israel. after 40 years ruling ancient israel, king david dies around 970 b.c., and solomon takes his place. if you want to talk about a coldhearted, calculating, manipulative, hard-nosed individual, look no farther than solomon. solomon doesn t have david s charisma. that is one thing that is very, very clear from all of the accounts. he doesn t have the same ability to make everybody follow him through sheer force of personality. so you see political shrewdness, but unfortunately not a lot of personal integrity in solomon. king solomon was a very spoiled kid who grew up in the court of power and wealth, who was so consumed with his aura as king that he essentially tried to exploit it to his advantage. and he has to somehow make
rock that today is the foundation stone of the dome of the rock, the gorgeous islamic edifice that stands there today. it probably is the most holy place in western and middle eastern civilization. but at the time the temple is done, it represents israel moving into this place as a prosperous, settled nation with a king whose power is acknowledged by all. but it also is a from the original idea that god would dwell with his people and therefore he didn t have to have a physical place for him to be. solomon spared no expense in building his temple in jerusalem. he brought in the cedars from lebanon. he brought in the best stone cutters. he wanted this to be the most beautiful temple in the region. he is determined to be greater than his father and one
solomon s ruthlessness is demonstrated in the bible by the story of the two women who both claimed the same baby, and solomon smiles and says, fine. we ll cut the baby in two, and you can share it. and this, of course, instantly produces the real mother because the real mother says, no, no, no. she can keep the baby. she can keep the baby. and that story was held up as great wisdom because solomon knew the mind of a mother. but that s a pretty sadistic thing to do. i think it s evidence that he was a ruthless man that just didn t want to deal with petty things. he wanted grandiose things. that is solomon a image in history, but his importance is because he does something astonishing in jerusalem. as a king, solomon is always
of the greatest flaws in solomon s personality was that he really believed bigger is better with all of his heart. to build his extravagant temple, solomon forces his people to work grueling hours without pay. solomon is a ruthless leader. he rules on the backs of his own people. and anybody who disagrees with him is going to have a problem. people call leaders like the a december pot. so all of this begins to put pressure on the kingdom. when the situation is this bad, insurrections aren t uncommon. you can see people rising up and trying to overthrow the king. ca. i needed just one simple way to pay it all off.
insurrection. but their king is one step ahead. solomon crushes the rebellion but the seeds of revolt have been planted. so it featured lots of revolts as a result of his policies. finally in 931 bc, king solomon dies. one of the ways you can look at i is that king david was the real deal. even with all his faults, he was the king that israel fell in love with. and then his son solomon was the