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City of David Megalim Institute
c. 982 BCE Bathsheba gives birth to Solomon.
c. 970 BCE David dies and Solomon becomes King.
c. 930 BCE Solomon dies. His kingdom is divided into the 10 “lost” tribes of Israel under King Jeroboam and the 2 Southern tribes of Judea and Benjamin under King Rehoboam.
c. 925 BCE The Pharaoh Shoshenq (Shishak) invades Israel and raids the Temple of Solomon.
This is the Timeline of King Solomon:
c. 982 BCE Bathsheba
gives birth to Solomon.
c. 970 BCE David dies and
Solomon becomes King.
c. 930 BCE Solomon dies.
His kingdom is divided into the House of Judah which consists of the southern
tribes of Judah and Benjamin under his son King Rehoboam, and the House of
Israel under King Jeroboam (from the tribe of Ephraim), the remaining northern
tribes that would ultimately be exiled during the Assyrian onslaught of the
land and become known as the 10 lost Tribes.
c. 925 BCE
The Pharaoh Shoshenq (Shishak) invades Israel and raids the Temple of
Solomon.
הֶעְתֵּק, מוּזֵאוֹן יִשְׂרָאֵל, יְרוּשָׁלַיִם
Ecclesiastes 3:1-2
King Solomon wrote:
For everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:
A time to be born, and a time to die;
A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is planted;
Gezer Calendar Inscription
Early Hebrew writing:
“Two months are planting
Two months are late (planting)
One month is hoeing flax
One month is barley-harvest”
The Gezer Calendar, circa 10th Century BCE, the time of King
Solomon, is a tablet discovered in 1908 during excavations at Gezer by the
Irish archaeologist R. A. Stewart Macalister. The tablet contains a list of
months according to the activities that occurred during each agricultural
cycle. The list begins on the Hebrew New Year and corresponds with the
agricultural cycles of the Biblical Festivals.
The Gezer
calendar inscription is in early Hebrew writing and reads as follows:
“Two
months are planting – corresponding to the time after Sukkot
Two months
are late (planting) - corresponding
to the time of the latter rain or
“Malkosh”
One month
is hoeing flax
One month
is barley-harvest" -
corresponding to the time of Passover and the counting of the Omer.
Ecclesiastes
3:1-2
King
Solomon wrote: For
everything there is a season, and a time for every matter under heaven:A time to
be born, and a time to die;A time to plant, and a time to pluck up what is
planted;
City of David Megalim Institute, Courtesy of George Blumenthal and the Gol Family
1 Kings 1:33-34, 45
The king (David) said to them, "Take my loyal soldiers, and have my son Solomon ride on my mule and bring him down to Gihon. Let the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anoint him there king over Israel, whereupon you shall sound the horn and shout, Long live King Solomon!"
"... and the priest Zadok and the prophet Nathan anointed him (Solomon) king at Gihon. Then they came up from there making merry, and the city went into an uproar. That’s the noise you heard.”
Kingship in ancient times was a highly pursued and
coveted position
and jealous ambitious aspirants from within the court constantly devised plans
to supplant the king and even kill off his descendants.
Absalom, one of King David’s sons, tried in a failed attempt to take the kingship from his
father. So when Nathan the prophet and Batsheva
(Solomon’s mother) heard that Adoniyah, King David’s eldest son was
planning to do the same, they reminded King David of his promise that Solomon
was to inherit the throne.
Watch the Megallim Video courtesy of George
Blumenthal and the Gol Family showing the suspenseful events that led to
ensuring Solomon’s place on the throne.
1 Kings 2:1-3
When David’s life was drawing to a close, he instructed his son Solomon as follows: "I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man. Keep the charge of the LORD your God... as recorded in the Teaching of Moses...”
David's Charge to Solomon
by Rembrandt van Rijn
1 Kings 2:1-3
When
David’s life was drawing to a close, he instructed his son Solomon as follows:
"I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man.
Keep the charge of the L-RD your G-d... as recorded in the Teaching of
Moses...”
Devonshire Collections, Chatsworth
Biblical Archaeology Society
2 Samuel 8:11-12
King David dedicated these to the L-RD... all the nations he had conquered: from Edom, Moab, and Ammon...Zobah.
From 1200–900 BCE, regional empires flourished in the Near East. After the collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tabal arose from its remains, west of Carchemish. Aram-Zobah extended from modern Lebanon south to the Galilee and north to Damascus and the Euphrates. The realm of David and Solomon came to control the Aram-Zobah empire as well as territory from the Mediterranean to Edom, Moab and Ammon east of the Jordan and south to the Gulf of Aqaba (Eilat)
The United Monarchy
2 Samuel 8:11-12
King David dedicated these to the L-RD... all the nations he had
conquered: from Edom, Moab, and Ammon...Zobah.
From
1200–900 B.C.E., regional empires flourished in the Near East. After the
collapse of the Hittite Empire, Tabal arose from its remains, west of
Carchemish. Aram-Zobah extended from modern Lebanon south to the Galilee and
north to Damascus and the Euphrates. The realm of David and Solomon came to
control the Aram-Zobah empire as well as the territory from the Mediterranean
to Edom, Moab and Ammon east of the Jordan and south to the Gulf of Aqaba.
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The City of David Archives
1 Kings 5:16-19
Solomon sent this message to Hiram:
“You know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the Lord… And so I propose to build a house for the name of the Lord my God…”
1 Kings 5:16-19
Solomon sent this message to Hiram: “You
know that my father David could not build a house for the name of the L-rd… And
so I propose to build a house for the name of the L-rd my G-d…”
City of David Megalim Institute, Courtesy of George Blumenthal and the Gol Family
Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division
National Museum of Beirut
1 Kings 5:32
Solomon’s masons, Hiram’s masons, and the men of Gebal (Byblos) shaped them. Thus the timber and the stones for building the house were made ready.
Inscription from Sarcophagus
“Sarcophagus made by Ittobaal, son of Ahiram, king of Byblos, for Ahiram his father as a dwelling place for all eternity.”
1 Kings 5:32
Solomon’s masons, Hiram’s masons, and the men of Gebal (Byblos)
shaped them. Thus, the timber and the stones for building the house were made
ready.
In this picture archived by the United States Library of Congress is a
limestone sarcophagus from the Beirut Museum for Ahiram, King of Byblos, a site
on the Lebanese coast. A Phoenician inscription on the cover identifies the
receptacle as a “Sarcophagus made by Ittobaal, son of Ahiram, king of Byblos,
for Ahiram his father as a dwelling place for all eternity.” Ahiram likely
ruled in the tenth century BCE, a contemporary of King Solomon.
Laver stands
1 Kings 7:27
"He (Hiram) made the ten laver stands of bronze. The length of each laver stand was 4 cubits and the width was 4 cubits, and the height was 3 cubits."
A bronze stand dating to the 12th Century BCE was found
in an archaeological excavation at Megiddo.
1 Kings 7:27
"He (Hiram) made the ten laver stands of bronze. The length
of each laver stand was 4 cubits and the width was 4 cubits, and the height was
3 cubits."
The
picture is an Illustration by Leen Ritmeyer depicting the laver stands at the
Temple
Israel Antiquities Authority / Israel Museum (top)
Illustration by Leen Ritmeyer (left)
2 Chronicles 3:14
The Temple Construction
“He made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he worked cherubim into it.”
In this picture by the Israel Antiquities Authority, you can see
royal purple fabric found in Israel in 2021, dating to the time of King
Solomon.
2 Chronicles 3:14
“He
made the curtain of blue, purple, and crimson yarn and fine linen, and he
worked cherubim into it.”
Royal purple fabric found in Israel in 2021, dating to the time of King Solomon.
Israel Antiquities Authority
1 Kings 9:15
This was the purpose of the forced labor which Solomon imposed: It was to build the House of the LORD, his own palace, the Millo, and the wall of Jerusalem, and to fortify Hazor, Megiddo, and Gezer.
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Solomon’s Wall in Jerusalem, Discovered in 2010 by Eilat Mazar, Israel Antiquities Authority
1 Kings 10:1
Now when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the L-RD, she came to test him with hard questions.
King Solomon and the Queen of Sheba by Rembrandt van Rijn
Sheba was a powerful incense-trading kingdom that prospered
through trade with Jerusalem and the Roman Empire. The queen is immortalized in
the Bible, which describes her visit to Solomon "with a very great
retinue, with camels bearing spices, gold and precious stones”.
The Bible
accounts that she visited Solomon to test his wisdom by asking him several
riddles.
1 Kings 10:1
Now
when the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon concerning the name of the
L-RD, she came to test him with difficult riddles.
This bronze inscription found in southern Arabia,
the land of Sheba, mentions a trading expedition of the kingdom of Sabaea
(Biblical Sheba) to the “towns of Judah.”
The artifact is dated to the end of
the 7th century BCE, after the time of Solomon, though it shows the
plausibility of the contact between Israel and the land of Sheba.
This inscription mentions a trading expedition of the kingdom of Sabaea (Biblical Sheba) to ’HGR YHD," translating to the “towns of Judah.”
Photo by André Lemaire
Trade Route from Sheba
Biblical Archaeology Society
1 Kings 10:14-16
"The weight of gold that came to Solomon each year was 666 talents…”
“King Solomon made two hundred large shields of hammered gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each shield.”
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King Solomon's wives turned
his heart from fully serving G-d in his old age, causing him to also practice
idolatry.
This cast a shadow over the future of his kingship. The Bible
relates:
1 Kings 11: 11-13
Wherefore the L-RD said unto Solomon: 'Forasmuch as this was with
you, and you did not keep My covenant and My statutes which I have commanded
you, I will surely rend the kingdom from you and will give it to your servant.
But I will not do it in your days, for David your father's sake; but I will
rend it out of the hand of your son. But I will not rend away all the kingdom,
but I will give one tribe to your son; for the sake of David my servant, and
for Jerusalem's sake which I have chosen.'
King Solomon died around 930 BCE
1 Kings 11:42-43
Thus,
the time that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel was forty years. And
Solomon rested with his fathers and was buried in the city of his father David.
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1 Kings 12:28-29
The king (Jeroboam I) made two golden calves… One he set up in Bethel, and the other in Dan.
Bronze Bull from Samaria, 12th Century BCE
Israel Museum / Israel Antiquities Authority
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1 Kings 12:30
The people walked as far as Dan to worship before one of the calves.
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Drone video of Tel Dan by Ardon Bar-Hama
1 Kings 14:25-26
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures of the temple of the L-rd and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold shields Solomon had made.
In this wall carving at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt, Shoshenq boasts of 90 cities he conquered in the land of Israel, including Megiddo, Gibeon and Migdol.
In the year 925 BCE, Pharaoh Shoshenq or Shishak, raided the
Temple and took King Solomon’s Gold
1 Kings 14:25-26
In the fifth year of King Rehoboam, Shishak king of Egypt attacked
Jerusalem. He carried off the treasures
of the temple of the L-RD and the treasures of the royal palace. He took everything, including all the gold
shields Solomon had made.
In
this wall carving at the Temple of Amun in Karnak, Egypt, Shoshenq boasts of 90
cities he conquered in the land of Israel, including Megiddo, Gibeon and
Migdol.
Wikimedia Commons
Biblical Archaeology Society
Places Mentioned in Shoshenq’s Inscription Include Many Cities in Israel:
Fort Abram (possibly Beersheba*)
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Adoraim—2 Chronicles 11:9
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Ayalon—Joshua 10:12
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Beth-Horon—1 Kings 9:17
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Beth-Shean—1 Kings 4:12
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Gath—1 Samuel 5:8
undefined
Gibeon—1 Chronicles 21:29
undefined
Megiddo—1 Kings 4:12 (Armageddon)
undefined
Rehov—Joshua 19:28
undefined
Soroh—Joshua 15:35
undefined
Taanach—1 Kings 4:12
Shoshenq's Campaign Through Israel and Judah, 925 BCE
Places mentioned in Shoshenq’s inscription include many cities in Israel:
Fort Abram (possibly Beersheba*)
Adoraim—2 Chronicles 11:9
Ayalon—Joshua 10:12
Beth-Horon—1 Kings 9:17
Beth-Shean—1 Kings 4:12
Gath—1 Samuel 5:8
Gibeon—1 Chronicles 21:29
Megiddo—1 Kings 4:12
Rehov—Joshua
19:28
Soroh—Joshua 15:35
Ta’anach—1 Kings 4:12
Dating to about 925 BCE, this 15-inch stone fragment discovered at Megiddo reads, “Amun’s beloved, Shishak [I].”
The stele fragment confirms Shishak’s encounter with Israel and Judea that is detailed on the inscription at the Temple of Amun in Karnak.
Dating to about 925 BCE, a 15-inch stone fragment was discovered
at Megiddo that reads, “Amun’s beloved, Shishak [I].”
The
stele fragment confirms Shishak’s encounter with Israel and Judea that is
detailed and cross-referenced on the inscription at the Temple of Amun in Karnak.
University of Chicago Oriental Institute
Shishak’s son King Osorkon I of Egypt in 921 BCE recorded gifts to the gods, including 383 tons of gold and silver. This fragment from a pillar in a temple at Bubastis, shows itemized lists of gifts to each god and goddess of Egypt.
In 921 BCE Shishak’s son King Osorkon the 1st of Egypt recorded gifts to the gods,
including 383 tons of gold and silver, some most likely from King Solomon's
gold that was looted during Shishak's conquest.
This
fragment from a pillar in a temple at Bubastis shows itemized lists of gifts to
each god and goddess of Egypt.
Temple of Bubastis, Egypt Exploration Fund, 1890
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