Solomon (Hebrew: שְׁלֹמֹה, Shlomo Šəlōmō Šlomo; Arabic: سليمان Sulaymān, also colloquially: Silimān; Greek: Σολομών Solomōn), according to the Book of Kings and the Book of Chronicles, a King of Israel and according to the Talmud one of the 48 prophets, is identified as the son of David, also called Jedidiah (Hebrew יְדִידְיָהּ) in 2 Samuel 12:25, and is described as the third king of the United Monarchy, and the final king before the northern Kingdom of Israel and the southern Kingdom of Judah split; following the split his patrilineal descendants ruled over Judah alone. In the Qur'an, he is considered as a major Prophet, known as Sulaiman, son of David. The conventional dates of Solomon's reign are circa 970 to 931 BC.
The Hebrew Bible credits Solomon as the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem, and portrays him as great in wisdom, wealth, and power, but ultimately as a king whose sin, including idolatry and turning away from Yahweh, leads to the kingdom being torn in two during the reign of his son Rehoboam. Solomon is the subject of many other later references and legends.
Read more about Solomon: Building and Other Works, Apocryphal Texts, Historical Figure, Chronology, Criticism, Jewish Scriptures
Famous quotes containing the word solomon:
“Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.”
—Bible: Hebrew, Song of Solomon 1:2.
“Take us the foxes, the little foxes, that spoil the vines: for our
vines have tender grapes.”
—Bible: Hebrew The Song of Solomon (l. II, 15)
“Flowers ... that are so pathetic in their beauty, frail as the clouds, and in their colouring as gorgeous as the heavens, had through thousands of years been the heritage of children—honoured as the jewellery of God only by them—when suddenly the voice of Christianity, counter-signing the voice of infancy, raised them to a grandeur transcending the Hebrew throne, although founded by God himself, and pronounced Solomon in all his glory not to be arrayed like one of these.”
—Thomas De Quincey (1785–1859)