From 1037 B.C. to 997 B.C. Solomon, the last king to rule all the twelve tribes

As mentioned before, one of King David’s sons tried to usurp the throne when it became clear that David was going to die. When the prophet Nathan heard about this, he urged David to make the selection of the son who would be his successor before he died. David followed this advice and in 1037 B.C., Solomon became the third king of Israel. Under Solomon’s reign, the country prospered like never before. The country was wealthy and the neighboring countries had immense respect for Israel. In addition, the territory that the country occupied was larger than ever before. All lands between the river Euphrates and the river Nile belonged to the Israelites.

When Solomon took over the kingship from his father, the first thing he did was trying to get into contact with his God JHWH. He realized how heavy the responsibility was to become the king of such an immense people. In his prayers, he asked God for an obedient heart and for the wisdom necessary to do his work well. JHWH highly appreciated the fact that when accepting the kingship, Solomon did not ask for selfish things like wealth or power or a long life. Therefore, JHWH let Solomon know that He would bless him with great wisdom, great administrative talents, as well as wealth and prosperity.

In one of the first years of his reign, Solomon gave an impressive demonstration of his great God-given wisdom. There were two women who lived together. Both had a little baby of the same age. The babies looked very much alike. One of them died and after that, each woman asserted that the baby who was still alive was hers. This matter was brought before Solomon who already had a great reputation for his wisdom and discernment. He suggested cutting the living child into two pieces and giving one half to each woman. One of the women begged him to spare the child’s life and just give it to the other woman. Solomon knew right away who the real mother was. He gave the baby to the woman who would rather give the living child to the other woman than let it die.

The prosperity and wealth which Israel enjoyed under King Solomon were so great that people from all the neighboring countries came to have a look at Israel and were amazed by the wonderful buildings, the great public facilities, and the high standard of living which were evident everywhere.

In 1034 B.C., Solomon started the construction of a magnificent temple for Israel’s God JHWH. This was exactly 480 years after the Exodus out of Egypt. Large portions of the inner walls were covered with gold. For the innermost room of the temple, the Most Holy, they made two immense images of angels. Each was five meters high. These images were bent over the central spot in the temple: the Ark of the Covenant. All the walls were richly decorated with images of angels, palm trees, and blossoms. The temple was built in a period of seven years and was finished in 1027 B.C.

The inauguration festivities lasted for two whole weeks. As a sacrifice for JHWH, they slaughtered 22,000 cows and 120,000 sheep. The highlight of the festivities was the moment when the Ark of the Covenant, which had been housed in a tent for centuries, got its definitive place in this magnificent temple.

After the inauguration, JHWH let Solomon know that He was very content with His permanent dwelling place in the midst of His people. He would prove to be there for every Israelite who would pray to Him with his face turned towards the temple.

Immediately after the inauguration of the temple, JHWH called upon Solomon and the people to remain loyal and obedient towards their God and their covenant with Him. Obedience and loyalty would be rewarded with wealth and prosperity. If the people would do what they were supposed to do, JHWH would see to it that Solomon’s dynasty and temple would be there for ever.

God also made it very clear what He would do if Solomon’s successors and the people would turn away from Him. He would put an end to Solomon’s dynasty, the people would be annihilated and carried away into exile, and Solomon’s temple would be destroyed.

Besides the temple, Solomon built a second palace for himself and another one for his wife. He also built new towns all over the country. Under his kingship, the country also got a large merchant fleet.

In spite of all this, Solomon’s life had a bad end. Immediately after the people of Israel had entered the Promised Land, JHWH had clearly forbidden marriages between Israelites and the original inhabitants of the country. Solomon ignored this prohibition. He got himself 700 wives and 300 concubines, many of whom were not Israelite women. These non-Israelite wives and concubines worshipped false gods and succeeded in persuading Solomon to follow them in their worship of idols. In the eyes of JHWH, this was the worst of all sins.

In words that could not be misunderstood, JHWH told Solomon that He would punish him very severely. He would be allowed to remain the king of all the twelve tribes of Israel until the day he died. However, his eldest son Rehabeam would only be king of a small portion of the people: two of the twelve tribes. Ten of the twelve tribes would not recognize Rehabeam as their king and they would split off.

In the last years of his life, Solomon was confronted with political problems with nations surrounding Israel. There were also internal political tensions when someone of the tribe of Ephraim, whose name was Jerobeam, started a separatist movement. This would actually lead to the permanent falling apart of the Israelites into two separate nations immediately after Solomon’s death. It became apparent that this rebel Jerobeam was supported by God when the prophet Ahia told him, in the name of JHWH, that he would be the king of 10 of the 12 tribes after Solomon’s death.

Knowing that he would prove to be the last king of the united people of Israel, Solomon died in 997 B.C.

Just like his grandfather and father, Solomon reigned as king of all the 12 tribes for exactly 40 years.

He began his reign as a man who possessed a unique, God-given wisdom. But when he was dying, he must have known that he had become a real failure and he would leave his son only a fraction of the country that he had inherited himself.

But Solomon has given mankind two books which show his immense wisdom in a magnificent way and can produce great benefits for the readers: the Bible books The Songs of Solomon and Ecclesiastes.

(It is very worthwhile to read the life story of the last king of Israel who still ruled all the twelve tribes in the Bible itself. It is to be found in the first 11 chapters of 1 Kings.)