On Solomon’s reign, with which the Third Book of Kings begins. Chapter 1 says that when David, because of old age, could not be warmed by clothing, an exceedingly beautiful girl was sought for him: Abishag the Shunammite, a virgin who would sleep with the king and warm him. Nevertheless, he did not know her.
Adonijah, David’s son, made chariots and horsemen for himself, seeking to take the kingdom for himself. He had with him Joab, commander of the army, and Abiathar the priest. When a great banquet had been prepared, he invited all his brothers except Solomon. On hearing this, Bathsheba, Solomon’s mother, entered David’s presence on the advice of the prophet Nathan and disclosed how Adonijah had taken the kingdom for himself without David’s knowledge. David swore to her that Solomon would reign after him. He therefore commanded his servants to place Solomon upon his mule and Zadok and Nathan to anoint him king. This was done, with all the people acclaiming, “Long live King Solomon!”
When Adonijah heard this, he feared Solomon and fled to the temple. But after security had been given to him, he too approached and honored Solomon as king.
Chapter 2 relates that, when David had been brought to the end of his life, he exhorted Solomon to observe the law. He reminded him of the evils Joab had done, the injuries inflicted by Shimei, and Barzillai’s benefits.
After David’s death, Adonijah asked Bathsheba to intercede with her son Solomon so that Solomon would give him Abishag as a wife. When she did this, he did not hear her request, but caused Adonijah and likewise Joab to be killed. He sent Abiathar into exile. Under pain of death he commanded Shimei not to leave Jerusalem. When Shimei departed after some years to recover servants who had fled, Solomon had him killed.
In chapter 3 Solomon took the daughter of the king of Egypt as his wife and, according to the Hebrews, had a son by her in the eleventh year of his age. He ascended to Gibeon, where Moses’ tabernacle and bronze altar were, though the ark of God was not there. After a thousand victims had been sacrificed there, the Lord appeared to him in a dream and told him to ask of Him whatever he wished. Solomon asked for wisdom to govern his people. The Lord told him that, because he had not asked for riches, glory, the death of his enemies, or a long life, but for wisdom, his request had been heard. Nevertheless, the Lord would also give him riches and glory above all men, provided that he observed the law.
The first judgment in which his wisdom was shown concerned two prostitutes who had sons. When one son had been smothered by his mother during the night, they disputed about which of them possessed the surviving child. Solomon pronounced sentence that the child be divided into two parts. The true mother then begged that the whole living child instead be given to the other woman. From this Solomon judged her to be the true mother and ordered the child to be given to her.
In chapter 4 his officials and his glory are set forth. He had twelve prefects who provided him with provisions, each one for a single month. The extent of his dominion is described, as is the daily food of his court: thirty cors of fine meal, sixty cors of flour, ten fattened oxen, twenty oxen from the pastures, and one hundred rams, apart from hunted deer, roe deer, and fattened birds. He had forty thousand chariot horses and ten thousand cavalry horses.
Solomon’s wisdom surpassed the wisdom of all the peoples of the East and the Egyptians, and he was wiser than all men. He discoursed about trees, from the cedar of Lebanon down to the hyssop. He discussed beasts, birds, reptiles, and fish, and he spoke three thousand parables and five thousand songs. He had peace round about, and people streamed from everywhere to hear his wisdom.
In chapter 5 Solomon sent Hiram to the king of Tyre and Sidon so that the king, through his men, might have cedar and fir timber cut for Solomon from Mount Lebanon, in order that he might build the Lord’s house from it. This was done.
Solomon began to build the Lord’s temple in the fourth year of his reign, which was the four hundred and eightieth year after Israel’s departure from Egypt, the nine hundred and eighty-fourth year from Abraham’s birth, and the two thousand nine hundred and thirty-third year from the beginning of the world. This is according to the computation of the Hebrews and certain of our own writers. According to Bede’s computation, however, which the Church commonly follows, the number exceeds the one just stated by one thousand and thirty-six.
He completed the work of the temple in seven and a half years. Afterward he built his own house in thirteen years, as well as the House of the Forest. Chapters 6 and 7 treat buildings of this kind. The following is a brief summary of the temple’s construction, according to Vincent’s Historical Mirror, book 3.
This temple was built at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where Abraham wished to sacrifice his son, Jacob saw in a dream a ladder extending from heaven to earth, and David saw the angel at Ornan’s threshing floor cease to strike the people with the sword of pestilence.
It was built of white marble called Parian marble. The windows were beveled in the temple’s walls: narrow on the outside and widened within, of the sort commonly called arrow slits. Its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height one hundred and twenty.
It had this arrangement: from the pavement next to the ground up to the first floor was a height of thirty cubits; from the first floor or story to the second was a height of thirty cubits; and from this second story to the third, which was the temple’s roof, was a height of sixty cubits. It therefore had two stories between the pavement and roof. On each story and upon the roof was a walkway round about on the outside. This walkway is called in the Gospel the pinnacle upon which Christ was placed when tempted by the devil. It projected outward by five cubits, and there were railings there so that those walking upon it would not fall.
The lowest part, or first chamber, was covered throughout on the inside with cedar or fir boards, upon which gold plates were fastened with golden nails. The pavement also was so covered. This chamber was divided into two parts: the Holy Place, which was the first place entered upon coming into the temple from the east and was forty cubits long, and the Holy of Holies, which was twenty cubits long.
In the middle, between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, was a wall made of cedar boards and afterward covered with gold plates. It was twenty cubits high. Before it hung a delicate and exceedingly beautiful woven veil, which was torn from top to bottom at the time of the Passion.
Within the Holy of Holies was the Lord’s ark made by Moses. It stood in the middle between two cherubim carved from olive wood and covered with gold. They stood upright and extended two wings above the mercy seat. This mercy seat was like the lid of a chest raised upright above it when it is open, just as the painted panels of altars are arranged. Their wings were extended so that one wing of one cherub touched a wing of the other, while the other extremities of the wings touched the temple wall. Each of them was ten cubits long. The tablets of the Decalogue were in the ark.
Only the high priest entered the Holy of Holies, once a year at the Feast of Atonement, with great solemnity and in the most ornate vestments, as is clear above. Priests alone entered the Holy Place around the veil frequently during certain sacrifices and to light the lamps. There, on the south side, stood the golden lampstand made by Moses with seven lamps, and on the north side the golden table for the loaves of proposition. In the middle was the golden altar made by Moses.
Solomon, however, added ten other golden lampstands of the same design but greater size, five on the right and five on the left. He similarly added ten larger golden tables. Amid them stood an altar of incense made from stones, covered with cedar boards and afterward with gold. Incense of aromatic spices was offered upon it. Perhaps the small golden altar made by Moses was in the Holy of Holies, because, according to the Apostle in Hebrews, the golden censer was there.
On the temple’s inner walls were exceedingly beautiful carvings of cherubim, palms, and other things. Above the temple roof, round about, was a golden nerva as tall as a man, so that from afar it appeared like a golden forest. Along the outer edge round about were golden vines with golden grapes and vine leaves.
At that summit next to the roof, when the temple was completed, was placed that stone rejected by the builders, which joined the two walls at the corners. How the two chambers or stories above the first one described were arranged, or what they contained, is not recorded. One ascended to those places by stairs made within the temple wall in the manner of a snail’s shell.
The temple doors, made from fir wood, covered with gold plates, and carved with cherubim and palms, were on the east. At the temple’s front was a portico, called in the Gospel the temple vestibule, which had bronze columns. Among them were two more wondrous than the others, with exceedingly beautiful carving in their middle. The one on the right was called Jachin, and the one on the left Boaz.
This portico was twenty cubits long, corresponding to the measure of the temple’s width, and ten cubits wide before the temple’s facade. One ascended into this vestibule or portico from the priests’ court by twelve steps, though according to others by seven.
Beyond the vestibule Solomon built thirty small chambers which, joined to one another, surrounded the whole space of the temple externally. Each chamber was five cubits long, five wide, and fifteen high. He arranged their entrances so that one passed from one to another with some interval between them. Above these another set was built, equal in dimensions and number, so that the temple’s three sides were covered round about by these chambers up to the first external floor. The remaining upper part of the temple could be freely seen. These rooms were sleeping chambers and dining rooms for those serving by weekly turns, as well as treasuries for vessels and priestly vestments.
There were several courts around the temple. The first was the court of the priests, and this first court is mentioned in the Book of Kings. It was a broad, spacious plaza extending in a square around the temple on every side. It extended farthest before the temple doors on the east because the bronze altar stood there, where the priests sacrificed—that is, burned—animals as sacrifices. This altar was twenty cubits long, equally wide, and thus square, and ten cubits high. It was hollow and had a grating on top, through which the ashes fell below and were removed through a door beneath it. The bronze sea and the lavers were also there.
Along the temple’s two broad sides, namely north and south, the plaza was not so broad; on the west it was narrower still. The pavement of this plaza was laid everywhere with varied marble and figured with different images. A low wall three cubits high, covered round about with cedar boards, enclosed this court so as to prevent the others from entering among the ministers. The singers leaned upon this wall, and, facing the people, spoke while inclined over it. The circuit of this wall was therefore called by the proper name Gyon.
It had only one entrance, on the east, opposite the temple gate, with an opening twenty-five cubits wide. Men and women carrying their offerings to the ministers who met them ascended to this entrance by fourteen steps. Within this court, as has been said, there was not only a bronze altar much larger than the one Moses made; that earlier altar was also preserved in another part of the court.
There was also the bronze sea, made like a cauldron and measuring ten cubits from one rim to the rim opposite. It was round, and its circumference was thirty cubits. Solomon placed it on the right side of the temple upon twelve bronze lion cubs. There the priests washed their hands and feet before ministering. He also made ten bronze lavers—that is, basins—five on the right and five on the left, where the flesh of the animals that they burned upon the bronze altar was washed. The outsides of the animals, however, were first washed in the Sheep Pool at Jerusalem.
Beyond this, beneath the first court, was another and much larger court on every side. It surrounded the temple on every side and contained the first court within it. Its enclosing wall was twenty-five cubits high. On the temple’s western side it had no gate but was entirely closed. On the south side it had four gates, and likewise four on the north. On the east, before the temple’s facade, in the middle was the gate called Beautiful, while at the corners of this side were two small gates.
On these three sides—north, south, and east—were porticoes, where men remained during rain. When the weather was clear, they remained in the open air to pray. Only clean men were permitted to remain in this court. This court of the laity is called in the Gospel the temple in which Christ often preached. On the eastern side of this court remained the money changers and those selling animals to be offered, whom Christ is said to have cast out of the temple, that is, out of this court.
In the porticoes and around the gates of this court were various chests for offerings. One was called Musach, where the offerings of kings and of others, even those made on feast days, were received. Another was called Corban, where priestly and votive offerings were placed. Concerning this they said of the thirty pieces of silver, “It is not lawful to put them into the corban.” A third, which was properly called the treasury, received the offerings of the poor and daily offerings, or those intended for the use of the poor.
On the sides of this court—namely, the southern and meridional sides—were pastophoria in the porticoes: suitable places in which clean laypeople ate the portions of the animal sacrifices that fell to them. In those porticoes were also three kinds of seats. The first were called chairs, where teachers sat in the school. The second were called synedrae, where listeners sat in the consistory. The third were called exedrae, where assessors sat with a judge to discuss some matter secretly, according to Isidore.
Beneath this court was another, or third, court on the lower part of the mountain. It likewise had a greater circumference, for it contained the second court, but it was not so beautiful. It had the same construction as the second but was not so ornate. There only clean women prayed and remained.
Beneath this was also a fourth court, whose wall ran round about on the outside at the foot of this hill. It ascended four hundred cubits to the summit of the hill where the temple was situated. Thus this wall did not prevent a view of the temple or of those ministering in the inner court. Here unclean men and women and gentiles who came to worship in the temple prayed.
The first court is set forth in chapters 6 and 7 of the Third Book of Kings. Josephus sets forth the second. Vincent sets forth the other two in the Historical Mirror, as has been said.
Solomon also had many vessels made for the temple’s use, some golden, some silver, and some bronze or made of brass. It is also said in chapter 6 of the Third Book of Kings that, during the temple’s construction, neither hammer nor axe nor any other iron tool was heard, for they fashioned everything beforehand. There were also many carvings of cherubim and palms in the temple’s walls, bronze columns, and various places. These are omitted for the sake of brevity.
Concerning the house he made for himself and his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, and concerning the House of the Forest: aromatic substances and pigments for the temple’s use were kept in the lower part of the House of the Forest. In the upper part, or story, were weapons not only for fighting but also for display and ornament. Two hundred golden shields and three hundred golden bucklers, like small round shields, were kept there. Solomon’s pages carried these before him on horseback when he left the house in his chariot. Around this House of the Forest was an exceedingly beautiful pleasure garden.
When the temple had been completed, Solomon caused the Levites to carry the Lord’s ark into the Holy of Holies, with all the people assembled amid the greatest solemnity and innumerable sacrificial animals. He conducted the temple’s dedication for seven days. A cloud filled the temple, and fire descended from heaven to consume the burnt offerings. The priest kept this fire alive by placing wood upon it morning and evening. This fire was extinguished when Jason lost the high priesthood, as is said in Cause 1, question 1, Sicut.
This temple signified the holy Church built by Christ, the peace-making King, as Rabanus explains point by point on the Book of Kings. Solomon prayed to the Lord that He would hear those praying in the temple, or toward the temple if they were far away, in their various needs: whether because of wars, enemies persecuting them, pestilence, famine, drought, or other tribulations, provided that, returning to penitence, they acknowledged their sin, as is clear in chapter 8 of the Third Book of Kings.
Chapter 9 relates that the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream, saying that He had heard him, provided that Solomon himself and the people walked in His commandments. Otherwise, if they turned aside to foreign gods, He would destroy them and cast away the temple made for His name.
Solomon gave Hiram, king of Tyre, who through his men had labored greatly on Solomon’s buildings, twenty towns in the land of Galilee as recompense. He made all the Canaanite peoples tributary to himself. He wished no one among the children of Israel to serve him, but appointed them his soldiers, ministers, and leaders. He also sent a fleet with the servants of Hiram, king of Tyre, to Ophir, bringing much gold from there.
Chapter 10 says that the Queen of Sheba, having heard Solomon’s fame, came from the ends of the earth to hear his wisdom. He satisfied her concerning everything about which she questioned him. Seeing the order of his house and household and hearing his wisdom, she praised him greatly. They gave one another great gifts.
Solomon also made an ivory throne approached by six steps. The quantity of his revenues and the magnificence of his equestrian retinue are also set forth. All people from every land desired to see his face.
Chapter 11 records his wantonness and punishment. He took very many foreign wives, contrary to God’s command. He had seven hundred wives and three hundred concubines, to whom he clung with exceedingly ardent love, so that to please them he worshiped their gods. Because of this, God was angered and, near the end of Solomon’s life, stirred up various wars against him from the neighboring peoples.
Jeroboam, whom Solomon had placed over the tribe of Joseph, met the prophet Abijah. Tearing his new cloak into twelve pieces, the prophet gave ten to Jeroboam, saying that the Lord had given him the kingdom of the ten tribes of Israel but had reserved the tribe of Judah for David’s stock. When Solomon heard this, he sought to kill Jeroboam, but Jeroboam fled into Egypt.
There are differing opinions about whether Solomon was saved. Some say he was not. Others, such as Jerome, Ambrose, and Chrysostom, say that he was, because before death he did penance for his wantonness and sins. For this reason the Hebrews also entitle his book Ecclesiastes “On Solomon’s Penance.”