How Old Was Solomon When He Became King

How Old Was Solomon When He Became King: State of The kingdom After Solomon Decline

How Old Was Solomon When He Became King: Solomon, David’s son, and Israel’s third monarch ruled the Jewish state. Just like his father before him, Solomon ruled for 40 years, from roughly 970 to 931 B.C. It is widely held that he is the traditional author of several books of the Bible, all of which may be found in the Old Testament’s “poetry” portion, and that he was the wisest (and richest) man to ever live. Solomon also erected the first temple to God in Jerusalem, thus its common name.

King Solomon is revered in the Jewish, Christian, and Islamic canons as a pivotal person in the biblical narrative. Scholars are divided on how much we actually know about him since almost all of what we do know comes from 1 King and 2 Chronicles.

How Old Was Solomon When He Became King?

No one knows how old Solomon was for certain. But the following evidence suggests, in accordance with the vast majority of extra-Biblical sources, that Solomon was probably around 20 years old when he became king.

After a 40-year reign, he was 60 years old when he passed away. There are references to this in the Bible (1 Kings 11:42 and 2 Chronicles 9:30).
Rehoboam, Solomon’s son, took the throne at the age of 41 after his father’s death. 1 Kings 14:21. So, Solomon was probably around 19 when Rehoboam was born, and around 18 when he tied the knot.

David lived to be 70 years old. Given this, we can estimate that David was in his mid-50s when Solomon was born. This would account for the length of time required by the many events recorded in 2 Samuel 12–24, such as Amnon’s rape of Tamar (2 Sam 13), Absalom’s murder of Amnon two years later, Absalom’s return to Jerusalem three years later, Absalom’s rebellion, Sheba’s rebellion, three years of famine, David’s census, and preparations for Adonijah’s rebellion. That’s the equivalent of nearly twenty years worth of history.

This means that we have no way of knowing for sure, although it seems likely that Solomon was around 20 when he ascended to the throne. It’s important to remember that David reigned for 40 years, making Solomon 10 years younger than David when he assumed the throne. Let’s know Solomon’s wisdom in the next paragraph.

Solomon Fabled Words of Wisdom

The Wisdom of Solomon was well-known. When two women claimed paternity of the same kid, he recognized the one who objected to the idea of splitting the child in two as the true mother. Solomon was considered more enlightened than any other ancient figure, including the great sages of Egypt and the Middle East. Some of the wise sayings and counsel credited to him can be found in the biblical book known as Proverbs. Solomon followed in his famous father’s footsteps as a renowned poet.

The opening stanza of the Song of Solomon in the Bible is falsely attributed to him, most likely because of his celebrity after his death. The magnitude of his harem, a reflection of his fame as a passionate lover, is a key motif in the Song of Solomon. The apocryphal Wisdom of Solomon, on the one hand, and the Odes of Solomon and Psalms of Solomon, on the other hand, are tributes to him as a sage and poet and were attributed to him by postbiblical tradition. Keep reading to know Slolomon Background and sources.

Solomon Background And Sources

Solomon Background And Sources

Source: THENOTSOINNOCENTSABROAD

The Bible is the primary source for information on Solomon’s life and reign (especially the first 11 chapters of the First Book of Kings and the first nine chapters of the Second Book of Chronicles). Those accounts place his ancestry back to David (active around 1000 BCE), the legendary poet and king who, despite all odds, established the House of David (the Judaeans) and unified the twelve tribes of Israel under a single ruler.

Mother Solomon was the former wife of David’s Hittite general Uriah, and her name was Bathsheba. She proved to be a master of court intrigue, and it was thanks to her and the prophet Nathan that Solomon became a king while David was still alive, despite the fact that he was the youngest of David’s sons.

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Like his father’s reign, material evidence for Solomon’s is scarce. There is some disagreement about when the fortified cities and even the Temple of Jerusalem emerged; some scholars claim to have discovered artifacts that corroborate the biblical account of his reign in the early 10th century BCE, while others argue that the archaeological record strongly suggests that this was not the case. According to the latter theory, Solomon’s reign was not nearly as expansive as the Bible makes it out to be. To know the kingdom of Solomon in the next paragraph.

State of The kingdom After Solomon Decline

According to the biblical account of his reign, the continued success of the mighty nation that Solomon inherited from his father and then strengthened was contingent on his own personal status and genius. The growth in Israel’s prosperity may have been matched by an increase in extravagance, and the wealth may not have been distributed to the people. Some have also speculated that King Solomon’s treatment of the northern tribes was indicative of bias toward his own tribe of Judah.

Rehoboam, Solomon’s son and successor made the mistake of taking a hard line with the northern tribes, which led to them breaking away and establishing their own kingdom. Thus, only the southern kingdom of Judah was left to Solomon’s offspring. This resulted in the irretrievable destruction of Solomon’s kingdom and the division of the original homeland into two mutually antagonistic kingdoms.

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