistic faith of Israel (1 Kings 11 :4).
King Solomon built places for worshipping foreign gods in
Jerusalem. These were places where his foreign wives could offer sacrifices to
their gods like Chemosh, the disgusting god of Moab (1 Kings 11 :7).
King Solomon worshipped the idols of the gods of his
foreign wives. This showed that he preferred to please-wives to God.
King Solomon disrespected his own father's advice. His
father, King David had instructed him to obey the Lord's commands and serve him
faithfully but instead, he chose to disobey him by dealing with foreign gods.
King Solomon was unrepentant. He continued with his
sinfulness even though the Lord had appeared to him twice and commanded him to
stop worshipping foreign gods (1 Kings 11:9-10).
King Solomon deliberately broke his covenant with God and
went on to disobey all commands. By doing this, King Solomon became unfaithful
to the Lord.
King Solomon discriminated the people of Israel. He
worked mostly with those living in and around Jerusalem.
King Solomon's reign was later characterized with
resistance and opposition. God raised enemies including Hadad from the royal
family of Edom and Jeroboam because of his continued sinfulness. This created
instability within the kingdom (1 Kings 11: 14 ff).
King Solomon's reign witnessed a decline in agriculture.
As he drafted the youth labour force into his building projects, food
production went down and this later led to famine.
Revision
Questions
1.
To what extent was Solomon a great
king in the history of Israel's monarchy?
2.
Assess the greatness of King Solomon
in the history of Israel
3.
“King Solomon was not as wise as he
was considered to be" Discuss