| Reign | 971 – 931 BCE |
|---|---|
| Born | unknown |
| Died | c.931 BCE |
| Place of death | Jerusalem |
| Predecessor | David |
| Successor | Rehoboam |
| Consort | Naamah, pharaoh’s daughter, 699 other wives |
| Offspring | Rehoboam |
| Royal House | House of David |
| Father | David |
| Mother | Bathsheba |
Family
Solomon’s father was David of Bethlehem, the son of Jesse. Solomon’s mother was Bathsheba who, before David, had been married to Uriah the Hittite. Solomon’s siblings were Absalom, who was killed in the Battle of Ephraim Wood, Amnon, who was killed by order of Absalom for raping Tamar, (2 Samuel 13:1-29) and Adonijah, who was put to death (1 Kings 2:13-25).
David, before he died, had given Solomon a charge regarding his own actions as a man, and regarding his attitude toward several of the influential personages about the king’s court. As soon as Solomon had become established over the kingdom, Adonijah, through Bathsheba, the queen-mother, asked the king for Abishag the Shunammite as a wife. This request was equivalent to asking for coregency, and Solomon so regarded it, for he quickly sent Benaiah to slay Adonijah. Abiathar, formerly David’s trusted priest, who had conspired with Adonijah, was sent to the priest-city Anathoth, to his own fields, and deprived of his priestly office. Joab, learning the fate of Adonijah and Abiathar, fled to the altar for refuge; but Solomon commissioned the same executioner, Benaiah, to slay him there. Shimei, who had cursed David, was also in the list of suspects. He was given explicit orders to remain in Jerusalem, where his movements could be under surveillance. But on the escape of two of his servants to Philistia he left Jerusalem to capture them; and on his return he, too, fell under the sword of the bloody Benaiah. This completed the destruction of the characters whose presence about the court was likely to be a perpetual menace to the life of Solomon.
No sooner had the king thoroughly organized and set in motion his civil and military machinery than he planned to carry out the desires of David by building a temple to Yhwh. In doing this he utilized his father’s friendship with Hiram of Tyre to secure from the latter an agreement to supply cedar from Lebanon for use in the building. He levied also upon his own people and sent, in courses, 150,000 men to Lebanon to cut and hew the timber. Stones were cut for the buildings to be constructed, and the timber was floated in rafts to Joppa and transferred to Jerusalem. Stones and timber were put together noiselessly. Seven years of work completed the Temple, and thirteen years the king’s palace. The best and most skilled workmen were Phenicians. Their artistic taste was exercised both on the buildings and on the vessels with which they were furnished (I Kings vii. 13 et seq.). In addition to completing these two chief structures, Solomon enhanced in other ways the architectural beauty of the city.
Solomon’s foreign alliances formed the basis for foreign commercial relations. From the Egyptians he bought chariots and horses, which he sold to the Hittites and other peoples of the North. With the Phenicians he united in maritime commerce, sending out a fleet once in three years from Ezion-geber, at the head of the Gulf of Akaba, to Ophir, presumably on the eastern coast of the Arabian peninsula. From this distant port, and others on the way, he derived fabulous amounts of gold and tropical products. These revenues gave him almost unlimited means for increasing the glory of his capital city and palace, and for the perfection of his civil and military organizations.
Solomon’s wisdom seems to have been as resplendent as his power and glory. His tact in dealing with his subjects and his acquaintance with all that was known in that day regarding trees, fruits, flowers, beasts, fishes, and birds gave him great renown. His genius in composing proverbs and songs was known far beyond the bounds of his own kingdom. His wisdom was said to have surpassed that of the children of the East and all the wisdom of Egypt. He was wiser than Ethan the Ezrahite, and Heman,and Chalcol, and Darda, the sons of Mahol (I Kings iv. 30, 31). People came from all parts to see the wisest man in the world. The Queen of Sheba traveled with a train of attendants, carrying much wealth, from southwestern Arabia, about 1,500 miles distant, to test the wisdom of Israel’s ruler.
Solomon’s interview with the Queen of Sheba and the events leading up to it are narrated in great detail, as befitting their importance in the history of Islam. Solomon in a dream is advised by Abraham (according to some, after the building of the Temple) to undertake a pilgrimage to Mecca. After completing this he proceeds to Yemen, being carried by the winds through the air on a green silk carpet, upon which are assembled men, beasts, and devils, while birds fly overhead in close ranks, so as to form a canopy. On the journey Solomon notices the absence of the hoopoe, or lapwing (Arabic “hudhud”), and threatens it with dire punishment. When the bird returns it appeases the king’s anger by reporting the wonderful things it has beheld, telling of Queen Bilkis, her marvelous history and beauty, and of her kingdom. Solomon at once despatches the bird with a letter to Bilkis, bidding her embrace the faith or prepare to be conquered by his hosts. She devises various plans to test his reputed knowledge, but finally, being satisfied that he is all that is claimed for him and more, submits herself with her kingdom to Solomon. An account of the splendor of the reception accorded Bilkis by Solomon and of the puzzles and riddles which she propounded and he solved may be found in sura xxvii. 15-45 and the commentaries on that passage (Baiḍawi and Zamakhshari), in Ṭabari, i. 576-586, and elsewhere.
Apocryphal texts
Rabbinical tradition attributes the Wisdom of Solomon to Solomon although this book was probably written in the 2nd century BCE. In this work Solomon is portrayed as an astronomer. Other books of wisdom poetry such as the Odes of Solomon and the Psalms of Solomon also bear his name. The Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BCE, included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre.
The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st or 2nd century, refers to a legend in which Solomon sends out an army of demons to seek a virgin who had fled from him, perhaps the earliest surviving mention of the later common tale that Solomon controlled demons and made them his slaves. This tradition of Solomon’s control over demons appears fully elaborated in the early Gnostic work called the “Testament of Solomon” with its elaborate and grotesque demonology.
Solomon’s superiority to David is shown in his judgments. While still a child he renders decisions reversing those previously given by his father, as in the famous case, related in the Old Testament, of the two women claiming the one child. In the Arabic tradition a wolf has carried away the child of one of the women, both of whom claim a surviving child. David decides in favor of the elder woman, but Solomon starts to divide the child with a knife, whereupon the younger woman protests andreceives the child (Bokhari, “Recueil des Traditions Mahometanes,” ii. 364, Leyden, 1864). So in the decision regarding the sheep which has devastated a field (sura xxi. 78, 79; Baiḍawi, i. 621; Ṭabari, l.c. i. 573), and in the judgment concerning the treasure discovered in a field after it has been sold, and which is claimed by both buyer and seller (Weil, “Biblical Legends of the Mussulmans,” p. 192), Solomon’s opinion is held to be superior to David’s. When the judges of the realm objected to having one so young interfere in their counsels, David proposed that Solomon be examined publicly before a tribunal of lawyers. This was done, whereupon Solomon not only answered all questions as soon as they were put, but confounded his judges by asking them questions which they could not answer (Weil, l.c. pp. 193-196).
In Arabic tradition, unlike the Biblical and later Jewish, Solomon is a great warrior. Various warlike expeditions of his are mentioned, and it was the daughter of the conquered King of Sidon who introduced idolatry into his house. His love for horses led him to forget at one time the afternoon prayer (sura xxxviii. 30-31): he had become so much interested in inspecting a thousand horses drawn up before him that the time for prayer passed unnoticed; in repentance therefor he killed the horses. On another occasion he boasted that seventy wives would bear him seventy sons, every one of whom would be a warrior. Unfortunately he forgot to add “if God will,” in consequence of which he had only one son, who was misshapen and unfit to be a soldier (Bokhari, l.c. ii. 364; Baiḍawi, ii. 187).
The United Kingdom of Solomon breaks up, with Jeroboam ruling over the Northern Kingdom of Israel (in green on the map) and Rehoboam ruling Judah to the south.
Solomon died at the age of fifty-three, having reigned forty years. As the building of the Temple was not finished at his death and he was afraid that the jinn would not continue to work thereon if he were not there to command them, the angel of death took his soul while he was leaning upon his staff, praying. His body remained in that position a year, until the jinn had finished the Temple, when a worm that had been gnawing at the staff caused it to crumble to pieces; Solomon’s body fell, and the jinn discovered that he was dead. It is said that Solomon collected the books of magic that were scattered throughout his realm, and locked them in a box, which he put under his throne to prevent their being used. After his death the jinn, so as to make people believe that Solomon had been a sorcerer, declared that these books had been used by him; many believed the statement to be true, but the accusation was a malicious falsehood.
Solomon’s sins
1 Kings 11 describes Solomon’s descent into idolatry particularly his turning after Ashtoreth the goddess of the Sidonians, and after Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. Further, “[i]n Deuteronomy 17, the Lord commands kings not to multiply horses, wives or gold. Solomon sins in all three of these areas. Solomon collects 666 talents of gold each year, a huge amount of money for a small nation like Israel. Solomon gathers a large number of horses and chariots and even brings in horses from Egypt. Just as Deuteronomy 17 warns, collecting horses and chariots takes Israel back to Egypt. Finally, Solomon, like the sons of God in Genesis 6, marries foreign women, and these women turn Solomon to other gods…Because of his sin, the Lord punishes Solomon by tearing the kingdom in two.”
The book of Kings goes on to state:
And the Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from the Lord, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice and had commanded him concerning this thing, that he should not go after other gods. But he did not keep what the LORD commanded. Therefore the Lord said to Solomon, “Since this has been your practice and you have not kept my covenant and my statutes that I have commanded you, I will surely tear the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant. Yet for the sake of David your father I will not do it in your days, but I will tear it out of the hand of your son. However, I will not tear away all the kingdom, but I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David my servant and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen.”
Marriages
According to 1 Kings 11:3 Solomon had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines. The wives are described as foreign princesses, including Pharaoh’s daughter and women of Moab, Ammon, Sidon and of the Hittites. These wives are depicted as leading Solomon astray. According to 1 Kings 11:4 “his wives turned his heart after other gods”, their own national deities, to whom Solomon built temples, thus incurring divine anger and retribution in the form of the division of the kingdom after Solomon’s death (1 Kings 11).
The Lost book
The Bible rhetorically asks in 1 Kings 11:41: “the rest of the acts of Solomon, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?”
Apocryphal texts
Rabbinical tradition attributes the Wisdom of Solomon to Solomon although this book was probably written in the 2nd century BCE. In this work Solomon is portrayed as an astronomer. Other books of wisdom poetry such as the Odes of Solomon and the Psalms of Solomon also bear his name. The Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BCE, included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre.
The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st or 2nd century, refers to a legend in which Solomon sends out an army of demons to seek a virgin who had fled from him, perhaps the earliest surviving mention of the later common tale that Solomon controlled demons and made them his slaves. This tradition of Solomon’s control over demons appears fully elaborated in the early Gnostic work called the “Testament of Solomon” with its elaborate and grotesque demonology
Religions and Solomon
Christianity has traditionally accepted the historical existence of Solomon, though some modern Christian scholars have also questioned at least his authorship of those biblical texts ascribed to him. Such disputes tend to divide Christians into traditionalist and modernist camps.
Of the two Genealogies of Jesus given in the Gospels, Matthew mentions Solomon, but Luke does not. Jesus mentions Solomon twice. The first reference is the famous simile of Matthew 6:28-29 and Luke 12:27, in which Jesus compares the lilies of the field with “Solomon in his glory”. In the second reference Jesus alludes to the Queen of Sheba’s visit to the court of David (Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31). Saint Stephen, in his testimony before the Sanhedrin, mentions Solomon’s construction of the Temple (Acts 7:47).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Solomon is commemorated as a saint, with the title of “Righteous Prophet and King”. His feast day is celebrated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord).
The staunchly Catholic King Philip II of Spain sought to model himself after King Solomon. Statues of David and Solomon stand on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial, Philip’s palace, and Solomon is also depicted in a great fresco at the center of El Escorial’s library. Philip identified the warrior-king David with his own father Charles V, and himself sought to emulate the thoughtful and logical character which he perceived in Solomon. Moreover, Escorial’s structure was inspired by that of Solomon’s Temple .
Christianity
Christianity has traditionally accepted the historical existence of Solomon, though some modern Christian scholars have also questioned at least his authorship of those biblical texts ascribed to him. Such disputes tend to divide Christians into traditionalist and modernist camps.
Of the two Genealogies of Jesus given in the
Gospels, Matthew mentions Solomon, but Luke does not. Jesus mentions Solomon twice. The first reference is the famous simile of Matthew 6:28-29 and Luke 12:27, in which Jesus compares the lilies of the field with “Solomon in his glory”. In the second reference Jesus alludes to the Queen of Sheba’s visit to the court of David (Matthew 12:42, Luke 11:31). Saint Stephen, in his testimony before the Sanhedrin, mentions Solomon’s construction of the Temple (Acts 7:47).
In the Eastern Orthodox Church, Solomon is commemorated as a saint, with the title of “Righteous Prophet and King”. His feast day is celebrated on the Sunday of the Holy Forefathers (two Sundays before the Great Feast of the Nativity of the Lord).
The staunchly Catholic King Philip II of Spain sought to model himself after King Solomon. Statues of David and Solomon stand on either side of the entrance to the basilica of El Escorial, Philip’s palace, and Solomon is also depicted in a great fresco at the center of El Escorial’s library. Philip identified the warrior-king David with his own father Charles V, and himself sought to emulate the thoughtful and logical character which he perceived in Solomon. Moreover, Escorial’s structure was inspired by that of Solomon’s Temple .
Islam
- Main article Islamic view of Solomon
- See also Biblical narratives and the Qur’an
Solomon also appears in the Qur’an, where he is called سليمان in Arabic, which is transliterated in English variously as Sulayman, Suleiman, Sulaimaan etc. The Qur’an refers to Sulayman as the son of David (Arabic: Dawud), a prophet and a great ruler imparted by God with tremendous wisdom, favor, and special powers (like his father). The Qur’an states that Sulayman ruled not only people, but also hosts of Jinn, was able to understand the language of the birds and ants, and to see some of the hidden glory in the world that was not accessible to most other human beings. Ruling a large kingdom that extended south into Yemen, he was famed throughout the lands for his wisdom and fair judgments.
And they followed what the Shaitans chanted of sorcery in the reign of Sulaiman, and Sulaiman was not an unbeliever, but the Shaitans disbelieved, they taught men sorcery and that was sent down to the two angels at Babel, Harut and Marut, yet these two taught no man until they had said, “Surely we are only a trial, therefore do not be a disbeliever.” Even then men learned from these two magic, by which they might cause a separation between a man and his wife; and they cannot hurt with it any one except with Allah’s permission, and they learned what harmed them and did not profit them, and certainly they know that he who bought it should have no share of good in the hereafter and evil was the price for which they sold their souls, had they but known this. (Holy Quran, chapter 2.102)
Solomon is said to have been given control over various things, such as the wind, and transportation. Thus the Qur’an says,
And to Solomon (We subjected) the wind, its morning (stride from sunrise till midnoon) was a month’s (journey), and its afternoon (stride from the midday decline of the sun to sunset) was a month’s (journey i.e. in one day he could travel two months’ journey). And We caused a fount of (molten) brass to flow for him, and there were jinn that worked in front of him, by the Leave of his Lord, And whosoever of them turned aside from Our Command, We shall cause him to taste of the torment of the blazing Fire. Quran 34:12
And before Sulayman were marshaled his hosts,- of Jinns and men and birds, and they were all kept in order and ranks. Quran 27:17
And Solomon, accordingly grateful of God, says
“O ye people! We have been taught the speech of birds, and on us has been bestowed from everything: this is indeed the Grace manifest (from God).” Quran 27:16
Fictional accounts and legends
A well-known story in the One Thousand and One Nights describes a genie who had displeased King Solomon and was punished by being locked in a bottle and thrown into the sea. Since the bottle was sealed with Solomon’s seal, the genie was helpless to free himself, until freed many centuries later by a fisherman who discovered the bottle.
Demons and magic
According to the Rabbinical literature, on account of his modest request for wisdom only, Solomon was rewarded with riches and an unprecedentedly glorious realm, which extended over the upper world inhabited by the angels and over the whole of the terrestrial globe with all its inhabitants, including all the beasts, fowls, and reptiles, as well as the demons and spirits. His control over the demons, spirits, and animals augmented his splendor, the demons bringing him precious stones, besides water from distant countries to irrigate his exotic plants. The beasts and fowls of their own accord entered the kitchen of Solomon’s palace, so that they might be used as food for him, and extravagant meals for him were prepared daily by each of his 700 wives and 300 concubines, with the thought that perhaps the king would feast that day in her house.
A magic ring called the “Seal of Solomon” was supposedly given to Solomon, and gave him power over demons. The magical symbol said to have been on the Seal of Solomon which made it work is now better known as the Star of David. Asmodeus, king of demons, was one day, according to the classical Rabbis, captured by Benaiah using the ring, and was forced to remain in Solomon’s service. In one tale, Asmodeus brought a man with two heads from under the earth to show Solomon; the man, unable to return, married a woman from Jerusalem and had seven sons, six of whom resembled the mother, while one resembled the father in having two heads. After their father’s death, the son with two heads claimed two shares of the inheritance, arguing that he was two men; Solomon, owing to his huge wisdom, decided that the son with two heads was only one man.
The Seal of Solomon, in some legends known as the Ring of Aandaleeb, was a highly sought after symbol of power. In several legends, different groups or individuals attempted to steal it or attain it in some manner.
One legend concerning Asmodeus goes on to state that Solomon one day asked Asmodeus what could make demons powerful over man, and Asmodeus asked to be freed and given the ring so that he could demonstrate; Solomon agreed but Asmodeus threw the ring into the sea and it was swallowed by a fish. Asmodeus then swallowed the king, stood up fully with one wing touching heaven and the other earth, and spat out Solomon to a distance of 400 miles. The Rabbis claim this was a divine punishment for Solomon having failed to follow three divine commands, and Solomon was forced to wander from city to city, until he eventually arrived in an Ammonite city where he was forced to work in the king’s kitchens. Solomon gained a chance to prepare a meal for the Ammonite king, which the king found so impressive that the previous cook was sacked and Solomon put in his place; the king’s daughter, Naamah, subsequently fell in love with Solomon, but the family (thinking Solomon a commoner) disapproved, so the king decided to kill them both by sending them into the desert. Solomon and the king’s daughter wandered the desert until they reached a coastal city, where they bought a fish to eat, which just happened to be the one which had swallowed the magic ring. Solomon was then able to regain his throne and expel Asmodeus. (The element of a ring thrown into the sea and found back in a fish’s belly earlier appeared in Herodotus‘ account of Polycrates of Samos).
In another familiar version of the legend of the Seal of Solomon, Asmeodeus disguises himself. In some myths, he’s disguised as King Solomon himself, while in more frequently heard versions he’s disguised as a falcon, calling himself Gavyn (Gavinn or Gavin), one of King Solomon’s trusted friends. The concealed Asmeodeus tells travelers who have ventured up to King Solomon’s grand lofty palace that the Seal of Solomon was thrown into the sea. He then convinces them to plunge in and attempt to retrieve it, for if they do they would take the throne as king.
Other magical items attributed to Solomon are his key and his Table. The latter was said to be held in Toledo, Spain during the Visigothic rule and was part of the loot taken by Tarik ibn Ziyad during the Umayyad Conquest of Iberia, according to Ibn Abd-el-Hakem’s History of the Conquest of Spain. The former appears in the title of the Lesser Key of Solomon, a grimoire whose framing tale is Solomon capturing demons using his ring, and forcing them to explain themselves to him.
Demons also help out Solomon in building the Temple; though not by choice. The edifice was, according to rabbinical legend, throughout miraculously constructed, the large, heavy stones rising to and settling in their respective places of themselves. The general opinion of the Rabbis is that Solomon hewed the stones by means of a shamir, a mythical worm whose mere touch cleft rocks. According to Midrash Tehillim, the shamir was brought from paradise by Solomon’s eagle; but most of the rabbis state that Solomon was informed of the worm’s haunts by Asmodeus. The shamir had been entrusted by the prince of the sea to the mountain cock alone, and the cock had sworn to guard it well, but Solomon’s men found the bird’s nest, and covered it with glass. When the bird returned, it used the shamir to break the glass, whereupon the men scared the bird, causing it to drop the worm, which the men could then bring to Solomon.
Early adherents of the Kabbalah portray Solomon as having sailed through the air on a throne of light placed on an eagle, which brought him near the heavenly gates as well as to the dark mountains behind which the fallen angels Uzza and Azzael were chained; the eagle would rest on the chains, and Solomon, using the magic ring, would compel the two angels to reveal every mystery he desired to know. Solomon is also portrayed as forcing demons to take Solomon’s friends, including Hiram, on day return trips to hell.
Other forms of Solomon legend describe Solomon as having had a flying carpet that was 60 miles square, and could travel so fast that it could get from Damascus to Medina within a day. One day, due to Solomon exhibiting pride, the wind shook the carpet and caused 40,000 men to fall from it; Solomon on being told by the wind why this had happened, felt ashamed. Another day Solomon was flying over an ant-infested valley and overheard an ant warning its fellow ants to hide lest Solomon destroy them; Solomon desired to ask the ant a question, but was told it was not becoming for the interrogator to be above and the interrogated below. Solomon then lifted the ant above the valley, but the ant said it was not fitting that Solomon should sit on a throne while the ant remained on the ground, so Solomon placed the ant upon his hand, and asked it whether there was any one in the world greater than he. The ant replied that she was much greater as otherwise God would not have sent him there to place it upon his hand; this offended Solomon and he threw the ant down reminding it who he was, but the ant told him that it knew Solomon was created from a corrupted drop, causing Solomon to feel ashamed.
According to one legend, while magically traveling Solomon noticed a magnificent palace to which there appeared to be no entrance. He ordered the demons to climb to the roof and see if they could discover any living being within the building but the demons only found an eagle, which said that it was 700 years old, but that it had never seen an entrance. An elder brother of the eagle, 900 years old, was then found, but it also did not know the entrance. The eldest brother of these two birds, which was 1,300 years old, then declared it had been informed by its father that the door was on the west side, but that it had become hidden by sand drifted by the wind. Having discovered the entrance, Solomon found an idol inside that had in its mouth a silver tablet saying in Greek (a language not thought by modern scholars to have existed 1000 years before the time of Solomon) that the statue was of Shaddad, the son of ‘Ad, and that it had reigned over a million cities, rode on a million horses, had under it a million vassals, and slew a million warriors, yet it could not resist the angel of death.
Throne
Solomon’s throne is described at length in Targum Sheni, which is compiled from three different sources, and in two later midrash. According to these, there were on the steps of the throne twelve golden lions, each facing a golden eagle. There were six steps to the throne, on which animals, all of gold, were arranged in the following order: on the first step a lion opposite an ox; on the second, a wolf opposite a sheep; on the third, a tiger opposite a camel; on the fourth, an eagle opposite a peacock, on the fifth, a cat opposite a cock; on the sixth, a sparrow-hawk opposite a dove. On the top of the throne was a dove holding a sparrow-hawk in its claws, symbolizing the dominion of Israel over the Gentiles. The first midrash claims that six steps were constructed because Solomon foresaw that six kings would sit on the throne, namely, Solomon, Rehoboam, Hezekiah, Manasseh, Amon, and Josiah. There was also on the top of the throne a golden candelabrum, on the seven branches of the one side of which were engraved the names of the seven patriarchs Adam, Noah, Shem, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job, and on the seven of the other the names of Levi, Kohath, Amram, Moses, Aaron, Eldad, Medad, and, in addition, Hur (another version has Haggai). Above the candelabrum was a golden jar filled with olive-oil and beneath it a golden basin which supplied the jar with oil and on which the names of Nadab, Abihu, and Eli and his two sons were engraved. Over the throne, twenty-four vines were fixed to cast a shadow on the king’s head.
By a mechanical contrivance the throne followed Solomon wherever he wished to go. Supposedly, due to another mechanical trick, when the king reached the first step, the ox stretched forth its leg, on which Solomon leaned, a similar action taking place in the case of the animals on each of the six steps. From the sixth step the eagles raised the king and placed him in his seat, near which a golden serpent lay coiled. When the king was seated the large eagle placed the crown on his head, the serpent uncoiled itself, and the lions and eagles moved upward to form a shade over him. The dove then descended, took the scroll of the Law from the Ark, and placed it on Solomon’s knees. When the king sat, surrounded by the Sanhedrin, to judge the people, the wheels began to turn, and the beasts and fowls began to utter their respective cries, which frightened those who had intended to bear false testimony. Moreover, while Solomon was ascending the throne, the lions scattered all kinds of fragrant spices. After Solomon’s death King Shishak, when taking away the treasures of the Temple (comp. I Kings xiv. 26), carried off the throne, which remained in Egypt till Sennacherib conquered that country. After Sennacherib’s fall Hezekiah gained possession of it, but when Josiah was slain by Pharaoh Necho the latter took it away. However, according to rabbinical accounts, Necho did not know how the mechanism worked and so accidentally struck himself with one of the lions causing him to become lame; Nebuchadnezzar, into whose possession the throne subsequently came, shared a similar fate. The throne then passed to the Persians, who their king Darius was the first to sit successfully on Solomon’s throne since his death, and after that the throne passed into the possession of the Greeks and Ahasuerus.
Seal of Solomon
In legend
In one of the Arabian Nights’ Entertainments, an evil jinn is described as being imprisoned in a copper bottle for 1,800 years by a lead seal stamped by the ring. Other, later books (Pseudomonarchia Daemonum) manage to fit far more demons in the bottle.
One simple form of the SealIn some versions of the story, the ring was made of brass and iron, carved with the Name of God, and set with four jewels. In later versions the ring simply bore the symbol now called the Star of David (hexagram), often within a circle, usually with the two triangles interlaced (hence chiral) rather than intersecting. Often the gaps are filled with dots or other symbols. Other versions have it as a pentagram or other more complicated figures. Works on demonology typically depict the pattern of the seal as being two concentric circles, with a number of mystical sigils between the inner and outer circles, and various more-or-less complex geometric shapes within the inner circle.
In one Arabic story it is claimed that the demon Sakhr deceived one of Solomon’s sisters into giving him the ring. Sakhr then ruled in his stead for forty days (or years, in some versions) while Solomon wandered the country in poverty. However eventually Sakhr threw the ring into the sea, where it was swallowed by a fish, caught by a fisherman, and served to Solomon. As punishment Sakhr was made to build a great mosque for Solomon.
Janik Pilet in his “Le Sceau de Salomon, secret perdu de la Bible” (The Seal of Solomon, lost key of the Bible) proposes that the six pointed star was a picture used by some authors of the Bible.
Testament of Solomon
The Testament of Solomon is an Old Testament pseudepigraphical work, purportedly written by King Solomon, in which Solomon mostly describes particular demons whom he enslaved to help build the temple, the questions he put to them about their deeds and how they could be thwarted, and their answers, which provide a kind of self-help manual against demonic activity.
Solomonic column
Etymology and origin
The concept of “Solomonic columns” is derived from the biblical descriptions of the two columns, Boaz and Jachin, which famously flanked the entrance to the Temple of Solomon in Jerusalem, destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 BCE. What those columns actually looked like largely depends on the cultural context and imagination of the one who is working up a “restoration”, from hints in the Books of Chronicles and Kings.
History
Despite the text’s claim to have been a first-hand account of King Solomon’s construction of the Temple of Jerusalem, its original publication dates sometime between the first and fifth century AD, over a thousand years after King Solomon’s death and the temple’s completion.
The real author or authors of the text remain unknown. The text was originally written in Greek and contains numerous theological and magical themes ranging from Christianity and Judaism to Greek mythology and Astrology that hint at possibly a Christian writer with a Greek background.
Content
When a demon named Ornias harasses a young lad (who is favored by Solomon) by stealing half his pay and sucking out his vitality through the lad’s thumb, Solomon prays in the temple and receives from the archangel Michael a ring with a seal on it which will enable him to command the demons (c.f. Seal of Solomon). Solomon lends the ring to the lad who, by throwing the ring at the demon Ornias, stamps him with the seal and brings him under control. Then Solomon orders the demon Ornias to take the ring and similarly imprint the prince of demons who is Beelzeboul/Beelzebul.
With Beelzebul under his command Solomon now has the entire race of demons at his bidding to build the temple. Beelzebul reveals he was formerly the highest ranking angel and so equates to Satan, a name that does not appear in this work.
In Chapter 18 the demons of the 36 decans appear with names that sometimes seem to be conscious distortions of the traditional names for the decans and claim responsibility mostly for various ailments and pains. They provide the magical formulae by which they may be banished. For example, the thirty-third demon is Rhyx Phtheneoth who causes sore throat and tonsilitis and can be driven off by writing the word Leikourgos on ivy leaves and heaping them into a pile.
Solomon’s final demon encounter involves sending a servant boy with his ring to take captive a wind demon who is harassing the land of Arabia. The boy is to hold a wineskin against the wind with the ring in front of it, and then tie up the bag when it is full. The boy succeeds in his task and returns with the wineskin. The imprisoned demon calls himself Ephippas and it is by his power that a corner stone, thought to be too large to lift, is raised into the entrance of the temple.
Then Ephippas and another demon from the Red Sea bring a miraculous column made of something purple (translation obscure) from out of the Red Sea. This Red Sea demon reveals himself as Amelouith who claimed to be the demon who supported the Egyptian magicians against Moses and who hardened Pharaoh’s heart but had been caught with the Egyptian host when the sea returned and held down by this pillar until Ephippas came and together they could lift it.
There follows a short conclusion in which Solomon describes how he fell in love with a Shunammite woman and agreed to worship Rephan and Moloch.[2] Solomon agrees to sacrifice to them, but only sacrifices the blood of locusts considering that to be nothing. But the spirit of God departs from him.
Along with the negative presentation she is given in the Bible, the Testament of Solomon presents the Queen of Sheba as a witch, indicating that the author had an awareness of Jewish tradition, which had argued the same.
udeo-Christian Themes
The appearance of the archangel Michael is the first example of the Judeo-Christian theme surrounding the text.
Perhaps the most intriguing Judeo-Chritian theme found inside the text was during King Solomon’s encounter with the demon Ephippas. While working on the temple, Ephippas is asked by Solomon why he is frustrated. The demon replies that he is concerned over the only thing that can truly take away his powers and defeat him. It was going to be a man born of a virgin who will be crucified on a cross by the Jews. The “prediction” that Ephippas makes is actually one of the primary indicators that the text was written in the New Testament Era.
Greek Mythology
The Testament of Solomon, along with its Judeo-Christian theme, infuses Greek and other mythological elements into its work.
The most obvious of Greek influence is Solomon’s encounter with seven demons who are sisters. They introduce themselves to the King and describe their home amongst the stars and Mount Olympus. The seven demon-sisters represent the Pleides of Greek Mythology and as well as their astrological relationship.
Solomon also encounters a woman demon who has no limbs and a head with full of dishevelled hair. It is argued that she actually represents Medusa or a gorgon-like creature from Greek mythology.
The demon Enepsigos recounts to King Solomon at one point during the temple’s construction that he can take the shape of three different physical forms, one of which being the Greek mythological god of time, Kronos.
Demons
Many of the demons in Solomon’s encounters are of Greek, Jewish, Christian, Arabic, and other tradtions. The Testament is a primary account of how religion, magic, and legends all are intertwined with each other particularly during the first to fifth centrury C.E. in an around the Mediterranean region. Most of the rest of the work contains Solomon’s interviews with the demons, some of whom are quite grotesque, including one in the shape of a dog and another who has no head and sees through its breasts. Two demons associated strongly with sexuality appear amongst them – Asmodeus from the Book of Tobit, and a female demon named Obyzouth, identical to Lilith in all but name, including the strangling of newborn children. Most of the other demons are otherwise unknown by name from other works, even though this does not seem to be new lore but a bundling of various bits of demon-lore from mixed sources.
External links
- A collection of King Solomon links on the web
- Wars of King Solomon The Wars of King Solomon: Summaries and Studies: www.warsofisrael.com
- Jewish Encyclopedia (1901-1905)
- Catholic Encyclopedia: Solomon entry by Gabriel Oussani (1913)
- Solomon at the Internet Movie Database Animated depiction of the life of Solomon
- Solomon at the Internet Movie Database Artistic movie about the rise and the reign of King Solomon
