In our series on people of the Bible who are also mentioned in the Qur’an, it is often difficult to touch on all the important points in a single lesson. Such was the case in our study of King Solomon (Sulayman to Muslims). We talked at length about Solomon’s proverbial wisdom, but he is also famous for other reasons. For example, we didn’t mention the fact that three books of the Bible are attributed to him: the book of Proverbs, the Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes. This is not all. In hearing the name of Solomon, many people think about the temple in Jerusalem that he built for God.

The Construction of the Temple

You will recall that David, Solomon’s father, intended to build a temple for God. Since the time of Moses the place of worship for the Israelites had been a luxurious tent called the tabernacle. David found that it was not reasonable that he himself lived in a beautiful house while the Ark of the Covenant, the sacred chest containing the stone tables with the 10 commandments written on them and representing the presence of God among His people, was housed in a simple tent. God was pleased with this desire of David but He did not want a man of war like David to build His temple, a house of prayer for all nations.

The Lord informed David that it would be his son who would build the temple. So David did not undertake the construction of the building, but he made many preparations. He told his people before his death:

“So to the best of my ability I’ve made provision for the house of my God: gold for the gold articles, silver for the silver, bronze for the bronze, iron for the iron, and wood for the wood, as well as onyx, stones for mounting, antimony, stones of various colors, all kinds of precious stones, and a great quantity of marble. Moreover, because of my delight in the house of my God, I now give my personal treasures of gold and silver for the house of my God over and above all that I’ve provided for the holy house: 100 tons of gold (gold of Ophir) and 250 tons of refined silver for overlaying the walls of the buildings, the gold for the gold work and the silver for the silver, for all the work to be done by the craftsmen…” (1 Chronicles 29:2-5).

Then he invited the people to also contribute to it, which they did willingly and with generosity. David gave his son detailed plans for the construction of the temple and for the worship that would take place there.

In addition to all his father’s preparations which were already in place, Solomon put to work more than 180,000 workers he sent to Lebanon to prepare the wood and cut the stones to be used in construction. According to 1 Kings 6:7, “The temple’s construction used finished stones cut at the quarry so that no hammer, chisel, or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.” Solomon dedicated more than seven whole years to construct the temple, which was without doubt one of the marvels of the world in its time.

In spite of the temple’s grandeur, Solomon had no illusions about the role of this golden house. Here is what he said in the prayer he offered during the dedication of the sanctuary in 1 Kings 8:

“But will God indeed live on earth? Even heaven, the highest heaven, cannot contain You, much less this temple I have built. Listen to Your servant’s prayer and his petition, Lord my God, so that You may hear the cry and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today, so that Your eyes may watch over this temple night and day, toward the place where You said, ‘My name will be there, and so that You may hear the prayer that Your servant prays toward this place. Hear the petition of Your servant and Your people Israel, which they pray toward this place. May You hear in Your dwelling place in heaven. May You hear and forgive.’” (1 Kings 8:27-30)

Let’s notice two other points on the subject of the temple before speaking of a final aspect of the life of Solomon. In this prayer of Solomon at the dedication of the temple, he clearly showed that the Eternal God, the Creator of people of all nations, did not belong exclusively to Israel. It is true that God manifested himself in an extraordinary manner to the Israelite people and accorded them particular blessings; but the supreme God is not a “national god.” He is interested in all of humanity. In his prayer, Solomon said:

“Even for the foreigner who is not of Your people Israel but has come from a distant land because of Your name—for they will hear of Your great name, mighty hand, and outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this temple—may You hear in heaven, Your dwelling place, and do according to all the foreigner asks You for. Then all the people on earth will know Your name, to fear You as Your people Israel do…” (1 Kings 8:41-43).

Secondly, we want to note that according to Jesus, the geographic place where one worships God doesn’t matter. It is true that under the old covenant God had with the Jews, a single place was designated for worship. One can pray to God and teach his word anywhere, and the Jewish synagogues (which could be found almost anywhere) were used for these activities. But it was a sin to offer animals in sacrifice to God outside the temple in Jerusalem. Each year, the Jews were called to make pilgrimages to the holy city to observe certain feasts there in honor of God.

But Jesus announced a radical change. One day he spoke with a Samaritan woman. The Samaritans, whose ancestors were Jews who had married pagans, had built their own temple to God on Mount Gerazim. This woman with whom Jesus spoke said to him:

“‘Sir, I see that You are a prophet. Our fathers worshiped on this mountain, yet you Jews say that the place to worship is in Jerusalem.’

Jesus told her, ‘Believe Me, woman, an hour is coming when you will worship the Father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. You Samaritans worship what you do not know. We worship what we do know, because salvation is from the Jews. But an hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth. Yes, the Father wants such people to worship Him. God is spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truth.’” (John 4:19-24)

A Sad Ending

We have seen many times that the Bible, while making known the good qualities and positive actions of its heroes, does not hide their defects. Whether they were prophets, priests, or kings, men are always fallible, and even the most pious persons are capable of falling into temptation. Sadly, such was the case of King Solomon. The apostle Paul exhorts us in 1 Corinthians 10:12, “So whoever thinks he stands must be careful not to fall.” The eleventh chapter of 1 Kings tells how Solomon fell.

“King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Sidonian and Hittite women from the nations that the Lord had told the Israelites about, ‘Do not intermarry with them, and they must not intermarry with you, because they will turn you away from Me to their gods.’ Solomon was deeply attached to these women and loved them. He had 700 wives who were princesses and 300 concubines, and they turned his heart away from the Lord.

When Solomon was old, his wives seduced him to follow other gods. He was not completely devoted to Yahweh his God, as his father David had been. Solomon followed Ashtoreth, the goddess of the Sidonians, and Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites. Solomon did what was evil in the Lord’s sight, and unlike his father David, he did not completely follow Yahweh.

At that time, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh, the detestable idol of Moab, and for Milcom, the detestable idol of the Ammonites, on the hill across from Jerusalem. He did the same for all his foreign wives, who were burning incense and offering sacrifices to their gods.

The Lord was angry with Solomon, because his heart had turned away from Yahweh, the God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice. He had commanded him about this, so that he would not follow other gods, but Solomon did not do what the Lord had commanded.

Then the Lord said to Solomon, ‘Since you have done this and did not keep My covenant and My statutes which I commanded you, I will tear the kingdom away from you and give it to your servant. However, I will not do it during your lifetime because of your father David; I will tear it out of your son’s hand. Yet I will not tear the entire kingdom away from him. I will give one tribe to your son because of my servant David and because of Jerusalem that I chose.’” (1 Kings 11:1-13)

It is sad to learn that the young man who had humbly and piously asked God to give him wisdom to govern well the people of God later turned away from God’s way. He instead gave his people a very bad example, which must have misled many people. It is sad to learn that one who dedicated so much effort and wealth to the construction of a house of prayer for the true God ended up by building, in the same city, pagan temples in honor of pagan idols. Behind these idols were demons that incited people to all sorts of criminal acts. And all this happened because he did not respect God’s law against marrying pagans. The influence of a husband or wife who does not serve God is very dangerous for one’s spiritual life.

Conclusion

It is possible that Solomon repented before his death. The biblical book that is called Ecclesiastes and is attributed to Solomon indicates that at the end of his life, he realized that he had given himself to many useless things. But he had not found happiness—not in money, nor in work, nor in education, nor in pleasure. At the end of the day, without God, nothing in this life can satisfy for long; nothing can give an enduring meaning to life, this life which lasts such a short time. His book ends with these simple but profound words:

“When all has been heard, the conclusion of the matter is: fear God and keep His commands, because this is for all humanity. For God will bring every act to judgment, including every hidden thing, whether good or evil.” (Ecclesiastes 12:13,14)