323. Post-Solomon Collapse
July 1, 2023
This week we conclude our deep dive into the Solomon narrative. In prior sessions, we learned that, when asked by God what divine gift he wanted, Solomon requested wisdom. We also learned that the reign of Solomon was a time of great peace and prosperity, when each family lived “under its own vine and fig tree” (1 Kings 5:5). The bounty of Israel was recognized by its neighbors, with whom Israel entered trade agreements. We are told that:
. . . the weight of the gold that Solomon received every year was 666 talents of gold, besides what came from the traders, from the traffic of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the regions . . . [And Solomon] made a large throne of ivory, and he overlaid it with refined gold . . . No such throne was ever made for any other kingdom. All King Solomon’s drinking cups were of gold . . . there were none of silver, for silver did not count for anything in Solomon’s days. [He also had] a Tarshish fleet on the sea, along with Hiram’s fleet. Once every three years, the Tarshish fleet came in, bearing gold and silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.
King Solomon surpassed all the monarchs on earth in wealth and in wisdom. All the world come to pay homage to Solomon and to listen to the wisdom with which God had endowed him; and each one would bring tribute—silver and gold objects, robes, weapons and spices, horses and mules—in the amount due each year. (1 Kings 10:14-25)
This was Israel in its heyday! These opulent descriptions were not out of line for successful monarchs in biblical times, and showing off accumulated wealth was a way for a king and his kingdom to stake a claim in the region. Our Scholar-in-Residence, Professor David Sperling, told us that surviving text from the region dating from the 21st century BCE celebrates the intelligence of a monarch, enabling him to accumulate great wealth with which he could purchase exotic animals and cultivate extensive gardens—proving his mastery over nature. These biblical stories of Solomon follow the same pattern.
But all good things come to an end. Scholars can state with a fair amount of certainty that, after the reign of King Solomon, the kingdom of Israel was split in two: the northern kingdom of Israel, and the southern kingdom of Judah. The splitting of a country is a very big deal. In the US, we can think about our own Civil War, and the repercussions that remain with us today.
The setting of the Solomon narrative is the 10th century BCE, but that does not mean that the text was written at that time. And it is a whole lot easier to get prophecy correct when it is written after the fact. The writers who preserved our ancient text knew that the time of Solomon was a golden age, and they knew it came to an end. The Bible offers two possible reasons for its ending.
According to the book of Kings, one reason was because God told Solomon that as long as Solomon walks before God:
. . . wholeheartedly and with uprightness, doing all that I have commanded you [and] keeping My laws and My rules, then I will establish your throne of kingship over Israel forever . . . [But] if you and your descendants turn away from Me and do not keep the commandments [and] the laws that I have set before you, and go and serve other gods and worship them, then I will sweep Israel off the land that I gave them. (1 Kings 9:4-5).
According to Deuteronomy, another reason was because the Israelites must have a king who:
. . . shall not keep many horses . . . and shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess. (Deuteronomy 17:16-17)
According to the book of Kings, Solomon had 12,000 horses (1 Kings 10 26), loved many foreign women who, in his old age, encouraged Solomon to worship other gods (1 Kings 11:1-4), and he made “silver as plentiful as stones” (1 Kings 10:27). Solomon broke all his promises to God, and God took everything away. But not in Solomon’s time. God tells Solomon that, after Solomon dies, the kingdom will be split, and the majority of the regions will go to a servant of Solomon. But, out of respect for God’s relationship with David, a small amount will remain with Solomon’s son (1 Kings 11:11-13).
The narrative tells us, and scholars believe there is some reality in it, that Solomon had a son Rehoboam, who was cruel to the Israelites. We might remember that when Solomon ordered the construction of the Temple, the required manpower came from forced labor—the same thing that caused the Israelites to flee Egypt. When the heavy yoke of forced labor was questioned, Rehoboam belligerently answered, “I will add to your yoke; my father flogged you with whips, but I will flog you with scorpions” (1 Kings 12:11).
Who was the brave man who dared to question Rehoboam? None other than a servant of Solomon, named Jeroboam. Jeroboam had been recognized by Solomon as being “very capable” (1 Kings 11:28), and he was singled out by the prophet Ahijah as being the man who would take governorship of ten regions away from Rehoboam (1 Kings 11:31).
These stories explain why the kingdom was split in two at the end of the 10th century BCE. Another relevant topic was what happened to the Temple. We will remember that, during Israel’s heyday, Solomon was able to undertake construction of the first Temple in Jerusalem—a substantial, stately, beautifully decorated place to worship the god of the Israelites. And we are also told that, when the Temple was completed, God agreed to “ever be there” (1 Kings 9:3). But Solomon had been warned that, if he turned his back on God, God would “reject the House” (1 Kings 9:7). Perhaps it was God’s “rejection” that led to the 6th century BCE destruction of the first Temple.
Because these “prophecies” both came to pass, scholars tell us that the final form of the text came after the destruction of the Temple. The writers knew what was coming next in the narrative, and their writings provide explanations for the historical events.
Rabbi Jaech was struck that our biblical leaders are not flawless people, and the inclusions of these flaws in our narratives make the characters more human and more compelling. It is human nature to want a flawless leader; someone we can turn to and say, “Save me!” But our tradition does not preserve a flawless leader. Perhaps that is a caution that we cannot look to a human and expect that person to be a messiah. Still, even with their flaws, these characters accomplished things worthy of remembrance.
Please note: Rabbi Jaech will be on her Professional Development sabbatical for the next several weeks. While she is away, the Torah Study blog will either revisit past sessions or, possibly, present sections that particularly made an impression on me from Biblical Origins: The Political Intent of the Bible’s Writers.