The Sins of Solomon

The story of Solomon always captures the imagination. His wisdom and wealth are proverbial. However, when we read the story in the Bible, the story ends on a sad note. At the end of his life, he was seduced into serving idols. And so the great kingdom of Israel came to an end. The kingdom disintegrated into a 10-tribe kingdom and a 2-tribe kingdom. Yet, the story is more nuanced. Solomon was not only unfaithful at the end of his life, but he had already broken God's commandments long before that.

In the Old Testament, part of history is recounted twice. We have the accounts of 1 and 2 Samuel and 1 and 2 Kings, and the accounts of 1 and 2 Chronicles. Although there appears to be some overlap, the emphases are clearly different. Samuel/Kings specifically aims to clarify how the nation came to be taken into exile. The key text is 2 Kings 17:7-23, which begins: “All this happened because the Israelites sinned against the LORD their God, who had delivered them from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt and brought them out of Egypt. They worshipped other gods and followed the ways of the nations the LORD had driven out before them, and the laws that the kings of Israel had issued.” Chronicles places much more emphasis on the continuous relationship between God and His people; The line of Israel to David, the two-tribe kingdom, the return of the remnant from exile, and the rebuilding of Jerusalem. Therefore, Chronicles begins with genealogies, and after Solomon, the history of the two-tribe kingdom is presented, not the history of the 10-tribe kingdom.
Especially when we read Solomon's story in Kings, it quickly becomes clear that Solomon's sins were not limited to idolatry at the end of his life. Solomon's life is explicitly compared to God's law as we read in Deut. 17:14-17: "When you enter the land the LORD your God is giving you and possess it and settle in it, you may say, 'Let us set a king over you like the nations around us.' You may set over yourselves a king whom the LORD your God chooses. But he must not be a foreigner or a foreigner. He must not keep horses, lest he send his people back to Egypt to enlarge his stables, contrary to the LORD's warning that we must never go back that way again." Nor is it lawful for the king to have many wives, for that might lead him to idolatry. Furthermore, he must not accumulate silver and gold.
As early as 1 Kings 5, we read about Solomon's extreme wealth. And when we read about the construction of the palace in 1 Kings 7, we openly encounter the criticism: Solomon took considerably longer to build his own house than to build the temple, the house of God. Specifically, 13 years compared to 7 years. The description of Solomon's wealth is much more extensive in Kings than in Chronicles. The reason is clear; the writer of Kings wanted to show how much Solomon was hoarding silver and gold, contrary to the Lord's command. The collaboration with Hiram for the construction of the temple (1 Kings 5) continues to import wealth for the king (1 Kings 10:11,22). And the wisdom Solomon gained "to discern between good and evil" suddenly appears to have become a source of income for Solomon (1 Kings 10:24-25). Solomon was to be given wisdom such as no one before or after him would possess (1 Kings 3:12), but later we read that Solomon received from the Queen of Sheba a quantity of spices such as had never been seen since (1 Kings 10:11), used sandalwood of a quality never seen again (1 Kings 10:12), and built a throne such as had never been made since (1 Kings 10:20). The pun is obvious.
The second point is keeping horses. We read in 1 Kings 5 that Solomon had a large number of horses and horsemen. This, too, is against God's commandment. He had freed His people from Egypt and did not want them to return to Egypt. To acquire horses, they had to go to Egypt, and we indeed read that Solomon obtained his horses from there. For example, we read in 1 Kings 10:29: "A chariot in Egypt cost six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse one hundred and fifty."
And—thirdly—the large harem of 700 wives and 300 concubines also does not fit the image of the king given in Deuteronomy 17. Moreover, it was forbidden for any Israelite to have relations with foreign women: "Do not form marriage alliances with them; do not give your daughter to any of their sons, and do not take a wife from them for your own son. For they will entice your children to be unfaithful to the LORD and to serve other gods." ‘If you do this, you will incur his wrath, and you will pay for it with your life’ (Deut. 7:3-4; see also Ex. 34:16). And it is this warning that the writer of 1 Kings cites in describing Solomon’s harem.
Fourthly, I want to point out a point that is less obvious at first, but is clear to the attentive reader. The people were not allowed to take possession of the territory of the Edomites, who lived in Seir, because they were descendants of Esau (Deut. 2:4; 23:7). The same applies to the territory of the Moabites and Ammonites (Deut. 2:9 and 18-19). These peoples were, after all, descendants of Lot. Nevertheless, these peoples were conquered. Edom was conquered by David (2 Sam. 8:14), as were Moab (2 Sam. 8:2) and Ammon (2 Sam. 12:31). These peoples also remained subjugated under Solomon. Solomon also took wives from these peoples (1 Kings 11:1) and served their gods (1 Kings 11:5, 7). After Solomon, we regularly read about Israel's wars against Edom, Moab, and Ammon. When these three nations unite against Jehoshaphat, Jehoshaphat refers to the fact that God had not permitted them to be destroyed at the time (2 Chron. 20:10). The strong impression is given that Solomon had also overstepped the bounds of his land (like David), but a clear condemnation of this is lacking.

Solomon's actions reveal not only a lack of faithfulness to God's commandments but also a lack of trust in God's promises. When Solomon is asked by God what he desires, and Solomon asks for wisdom, God answers him: "Because you have asked for this, and have not asked for long life for yourself; because you have not asked for riches for yourself, nor for the death of your enemies, but have asked for understanding for yourself, that you may hear judgment; behold, I will do according to your words: Behold, I will give you a wise and understanding heart, so that none has been like you before you, nor shall any like you arise after you. And even what you have not asked for, I will give you: both riches and honor, so that among the kings there shall be none like you all the days of your life" (1 Kings 3:11-13). This promise is repeated after the temple is built and dedicated: "I have heard your prayer and your supplication which you have made before me. (…). “And you, if you walk before Me, as your father David walked with a perfect heart and integrity, doing everything I have commanded you, and keeping My statutes and ordinances, then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised your father David, ‘There shall not fail you a man on the throne of Israel’” (1 Kings 9:3-5). But instead of trusting in God’s protection, Solomon acquires a large number of horses for his army. And Solomon is not satisfied with the wealth he acquires through his trade and contacts with foreign rulers, but also imposes a heavy tax burden on his own people.
Sadly, the warning from the Torah comes true. It is indeed these foreign women who seduce Solomon into worshipping pagan gods. The Lord is enraged, and as punishment, the kingdom is divided.
Solomon's wealth effectively became the cause of the division of the empire. Indeed, Solomon's tax burden must have been enormous. We read about the forced labor the people were required to perform, which included the construction of store cities (1 Kings 9:19). The word used here for "store cities" is the same as for the cities the Israelites were forced to build as slaves in Egypt (Exodus 1:11). When Rehoboam, after Solomon's death, wants to succeed him, the people ask him to reduce the tax burden. Rehoboam refuses, and the 10-tribe kingdom secedes. This marks the division of the empire.
Despite all the wisdom Solomon had acquired, Solomon stumbles over God's commandments. Instead of being content with the abundance of gold and other riches he acquires through trade, he also makes the people's tax burden incredibly heavy. And instead of trusting that God would protect him from the power of the surrounding nations, he, against God's command, acquires a large number of horses to expand his military power. Finally, he cannot resist building a large harem, undoubtedly trumping all other rulers of the time. This will be the downfall of the great empire.

Bas Krins