Historical

8 After 20 years of constructing the Eternal’s house and his own house, ² Solomon built cities in the regions which Huram, king of Tyre, had given to Israel and settled the Israelites in them.

³ Then Solomon conquered Hamath-zobah in Aram. ⁴ He built Tadmor in the wilderness and all the storage cities in Hamath. ⁵ He also built upper Beth-horon and lower Beth-horon (fortified cities with walls, gates, and crossbeams in the territory of Ephraim), ⁶ Baalath (in the territory of Dan), all his storage cities, and all the cities for his chariots and his horsemen. Solomon built these in Jerusalem, in the region of Lebanon, and in all the lands he ruled to defend Israel’s territory.

^7-8 All of the non-Israelites who remained in Solomon’s kingdom, including descendants of Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites, became conscripted laborers to this day. ⁹ But Solomon did not enslave the Israelites for his building projects. The Israelites were warriors, Solomon’s leaders and commanders of his chariots and horsemen, ¹⁰ and 250 of them were his chief officers who ruled over the people.

¹¹ Then Solomon moved his wife, Pharaoh’s daughter, from the city of David and away from the temple to a separate house which he built for her. Solomon thought, “My foreign wife will not live in the palace of David, king of Israel, because the places are holy where the Eternal’s covenant chest has entered.”

¹² So that it pleased God and followed the provisions of his father, Solomon gave burnt offerings on the Eternal’s altar, which he had built in front of the porch. ¹³ He did this daily (according to the commandment of Moses), weekly (on the Sabbaths), monthly (on the new moons), and at the three annual feasts (the Festival of Unleavened Bread, the Festival of Weeks, and the Festival of Booths). ¹⁴ Following the plans of his father David, Solomon assigned the temple duties to the priests, the Levites’ daily duties of praise and ministering before the priests, and the gatekeepers’ gate divisions. These plans had been laid out by David, a man who followed the True God. ¹⁵ The priests and the Levites followed all the commandments of their king, even those regarding the storehouses. ¹⁶ Solomon finished all this work, beginning with the groundbreaking of the Eternal’s temple and ending with its completion.

¹⁷ Then Solomon went to Ezion-geber and to Eloth on the coast in Edom. ¹⁸ Huram sent his seafaring servants in ships to help Solomon’s servants sail to Ophir. There the servants took 450 talents of gold and brought them to King Solomon.

9 The queen of Sheba entered Jerusalem with an impressive entourage and camels carrying spices, a large amount of gold, and gems. She had heard about Solomon’s famous wisdom, so she came to ask him difficult questions that addressed her personal concerns. ² Solomon answered these questions openly and honestly where nothing about the queen was hidden from Solomon’s knowledge. ^3-4 His wisdom and frankness impressed and astonished the queen, as did the palace, the meal, the servants, the guests and their clothing, the cupbearers and their clothing, and the stairway^[a] that led to the Eternal’s temple. After viewing all these things, the queen was mesmerized and breathless.

⁹ The queen of Sheba gave to Solomon in recognition of his prestige 9,000 pounds of gold, vast quantities of gems, and a large amount of spices previously unknown in Israel. ¹⁰ When Solomon’s and Huram’s servants had brought gold from the land of Ophir, they also brought algum wood and costly gems. ¹¹ Solomon had used this non-native algum wood to build the steps to the Eternal’s temple and the king’s palace and to make lyres and harps for the musicians. These were all unmatched by anything that had existed in the land of Judah.

¹² Solomon gave the queen of Sheba all that she had traveled to Israel to receive, in addition to gifts equaling those that she brought to him. Contented with her visit, the queen returned home with her servants.

¹³ Annually Solomon received about 25 tons of gold ¹⁴ in addition to what the traders and merchants brought. The Arabian kings and the local governors also brought gold and silver to him.

¹⁵ Solomon used some of this metal to make weapons: 200 large shields (each weighing 7½ pounds of beaten gold) ¹⁶ and 300 small, rounded shields (each weighing 3¾ pounds of beaten gold). All the shields were stored in the house made of wood imported from Lebanon.

¹⁷ Solomon then constructed a large ivory throne and gilded it. ^18-19 At the base of the throne were 6 steps and a golden footstool, and at the sides were armrests. The throne was guarded by 14 lions: one next to each armrest, and one on either side of each step. This throne was unlike any other monarch’s throne.

²⁰ In King Solomon’s house, made of wood from Lebanon, the drinking cups and dishes were of gold (since silver was not recognized as a precious metal in Solomon’s days).

²¹ Both Solomon and Huram owned ships which traded with the coastal city of Tarshish every three years, bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks^[b] into Israel. ²² All this made King Solomon richer than all other monarchs, and his wisdom was equally immeasurable. ²³ All the kings of the earth wanted an audience with King Solomon, to hear the wisdom which God bestowed upon him, as the queen of Sheba had. ²⁴ Each visitor brought gifts to Solomon every year: silver, gold, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules.

²⁵ Solomon’s horses and chariots stayed in 4,000 stalls along with the 12,000 horsemen who resided with him in Jerusalem or in Israel’s other fortified cities.

²⁶ During his reign, Solomon ruled the region between the Euphrates River in the east and to the land of the Philistines all the way to the Mediterranean Sea in the west, and southward to north of the border of Egypt. ²⁷ He made Jerusalem so wealthy that silver was as common as stones in the rocky regions and cedars were as plentiful as sycamore trees in the lowland. ²⁸ Solomon also imported and was given expensive horses from Egypt and from other countries.

²⁹ The actions of King Solomon, from his birth until his death, are recorded in the chronicles of Nathan the prophet, in the prophecies of Ahijah the Shilonite, and in the visions of Iddo the seer (specifically those concerning Jeroboam, son of Nebat).

³⁰ Solomon’s rule over all Israel lasted 40 years—during which time he governed from his capital city, Jerusalem. ³¹ And after he joined with his ancestors in death and was laid with his father, our beloved King David, in Jerusalem, Solomon’s son Rehoboam ruled Israel in his place.

10 After his father died, King Rehoboam went to Shechem in Northern Israel to be coronated before all the Israelites. ² The news of the impending coronation reached Jeroboam, the son of Nebat, where he was living as an exile in Egypt, so he hastily returned to Israel.

³ The Israelites requested that Jeroboam meet them in Shechem at the coronation. Together, they made a request of Rehoboam, who would be their new king.

As the Israelites left, ⁶ King Rehoboam asked older men who were his father Solomon’s advisors for advice about the situation.

⁸ But Rehoboam did not listen to the advisors’ recommendation. Instead he asked the opinions of his childhood friends who were more likely to give him the advice that he wanted to hear.

¹² On the third day, Jeroboam and the Israelites returned to Rehoboam as the king had requested. ^13-14 The king followed the advice of his young friends, answering harshly and ignoring the advice of his father’s advisors.

¹⁵ By ignoring the Israelites’ desires, the king fulfilled the Eternal God’s prophecy that was spoken through Ahijah the Shilonite to Jeroboam, son of Nebat. ¹⁶ Just as predicted, the Northern tribes formed a nation separate from Judah because the king did not listen to them.

Most of the Israelites left Shechem to form a new Northern Kingdom, ¹⁷ but a few Israelites remained in the cities of Judah, the Southern Kingdom, because they recognized that Rehoboam was their rightful king.

¹⁸ In a final attempt to reunite his father Solomon’s kingdom, King Rehoboam sent Hadoram, the superintendent of Solomon’s forced labor, into Israel to compel the Northern Kingdom to accept Rehoboam as their king. But the Israelites stoned Hadoram to death. Realizing the anger of the Northern Kingdom, King Rehoboam fled in his chariot to Jerusalem. ¹⁹ Thus the Northern Kingdom of Israel has rebelled against the Southern Kingdom, the Davidic kings in Judah, until today.