Seder Olam: C23b- Unified Kingdom
- Albert Benhamou
- Mar 13
- 42 min read
Updated: 3 days ago
BIBLICAL CHRONOLOGY
Generation 23: Hebrew years 2640 to 2760 (1120-1000 BCE)
The second part of this chronological generation 23 covers the Unified Monarchy. To return to the first part of this generation 23, click here.
Year 2699 – 1061 BCE – King Saul
After having tried and failed for many generations, with 12 judges to bring back all the Israelites into His commandments, God accepted the wish of His people and advised Samuel upon His choice of the person to be king:
Now there was a man of Benjamin, whose name was Kish, the son of Abiel, the son of Zeror, the son of Becorath, the son of Aphiah, the son of a Benjamite, a mighty man of valor. And he had a son, whose name was Saul, young and goodly, and there was not among the children of Israel a goodlier person than he: from his shoulders and upward he was higher than any of the people. (I Samuel 9:1-2)
But Saul only reigned two years over the Israelites (I Samuel 13:1) as he proved to be a disappointment to God and to Samuel. During his short reign, he never had rest from the archenemy, the Philistines (I Samuel 14:52).
What did he do wrong? God instructed Saul to go and destroy all the Amalekites and their belongings. But Saul’s greed made him spare the best items he could find among the enemies’ possessions and keep them as spoils. Worse, he spared the enemy king. Because of that, the spiritual heirs of Amalek will continue to harass the Israelites throughout History. Such examples will be Aman in Persia (see document C28), Hitler and the Nazis, and present-day the ayatollahs of Iran! This disobedience caused God to regret having chosen Saul as a king. Samuel communicated to Saul the displeasure:
And Saul said unto Samuel: "Yea, I have hearkened to the voice of the Lord, and have gone the way which the Lord sent me, and have brought Agag the king of Amalek, and have utterly destroyed the Amalekites. But the people took of the spoil, sheep and oxen, the chief of the devoted things, to sacrifice unto the Lord your God in Gilgal." And Samuel said: "Has the Lord as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in hearkening to the voice of the Lord? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams. For rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft, and stubbornness is as idolatry and teraphim. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, He has also rejected you from being king." (I Samuel 15:20-24)
Saul addressed Samuel with mentioning your God, as if He was not his God too! Worried of the words of the prophet, and probably seeking repentance, Saul finally executed Agag. But the damage was done as he had spared Agag’s family.
From now on, Samuel had no more involvement with Saul. God instructed the Prophet to go and anoint David instead. He was the youngest and 8th son of Jesse (for the Jewish symbolism of the numbers, click here), from Bethlehem in Judah:
Now he [David] was ruddy, and with beautiful eyes, and goodly to look upon. (I Samuel 16:12)
Year 2700 – 1060 BCE – David and Goliath
The Philistines were the only Canaanite people left to oppress the Israelites. They assembled again for war, at the borders of Judah in the Valley of Elah. But instead of a battle between armies, a giant called Goliath from the Philistine city of Gath, kept provoking for 40 days the Israelite army camped on the opposite hill of Azekah. He was a giant because the Bible says that he was six cubits and a span high, which is about 3 meter high (I Samuel 17:4). This height may seem exaggerated but, although unusual, Herodotus also mentioned warriors of 5 cubits in height in his times (Herodotus, The History, vol.4, section 83). According to Jewish Tradition, this Goliath was the remain of the descendants from the Anakim (see document C13) and was a mercenary in Gath’s army.
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But, after 40 days, a number which symbolizes the end of a due period and the turn of time (similarly, after the explorers, God enacted one year of punishment in desert for one day of their 40-days mission: see document C21), young David came armed with a sling and stones and managed to kill Goliath from a single shot.
The Philistine army was in utter shock and fled back to their cities. After such an exploit, David was accepted in the royal house and befriended Jonathan, one of Saul’s sons. Also, Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David and became his wife. But jealousy rose in Saul’s mind against the rising star:
And there was war again; and David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and slew them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.
And an evil spirit from the Lord was upon Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. And Saul sought to smite David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul's presence, and he smote the spear into the wall; and David fled and escaped that night. (I Samuel 19:8-10)
Year 2701 – 1059 BCE – Death of Samuel the Prophet
Samuel died in a rather young age, unlike what the text seems to say. How long did he live? He was born in Biblical year 2648 (see earlier in this document) and died some short time before Saul, who reigned for two years (I Samuel 13:1) until Biblical year 2700. So, Samuel was 52 years of age when he died. The text however mentions that he judged Israel all the days of his life. As he was born to be dedicated to God by his mother’s vow, all the days of his life means that he was chosen by God as a judge from birth, as it was the case for the judge Samson.
Samuel was buried in his city of Ramah (I Samuel 28:3) (see document C23a).
Jewish tradition states that Samuel died on the 28th of the month of Iyyar. This day is also the day when, during the Six-Day War on the 7th of June 1967, the Old City of Jerusalem was liberated from its occupation by the Jordanian Brigade. For the first time since 1948, Jews were again able to pray at the Western Wall.
It is worth noting some Biblical father-son issues: Eli was the High Priest, but his two sons deviated from God. And before Eli, Aaron the High Priest also lost his two sons when they disobeyed God’s commandment. Samuel was also disappointed in the way that his two sons turned into corruption, after having been nominated as judges by their father. As for King Solomon, the dispute between his two sons would cause the Israelites to divide between two kingdoms.
Year 2701 – 1059 BCE – Slaughter of the priests of Nob
Saul sought to kill David. The latter went into hiding to avoid Saul’s men sent after him. Before running away, David met with Ahimelech the Priest of Nob who gave him the sword of Goliath that had been kept in the sanctuary. But, among the men present was a foreigner, Doeg the Edomite, who was at the service of Saul. He soon brought to the king the intelligence of this meeting, but lied to Saul about the reason for David’s visit, who had only come to find food:
Then answered Doeg the Edomite, who was set over the servants of Saul, and said: “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. And he inquired of the Lord for him, and gave him victuals, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”
Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father's house, the priests that were in Nob; and they came all of them to the king. And Saul said: "Hear now, you son of Ahitub." And he answered: "Here I am, my lord." And Saul said unto him: "Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”
Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said: "And who among all your servants is so trusted as David, who is the king's son-in-law, and gives heed unto your bidding, and is honorable in your house? Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me. Let not the king impute anything unto his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more." And the king said: "You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you and all your father's house."
And the king said unto the guard that stood about him: "Turn and slay the priests of the Lord; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and did not disclose it to me." But the servants of the king would not put forth their hand to fall upon the priests of the Lord. And the king said to Doeg: "Turn you and fall upon the priests." And Doeg the Edomite turned, and he fell upon the priests, and he slew on that day fourscore and five persons that did wear a linen ephod. And Nob, the city of the priests, smote he with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and suckling, and oxen and asses and sheep, with the edge of the sword.
And one of the sons of Ahimelech the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David. And Abiathar told David that Saul had slain the Lord’s priests. And David said unto Abiathar: "I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I have brought about the death of all the persons of your father's house. Abide you with me, fear not; for he that seeks my life seeks your life; for with me you shall be in safeguard." (I Samuel 22:9-23)
Doeg the Edomite applied to the city of Nob the punishment that God had asked Saul to do to the Amalekites, killing all people and even animals from their city.
Who was Ahimelech? When Eli and his son Phinehas died 13 years earlier, in Hebrew year 2688, the heir for the priesthood was just born on that day. He was called Ichabod by his mother who died when giving birth to him (see document C23a). Since the Ark had been taken by the Philistines and later was hosted in the city of Kiriath-Jearim, the priests service was passed onto the family branch of Ithamar son of Aaron, who resided in the city of Nob where they arranged a sanctuary. Ahimelech was the head of this family of Levites. Ichabod, the heir of the branch of Eleazar son of Aaron, was only 12 years old when Ahimelech and his sons were murdered by orders of King Saul.
Year 2701 – 1059 BCE – Death of King Saul
David ultimately found refuge in the south, in the wilderness of Paran, with 600 followers (I Samuel 25:1). It was in the land of the Philistines at the time, and he dwelt there for one year and four months. While David was in their territory, the Philistines wanted to take advantage and waged another war against King Saul. The battle, at the feet of Mount Gilboa in Southern Galilee, was won by the Philistines.
Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines and fell slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchi-Shua, the sons of Saul, and the battle went sore against Saul, and the [Philistine] archers overtook him; and he was in great anguish by reason of the archers. Then said Saul to his armor-bearer: "Draw your sword and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and make a mockery of me." But his armor-bearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore, Saul took his sword, and fell upon it. (I Samuel 31:1-4)
Year 2703 – 1057 BCE – Death of Abner
One of Saul’s sons, Ish-Bosheth, was alive and 40 years old at the time of the last battle. Abner, the chief of Saul’s army, who was a relative of the royal family, had escaped the battlefield and proclaimed Ish-Bosheth king of Israel. But, in Judah, the people proclaimed David as their king (II Samuel 2:8-9). A civil war ensued but the house of David grew stronger over time.
The civil war lasted two years, until the death of Abner in Hebron. He came to broker a peace with David, and peace was accepted. But Joab, the army chief of David and archrival of Abner, deceived him to come back to Hebron, without David’s knowing about it, and smote him in revenge for the previous death of Asahel, Joab’s brother (II Samuel 3:30).
Year 2703 – 1057 BCE – Ish-Bosheth
Who was Ish-Bosheth? In the Book of Chronicles, he is called Eshbaal (which means "the Fire of Baal"). Obviously, this was a pagan-originated name. Saul's son was later called Ish-Bosheth, which was surely a nickname given by his enemies because it means "man of shame" and had the reputation of a weak man:
And Ner begot Kish; and Kish begot Saul; and Saul begot Jonathan, and Malchi-Shua, and Abinadab, and Eshbaal. (I Chronicles 8:33)
Soon after Abner’s death, Ish-Bosheth was assassinated by two of his followers (II Samuel 4:5-6), but the other tribes of Israel would still not accept David as their king.
Archaeologists have found one inscription on a jar with the name "Eshbaal son of Beda". Obviously, it doesn't mean that the jar belonged to Saul's son, but it is nonetheless a very interesting find for two main reasons:
the inscription is in Proto-Hebrew characters and dating has been assessed to be around 1000 BCE, thus contemporary of kings Saul and David; it is one of the rare Hebrew inscriptions dating for that very ancient period, 3000 years ago
the name Eshbaal, being derived from pagan culture was rare and has not been used again in the course of Biblical history; it was probably a popular name at the time before Saul became king, when the Israelites were influenced by neighboring Canaanite people and their cult of Baal; in other words, the name on the jar was only fashionable in that period, when the first kingdom was established over Israel
Eshbaal (Ish-Bosheth) was the righteous heir of King Saul and this is the reason for the other tribes not to join David, king of Judah, as king of all Israel. Ultimately, he met with a violent end:
And the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, Rechab and Baanah, went, and came about the heat of the day to the house of Ish-Bosheth, as he took his rest at noon. And they came thither into the midst of the house, as though they had fetched wheat; and they smote him in the groin; and Rechab and Baanah his brother fled. Now, when they came into the house, as he lay on his bed in his bedchamber, they smote him, and slew him, and beheaded him, and took away his head, and went by the way of the Arabah all night. And they brought the head of Ish-Bosheth unto David to Hebron, and said to the king: “Behold the head of Ish-Bosheth the son of Saul your enemy, who sought your life; and the Lord has avenged my lord the king this day of Saul and of his seed.”
And David answered Rechab and Baanah his brother, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said unto them: “As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul out of all adversity, when one told me, saying: Behold, Saul is dead, and he was in his own eyes as though he brought good tidings, I took hold of him, and slew him in Ziklag, instead of giving a reward for his tidings. How much more, when wicked men have slain a righteous person in his own house upon his bed, shall I not now require his blood of your hand, and take you away from the earth?'
And David commanded his young men, and they slew them, and cut off their hands and their feet, and hanged them up beside the pool in Hebron. But they took the head of Ish-Bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner in Hebron. (II Samuel 4:5-12)
The tomb of Abner ben Ner is located near the Cave of Machpelah in Hebron.
Year 2708 – 1052 BCE – King David
The Tribes of Israel finally decided to elect David as their king:
Then came all the tribes of Israel to David unto Hebron, and spoke, saying: "Behold, we are your bone and your flesh. In times past, when Saul was king over us, it was you who did lead out and bring in Israel; and the Lord said to you: You shall feed My people Israel, and you shall be prince over Israel."
So, all the elders of Israel came to the king to Hebron; and King David made a covenant with them in Hebron before the Lord; and they anointed David king over Israel.
David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years. In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah. (II Samuel 5:1-5)
The census of armed men in the kingdom at the time of David’s rule over all the tribes was as follows (I Chronicles 12:24-41):
Judah: 6,800
Simeon: 7,100
Levi: 4,600 ; their leader was Jehoiada
Benjamin: 3,000 ; the tribe was down to 1,000 armed men after the civil war
Ephraim: 20,800
Half of Manasseh: 18,000
Issachar: 200 leaders (so probably about 7,500 men)
Zebulun: 50,000
Naphtali: 1,000 leaders and 37,000 men
Dan: 28,600
Asher: 40,000
East side of the Jordan River (Reuben, Gad, another half Manasseh): 120,000
These numbers add up to a total of about 350,000 men of war. But making a census of the Israelites would be considered as bad omen since these days because it is said:
And Satan stood up against Israel and moved David to number Israel. (I Chronicles 21:1)
It may be noted though that there is no such "bad god" called Satan in Judaism: Satan is rather referring an inner tendency to bad behavior, bad choice, etc.
David’s first act was to establish a new capital for the kingdom, instead of reigning over the Judean capital in Hebron. For this purpose, he chose a city which didn't belong to any tribe yet, so that no dispute or preference would arise between the tribes. He considered the city of the Jebusites, situated on a hill in what will become the city of Jerusalem, at the border between the territories of Judah and Benjamin, to be the best choice as it would also heal the feud about kingship between the houses of Judah and Benjamin. He took the city of the Jebusites by finding a water tunnel leading to it from the Gihon Spring. The city was known, then and now, as the city as “City of David” (II Samuel 5:8-9).
The second act was to bring the Ark of Covenant in the new city (II Samuel 6:12). Later he expressed to the Prophet Nathan the wish to build a proper building for the Ark, a house of cedar, but God made it clear He didn’t need such thing:
And it came to pass the same night, that the word of the Lord came unto Nathan, saying: "Go and tell My servant David: Thus says the Lord: Shall you build Me a house for Me to dwell in? for I have not dwelt in a house since the day that I brought up the children of Israel out of Egypt, even to this day, but have walked in a tent and in a tabernacle. In all places wherein I have walked among all the children of Israel, spoke I a word with any of the tribes of Israel, whom I commanded to feed My people Israel, saying: Why have you not built Me a house of cedar?” (II Samuel 7:4-7)
God declined David’s intent but promised that his son would build such house.
David also built military outposts to protect the kingdom's borders and main roads against potential intrusions from enemies. Archaeologists find remains of these sites in Israel today. The main proofs of such activity of outpost are determined by the clay seals (bullae) found of these sites, which prove there was a central power (monarchy), which featured a different political landscape from the previous model of scattered tribal societies, at the time of the Iron II which is David's time around 1000 BCE. Sites such as Khirbet Qeiyafa in the Judean Lowlands, Tell el-Hesi initially thought to be the Biblical Lachish; to read more about the finding of clay seals of this period, click here.
Year 2708 – 1052 BCE – End of the Philistine yoke
The yoke of the Philistines continued over the following years against Israel, until the Israelites finally decided to elect David as king over all the tribes. Only then, David waged a last battle against the Philistines who then decided to stop their wars against Israel, 40 years since they had started at the period of the judges (Judges 13:1). Like for the 40 years spent in the desert by the Hebrew ancestors to pay for their sins, it was time again for the Israelites to be relieved from their oppressors.
Year 2718 – 1042 BCE – David and Bathsheba
Later in his reign, David desired a woman called Bathsheba, who was married to Uriah the Hittite. He ordered Joab, his army chief, to send Uriah to the frontline to get him killed. And so, it happened. Then David took Bathsheba as wife, and she begot a first son who died from divine judgment about David’s sin. But David genuinely loved Bathsheba and comforted her about her loss. She begot another son called Solomon. The Biblical text says that God loved him (II Samuel 12:24), so he lived.
Year 2734 – 1026 BCE – The rape of Tamar
Tamar was one of the daughters of King David, from his marriage with Maacah, the daughter of the king of Geshur of the Arameans. She was loved by her half-brother, Amnon, the eldest son of David from his marriage with Ahinoam from Jezreel. As she refused his advance, he raped her, and then misbehaved towards her. This act angered Absalom, Tamar’s sister, who took revenge against Amnon two years later by having him killed. Absalom then fled from David’s anger and found refuge for 3 years in the foreign land of his mother in Geshur.
The capital of the ancient kingdom of Geshur has been identified as Beth-Saida, an archaeological site on the north-eastern side of the Kinneret (Sea of Galilee). At the time, this city was a harbor situated on the shore of the sea. But an earthquake changed the topography of the area since these times, pulling the waters further south and creating marshes instead of the sea, thus destroying the fishing activity of Beth-Saida. Fishermen such as some of Jesus’ disciples then moved to Capernaum.
A new site has been investigated in recent years, closer to the sea of Galilee, and is believed to be the Beth-Saida of the Gospels.
Eventually David forgave Absalom and allowed him back to Jerusalem, but he was banned from ever showing himself to the king.
Year 2739 – 1021 BCE – The rebellion of Absalom
The last year of David’s reign was soured by the rebellion of his preferred son, Absalom, who declared himself king while his old father was still alive. A civil war was looming but Joab, the army chief, killed Absalom who got caught in a tree because of his long, beautiful hair for which he was praised. This put an end to the rebellion.
Year 2741 – 1019 BCE – King David chooses Solomon as his successor
Towards the end of his reign, David had ordered Joab to number the Israelites in the age of war. Joab showed reluctance to do so, as it was considered bad omen, but came back with the figures of 800,000 men for Israel and 500,000 for Judah (II Samuel 24:9). He had purposedly missed counting some people in this census and it displeased David. In a later period, God will forbid to carry out censuses of the "children of Israel":
Yet the number of the children of Israel shall be as the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured nor numbered. (Hosea 2:1)
After the death of Absalom, Adonijah, the next heir in David’s lineage, started to act as if he would be king. He was supported by Joab and by Abiathar, the Priest from Ithamar branch who had escaped the slaughter of his father Ahimelech and the destruction of the sanctuary of Nob on Saul’s orders. But Zadok the Priest from Eleazar branch and Nathan the Prophet both sided with Solomon, the son David had with Bathsheba.
And King David said: 'Call me Zadok the priest, and Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada.' And they came before the king. And the king said unto them: 'Take with you the servants of your lord, and cause Solomon my son to ride upon my own mule and bring him down to Gihon. And let Zadok the priest and Nathan the prophet anoint him there king over Israel; and blow you with the horn and say: Long live king Solomon. Then you shall come up after him, and he shall come and sit upon my throne; for he shall be king in my stead; and I have appointed him to be prince over Israel and over Judah.' (I Kings 1:32-35)
The Gihon Spring is in the valley of the Kidron, and accessible from the Jerusalem of this time, now called the City of David.
Year 2741 – 1019 BCE – Death of King David
David started to reign at the age of 30, after the death of King Saul. He first reigned over Judah for 7 years, and then over all Israel for 33 years. In total, he reigned for 40 years.
Now these are the last words of David: The saying of David the son of Jesse, and the saying of the man rose on high, the anointed of the God of Jacob, and the sweet singer of Israel: The spirit of the Lord spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue. The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: 'Ruler over men shall be the righteous, even he who rules in the fear of God, and as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, a morning without clouds; when through clear shining after rain, the tender grass springs out of the earth.' For is not my house established with God? For an everlasting covenant He has made with me, ordered in all things, and sure; for all my salvation, and all my desire, will he not make it to grow? But the ungodly, they are as thorns thrust away, all of them, for they cannot be taken with the hand; but the man that touches them must be armed with iron and the staff of a spear; and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place. (II Samuel 23:1-7)
When he got old, David had a last conversation with God:
David said before the Holy One, blessed be He, ‘Sovereign of the Universe! Lord, make me to know my end.’ ‘It is a decree before Me,’ replied He, ‘that the end of a mortal is not made known.’ ‘And the measure of my days, what it is?’ – ’it is a decree before Me that a person's span [of life] is not made known.’ ‘Let me know how frail I am.’ (Psalms 39:5). Said He to him. ‘You will die on the Sabbath.’ ‘Let me die on the first day of the week!’ ‘The reign of your son Solomon shall already have become due, and one reign may not overlap another even by a hairbreadth.’ ‘Then let me die on the eve of the Sabbath!’ Said He, ‘For a day in your courts is better than a thousand’: better is to Me the one day that you sit and engage in learning than the thousand burnt offerings which your son Solomon is destined to sacrifice before Me on the altar.’ (Talmud, Shabbat, 30a)
This tells us about the power of studying the Scriptures. It is also said:
Said Rabbi Joseph: A commandment protects and rescues while one is engaged upon it; but when one is no longer engaged upon it, it protects but does not rescue. As for [study of] Torah, whether while one is engaged upon it or not, it protects and rescues. (Talmud, Sotah, 21a)
Before he died, David gave his last recommendations to his Son Solomon, to walk in God’s path.
And David slept with his fathers and was buried in the city of David. (I Kings, 2:10)
Year 2745 – 1015 BCE – Solomon’s alliance with Pharaoh
After resolving the succession feuds with his half-brother Adonijah and his supporters, the kingdom became peaceful. It was time for Solomon to pursue peace outside his realm as well:
And Solomon became allied to Pharaoh king of Egypt by marriage, and took Pharaoh's daughter, and brought her into the city of David, until he had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about. Only the people sacrificed in the high places because there was no house built for the name of the Lord until those days. (I Kings 3:1-2)
At that time, Egypt was in what is called the Third Intermediate Period, ranging from 1069 to 664 BCE. The previous powerful New Kingdom had been weakened by internal struggles that led into the effective division of the country between political and religious powers: Lower Egypt in the north with the capital Tanis in the Delta region was ruled by the Pharaoh, while Middle and Upper Egypt in the south with the religious capital Thebes was effectively ruled by the High Priests of Amon, connected however to the royal family in Tanis.
Solomon married a daughter of Pharaoh Psusennes I of the 21st Dynasty, nicknamed Tanite Dynasty because of its capital in Tanis, who reigned from 1047 to 1001 BCE.
It was important for kings of that fragile dynasty to seek alliances and peace on their borders, so that they could maintain their power at home. To this effect and to seal his alliance with Solomon, he sent an expedition to secure the border between Egypt and the land of Israel, and destroyed Gezer, the remaining Canaanite city on that border:
Pharaoh King of Egypt had gone up, and taken Gezer, and burnt it with fire, and slain the Canaanites that dwelt in the city, and given it for a portion unto his daughter, Solomon's wife. And Solomon built Gezer, and Beth-Horon the nether, and Baalath, and Tamar Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land, and all the store-cities that Solomon had, and the cities for his chariots, and the cities for his horsemen, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure in Jerusalem, and in Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion. (I Kings 9:16-19)
Concerning the city of "Tadmor in the wilderness", it is the city that was later known as Palmyra. It is located well inside the Syrian desert so fully justifies the description "in the wilderness". The name Palmyra refers to palm trees, and it indeed derived from the name Tadmor which originally was Tamar, which means palm tree. The text in Hebrew cites both Tadmor and Tamar as the same city: וְאֶת-תמר תַּדְמֹר בַּמִּדְבָּר
The location of Tadmor/Palmyra shows that the kingdom of Solomon stretched quite far north and east towards the land of Aram. The city is also mentioned in the Talmud (late Roman period) as having been destroyed and built again and having then become a city of depravity, worse than Hell itself (Talmud, Yevamoth 17a).
In 1908, during the Ottoman Empire, excavations took place in the site of Tel Gezer. A small stone was found with inscriptions that give the annual seasons and the calendar of months as follows. It starts with the two first months of the Hebrew New Year with the month of Tishri:
Two months gathering
Two months planting
Two months late sowing
One month cutting flax
One month reaping barley
One month reaping and measuring grain
Two months pruning
One month summer fruit
(Coogan, Michael D., "A Brief Introduction to the Old Testament", page 119, Oxford University Press, 2009, cited in Wikipedia)
The stone dated from the 10th century BCE which would correspond to the time of Solomon's reign, most probably after Pharaoh conquered the city of Gezer.
There are two important findings related to this inscription are the method of calendar and the writing itself.
About the method of calendar, the practice of dividing the year into sets of months (most sets being of two months) seems to date from the settlement of the Israelites in Canaan. What is extraordinary is that this method has remained in practice for about 1500 years as it is described in the Talmud (which was compiled in the 5th century CE):
[The second] half of Tishri, Marcheshvan, and the first half of Kislev is seed-time;
[the second] half of Kislev, Tebeth, and half Shebat are the winter months;
[the second] half of Shebat, Adar, and [the first] half of Nisan, cold months;
[the second] half of Nisan, Iyar, and [the first] half of Sivan is the period of harvests;
[the second] half of Sivan, Tammuz, and the first half of Ab are summer;
the second half of Ab, Ellul and the first half of Tishri, hot months.
Rabbi Judah counted [these periods] from [the beginning of] Tishri; Rabbi Simeon, from Marcheshvan. (Talmud, Baba Metzia 106b)
Concerning the writing on the inscription, it is based on an alphabet, not pictograms as it was the technique at these times in Egypt (hieroglyphs) and in Asia (cuneiforms). So, this is one of the earliest forms of alphabet, and it dates from the establishment of the Israelites in Canaan. Scientists call it paleo-Hebrew alphabet, or "Canaanite" alphabet (which is misguiding because the Canaanites themselves used the cuneiform writing as testified by the Amarna letters to Pharaoh Akhenaten). It is possible to imagine that the inscription was used by the people of Gezer to learn about the Hebrew calendar and the alphabet of their new rulers (the Israelites).
The early Hebrew alphabet was extensively used in the time of King Solomon. A second item has been discovered in Jerusalem by archaeologist Eilat Mazar in July 2013 and the inscription was fully explained six months later by Prof. Gershon Galil from the University of Haifa, Israel. The artifact has been described as the oldest alphabetical inscription to date.
The text, engraved on a clay jug, describes a wine that was contained in it. The wine is mentioned to be of lower quality, bestowed by King Solomon for the use of people or guards employed at his royal service. The wine was deemed to be not fit for the king's table.
Year 2745 – 1015 BCE – God grants wisdom to Solomon
This marriage was however more a political alliance than a matrimonial union because the new wife remained in Egypt until, as the Biblical text says, Solomon had made an end of building his own house, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about (I Kings 3:1). This will take him a few more years to complete.
God appeared to Solomon in a dream and asked what he desired:
"Give Your servant therefore an understanding heart to judge Your people, that I may discern between good and evil; for who is able to judge this Your great people?"
And the speech pleased the Lord, that Solomon had asked this thing. And God said unto him: "Because you have asked this thing, and have not asked for yourself long life; neither have asked riches for yourself, nor have asked the life of your enemies; but have asked for yourself understanding to discern justice; behold, I have done according to your word: lo, I have given you a wise and an understanding heart; so that there has been none like you before you, neither after you shall any arise like unto you. And I have also given you that which you have not asked, both riches and honor, so that there has not been any among the kings like unto you, all your days. And if you will walk in My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David did walk, then I will lengthen your days." (I Kings 3:9-14)
And God extended the stretch of Solomon kingdom from Egypt, his ally, until the River, which is Mesopotamia. He ruled by a network of allies and provincial leaders.
There is historical evidence of this occurrence in the records of Babylon because, before Solomon’s accession to power, the Arameans had made incursions to Babylon, toppled its leader, Nabu-shum-Libur, and ended his dynasty known as Dynasty V of Babylon. And then David submitted the Arameans to his rule:
David smote also Hadadezer the son of Rehob, king of Zobah [region in Aram], as he went to establish his dominion at the river Euphrates. And David took from him a thousand and seven hundred horsemen, and twenty thousand footmen; and David destroyed all the chariot horses but kept of them a hundred chariots. And when the Arameans of Damascus came to succor Hadadezer king of Zobah, David smote of the Arameans two and twenty thousand men. Then David put garrisons in Aram of Damascus; and the Arameans became servants to David and brought presents. And the Lord gave victory to David whithersoever he went. And David took the shields of gold that were on the servants of Hadadezer and brought them to Jerusalem. And from Betah and from Berothai, cities of Hadadezer, King David took exceeding much brass. (II Samuel 8:3-8)
Most probably, the gold and brass that David took away from the Arameans had been previously taken by them from Babylon, as an inscription of Late Babylonian period stated:
During the reign of Adad-apla-iddina, king of Babylon, hostile Aramaeans and Suteans, enemies of the Ekur temple and the city of Nippur, […] plundered the land of Sumer and Akkad and overthrew all the temples. The Aramaeans carried off the goods and property of the god Enlil. (Inscription of Simbar-Sipak or Simbar-Sihu who reigned around 1025-1008 BCE)
So, by the time of Solomon’s reign, the Arameans, and by extent the region of Babylon that they had previously conquered, was under the indirect dominance of the Israelites. The Babylon dynasty that followed Dynasty V was plagued with distress and famine, so that it never presented any threat to Solomon's kingdom during the time of his reign.
Solomon’s alliance with the Phoenicians
Solomon also forged an alliance with the Phoenicians. Their king, Hiram, had known King David and was married to an Israelite widow from the Tribe of Naphtali (I Kings 7:14). This created bonds between the two royal houses of Jerusalem and Sidon. Solomon traded with Hiram: he provided him every year wheat and oil, and Hiram provided to Solomon timber from the cedar trees of his land, today’s Lebanon (I Kings 5:22-25).
Like the Phoenicians, Solomon had a navy:
For the king had at sea a navy of Tarshish with the navy of Hiram; once every three years came the navy of Tarshish, bringing gold, and silver, ivory, and apes, and peacocks. (I Kings 10:22)
The mention of peacocks, which originated from India, means the maritime routes took the ships there. As of the mention of ivory, it means that the Jewish tradesmen reached Africa, where elephants could be found. Of course, they most probably reached all the shores of the Mediterranean Basin, including Northern Africa that will later be known as the “Maghreb” which means the West. The Israelites also knew the city of Carthage, which was founded, like other maritime colonies, by the Phoenicians.
The trade winds
Another important knowledge of the time was the system of wind flows on Earth. It was with Solomon's wisdom that the Phoenicians could understand that the winds did not blow straight but had a circular movement. This was an important point for maritime routes, to take advantage of one wind direction or another. This is the reason they were called the "trade winds".
This knowledge was expressed in the Bible, in a book attributed to Solomon:
The wind goes toward the south and turns about unto the north; it turns about continually in its circuit, and the wind returns again to its circuits. (Ecclesiastes 1:6)
Did the Phoenicians become the greatest maritime nation of the times because they received knowledge from Solomon about the nature of "trade winds" to extend their maritime routes?
Cosmology
The friendship between Solomon and Hiram benefited the Phoenicians who learned about new concepts that were previously unknown to most people of Antiquity. The only known Phoenician writer and historian was someone called Sanchoniatho (or Sanchuniathon). Although his works have been lost, some fragments have survived and have been referred to by following historians. From these fragments, we can detect the influence of Biblical sources. For example, about cosmology, Sanchoniatho wrote:
He supposed that the beginning of all things was a dark and condensed windy air, or a breeze of thick air and a chaos turbid and black as Erebus, and that these were unbounded, and for a long series of ages destitute of form. But when this wind became enamored of its own first principles (the Chaos), and an intimate union took place, that connection was called Pothos: and it was the beginning of the creation of all things. And it (the Chaos) knew not its own production; but from its embrace with the wind was generated Môt; which some call Ilus (Mud), but others the putrefaction of a watery mixture. And from this sprung all the seeds of creation, and the generation of the universe. And there were certain animals without sensation, from which intelligent animals were produced, and these were called Zophasemin, that is, the overseers of the heavens; and they were formed in the shape of an egg: and from Môt shone forth the sun, and the moon, the less and the greater stars.
And when the air began to send forth light, by its fiery influence on the sea and earth, winds were produced, and clouds, and very great defluxions and torrents of the heavenly waters. And when they were thus separated, and carried out of their proper places by the heat of the sun, and all met again in the air, and were dashed against each other, thunder and lightnings were the result: and at the sound of the thunder, the before-mentioned intelligent animals were aroused, and startled by the noise, and moved upon the earth and in the sea, male and female.
These things were found written in the Cosmogony of Taautus, and in his commentaries, and were drawn from his observations and the natural signs which by his penetration he perceived and discovered, and with which he has enlightened us. (Cory, Isaac Preston, Ancient Fragments, London, 1832)
The new knowledge that every form of life started from a watery mixture spread from Solomon to the Phoenicians, and from the latter to other civilizations among the maritime networks that they built. This concept was adopted by Thales of Miletus, in Asia Minor. Thales is famous to mathematicians for the theorem named after him; as of the philosophers, Aristotle declared that Thales was the founder of Philosophy. Thales declared:
Water constituted the principle of all things. (Diogenes Laertius, Lives and opinions of eminent philosophers; it is a biography of the philosophers written in about 300 CE)
But Thales was not the first Greek to believe that water was the beginning of everything. Before him, Hesiod, who lived around 700 BCE, wrote a poem called Theogony in which he related the tradition of his times that the initial state of the universe was Chaos, a gaping void (abyss) and total darkness, from which Aether (the upper light) was brought by a divine essence, and then the primordial waters appeared:
Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all […]. From Chaos came forth Erebus [the personification of Darkness in Greek mythology] and black Night; but of Night were born Aether and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to her, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. (Hesiod, Theogony, translated by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, 1914, lines 116-138)
These considerations about the origin of the universe are reflected in various cultures, around the same periods prior to 500 BCE, and they probably were legends made from stories that have emerged from the kingdom of Solomon and that spread to other people and cultures in the form of poetic tales.
Invention of the Alphabet
The major transmission of knowledge from the Israelites to the Phoenicians was the alphabet. There is archaeological evidence that the alphabet came to the Phoenicians during the reign of Hiram because the earliest alphabetical Phoenician inscription was found on the sarcophagus of Hiram himself. This sarcophagus was made by the son of Hiram (or Ahiram) for his father.
The inscription reads:
The coffin which (it) Tobaal, son of Ahiram, king og Byblos [Gebal], made for his father as his ab(o)de in eternity, and if any king or any governor of any army commander attacks Byblos and exposes his coffin, let his judicial scepter be broken, let his royal throne be overthrown, and let peace flee from Byblos; and, as for him, let a vagabond (?) erase his inscription [name]. (Source: press article from The Daily Beagle)
Before their encounter with the Hebrews, the Canaanite people, to which the Phoenicians belonged, used cuneiform pictograms for writing as evidenced by the letters of Amarna (see document C21). And a few hundred years later, they switched to alphabet. How? God gave the Torah and its alphabet to the Hebrews after the Exodus, and it was used by David and his son Solomon who wrote poetry that would be included in the Jewish Bible, for example the Psalms and the Song of Songs, and more. Solomon must have explained the concept of letters, instead of pictograms, to Hiram who then taught it to his people, the Phoenicians. And, from the Phoenicians, the concept of alphabet spread to the maritime cities they built and partners they traded with. It was first transmitted to the Greeks who passed it to the rest of Europe over time, through their culture. This fact is confirmed by Herodotus, the first world historian, who wrote the following around 400 BCE:
The Phoenicians who came with Cadmus, and of whom the Gephyreans were a part, introduced during their residence in Greece various articles of science, and amongst other things letters, with which, as I conceive, the Greeks were before unacquainted. (Herodotus, The Histories, Book V – Terpsichore, section LVII)
This opinion of Herodotus had been widely accepted in the ancient times, at least until the early Christian era. Cadmus, a Phoenician prince, established himself in Greece probably around 1000 BCE and brought the knowledge of alphabet with him which was then passed into Greek culture:
Cadmus, the father of Semele, came to Thebes in the time of Lynceus, and was the inventor of the Greek letters. (Clement of Alexandria, Stromata, Book I, 21:141, to access this text online, click here)
In Israel, archaeologists found many early artifacts written with alphabetical characters of early Hebrew writing: seals, Gezer calendar, clay jars in Khirbet Qeyafa, and so on.
The wisdom that God gave to Solomon was ultimately disseminated over the years to the ancient world by means of stories and knowledge and produced a sharp turn in mankind's understanding of nature and science, in many domains. And the spread of intellectual investigations such as science and philosophy became easier with the help of the alphabet.
Year 2745 – 1015 BCE – Solomon starts the construction of the Temple
In the 4th year of his reign, Solomon started to build a Temple to host the Ark of Covenant. His father, King David, envisioned carrying out this project but was advised by Nathan the Prophet not to do it in his lifetime.
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Israel were taken out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. (I Kings 6:1, usual translation)
The 480 years mentioned in this text has widely been assumed to be 480 years from the Exodus, when the children of Israel came out of Egypt, because this is what the Seder Olam had asserted. But the interpretation of this text has been erroneous. Here are the words in Hebrew where the misinterpretation occurred: לְצֵאת בְּנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל
These words have been widely understood as referring to the Exodus of the Israelites. But it is not so. When the Biblical text mentions the Exodus, the wording typically implies that God took out the Children of Israel from Egypt. The examples are:
Exodus 12:51 הוֹצִיא יְהוָה אֶת-בְּנֵי יִשְׂרָאֵל => God brought the Children of Israel [out from the land of Egypt]
Exodus 3:10 וְהוֹצֵא אֶת-עַמִּי בְנֵי-יִשְׂרָאֵל => bring forth my people the Children of Israel [from Egypt]
The main message is clear: it is God who brought out the Children of Israel from Egypt, who were beneficiaries of His action. The usual translation is wrong because it implies that the Children of Israel were taken out of Egypt and were the benefactors of the action (passive verb). But the text rather uses the active verb so it refers of a time when the Children of Israel came out of Egypt by themselves.
But did the Children of Israel go out of Egypt by themselves? Yes, and there is only one occurrence: when they went to bury Jacob to the Cave of Machpelah, in Hebrew year 2265 (see document C19). The Children of Israel also means the Children of Jacob because Jacob was renamed Israel. After the burial, they returned to Egypt, at a time when Joseph was alive.
So, the understanding of I Kings 6:1 should not be the “taken out of Egypt” (the Exodus), but the “coming out of Egypt” for the funeral procession of Jacob to Canaan:
And it came to pass in the four hundred and eightieth year after the children of Jacob came out of the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon's reign over Israel, in the month Ziv, which is the second month, that he began to build the house of the Lord. (I Kings 6:1, revisited translation)
And thus, 480 years from this unique event brings us to the year 2265+480 = Biblical year 2745 (1015 BCE).
And why King Solomon would have counted the years from the return of Jacob to Canaan as opposed to the years from the Exodus? There is one pragmatic reason: Solomon had married Pharaoh's daughter, so would it be politically correct to commemorate the new Temple with the counting of years from the Exodus, the single event that caused the clash of the respective Egyptian and Israelite ancestors? But why choose the date of the return of Jacob? The reason is more spiritual: the burial of Jacob marked the return of the last patriarch to the promised land, and the construction of the Temple marks the spiritual settlement of the chosen people in the promised land. The promise to the patriarchs has been accomplished with the Temple.
Another way to look at the spiritual angle is as follows: the burial of Jacob and the death of his wife Rachel are connected. When she died, the text says :בְּצֵאת נַפְשָׁהּ which means that her soul departed (active form) from her. At the time (see document C19), we explained that this death was her redemption after her sin. And here again, with the counting of the years for the Temple, the text says when the sons of Israel/Jacob departed (active) from Egypt. In other words, their departure from Egypt to go and bury Jacob in Canaan was the first step to their Redemption, which will become full when God will take them out from Egypt Himself. There are also 480 years between the death of Rachel (Biblical year 2207) and the death of Eli the Priest (Biblical year 2687-2688).
Year 2745 – 1015 BCE – The value of Pi
Mathematicians of Antiquity had long ago understood that the circle had special properties in terms of proportions. They had estimated the circumference of a circle to be about 3 times its diameter. This simple ratio was used in Mesopotamia and in Egypt. But it took longer time to realize that the ratio of the area was actually proportional to the square of its diameter: this was first formulated by the Greek mathematician Euclid (who lived in Alexandria at the time, around 300 BCE) as follows:
Circles are to one another as the squares on their diameters. (Euclid, Elements, book XII, proposition 2 ; to read it on line, click here)
It means that the ratio between two circles is calculated as the ratio between the square of their diameters, and this ratio is a constant. It is generally assumed that Euclid had learned this rule from another mathematician called Eudoxus of Cnidus, a disciple of Plato, who specialized in the calculation of ratios and was a known source for some of Euclid's propositions. This Eudoxus lived one generation before Euclid as he died around 350 BCE. The famous proportion was named as Pi (π) many centuries later, in 1706, and its value is about 3.14.
But little is known that, at the time of Solomon, this rule was already known. The Talmud contains a discussion about the ratios used by the king to make the "Molten Sea" (also called the "Brazen Sea"), a large basin used in the Temple for the purification of the priests. Here are the dimensions of this molten sea, given in the Biblical text:
And he made the molten sea of ten cubits from brim to brim, round in compass, and the height thereof was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about. (I Kings 7:23)
If the diameter was 10 cubits, the circumference would have been slightly over 30 cubits, so about 10x 3.14 = 31.4 cubits. The apparent discrepancy is explained in the text itself which says 10 cubits from brim to brim: this means, counting the brim on both sides, for the outside makes the recipient slightly larger than the actual recipient on the inside. The brim itself was the size of the brim of a cup as the following Biblical text explained:
And it was a handbreadth thick, and the brim thereof was wrought like the brim of a cup, like the flower of a lily: it received and held three thousand baths. (II Chronicles 4:5)
So, if we take the inner circumference of 30 cubits of the Molten Sea, it corresponds to a diameter of about 30 / 3.14 = 9.55 cubits. Because the outer diameter brim to brim was 10 cubits, the brim was half the difference of 10 - 9.55 = 0.45 cubits. The brim was therefore roughly 0.22 cubits, which is about 10 centimeters, roughly a handbreadth thick. So, the Biblical measurements indeed make sense.
Many artists have tried, with not much success, to render the Molten Sea, as shown in the diagram below:
But it was not rounded at the base, as it is often depicted. It was square at its base and round above it. This calculation was made according to the number of ritual baths it contained. In Biblical measurements, a ritual bath (mikveh) was the volume of water needed to immerse a full human body, equivalent to 40 se'ah; whereas a bath was simply the quantity of 3 se'ah. The Molten Sea was said to contain a volume of 2000 baths [I Kings 7:26], equivalent to 6000 se'ah, equivalent to 6000/40 = 150 ritual baths. The calculation that follows was to determine to shape of the Molten Sea that contained 150 ritual baths and was round in its upper part. It implied a knowledge of the ratio between a circle and a square of the side being the diameter to get the size of the Molten Sea correct:
But consider: By how much does [the area of] a square exceed that of a circle? By a quarter. Then of the four hundred [cubic cubits previously assumed] one hundred [must be deducted], and of the hundred [cubic cubits] twenty-five [must be deducted]. [Would not then the number of ritual baths] be only a hundred and twenty-five? — Rami b. Ezekiel learned that the sea that Solomon made was square in its lower three cubits and round in its upper three. (Talmud, Eiruvin, 14b)
The circle of diameter 2R (R being the radius) is about a quarter less in proportion than a square that has side of 2R. Indeed:
the area of the square is 2R x 2R = 4R2, and the area of the circle is πR2; the ratio between the two shapes is 4/π
the circumference of the square is 4x 2R= 8R, and of the circle is 2πR; here again the ratio between the two shapes is 8/2π = 4/π
So, where we look at the ratio of the circumferences or of the areas, the square is more than 4/π compared to the circle. The value 4/π is ~1.27 so the excess is 27%, which is close to the Talmudic estimate of a quarter (25%).
This proportion of estimated 25% between square and circle, used by Solomon to order the making of the Molten Sea, was only mentioned in writing by Euclid, who may have learned it from Eudoxus, some 650 years after the Temple of Solomon.
The Biblical text gives us further hint in the approximation of this mysterious ratio (Pi) because of the comparison of the two texts in the Bible where the dimensions of the Molten Sea was given: in I Kings 7:23 the word "line" is (incorrectly, but purposedly) written קוה while in II Chronicles it is written קו. What is the difference? In the former reference the letter 'Heh (ה) has been added to the word קו, and this changes the value of this word. The value (gematria) of קוה is 100+6+5= 111, while the value of the normal word קו is 100+6= 106. If we take the ratio of these two writings for the word "line", it is 111/106, and this is the correction factor to the estimate value of 3 for Pi (π): 3* (111/106) = 3.1415: this is the number Pi correct at four decimals (error ratio of 0.0026% only) !
To appreciate this point, we must remember that the calculation for the Temple was done by the Israelites in 1015 BCE while the exact value of Pi only became known to four decimals to European mathematicians over 2000 years later with a polygon approximation method (Fibonacci estimated the value of 3.1418 in year 1220 CE). This distortion of the word קו into קוה in the Biblical texts seems that the author wanted to stress that, regarding the measurement of a circle, there is a value hidden to human knowledge. But the Bible is not a builders' guidebook. And the value of Pi was proven, much later, to be an irrational number, meaning that it cannot be written as a ratio.
The Rabbis, for the purpose of their religious guidance, contended themselves to use the value of 3 for this unknown ratio between circumference of a circle and its diameter. As it is said multiple times over the Talmud, [for example in Baba Metzia, 31b] the Torah employs human phraseology. In their times, the approximation of 3 was good enough for human scale purposes. And, as the Talmud deals with relations and contracts between individuals, it is better to use a lower approximation of an unknown number than using a higher approximation because, in the latter case, buyers would be over-charged in their transactions. If one needed to buy a fence for his rounded shape property, using 3 as an approximation would mean that the buyer would buy 5% less for the fence. But then, he can still add more when he realizes 5% of the fence (the circumference) are missing. Whereas, if the value of Pi would have been assumed by the Talmud to be 3.16, then the buyer would pay 1% more than necessary. The Talmud protects the buyer (the customer) !
In fact, another text proves that the Sages were fully aware of the approximation being used was 3 + 1/7 but refrained from using it because of its impracticality for their human scale purposes. This is stated in the book Mishnat ha-Middot, written around 150 CE, which contained the teachings of an older book of mathematics, now lost, called the Forty-Nine Rules and attributed to a tanna called Rabbi Nathan (author of the Avot of Rabbi Nathan).
Nehemiah says, since the people of the world say that the circumference of a circle contains three times and a seventh of the diameter, take off from that one-seventh for the thickness of the sea on the two brims, then there remain thirty cubits [that compass it round about]. (Mishnat ha-Middot)
Year 2752– 1008 BCE – Solomon completes the construction of the Temple
The construction of the Temple took 7 years (I Kings 6:37-38). It took place during the 55th Jubilee since the Creation (55 x 50 years = Hebrew year 2750).
God promised to Solomon that He would dwell in the Temple as long as he will follow His statutes and commandments.
The Holy of Holies was a perfect cube of dimensions 20 x 20 x 20 cubits. Two cherubim were placed in it, 10 cubits of width each, with their two wings spread wall to wall and touching each other, so all the width of the place was used. In between the two cherubim, lower than the wings that touched one another, the Ark was placed: it measured 2.5 x 1.5 1.5 cubits, and two small cherubim covered it. (Exodus 25).
An artifact so-called the "ivory pomegranate" (although it is not made of ivory but of bone from a hippopotamus), came to light in the collectors' market in 1979. It contains a writing in paleo-Hebrew that states: Holy to the Priest of the House of God (tetragram name).
A leading Israeli curator stated that the artifact was genuine, and the State of Israel acquired it for a large sum. Why is it important? Because it is the only artifact dating from the time of Solomon and related to a priesthood service in the House of God. In other words, this artifact proves that there was indeed a temple built by Solomon, although archaeology could not find proof of it simply because the Temple of Solomon was destroyed by the Babylonians and rebuilt over a long period of time. Following this acquisition by the Museum of Israel, experts were divided between genuineness and forgery.
A court case was brought against the arts dealer who sold it, but the court concluded there was no evidence of forgery. If you believe the artifact is genuine, then it is one of the most important find to prove that Solomon indeed built a temple.
Year 2752– 1008 BCE – The 24 hours day
Since the Israelites came to Canaan, they progressively lost the souvenir of the practice of calendar and times during the chaotic period of the Judges, each Tribe applying their own rules. But, with the completion of the Temple, the divine service had to be established again. And Solomon fixed the course of the "day" by a division in 24 hours. Why? He set a priestly "watch" service, from the various priestly families, in the Temple, with 24 of them per day (daytime and night included). This is contained in the verses of his prayers and supplications to God when he introduced the Ark in the Holy of Holies. The text of the Bible for this set of prayers is contained in the verses from I Kings 8:23 to I Kings 8:53 where 24 times Solomon used the words pray (or prayer) and supplication (for more details, see Talmud, Berachot, 11b and 29a). And he concluded his prayers by saying that they will be repeated day and night, thus completing a day cycle by fractions of 24 equal parts (as a reminder, in Jewish tradition, a "day" starts from the sunset, which is determined by spotting of the first stars, until the next occurrence the following "day"):
And may these words of mine, with which I have made supplication before the Lord, be close to the Lord our God, day and night, that He sustain the cause of His servant and the cause of His people Israel, each day's need granted on its day. (I Kings 8:59)
This way of the division of the day was not supposed to be restricted to the Jews only, as Solomon concluded as:
That all the peoples of the earth may know that the Lord, He is God; there is none else. (I Kings 8:60)
Solomon thus endeavored to share this knowledge, acquired from the Wisdom that God had granted to him, with the other "peoples of the earth". The Phoenicians passed it to the Greeks, who carried it to the world, including India which used a different system of day division until the Greeks came with the 24 hours system. Thus, the division became standard in the world from these times, from 1000 BCE onwards.
The Jewish tradition also adopted a division of the hour in 1080 equal portions (‘halakim), and each portion (’helek) consisting of 76 moments (regayim) instead of the now common sexagesimal system of 60 minutes and 60 seconds which is purely arbitrary; for example, the synodic month (the time between two full moons) was known to the Greeks as being of 29 days 12 hours 44 minutes and 3 1/3 seconds, whereas the Israelites have it as 29 days 2/3 hour and 73 ‘halakim; the Jewish division of time is related to astronomical phenomena: without getting into too many details, the ‘halakim are derived from the precessional year (a cycle of 25920 years= 24x1080) and the regayim from the Metonic cycle (a cycle of 19 years, and 19x4= 76).
To return to the first part of this generation 23, click here.
To return to the list of chronological generations from Seder Olam Revisited, click here.
Albert Benhamou
Private Tour Guide in Israel
Adar 5785 - March 2025