King David was old, advanced in years. Although he was only about seventy, the trials and tribulations of his life had caused him to age early. They covered him in garments, blankets and quilts, but he would not be warmed. This was one of the signs of his old age. Coverings do not create heat but merely preserve the body’s own warmth. David’s body was insufficiently healthy to produce the heat he needed.

His servants said to him: Have them seek for my lord the king a young virgin; she will stand before the king to serve him in an official capacity, and she will be an attendant for him, taking care of his daily needs. Additionally, the real reason for her appointment is that she will lie in your bosom and warm your bed, and it will thereby be warm for my lord the king.

They sought for this purpose a beautiful young woman within the entire border of Israel, and they found Avishag the Shunamite, from the city of Shunem, and brought her to the king. Although Avishag’s beauty was not necessary for her task, nevertheless David’s servants searched for a pretty woman, as everything surrounding the king should be aesthetically pleasing.

The young woman was exceedingly beautiful, and she became an attendant for the king and she served him, but the king was not intimate with her. He did not engage in relations with her, perhaps because he was too old and frail.

In the meantime, Adoniya son of David from his wife Hagit exalted himself, saying: I will become king, as I am the rightful heir to the throne. He provided for himself chariots, horsemen, and fifty men running before him to announce his arrival.

In a parenthetical aside, the verse provides a few explanations for Adoniya assuming the trappings of the monarchy: His father never distressed him, saying: Why did you do so? David had never chastised or disciplined Adoniya when he acted improperly. Moreover, he, Adoniya, was of very good form, a handsome man. His external appearance reinforced his self-confidence and his belief that he was destined for greatness. And the verse offers a third reason for his claim to the throne, namely that she, Hagit, bore him after Avshalom. Avshalom and Adoniya were not maternal brothers; the verse simply means that Adoniya was the next oldest brother, after Avshalom. Consequently, after the two eldest sons in the family, Amnon and Avshalom, had been killed, Adoniya was David’s oldest surviving son.

Adoniya sought to enlist the support of certain prominent individuals in his design to ascend the throne: He consulted with Yoav son of Tzeruya and with Evyatar the priest, and they supported Adoniya.

But Tzadok the priest, who was also a prominent priest like Evyatar, Benayahu son of Yehoyada, the commander of the Keretites and the Peletites, Natan the prophet, Shimi and Re’i, two of David’s men, and the mighty men who were with David, all these were not with Adoniyahu. These men did not oppose Adoniya actively, but they refused to endorse him as long as the king had not stated his opinion. Although Benayahu was subordinate to Yoav, who was the commander-in-chief of the army, since he was the commander of a separate military unit, he could act independently.

One day, Adoniyahu slaughtered sheep and oxen and fatlings at the Zohelet stone, which means the dragged stone, or the stone alongside which water flows, which is located near Ein Rogel, a spring near Jerusalem, and he called all his brothers, the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah, the king’s servants, to participate in his celebration;

but he did not call Natan the prophet, Benayahu, the mighty men of David, and Solomon his brother, as Adoniya knew that they did not support him, and he also suspected that Solomon considered himself to be the heir to the throne.

Natan spoke to Bathsheba, mother of Solomon, saying: Have you not heard that Adoniyahu son of Hagit has in effect become king, and David our lord does not know?

Now go, let me please counsel you, and you will thereby save your life, and the life of your son Solomon. Since the crown was promised to Solomon, it is clear that Adoniya will try to eliminate him, and perhaps you, his mother, as well.

Natan advised Bathsheba: Go and come to King David, and say to him: Did you not, my lord the king, take an oath to your maidservant, saying: Solomon your son will become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne? Why has Adoniyahu become king?

Behold, while you are still speaking there with the king, I will come after you, and I will complete your words. When confronted with two sources verifying this information and suggesting action, David will take the steps necessary to prevent the coronation of Adoniya and to crown Solomon instead.

Bathsheba came to the king, into the chamber; the king was very old; he appeared weak and was probably lying in bed. And Avishag the Shunamite was serving the king. She was the king’s personal caregiver who attended to all his needs, and in practice she was the person closest to him.

Bathsheba bowed, and prostrated herself to the king, and the king said: What happened to you? What is the matter?

She said to him: My lord, you took an oath by the Lord your God to your maidservant, to me, saying: Solomon your son will become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne.

Now behold, Adoniya has become king; and now, my lord the king, you did not know.

He has slaughtered bulls, fatlings, and sheep in abundance. He has held a great celebration in honor of his ascent to the throne, and summoned all the sons of the king, and Evyatar the priest, and Yoav commander of the army, but Solomon your servant he did not summon. Evidently, these are not innocent festivities, but a coronation.

And you, my lord the king, the eyes of all Israel are upon you, to tell them who will sit upon the throne of my lord the king after him. You must decide; if you do not take action, Adoniya will take the throne.

It will be that when my lord the king lies with his fathers, when you die, I and my son Solomon will be deprived. If you do not state your preference now, we will suffer later.

Behold, while she was still talking with the king, Natan the prophet came into the chamber, as planned.

They, David’s servants, told the king, saying: Behold, it is Natan the prophet. He, Natan, came before the king and prostrated himself to the king on his face to the ground, a standard courtesy honoring the head of state, who must be respected and feared by all.

Natan said: My lord the king, did you say: Adoniyahu will become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne?

For he, Adoniya, went down today to the spring, and he slaughtered bulls, fatlings, and sheep in abundance, and he summoned all the king’s sons, and the commanders of the army, and Evyatar the priest; here they are, eating and drinking before him, and they are saying: Long live King Adoniyahu.

Natan added: But me, your servant, and Tzadok the priest, and Benayahu son of Yehoyada, and your servant Solomon, he did not summon to the festivities.

Is it from my lord the king that this matter came to be, and you did not inform your servant who will sit on the throne of my lord the king after him? Alternatively, this is a statement rather than a question: I am surprised that you have not declared to your servant who will be the next king.

King David answered and said: Summon Bathsheba to me. Apparently, Bathsheba had left the room upon the prophet’s entrance. She came before the king and stood before the king.

The king took an oath and said: As the Lord lives, who has redeemed my soul from every trouble,

for as I previously took an oath to you by the Lord, God of Israel, saying that Solomon your son will become king after me, and he will sit upon my throne in my stead; so I will do this day. I will take steps today to ensure that he will reign after me.

Bathsheba bowed with her face to the ground, and she prostrated herself to the king as a sign of gratitude, and she said: May my lord, King David, live forever. This standard declaration to the king had a poignant meaning here: I wish that you would live forever and would not need an heir, but I thank you for your promise.

King David said: Summon me Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, and Benayahu son of Yehoyada. They all came before the king.

The king said to them: Take with you the servants of your lord, my servants, mount Solomon my son upon my own mule as a sign that I have authorized this act, and take him down to the Gihon Spring.

Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet, anoint him there as king over Israel. The priest will anoint and bless Solomon, while the presence of the prophet will serve to confirm that the appointment is in accordance with the will of God. You shall sound the shofar and say: Long live King Solomon.

You shall then go up after him to my house, and he shall come and sit upon my throne and shall reign in my stead; it is he I have commanded to be ruler over Israel and over Judah after me.

Benayahu son of Yehoyada answered the king and said: Amen; and so may the Lord, God of my lord the king, say. May it be God’s will that this be done.

As the Lord has been with my lord the king, so may He be with Solomon, and may He render his throne even greater than the throne of my lord King David. A blessing of this kind can be offered to a king only with regard to his own son, as a father is proud when his son is more successful than himself.

Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, Benayahu son of Yehoyada, and the Keretites and the Peletites, the king’s personal guard under Benayahu’s command, went down and mounted Solomon upon King David’s mule, and they led him to the Gihon Spring, near Jerusalem. The military presence served to both protect the parade and to give it a ceremonial atmosphere. It is likely that until that point Solomon had mostly stayed in the palace and was not well known to the public. An organized military procession would impress the people and attract a larger crowd to the event.

Tzadok the priest took the horn of oil, which contained the specially designated anointing oil, from the tent that David had erected in his city, and which housed the Ark of God, and he anointed Solomon with that oil. They sounded the shofar, and all the people said: Long live King Solomon.

All the people went up after him from the spring, and the people were playing flutes, and rejoicing with great joy, and the earth split from their sound; it shook from the tremendous noise. Unlike Adoniya’s subversive ceremony, to which only select individuals were invited, the entire people participated in the coronation of Solomon.

Adoniyahu and all those summoned who were with him heard the commotion as they finished eating. Yoav heard the sound of the shofar from afar and said: Why is the sound of the city tumultuous? What is going on over there?

He was still speaking, and behold, Yonatan son of Evyatar the priest came. Adoniyahu said: Come, as you are a man of valor, and you are certainly one who will bring good tidings. On an earlier occasion, David had used a similar expression at the approach of Ahimaatz son of Tzadok.

Yonatan answered and said to Adoniyahu: But this time I cannot offer you good tidings, as our lord King David has crowned Solomon king.

The king sent with him Tzadok the priest, Natan the prophet, Benayahu son of Yehoyada, and the Keretites and the Peletites, and they mounted him upon the king’s mule. The king would have placed on his mule only someone to whom he is handing over all his royal authority. Moreover, David also sent with him his priest, the prophet, and the army.

Tzadok the priest and Natan the prophet anointed him as king at Gihon; they went up from there rejoicing, and the city is tumultuous. There is a commotion in the city, due to the exuberant cries of the people. That is the sound that you heard.

Also, Solomon is seated on the royal throne in the presence of the people.

Also, the king’s servants came to bless our lord King David, saying: May your God render the renown of Solomon better than your renown, and render his throne greater than your throne; and the king prostrated himself upon the bed, as a sign of gratitude for their blessings.

This too, the king said: Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, who has granted today that there be one sitting on my throne, and my eyes are seeing it, in my lifetime.

Upon hearing this report, all those summoned by Adoniyahu trembled and rose, and each went on his way. They all dispersed immediately, as they realized that the king was highly displeased with their actions.

Adoniyahu was afraid of Solomon, that he might consider him a traitor; he rose and went, and grasped the horns of the altar, as a sign that he was requesting refuge.

It was told to Solomon, saying: Behold, Adoniyahu fears King Solomon, and behold, he has grasped the horns of the altar, saying: Let King Solomon take an oath to me this day that he will not put his servant, myself, to death by the sword.

Solomon said: If he, Adoniyahu, will be honorable and loyal, not a hair of his will fall to the ground, as he will not be harmed; but if any evil will be found in him, if he does not accept my rule, or shows any indications of rebellion, he will die.

King Solomon sent, and they took him, Adoniyahu, down from the altar. He came and he prostrated himself to King Solomon, and Solomon said to him: You may go to your house. If you do not initiate a revolt, I will do you no harm.

The time for David to die approached, he sensed that his end was near; and he commanded Solomon his son, saying:

I am going the way of all the earth, I will soon die; be strong, and become a man. You must be brave and act with maturity and wisdom. The instruction to be a man may also refer to the capacity of self-restraint.

You shall keep the commission of the Lord your God, to follow His ways, to keep His statutes, His commandments, His ordinances, and His testimonies, as written in the Torah of Moses, so that you will succeed in everything that you do, and wherever you turn;

so that the Lord will fulfill His word, His promise, that He spoke concerning me, saying: If your children keep their way, to walk before Me truly with all their heart and with all their soul, and the Lord continued, saying: Then a man of yours will never be eliminated from upon the throne of Israel. Your dynasty will endure.

Furthermore, you know that which Yoav son of Tzeruya did to me, what he did to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, to Avner son of Ner and to Amasa son of Yeter. He killed them and shed the blood of war in peacetime. He shed blood even in times of peace by killing Avner after he had come to terms with David and by killing Amasa, who was on a mission from the king at the time, and he placed the blood of war on his belt that was on his waist and on his shoes that were on his feet. He became entirely soaked in blood.

Act in accordance with your wisdom, and do not let his white hair descend in peace to the grave. I was unable to do so myself, due to my personal indebtedness to him, but you, Solomon, use your wisdom to find a way to punish him.

In contrast, act with kindness to the sons of Barzilai the Giladite; they shall be among those who eat at your table. Continue to sustain them in dignity, as they aided me by providing for my needs when I fled from Avshalom your brother.

Here with you is Shimi son of Gera, the Benjamite, from the tribe of Benjamin, of a place called Bahurim; he cursed me with a vehement curse on the day that I went to Mahanayim. He was the first who came down to meet me at the Jordan in order to request forgiveness when the rebellion was quelled, and I took an oath to him by the Lord, saying: I will not put you to death by the sword.

My oath stemmed from the delicate national circumstances at that unique time, and it applies only to me. Now you, who are not bound by that oath, do not absolve him of punishment, as you are a wise man; you will know what you should do to punish him, and you will cause his white hair to descend to the grave in blood.

After delivering his last instructions to Solomon, David lay with his fathers, and he was buried in the City of David.

The days that David reigned over Israel were a total of forty years: In Hebron he reigned over Judah for seven years, and in Jerusalem he reigned over all of Israel for thirty-three years. Since David was thirty years old when he became king, he was seventy when he died.

Solomon succeeded David and sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was firmly established. He became a successful king.

Adoniyahu son of Hagit came to visit Bathsheba mother of Solomon. They had lived under the same roof, and the relationship between them was cordial. She said: Are you coming in peace? He said: Peace.

He said: I would have a word with you. She said: Speak.

He said: You know that the kingdom was mine, and that all Israel turned toward me to reign, but the kingship has turned aside from me, and it has become Solomon my brother’s, as it was his from the Lord. I have no complaints about the way matters turned out.

Now I am requesting one request from you; do not reject me. Please do not disappoint me in my request. She said to him: Speak. I am listening.

He said: Please talk with Solomon the king; I am submitting my request through you, as he will not reject you; my request is that he give me Avishag the Shunamite as a wife. This request might explain why an earlier verse emphasized Avishag’s beauty (1:4). Adoniya had met Avishag in his father’s house, and as she was David’s attendant rather than his wife, Adoniya apparently saw nothing wrong with marrying her.

Bathsheba said: Very well, I have heard you, and I will speak on your behalf to the king.

Bathsheba came to King Solomon to speak to him on behalf of Adoniyahu. The king rose to meet her, to show her honor, and he prostrated himself to her, as a son respecting his mother; he sat on his throne and on his instructions his attendants placed a throne for the king’s mother, and she sat to his right.

She said: One small request I request of you; do not reject me. The king said to her: Ask, my mother, for I will not reject you.

She said: Let Avishag the Shunamite be given to Adoniyahu your brother as a wife. You can issue an order to this effect.

King Solomon answered and said to his mother: Why do you request only Avishag the Shunamite for Adoniyahu? Request for him the kingdom as well, for he is my older brother; and it, the throne, was virtually his, and Evyatar the priest’s, and Yoav son of Tzeruya’s, the men who supported him.

King Solomon took an oath by the Lord, saying: So shall God do to me, and so shall He continue. He should afflict me with a punishment, if I do not fulfill the following statement, for it is at the cost of his life that Adoniyahu has spoken of this matter. He will pay for this request with his life.

Now, as the Lord lives, who has established and seated me on the throne of David my father, and who has provided me with a royal house, as He has spoken through Natan the prophet, for it is today that Adoniyahu will be put to death.

King Solomon sent by the hand of Benayahu son of Yehoyada, his loyal supporter; and he struck him, Adoniya, down, and he died.

to Evyatar the priest the king said: Go to the city of priests, Anatot, to your fields; cease serving as High Priest, as you are deserving of death. Solomon suspected that Evyatar or Yoav had orchestrated the plot and enticed Adoniya. But nevertheless, I will not put you to death this day, because you carried the Ark of the Lord God before David my father on his wanderings as a refugee, and because you suffered in all that my father suffered.

Solomon banished Evyatar from being a priest to the Lord. It might at first seem that Evyatar was simply being punished for conspiring with Adoniya, and he would have retained his status as High Priest had he not done so. However, on a deeper level, he was removed from his post as this was fulfilling the word of the Lord that He spoke by means of the prophet Samuel concerning the house of Eli in Shilo. According to that prophecy, the house of Eli would forfeit its lofty status, and its members would have to rely on other priests. Solomon was acting for his own reasons, and he did not mention the sins of Evyatar’s family, but the verse takes pains to note that many years later, after a whole host of complex events, the prophecy came to pass.

The tidings about what had happened to Adoniya and Evyatar came to Yoav, as Yoav had inclined after Adoniya, although he had not inclined after Avshalom. In any case, when Yoav heard of Adoniya’s fate, he acted to save himself: Yoav fled to the Tent of the Lord and grasped the horns of the altar seeking refuge.

It was told to King Solomon: Yoav has fled to the Tent of the Lord, and behold, he is near the altar. Solomon sent Benayahu son of Yehoyada, saying: Go, strike him down. Benayahu, like Yoav in earlier times, fulfilled the role of the king’s executioner. He had killed Adoniya on Solomon’s command, and now he was sent to end Yoav’s life.

Benayahu came to the Tent of the Lord and said to him: So said the king: Come out from here. He, Yoav, said: No, as I will die here. If you have come to kill me, I prefer to die here rather than outside. Since it is improper to kill someone in the Tent of Meeting or near the altar of God, Benayahu did not act, but brought back word to the king, saying: So said Yoav, and so he answered me. He cited their exchange in detail.

The king said to him: Do as he said: Strike him down and bury him. If he wishes to die near the altar, kill him there. Solomon remained cool and level-headed, while disregarding all factors other than his desire to proceed in accordance with what he felt was the correct policy. In this particular case he was also fulfilling his father’s wishes to punish Yoav. Solomon continued: And you will thereby remove the innocent blood that Yoav shed from upon me and from upon my father’s house. When Yoav is finally punished, the blood he spilled will no longer be considered an iniquity of the house of David.

The Lord will repay his blood upon his head, take vengeance upon him, in that he struck down two men more righteous and better than he; he killed them with the sword, and my father David did not know. Yoav had concealed his moves from the king when he killed Avner son of Ner, commander of the army of Israel, and Amasa son of Yeter, commander of the army of Judah.

Their blood will be repaid on the head of Yoav, and on the head of his descendants forever; but for David, for his descendants, for his house, and for his throne, there will be peace forever from the Lord.

Benayahu son of Yehoyada went up to the altar, struck him down, and put him to death, thereby carrying out the king’s order. And he, Yoav, was buried in his own house in the wilderness, at the border of the wilderness.

The king appointed Benayahu son of Yehoyada in his place over the army. Yoav had served as the senior commander of the army, while Benayahu had merely been in charge of a special unit within the military. Now, perhaps as a reward for Benayahu’s loyalty and obedience to the king, Solomon appointed him over the entire army of Israel, instead of Yoav. And the king appointed Tzadok the priest in place of Evyatar.

The text mentions another deed of Solomon that was in accordance with his father’s last wishes: The king sent and summoned Shimi, and said to him: Build a house in Jerusalem and live there, and you shall not leave there, Jerusalem, to go anywhere. I do not trust you to go anywhere else.

It shall be that on the day that you leave the city and cross the Kidron Valley, know that you will die; your blood will be on your own head. Your disobedience of my order to stay in Jerusalem will be your own death sentence.

Shimi said to the king: The arrangement is good; as my lord the king has spoken, so will your servant do. Shimi stayed in Jerusalem for many days, several years.

It was at the end of three years, and two of Shimi’s slaves fled and made their way to Akhish son of Maakha, king of Gat. They told Shimi, saying: Behold, your slaves are in Gat.

Shimi rose and saddled his donkey, and he went to Gat to Akhish king of Gat, to seek his slaves. Shimi went and brought his slaves from Gat. Since three years had passed during which Shimi had not heard from the king, he was convinced that there was nothing wrong with this routine trip.

It was told to Solomon that Shimi had gone from Jerusalem to Gat and had returned.

The king sent and summoned Shimi, and he said to him: Did I not administer an oath to you by the Lord, and I warned you, saying: On the day you leave and go anywhere, know that you will die? You said to me: The arrangement is good; I have heard and accepted it.

Why did you not observe the oath of the Lord and the commandment that I commanded you? This was more of an accusation than a question.

The king said to Shimi: You know all the evil that your heart knows that you did to David my father; the Lord has now repaid your evil on your head.

But King Solomon is blessed, in sharp contrast to the grievous curse you pronounced against my father, which has now returned upon your own head, and the throne of David will be firmly established before the Lord forever.

The king commanded Benayahu son of Yehoyada; and he went out and struck him down, and he died. The kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon. Solomon had ascended to the throne a determined man and, without letting emotions get in his way, he had set about to fulfill his late father’s wishes and to proceed as he saw fit. Thus his reign was indeed stabilized.

Solomon forged marital ties with Pharaoh king of Egypt; he took Pharaoh’s daughter as a wife. At the time, Egypt was a powerful empire. Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter signified the new king’s importance and served as proof of his elevated status in international affairs. Later, Pharaoh would provide Solomon with military assistance as well (9:16). And in the meantime, he brought her to the City of David, until he had concluded building his house, and the House of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem all around, after which she lived in his palace.

At that time the people would still bring offerings to God at the shrines, because a house had not been built to the name of the Lord until those days. At certain stages in history, it was permitted to offer sacrifices on private altars when there was no Temple.

Solomon loved the Lord, following the practices of David his father in all realms of life; however, he still would bring offerings and burn incense at the shrines. Although that was not unlawful at the time, this is an indirect criticism of Solomon for delaying the construction of the Temple.

The king went to Givon to sacrifice there, as that was the great shrine, the central altar until the Temple was built in Jerusalem. He went there not to merely pay a visit or offer a modest sacrifice, as Solomon would offer up one thousand burnt offerings on that altar, to express his closeness to God.

In Givon, the Lord appeared to Solomon in a dream at night; God said: Request what I should give you. What gift do you wish to receive?

Solomon said: You have performed great kindness with Your servant David, my father, as he went before You in truth, in righteousness, and in uprightness of heart with You; and You have kept for him this great kindness, and You have granted him a son sitting on his throne as it is this day. What more can I request, after I have received the privilege of being king of Israel?

Now, Lord my God, You have crowned Your servant king in place of David my father, and I am but a small lad. Since I have no prior experience in leadership, I consider myself a child in this regard. Some contend that Solomon was indeed a child, as he was only twelve at the time, or slightly older. I do not know going or coming before the people, to lead them.

Your servant is in the midst of Your people; I am an inseparable member of the nation that You chose, a great people that cannot be tallied or counted from abundance.

Therefore, may you give Your servant an attentive heart, in order to judge capably, to guide, rule, and lead Your people, to discern between good and evil, as who is able to judge this complex and multifaceted people of Yours? Profound wisdom is required in order to judge such a large and diverse population.

The matter was good in the eyes of the Lord, that Solomon had requested this matter.

God said to him: Because you have requested this matter, and you did not request for yourself abundant days, and you did not request for yourself wealth, and you did not request the life of your enemies, that you will always defeat your adversaries, but instead of all that, you requested for yourself the capacity of discernment to attend to justice,

behold, I have acted in accordance with your words; behold, I have granted you a wise and discerning heart, that there has not been anyone like you before you, and after you no one will arise like you.

Also, I have granted you and added for you that which you did not request, both riches and honor, that there has not been anyone like you among the kings, for all your days.

Furthermore, if you follow My ways, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as your father David walked, I will extend your days. Riches and honor are granted to you unconditionally, but whether or not you live a long life depends on your future behavior.

Solomon awoke, and behold, it was a dream. In gratitude for these great promises, he came to Jerusalem and stood before the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord, and he offered up burnt offerings, prepared peace offerings, and made a feast for all his servants.

Then, after the feast and thanksgiving, two women prostitutes came to the king for judgment and stood before him.

The one woman said: Please, my lord, I and this woman, who came here with me, live in one house, and I gave birth with her in the house.

It was on the third day after my giving birth that this woman too gave birth, and we were together; there was no stranger with us in the house, other than the two of us in the house.

The son of this woman died at night, because she accidentally lay upon him. While sleeping with the baby, she accidentally turned over on him, thereby suffocating him to death.

She arose during the night and, seeing that her child was dead, she took my son from beside me, while I, your maidservant, was asleep, and she laid him in her bosom, and she laid her dead child in my bosom.

I arose in the morning to nurse my son, and behold, I discovered that he was dead; but when I examined him later in the morning, behold, I realized that it was not my son to whom I had given birth.

The other woman said: No, for my son is the living and your son is the dead. But this one said: No, rather, your son is the dead and my son is the living; and they spoke before the king. Each woman voiced the arguments in favor of her claim.

The king said: I hear that this one says: This is my living son, and your son is the dead one; and that one says: No, rather, your son is the dead, and my son is the living.

The king said: Bring me a sword. They brought a sword before the king.

The king said: Since there is no way to prove which woman is telling the truth, let us compromise: Cut the living child in two, and give half to one and half to the other.

The woman whose son was the living one, the real mother, said to the king, because her mercy was aroused toward her son when the king commanded to kill him, and she said: Please, my lord, give her the living baby, and do not put him to death. But that one, the other woman, was saying: It shall be neither mine nor yours; cut the child in two.

The king responded and said: Give her the living baby, to the woman who reacted like a mother immediately upon my suggestion, and do not put him to death; she is his mother. The reactions of the two women prove that the one who has mercy on the child is the true mother, whereas the other one attempted to kidnap him.

All Israel heard of the judgment that the king had adjudicated, and they feared the king, as they saw that the wisdom of God was in him, to do justice. This ruling did not prove Solomon’s legal expertise; rather, it reflected his wisdom as a judge who could discover the hidden details of a case. Solomon used psychological insight to reveal the truth. This kind of judgment attested to his God-given wisdom.

King Solomon was king over all Israel. After inheriting David’s throne, Solomon saw himself as king of the entire people.

These were his officials: Azaryahu son of Tzadok the priest. Tzadok was one of David’s men, whom Solomon promoted to High Priest in place of Evyatar (2:35). Azarya was appointed to a prominent position and presumably eventually replaced Tzadok as High Priest.

Elihoref and Ahiya, sons of Shisha, were scribes, in charge of foreign relations. Shisha was possibly David’s scribe Shavsha, mentioned in Chronicles. Yehoshafat son of Ahilud was the chancellor, who would determine the agenda in the different areas of government.

Benayahu son of Yehoyada was appointed over the army; Tzadok and Evyatar were priests. Evyatar was not expelled entirely from the priesthood, but was sent home and barred from serving as the High Priest.

Azaryahu son of Natan was appointed over the officers, the district governors listed below; Zavud son of Natan, a priest, or a distinguished official, and friend of the king, was his trusted ally, who would inform the king of those matters that were not conveyed in the official reports. This position existed in David’s court as well.

Ahishar was appointed in charge of the household. Solomon had a very large household, as described below (5:2–3, 11:1–3). The official in charge of running the household and its expenses was a high-ranking minister in his government. Adoniram son of Avda was appointed over the levy.

Solomon had twelve officers, district governors, over all Israel, who also provisioned the king and his household. Among their responsibilities was the collection of taxes for the sustenance of the king’s household. For one month of the year it was incumbent upon each one of them to provision.

The provinces did not correspond precisely to the territories of the twelve tribes. This may have been an attempt on Solomon’s part to further weaken the tribal division of Israel. These are their names: The son of Hur served as governor in the highlands of Ephraim;

the son of Deker was governor in Makatz, in Shaalvim, Beit Shemesh, Eilon, and Beit Hanan, places that had been included in the territory of Dan but were now considered part of the territory of Judah;

the son of Hesed was governor in Arubot; Sokho and all the land of Hefer in northern Samaria was under his jurisdiction.

The son of Avinadav was governor in the entire coastal region of Dor; Tafat daughter of Solomon was his wife. Since the governors were part of Solomon’s organized governmental system, the appointment of a family member was to the king’s benefit.

Baana son of Ahilud was governor in Taanakh, Megiddo (see commentary on 9:15), and all Beit She’an, which is near Tzaretan, beneath Yizre’el, from Beit She’an to Avel Mehola, to beyond Yokme’am, the region of the Jordan Valley and the Beit She’an Valley.

The son of Gever was governor in Ramot Gilad; his were the villages of Ya’ir son of Manasseh, which are in Gilad; his was the region of Argov, which is in the Bashan, a large state in its own right, where there were sixty great cities surrounded with walls and bronze gate bars.

Ahinadav son of Ido was governor in Mahanayim, on the southern side of Gilad;

Ahimaatz was a governor in the tribe of Naphtali; he too was a son-in-law of the king, as he took Basmat daughter of Solomon as a wife.

Baana son of Hushai was governor in the territory of the tribe of Asher and also in a place called Be’alot;

Yehoshafat son of Paruah in the inheritance of Issachar;

Shimi son of Ela in Benjamin;

Gever son of Uri in the land of Gilad, the land of Sihon king of the Emorites and of Og king of the Bashan; and there was one additional official who was appointed over the other officers in the land. Alternatively, the additional officer was in charge of providing for the king’s household in the extra month of a leap year.

The section concludes by describing the state of the people in Solomon’s kingdom: Judah and Israel were numerous, like the sand that is by the sea in abundance, eating and drinking and rejoicing. There were no wars or major problems during Solomon’s reign, and therefore the population increased significantly and lived comfortably and in peace.

Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates River to the land of the Philistines, and further south to the border of Egypt; they, the inhabitants of this entire region, brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life. Not all of these nations were under his direct rule, but they were subject to his authority and considered him the supreme king.

Solomon’s provision for one day, the daily consumption of Solomon’s household, which included his large family, his court workers, and his guests, was thirty kor of high-quality flour and sixty kor of regular flour, which was thinner than the highest-quality flour. The kor was the largest unit of volume for both dry and liquid produce. A kor was approximately 220 L; some say about 360 L. The term appears in Aramaic, Sumerian, and Akkadian as well.

The king’s provision also included ten fattened oxen, twenty grazing oxen, which would graze in the pasture and were consequently thinner than the ten fattened oxen but were perhaps tastier due to their physical activity, and one hundred sheep, along with deer, gazelle, fallow deer, all undomesticated species that were hunted for the court, and fattened fowl [barburim]. This may refer to swans, which are called barburim in modern Hebrew, or, alternatively, it may refer to chickens or geese. These dishes were supplied not merely to satisfy the hunger of the members of Solomon’s household but as a royal luxury.

For he ruled over the entire region beyond the Euphrates River to the west, from Tifsah, which according to one opinion was located along the Euphrates River, to Gaza, over all the kings beyond the river, and he had peace on all sides around.

Judah and Israel lived in security, serenity, and peace, each man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan to Beersheba, all the days of Solomon.

Solomon had forty thousand horses’ stables for his chariots and twelve thousand horsemen. These were not just for show, but for regional deterrence and as an accessible force when necessary. Solomon also traded in these animals, transferring horses from Egypt to the northern kingdoms. This was a major source of income for his kingdom (see 10:28–29).

These officials mentioned in the previous section, the governors of the thirteen districts, provisioned King Solomon and everyone who came to King Solomon’s table; each had his month; they did not leave anything lacking. Each officer collected taxes from the district under his jurisdiction, to provide the king’s requirements for one month a year.

The barley and the straw, which were used primarily as food for the horses and steeds, would be brought to the place where they were, Solomon’s large stalls, by each official according to his assignment.

God granted wisdom to Solomon and very great discernment, and breadth of interest, the motivation and capacity to broaden the horizons of knowledge, like the sand that is on the seashore. His wisdom covered many areas. Wisdom is the basic ability to acquire knowledge, while discernment refers to analytical skills.

Solomon’s wisdom exceeded the wisdom of all the children of the east, who had advanced cultures and traditions, and all the wisdom of Egypt, which considered itself the center of civilization at that time.

He became the wisest of all people, more than Eitan the Ezrahite, and Heiman, Kalkol, and Darda, sons of Mahol. Alternatively, sons of mahol [dance] means that they composed the hymns that were sung in the Temple. These men were considered the intellectual giants of their time. His renown was in all the nations around. He was renowned not only for being a great ruler but for his great wisdom, which was revered far and wide.

He spoke, created, three thousand proverbs, wise adages and maxims; and his songs that he wrote were one thousand and five.

He spoke matters of wisdom and insight not only about human life but also of the trees, from the cedar that is in the Lebanon to the small hyssop that comes out on the wall; he spoke of the animals, and of the birds, of crawling creatures, and of fish. His proverbs and songs covered all of these topics, as he was expert in every area of human knowledge.

There came from all the peoples to hear the wisdom of Solomon, from all kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.

Hiram king of Tyre sent his servants to Solomon, for he had heard that it was he who had been anointed king in place of his father, for Hiram had been a friend of David all the days. This friendship might have been due to the fact that David was a good customer of Hiram, who had sent David materials and expert architects for the construction of David’s house. When Solomon succeeded his father, Hiram sent him a delegation in order to offer his congratulations and strengthen their diplomatic ties, following the accepted etiquette between kings.

Solomon sent to Hiram, saying:

You knew of David my father that he was unable to build a house for the name of the Lord his God. As part of David’s dream to establish fully a kingdom of Israel, he yearned to build a permanent Temple for God in a specific location, in accordance with the commandment of the Torah. However, although David chose Mount Moriah as the site for the Temple, he was unable to build it himself, due to the warfare and enemies that surrounded him, until the Lord delivered them under my feet. The prophet prohibited David from building the Temple because he was a man of war, who had spilled much blood. Here, however, Solomon mentions the wars not as an essential impediment but simply as an activity that kept his father too busy to devote much time to this great project.

But now, after my father has suppressed all the surrounding nations, the Lord my God has granted me rest all around; none hinder, and there is no trouble. My kingdom enjoys peace and tranquility.

Behold, I propose to build a House for the name of the Lord my God, as the Lord spoke to David my father, saying: Your son, whom I will put on your throne in your place, he will build the House for My name. I wish to complete my father’s project, as God informed him that his son would do so.

After this introduction, Solomon got down to business: Now, command that they hew cedars for me from the Lebanon for the construction of the Temple; my servants, who are not experts in hewing, will be with your servants, and I will give you your servants’ wages according to everything that you will say. This may include payment for the wood itself. It is unclear whether in those times natural resources were considered the property of the kingdom, and therefore could not be taken without payment, or whether they were considered ownerless, in which case payment was necessary only for the laborers’ work. For you know that there is no man among us who knows to hew timber like the Sidonites, the residents of the Phoenician kingdom. These cedar trees grew in the Lebanon, and hewing a large quantity of them certainly required expertise.

It was when Hiram heard the words of Solomon that he rejoiced greatly over the new king of Israel’s friendly message and large order of wood, and he said: Blessed is the Lord today, who has given to David a wise son over this numerous people.

Hiram sent to Solomon, saying: I have heard and accepted that which you sent to me. I will do everything that you desire with cedarwood and juniper wood.

My servants will take them, the trees, down from the Lebanon to the sea; I will place them in the sea as rafts and have them sail to the place that you will send to me. On account of the trees’ size and weight, the easiest way to move them southward was by tying them together into rafts and sending them by sea. And I will dismantle them there, and you will carry them, the trees, away to Jerusalem. You will do my wish, to provide food for my household. You will pay for my expenses.

Hiram gave Solomon cedarwood and juniper wood, all that he desired.

Solomon gave Hiram twenty thousand kor of wheat, provision for his household, and twenty kor of virgin oil, extracted by manually beating olives, which is a higher-quality oil than that produced in an oil press. So Solomon would give to Hiram year by year, each year of the construction of the Temple and Solomon’s other construction projects. II Chronicles (2:9) lists additional food items that Solomon pledged to send Hiram. That verse further indicates that the food payment was for the workers’ provisions.

The Lord gave wisdom to Solomon, as He had said to him (3:12). There was peace between Hiram and Solomon, and the two of them established a covenant. They probably met for a ceremonial signing of a covenant of peace.

King Solomon raised a levy from all Israel; the levy was not monetary but a draft of thirty thousand men for the king’s labor.

He sent them to Lebanon to assist Hiram in choosing and transporting the trees. The thirty thousand men did not all travel together; rather, he sent ten thousand men a month, in shifts, in shifts of ten thousand: One month they would be in the Lebanon, in active service for the kingdom, and two months each would be at his home, after which they returned to Lebanon for a month, and so on. Adoniram, one of Solomon’s ministers, was in charge of the levy, as stated above (4:6).

Despite the massive use of wood from Lebanon, the Temple was built mainly from stone. Therefore, in addition to the thirty thousand men that he sent to Lebanon, Solomon had seventy thousand porters, who transported hewn stones to the construction site, and eighty thousand quarrymen.

Those were the king’s ordinary laborers, besides Solomon’s chief officers who were appointed managers in charge of the labor. These numbered three thousand three hundred, who governed the people who were performing the labor. They were in charge of supervising the pace and quality of the work.

The king commanded, and they transported great stones, heavy stones, to lay the foundation of the House with hewn stones, chiseled and molded stones. Due to the sanctity of the site, the stones were not chiseled near the Temple, and for technical reasons the main chiseling was performed at the quarry.

Solomon’s builders, Hiram’s builders, and the Gevalites, men of Geval, shaped them, and they prepared the wood and the stones to build the House. All this labor was performed in preparation for the immense project of the construction of the Temple.

It was in the four hundred and eightieth year after the exodus of the children of Israel from the land of Egypt, in the fourth year of Solomon’s reign over Israel. Solomon was unable to build the Temple straightaway, because the establishment of his reign and the preparations for the construction of the Temple took several years. It was in the month of Ziv, Iyar, which is the second month in the order of months of the year, that he built the House for the Lord.

The chapter starts with a general overview of the Temple structure: The House that King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, and its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.

The Hall before the Sanctuary of the House, its length was twenty cubits along the width of the House, that is, the length of the Hall was equivalent to the width of the House; its width was ten cubits before, adjacent to, the House. The Hall was an external structure located in front of the Temple, through which one passed to enter the Sanctuary.

He made for the House recessed narrowing windows. The windows were slanted, so that they were narrow on the outside and wide on the inside. In this manner, only a small amount of sunlight illuminated the inside of the House. Others claim that the opposite was the case: The windows were narrow on the inside and broad on the outside. Alternatively, the verse means that there were small shutters for the windows.

Against the wall of the House he built a surrounding annex, which contained several rooms, and it was against the walls of the House all around the Sanctuary, known as the Holy, and the Sanctum, the Holy of Holies, the innermost section of the Temple. And he made side chambers all around, three floors of rooms or cubicles, adjacent to the walls of the House from the outside.

The lowest floor of the annex was five cubits wide, and the middle one was six cubits wide, and the third, uppermost floor was seven cubits wide. Unlike a standard building, where the lower levels are generally wider than the upper ones, the width of the upper levels of this structure was larger, since he made recesses in the wall of the House all around on the outside. The outer side of the walls of the Temple were layered inward, to enable the beams of the side structure to be placed on those recesses so as not to be fixed in the walls of the House. The beams of the side structure were placed upon the layered section of the wall and were not secured within the walls. Alternatively, the verse means that the outer walls were narrower toward the bottom, to protect the Temple by preventing enemies from climbing the walls and attacking in the event of a war.

The House, in its construction, was built of whole stones that were transported. Whole stones from which the Temple was constructed were transferred to the site of the Temple. Hammers, the axe, or any iron tools were not heard in the House in its construction, as the quarrying and the cutting of the stones was performed at an entirely different location.

The entrance of the middle side chambers, or the lowest row of chambers, was on the right side of the House, and they would ascend by a winding staircase to the middle floor, and from the middle to the third floor.

He built the walls of the House, and he completed it by adding a roof, and he installed a ceiling in the House beneath the outer roof, with ornamental decorations and cut-out images in the form of hollows, or water holes, and also orderly rows of cedar beams.

He built the annex along the entire House; its height was five cubits, and he paneled the inside of the House with cedarwood.

The word of the Lord was with Solomon, saying:

As for this House that you are building: If you follow My statutes, perform My ordinances, and keep all My commandments to follow them, I will fulfill My word with you that I spoke to David your father, and the House that you built for Me will be established and maintained before Me.

I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will not forsake My people Israel. This is the first prophecy in the Bible that refers directly to the Temple itself. Here God apparently spoke directly to Solomon, not through a prophet.

Solomon built the House, and he completed it. The final activities necessary for its completion were finished.

He built the walls of the House on the inside with cedar boards, from the floor of the House until the ceiling panels; he overlaid them with wood on the inside, and he overlaid the floor of the House with juniper boards.

He built twenty cubits at the rear, on the inner part, of the House with cedar boards from the floor to the walls. He built it within as a Sanctum, as the Holy of Holies.

Forty cubits was the House; that is the Sanctuary that was in front of the Holy of Holies.

The majority of the walls of cedar on the House within had decorative carvings of braided fruits and carved flowers, or flower stalks; everything was constructed from cedar, and there was no stone seen on the inner side of the walls of the House.

He prepared a Sanctum, the Holy of Holies, inside the House from within, in order to place there the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord.

The interior of the Sanctum was a space of twenty cubits length and twenty cubits width, and its height was twenty cubits. He plated it with exceptionally fine and very expensive gold, and he overlaid an altar, the incense altar, with boards of cedarwood, which was placed before the Sanctum, in the Sanctuary.

Solomon plated the House from within with fine gold; he drew decorative chains of gold across the wall before the Sanctum, and he plated it with gold. Some explain that he hung the golden chains on the front section of the ceiling of the Holy of Holies, which was 10 cubits lower than the roof of the outer section.

He plated the entire House in gold, until the completion of the entire House, and he plated in gold the entire altar that is for the Sanctum, the incense altar.

In the Sanctum, above the Ark of the Covenant, he made two oil-wood [atzei shemen] cherubs, each ten cubits in height, approximately 5 m. Alternatively, atzei shemen means cedar, pine wood, or balsam. The wooden cherubim made by Solomon differed from the original cherubim fashioned together with the ark, which were smaller and made of gold.

One wing of a cherub was five cubits, and the second wing of a cherub was five cubits; there were ten cubits from one edge of its wings to the other edge of its wings, which was thus the width of each cherub.

The second cherub was also ten cubits; both the cherubs had one measure and one form. They were identical in appearance.

The height of the one cherub was ten cubits, the same as its width, and so was the second cherub.

He placed the cherubs inside the inner chamber, and they spread the cherubs’ wings, and the wing of the one was touching the wall, and the wing of the second cherub was touching the second wall, and their wings, which angled toward the middle of the chamber were touching wing to wing. With their wings outstretched, the two cherubim together filled the space of the Sanctum, the Holy of Holies, from wall to wall.

He plated the cherubs with gold.

All the walls of the House around he engraved with braided cherubs, palm trees, and carved flowers, or flower stalks, all of which were placed both on the inside, in the Holy of Holies, and on the outside, in the Sanctuary.

The floor of the House he also plated with gold, inside and outside.

For the entrance of the Sanctum he made oil-wood doors, which were supported on either side by the lintel, and the doorposts of the fifth. Alternatively, this may be translated to mean that they were supported by the pillars of the doorposts. These doors and doorposts were from the fifth, innermost entranceway within the Temple, the entrance into the Sanctum, the Holy of Holies.

For the two oil-wood doors at the entrance, he engraved on them engravings of braided cherubs, palm trees, and carved flowers, plated with gold; he rolled out the gold over the cherubs and over the palm trees.

So he made for the entrance of the Sanctuary, oil-wood doorposts of the fourth. The fourth entrance within the Temple was the entrance to the Sanctuary.

And there were two juniper-wood doors, two boards folding on one door, and two boards folding on the second door. Each door was comprised of two boards that were attached to each other by a hinge, creating a folding door. Alternatively, some interpret the verse to mean that the shapes of pillars were sculpted on both sides of the door, or that the two door hinges were oval-shaped.

He also engraved on these doors cherubs, palm trees, and carved flowers, and he plated them with gold, pressing it precisely on the inset design, so that the gold would take on the shape of the engraving.

He built the inner courtyard, the courtyard in which the Temple structure was located, of three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar beams. The courtyard was comprised of alternating rows of stones and cedar beams. This method of construction was possibly designed to strengthen the structure, as the outer courtyard was unroofed. In fact, the majority of the people never entered this inner courtyard. Only the priests, and occasionally individual Israelites, entered to perform the ritual of placing their hands on the head of the offering or to slaughter a sacrifice, as the altar for burnt offerings was located in this courtyard.

In the fourth year of Solomon’s reign, the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid, in the month of Ziv.

In the eleventh year, in the month of Bul, which is the eighth month, Heshvan, the House was completed, in all its components and in all its specifications. He built it for seven years.

And his house, his royal palace, Solomon built for thirteen years, and he completed his entire house. Although his grand palace was smaller than the Temple, its construction took longer. Solomon was eager to accelerate the construction of the House of God, whereas he built his own house at a more leisured pace.

The chapter provides a detailed description of the house of Solomon: He built the House of the Forest of the Lebanon:One hundred cubits was its length, fifty cubits its width, and thirty cubits its height. The house was built on the foundation of four rows of cedar pillars, with cedar planks cut to precise length over the pillars. The beams served as a kind of external wall that was attached to the pillars from the side. Alternatively, these beams were placed on top of the pillars to provide additional structural support for the ceiling.

It, the house, was roofed with cedar boards above, on the forty-five beams that were on the pillars, fifteen per row. In other words, the boards of cedarwood covered the precisely cut cedar beams, which were placed on top of the pillars. There were forty-five boards in total, fifteen per row. The four rows of pillars divided the house into three parts, each of which was covered by fifteen boards.

There were windows in three rows. These windows allowed sunlight to enter, and were also positioned as three ascending rows on both sides of the house, aperture opposite aperture, each window opposite another, three times, in each of the three rows.

All the openings of the house and doorposts at their sides were four-sided frames, rather than dome-shaped, with a window. Alternatively, the verse means that the windows on top of the doors were square. Aperture was opposite aperture three times, in the three sections between the rows of the pillars.

He made the entrance hall of colonnade: Fifty cubits was its length and thirty cubits its width; and a hall was before them, before the aforementioned pillars, and there were pillars for this hall as well, and thick beams were placed upon them.

In addition to the entrance hall, he made the hall of the throne where he, as king, would judge the people, which was the hall of judgment; it was entirely covered with cedar from one side of the floor to the other side of the floor.

His private house where he would live was built in another courtyard, within the hall, farther inward, and it was of the same construction as the rest of the palace. He would also make a special house within the palace solely for Pharaoh’s daughter, whom Solomon had married, and the house was like this hall. Although she was not his first wife, Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter was politically significant. Therefore, he designated a separate, glorious structure especially for her.

All these were built of heavy stones, like the customary measures of hewn stones, sawed precisely with saws from within and from without, and from the foundation to the ceiling, and from without, from outside the houses, until the great courtyard.

The foundation was of heavy stones, large stones. The lower stones at the foundation were large and heavy, stones of ten cubits and stones of eight cubits, each 4–5 m long.

Above were placed heavy stones, like the measure of hewn stones, and also cedarwood.

The great courtyard around was of three rows of hewn stone and a row of cedar planks; it was built like the inner courtyard of the House of the Lord and the Hall of the House. Despite certain differences in the details, the architecture of the inner courtyard of the Temple, the Hall of the House, and the courtyard of Solomon’s palace was overall the same: Solomon’s house also contained an inner personal space, beyond which was a room of judgment, and then an entry room for guests.

King Solomon sent and took Hiram from Tyre. This was not King Hiram of Tyre (see chap. 5), but an artisan of the same name.

He was the son of a widow from the tribe of Naphtali, and his father was a Tyrian, who lived in the city of Tyre and who was a bronzesmith; he, Hiram, was filled with wisdom, understanding, and knowledge, to perform all craftsmanship, especially with bronze. He came to King Solomon and he performed all his craftsmanship. Hiram was Solomon’s head artisan and the architect who fashioned the most complex forms.

He, Hiram, fashioned the two bronze pillars, designed solely for ornamental purposes; eighteen cubits was the height of the one pillar, and a twelve-cubit string would circle the second pillar. The circumference of each pillar was 12 cubits, which means its diameter was roughly 4 cubits, approximately 2 m.

He made two capitals of cast bronze to place on the tops of the pillars; five cubits was the height of the one capital and five cubits the height of the second capital.

He also made screens of meshwork and carved threads of chainwork for the capitals that were on the tops of the pillars, seven for the one capital and seven for the second capital. These chainwork nets and wreaths decorated the capitals of the pillars.

He made with the pillars two rows of pomegranates all around on each screen, which served to cover the capitals that were at the top of the pillars. Thus, the capitals were adorned with two rows of bronze pomegranates above the screens, and so he did for the other capital.

The capitals that were atop the pillars and pointed to the ceiling of the hall were made of lily work,which was four cubits long. The lily work may have been called shushan because it was shaped in the form of the six-petaled white lily [shushan tzaĥor], which served as the symbol of the Israelite monarchy during certain periods.

The concealed capitals on the two pillars were also covered from the top, from opposite the protrusion, facing the center, that was at the edge of the screen, and two hundred pomegranates were arranged in two rows around the second capital.

He erected the pillars for the entrance to the Hall of the Sanctuary; he erected the right pillar, and he called its name Yakhin, meaning sturdy, and he erected the left pillar, and he called its name Boaz, derived from the phrase “strength is in it [bo oz].” Alternatively, it was named after Solomon’s great-great-grandfather, Boaz. The towering pillars were so magnificent and impressive that they were each given a name.

Atop the pillars was lily work; and the labor of the pillars was completed. The construction of these pillars was not part of the work of the Temple itself. Rather, Solomon added the pillars of his own accord, in order to enhance the beauty of the Temple. Each of them was a masterful work of art.

He made the sea, a large water container, which was cast. Its diameter was ten cubits from brim to brim, circular around, and its height was five cubits; a thirty-cubit measuring line would wrap around it.

There were decorative bulbs under its brim, ten to a cubit circling around it, surrounding the sea all around; the bulbs were in two rows, cast with its casting. Two rows of rounded knobs were molded together with the sea and lined its brim.

It, the sea, stood upon twelve cast oxen, which were also made of copper, like the sea (see verse 44): three facing north, three facing west, three facing south, and three facing east; the sea was upon them from above, and all their hind parts were inward. These oxen faced outward, with their hind parts concealed on the inner side.

Its, the sea’s, thickness was a handbreadth, and its brim was flattened thin and was like the form of the brim of a lily blossom cup. Although the verse initially states that the wall was one handbreadth thick, perhaps it narrowed at the top. It would hold two thousand bat, a measurement of volume for liquids, 22–24 L, equivalent to an ephah, which is a measure for solids. The molding of such a large vessel from one piece of copper is a difficult and complex activity, which had to be performed by the greatest expert.

He made the trolleys used to transport the lavers, ten, of bronze; four cubits was the length of each trolley, and four cubits its width, and three cubits its height.

This was the form of the trolley: They had panels around the edges of each one; there were panels placed between the crossbars, like the rungs of a ladder, which composed the skeleton of the base.

On the panels that were between the crossbars were ornate images of lions, cattle, and winged cherubs. Upon the crossbars from above there was a stand, which was to serve as a base for the laver. And beneath the lions and the cattle were decorations, or, alternatively, pairs of shapes, of hammered metal, flattened into a thin layer.

There were four bronze wheels for each trolley and bronze axles, or bronze boards. These trolleys could be transported from one location to another. Its four corners, the corners of the stand, had supports; the supports were cast in their shape beneath the laver, with ornamental decorations alongside each. Alternatively, the supports protruded beneath the laver that was on the stand.

The laver’s opening was one cubit above the rim, the crown of the base, the opening of which was round like the shape of the stand, like a foundation, into which the laver was placed, one and one-half cubits in width; and also on its opening there were decorative braids. Its panels, the panels of each base, were square, not round.

The four wheels were beneath the panels, and the axles of the wheels were fixed in the trolley, and the height of each wheel was one and one-half cubits.

The form of the wheels was like the form of a chariot wheel; their axles, their hubs, the wheel frame upon which the spoke sat, their rims, the outer portion of the wheel, and their spokes, the rods that connected the spokes to the center of the wheel, all were cast as one form and were not fashioned as separate parts.

There were four supports protruding at the four corners of each trolley; its supports were fashioned from the trolley itself.

On the top of the trolley there was a covering; it was round with a height of a half cubit around; and on the top of the trolley were its handles, which were for transporting the trolley, and its panels were from itself, of a single piece.

He engraved cherubs, lions, and palm trees on the tablets, its rods, and on its panels, like a man embracing his companion, around. The Sages homiletically explain that this last phrase means that he sculpted a round image that looked like a man and a woman locked in an embrace.

In this manner, he made the ten trolleys, one casting, one measure, and one form for all of them. They were all identical.

He made ten bronze lavers to rinse the sacrifices slaughtered in the Temple. Water was drawn from the sea into the lavers that stood upon the bases, each laver with a capacity of forty bat. Each laver was four cubits wide; one laver was placed on each trolley for the ten trolleys.

He put the trolleys, five on the right side of the House and five on the left side of the House, and he put the sea on the right side of the House, on the east, toward the south.

Hiram made the containers for the ashes removed from the altar, the shovels, and the bowls, which were for sprinkling the blood of the Temple offerings onto the wall of the altar. And Hiram completed all the labor that he performed for King Solomon in the House of the Lord.

The verses detail the completed items: two pillars; the two orbs of the capitals that were atop the pillars; the two screens that served to cover the two orbs of the capitals that were atop the pillars;

the pomegranates, four hundred for the two screens, two rows of pomegranates for each screen, to cover the two orbs of the capitals that were atop the pillars;

the ten trolleys, and the ten lavers on the trolleys;

the one sea and the twelve oxen that were placed beneath the sea;

the pots, the shovels, and the bowls; and all these vessels that Hiram made for King Solomon in the House of the Lord were of burnished bronze. The majority of the Temple vessels were fashioned in the manner described in the book of Exodus, for which there was no need for an expert architect. However, the pillars, the sea, and other structures whose construction was complex did not exist in the Tabernacle. Therefore, Hiram’s special expertise and planning skills were required for the manufacture of these items.

The chapter inserts a technical note with regard to the location of the work: The king cast them on the Jordan plain, in an excavation in the ground between Sukot and Tzaretan. The casting of relatively small amounts of bronze could be performed in large factories, but the casting of larger amounts, as was the case here, required special conditions. To this day, metal is cast in molds that are placed in moist earth. Therefore, Solomon prepared his castings in clay ground and chose to do so in the plain of the Jordan, as only there was the ground sufficiently moist for casting such complex molds.

Solomon left all the vessels, due to the exceedingly great abundance of their weight, and so the weight of the bronze was not investigated. So much bronze was used for all of the vessels that they did not even try to measure its weight.

Solomon made all the vessels that were in the House of the Lord: the golden altar; the gold table upon which was the showbread, as written in the Torah;

the candelabra, which he placed five on the right side and five on the left, before the Sanctum, all made of solid and very expensive gold; the flowers of the candelabrum, the lamps, and the tongs were also made of gold. In addition to the original candelabrum fashioned by Moses, which was in the center, Solomon placed ten additional candelabra on both sides;

and the jugs, the musical instruments, the bowls, the ladles, and the pans, all were made of solid gold; and the hinge sockets, or indentations in the ground into which the bolts of the door were inserted, both for the doors of the inner house, the Holy of Holies, and for the doors of the House, the Sanctuary, were of gold.

All the labor that King Solomon performed in the House of the Lord was completed. Solomon brought all the sacred items of David his father, the silver, the gold, and the vessels that he did not use, and he placed them in the treasuries of the House of the Lord. The Temple treasury contained all the excess silver and gold that David had prepared for the construction of the Temple. These materials were consecrated, but they were also part of the national treasury. Therefore, from time to time, in their hour of need, the kings of Judah would use these treasures.

Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, all the heads of the tribes, the princes of the fathers, the large families, of the children of Israel, to King Solomon in Jerusalem, in order to bring the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord up from the City of David, which is Zion, where it had been kept up to that point, to Mount Moriah.

All the men of Israel were assembled to King Solomon on the festival of Sukkot, in the month of Etanim, which is the seventh month, known nowadays by its Babylonian name of Tishrei. The Sages explain that it is called Etanim, mighty ones, because the forefathers of the nation, who were spiritually mighty, were born in this month. In addition, this month has many festivals, along with their many commandments. It is also a time when agricultural produce, which is essential for physical health and vigor, is gathered from the field.

All the elders of Israel came, and the priests carried the ark. This time, unlike on an earlier, tragic occasion, they did not place the ark on a cart, but the priests carried it properly on their shoulders.

They brought up the Ark of the Lord, the structural parts of the Tent of Meeting that was built by Moses, and all the sacred vessels that were in the tent; the priests and the Levites brought them up.

King Solomon and the entire congregation of Israel, who had congregated with him, were walking with him before the ark and were offering sheep and cattle that could not be numbered and could not be counted due to the quantity. Sacrifices were offered along this procession in honor of the ascent of the ark to the House of God.

The priests brought the Ark of the Covenant of the Lord to its place, to the Sanctum of the House, to the Holy of Holies, to beneath the wings of the cherubim that Solomon had fashioned (6:23–28). Since these cherubim were much larger than the ones that Moses had made for the Tabernacle, they were placed on the floor of the Sanctuary rather than atop the Ark of the Covenant.

For the cherubim spread their wings over the area of the ark, and because they were very tall, the cherubim covered the ark and its staves from above.

The staves extended outward, that is, they were miraculously elongated, or the staves were long relative to the size of the place where the ark was placed, and the ends of the staves were visible from the Sanctuary, in front of the Sanctum, but they were not seen from the outside. A curtain was spread over the entrance to the Sanctuary, behind which the ends of the staves protruded slightly, so that their presence would be noticeable from the outside, although they could not actually be seen. And they, the staves, are there to this day, continuously, as the Torah prohibits the removal of the staves from the ark.

There was nothing in the ark but the two tablets of stone that Moses placed there at Horev, with which the Lord established a covenant with the children of Israel when they came out of the land of Egypt, and upon which He inscribed the words of the covenant.

It was when the priests emerged from the Sanctuary, after they had set the ark in its proper location, that the cloud, which symbolized the Divine Presence, filled the House of the Lord. The rest of the Temple had significance only after the ark was placed in the Holy of Holies.

The priests were unable to stand and serve due to the cloud, as the glory of the Lord filled the House of the Lord.

Then Solomon said: The Lord said that He would, wished to, dwell in the fog. It is evident from the presence of the fog that the Divine Presence is here with us.

I have built You an abode, a permanent, established seat for Your dwelling forever.

When Solomon spoke to God, he faced the Sanctuary, like all the people. Now he turns to face the people and addresses them with words of praise to God: The king turned his face to the people and blessed the entire assembly of Israel, and the entire assembly of Israel was standing in the Temple courtyards.

He said: Blessed is the Lord, God of Israel, who spoke with His mouth with David my father, and with His hand, His dominion, fulfilled it, His promise, saying:

Since the day that I brought My people Israel out of Egypt, I have not chosen a city from all the tribes of Israel to build a House for My name to be there. Even when Israel entered the land, no complete, permanent stone structure was built for God. Instead, sacrifices were offered in temporary tabernacles. These places were roofed with the curtains that covered the original Tabernacle in the wilderness. But I chose David to be king in charge of My people Israel.

It was in the heart of David my father to build a House for the name of the Lord, God of Israel. Once he gained control over the kingdom, he thought that the time had come to construct a Temple for God.

The Lord said to David my father, through His prophets: Because it was in your heart to build a House for My name, you did well, that it was in your heart.

This desire is commendable. However, you will not build the House; rather, your son, who will emerge from your loins, he will build the House for My name. The reason for this decision is not stated here, but elsewhere it is explained that since David was a man of war who had shed much blood, it was inappropriate for the House of God to be built by him. Instead, it was to be constructed by his son Solomon, who reigned in more tranquil times.

The Lord fulfilled His word that He had spoken, and I have risen in place of David my father, and I have taken my seat on the throne of Israel, as the Lord spoke, and I have built the House for the name of the Lord, God of Israel.

I set there a place for the ark, in which there is the covenant of the Lord written on the tablets, the covenant which He established with our fathers when He took them out of the land of Egypt. Inscribed on the tablets, known as the Tablets of the Covenant, are the Ten Precepts, which can be considered a summary of the entire Torah. The Ten Precepts also represent the marriage contract, so to speak, that God gave His people at Sinai, as they also detail the covenant that God enacted with the children of Israel.

Solomon stood before the altar of the Lord before the entire assembly of Israel, and he spread his hands toward the heavens. It can be assumed that this prayer to God was heard by his audience as well. This is one of the longest, most complex, and comprehensive prayers in the entire Bible. In addition to its many requests, it includes a broad vision of the nature of the Temple.

He said: Lord, God of Israel, there is none like You, God, in the heavens above and on the earth below; You are the one who is keeping the covenant and kindness to Your servants, who walk before You with all their heart,

and it is You who has kept for Your servant David, my father, that which You spoke of to him. You spoke with Your mouth, and You fulfilled it, Your promise to David, with Your hand, this day.

Now, Lord, God of Israel, also keep for Your servant David, my father, that additional guarantee which You spoke of to him, saying: A man of yours shall not cease from before Me to sit on the throne of Israel, provided that your children will keep their way, to walk before Me as you walked before Me. God’s assurance of the continuity of David’s dynasty was conditional on the behavior of his heirs.

Now, God of Israel, please may Your word that You spoke to Your servant David, my father, be confirmed.

Solomon now explains the significance of the Temple to those present: For will God indeed dwell on the earth? Can one really build an earthly home for God? Behold, even the heavens and the heaven of heavens are far too small and they cannot contain You, certainly not this House that I have built. I know that God does not actually reside within the House that I have built, and that no finite space could possibly contain Him. Nevertheless, through this place of contact, which is the gate of heaven, God will reveal Himself to man.

I therefore request: May You turn to the prayer of Your servant, myself, and to his entreaty, Lord my God, to hear the song of praise and the prayer that Your servant prays before You today,

for Your eyes to be open toward this House night and day, toward the place of which You said: My name will be there; and to hear the prayer that Your servant will pray toward this place.

May You hear the entreaty of Your servant and of Your people Israel that they will pray toward this place, and when they turn to You from this place, may You hear in Your dwelling place in the heavens; may You hear their requests and please forgive their sins.

When, for example, a man sins against his neighbor, if he, the injured party, utters a curse to curse him, the person who did him wrong, may the curse come before Your altar in this House;

may You hear from the heavens, and act, and judge Your servants, to condemn the wicked, to bring a punishment for his way upon his head, and to vindicate the righteous, to grant him according to his righteousness. This is an example of how the Temple will be the address for all those who have been harmed and who wish to ask God to perform justice in His world.

Similarly, when Your people Israel are routed before an enemy in defeat, which will certainly occur when they sin against You, and they return to You, and confess with Your name, and acknowledge that their misfortune is due to their transgressions, and they pray and entreat You in this House,

may You hear their supplication in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your people Israel, and even if they have been taken captive, restore them to the land that You gave to their fathers.

When heavens are restrained and there is no rain, this too will happen because they sin against You, and they deserve this affliction. If at that point they do not come with complaints to God, but rather plead to Him to save them from their troubles, they will pray toward this place, and confess with Your name, and repent from their sin, so that You will answer them.

You will hear in the heavens, and forgive the sin of Your servants and of Your people Israel; for You will teach them the good way that they should follow, and when they return to the proper path, You will give rain upon Your land, which You have given to Your people as an inheritance.

If there is famine in the land, for reasons other than a lack of rainfall; if there is pestilence; if there is blight, a loss of volume or weight in produce or living creatures; rust, which results from the blight; or locusts; or Moroccan locusts, a species of locust; or if their enemy besieges and oppresses them in the land at their gates; and in general, any plague that might occur, any illness;

any prayer, any entreaty that any person of Your entire people Israel will have, each knowing the affliction of his heart, as I cannot know the particular nature of each person’s suffering, but each individual knows what pains him, he shall spread his hands in prayer toward this House.

You will hear in the heavens, which is Your dwelling place; You will forgive and act, and render to each man according to all his ways, as You know his heart, as You alone know the hearts of all people. Therefore, You alone can punish or reward each person in accordance with his merits,

so that they will fear You all the days that they live on the land that You gave to our fathers. When they understand that all prayers are heard in the Temple, they will realize that one cannot speak falsehoods there, and they will come to fear You.

Solomon further elaborates on the function of the Temple: Also to the foreigner, who is not of Your people Israel, and who undertakes a pilgrimage and comes from a distant land for Your name’s sake,

for they will all have heard of Your great name, and of Your mighty hand, and Your outstretched arm, and will come and pray toward this House.

You will hear from the heavens, Your dwelling place, and act in accordance with all that the foreigner calls to You, so that all the peoples of the earth will know Your name, to fear You like Your people Israel do, and to know that Your name is called upon this House that I have built. Please answer the prayers of gentiles as well.

When Your people goes out to war against their enemy, on the way that You will send them, and they are far from the Temple, and they pray to the Lord via the city that You have chosen, and the House that I built for Your name, as they turn to Jerusalem and the Temple,

You will hear from the heavens their prayer and their entreaty, and enact justice for them.

When they sin against You, as there is no person who does not sin, and due to their sin You become angry with them and deliver them before an enemy, and their captors take them captive to the land of the enemy, whether it is far off or near,

they will restore their heart in the land where they have been taken captive, and they will repent, and entreat You in the land of their captors, saying: We have sinned, and we have been iniquitous, we have turned from the straight path; we have been wicked.

They will return to You with all their heart and with all their soul in the land of their enemies, who took them captive, and pray to You by way of their land that You gave to their fathers, and via the city that You chose within that land, and finally, by way of the House that I have built for Your name;

You will hear their prayer and their entreaty in the heavens, Your dwelling place, and enact justice for them;

You will forgive Your people who have sinned against You, and all their transgressions that they have transgressed against You, and You will set them for mercy before their captors, and they will have mercy on them.

For they are Your people and Your inheritance, whom You took out of Egypt, from the midst of the iron crucible, as their suffering in Egypt refined them like metals in a fiery furnace;

so please rescue them from all their troubles, and may Your eyes be open to the entreaty of Your servant, and to the entreaty of Your people Israel, to hear them whenever they call to You.

For You separated them for You as an inheritance, Your special portion, from all the peoples of the earth, as You spoke at the hand of Moses Your servant, when You took our fathers out of Egypt, Lord God.

While Solomon was praying, he kneeled down and spread his hands heavenward. It was when Solomon had concluded praying this entire prayer and entreaty to the Lord that he rose from before the altar of the Lord, from kneeling on his knees, and his hands were spread heavenward.

He stood and blessed the entire assembly of Israel in a loud voice, saying:

Blessed is the Lord, who has granted rest [menuh·] to His people Israel, in accordance with everything of which He spoke. The establishment of a permanent Temple, where the ark was to reside, in the place chosen by God in the midst of Israel, serves to give rest and tranquility to Israel. In fact, the location of the Temple is described elsewhere as “the haven [menuĥa] and the inheritance.” Not one word has gone unfulfilled from the entire promise that He communicated by means of Moses His servant.

May the Lord our God be with us, as He was with our fathers; may He not forsake us, and may He not abandon us,

to incline our hearts to Him, to follow all His ways, and to keep His commandments, those which serve as remembrances and testimonies, His statutes, the divine commands whose rationale is not discernible to humans, and His ordinances, the laws that are subject to human reason, that He commanded our fathers.

May these words of mine that I entreated before the Lord be near to the Lord our God day and night, to enact justice for me, His servant, and justice for His people Israel, the matter of each day on its day,

so that all the peoples of the earth will know, when all these requests are fulfilled, that the Lord, He is God; there is no other.

May your heart be whole with the Lord our God, to follow His statutes and to keep His commandments, as on this day.

The king and all Israel with him were slaughtering sacrifices before the Lord after his prayer.

Solomon slaughtered the peace offering that he slaughtered to the Lord, twenty-two thousand oxen and one hundred and twenty thousand sheep. It is likely that the people present also brought private offerings, but the king provided a large number of offerings so that he could distribute portions to the entire people, as most of the meat of peace offerings may be eaten by anyone who is ritually pure. The king and all the children of Israel dedicated the House of the Lord.

On that day, the king also sanctified the interior, the floor, of the courtyard that was before the House of the Lord, for there he performed the burnt offerings, the meal offerings, and the fats of the peace offerings. In order that the offerings could be burnt on the floor as well, it was necessary to consecrate it with the sanctity of the altar. It was necessary to do this, for the bronze altar that was before the Lord was too small to contain the burnt offerings, which were burnt in their entirety on the altar, as well as the meal offerings, and the fats, the sacrificial portions of the peace offerings. There was insufficient space on the altar for all these to be sacrificed in such a short period.

At that time, Solomon and all Israel with him, a great assembly, marked the festival, from Levo Hamat, in northern Syria, to the Ravine of Egypt, the southern tip of the territory under his control (see 5:1). All came to celebrate before the Lord our God, seven days and seven days, a total of fourteen days. The first seven days were the week before the festival of Sukkot, followed by the seven days of Sukkot itself. In that year, the children of Israel did not fast on Yom Kippur, as it was one of the days on which they offered and consumed sacrifices.

On the eighth day, after the second set of seven days, he sent the people away. Solomon gave the people permission to return home and resume their regular lives. And they blessed the king, and went to their tents joyful and good-hearted for all the good that the Lord had performed for David His servant and for Israel His people.

It was when Solomon finished building the House of the Lord and the house of the king, which was similar in size to the House of the Lord, and all of Solomon’s desires that he wished to do, the numerous construction plans that he implemented for the glory of his kingdom,

that the Lord appeared to Solomon a second time, as He had appeared to him at Givon. Solomon was a quasi-prophet (see 11:9).

The Lord said to him: I have heard your prayer and your entreaty that you entreated before Me. I have indeed sanctified this House that you built, to place My name there forever; My eyes and My heart will be there always. This place is very important to Me as well.

As for you, if you walk before Me as David your father walked, in good faith and uprightly, acting in accordance with all that I have commanded you, observing My statutes and My ordinances,

I will establish the throne of your kingship over Israel forever, as I spoke to David your father, saying: No man of yours will be eliminated from upon the throne of Israel. Your dynasty shall never cease.

If you and your children turn away from following Me, from the path that I have commanded you, and do not keep My commandments and My statutes that I have put before you, and go and serve other gods, and prostrate yourselves to them,

I will eliminate Israel from upon the face of the land that I have given them by exiling them, and the House that I sanctified for My name I will dismiss from before Me, as it will be destroyed; Israel will become a proverb, an example of a people that suffered disaster, and an adage among all peoples, of which all will speak disparagingly.

This House will be an upheaval. This phrase literally means “This House will be high,” meaning that it will be lifted from its place and destroyed, or that the House, which is going to be so elevated, shall become desolate, and everyone who passes by it will be astonished and will whistle in amazement; and the people who see the desolate Temple will say: For what did the Lord do so to this land and to this House?

And they will say: It is because they forsook the Lord their God, who took their fathers out of the land of Egypt, and they took up other gods, and they prostrated themselves to them, and served them; therefore, the Lord brought all this evil upon them. The wording here is almost identical to a passage that appears toward the end of the book of Deuteronomy (29:23–25).

It was at the end of the twenty years in which Solomon built the two houses, the House of the Lord and the king’s house.

The chapter inserts a parenthetical background comment here: Hiram king of Tyre had supplied Solomon, throughout that entire period, with cedarwood and juniper wood, and with gold for all his needs. The king of Tyre had provided Solomon with all the wood and gold that he required for his building projects, and it came to pass that then, at the end of the years of construction, King Solomon gave Hiram twenty cities in the land of the Galilee. It would seem that he did not grant the king of Tyre these cities to annex them to his own land, as that change of citizenship would have applied to the residents of those cities as well. Rather, they were subjugated to Hiram for tax purposes alone. Despite Solomon’s great wealth, he was unable to cover the immense expenses of his projects from his own treasuries. He therefore gave Hiram permission to collect taxes from the produce of those cities on a permanent basis.

Hiram emerged from Tyre to see the cities that Solomon had given him, but they were not acceptable in his eyes.

He said: What are these cities that you have given me, my brother? Hiram wanted better or larger cities, which would provide him with more tax from their produce. He called them the land of Kabul, a closed, locked land, to this day. That area was known as Kabul until the time of the writing of the book of Kings.

Hiram sent to the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold. Hiram was the leader of the greatest commercial empire in the world, and he had massive reserves of gold at his disposal, for which he had no use himself. Not all of this gold was incorporated directly in the Temple; some of it was used for decorative purposes or as payments.

This list below is the matter of the levy, the manual labor of foreign workers who did not have a portion in the land, that King Solomon imposed to build the House of the Lord, his own house, the Milo, a rampart or fortified structure, or an area surrounded by supporting walls and filled [mulla] with earth, in order to combine the entire city into a single unit, and the wall of Jerusalem, along its new route, and Hatzor, and Megiddo, economic and commercial centers where the king’s horses were tended and apparently where his treasuries were stored, and Gezer.

Apropos the mention of Gezer, the chapter relates how it came into Solomon’s possession, as not even David was able to conquer this powerful city. Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up with his large army and captured Gezer; he had burned it with fire and killed the Canaanites who resided in the city, and he gave it as a dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife, as the city was situated within the kingdom of Solomon.

Solomon built Gezer, and Lower Beit Horon,

and Baalat, and Tadmor in the wilderness, in the land,

and all the storehouse cities, the warehouses, that Solomon had, and the chariot cities, and the cavalry cities, the cities where his chariots were kept, which also contained stables for the horses of the king’s army, and that which Solomon desired to build for his pleasure, his construction plans, in Jerusalem, and in the Lebanon, and in all the land of his dominion.

The verse details the levy: All the remaining people from the Emorites, the Hitites, the Perizites, the Hivites, and the Yevusites, who were not of the children of Israel,

in other words, their children who were left after them in the land, whom the children of Israel were not able to destroy, all the foreigners who were not expelled and who remained in the land, Solomon imposed upon them a levy of labor, to this day. These foreigners were not entitled to an inheritance when the land was distributed among the children of Israel, and any territory in their possession was taken away from them. They therefore worked as paid laborers in Solomon’s grand construction projects.

But in contrast, from the children of Israel, Solomon did not make slaves, as they were the men of war, his servants, his commanders, his officials, and the commanders of his chariots and his horsemen.

These men of Israel were the chief officials who were in charge of the labor for Solomon, five hundred and fifty who ruled over the people, the tens of thousands of laborers, who performed the labor.

When Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David, where she had initially been brought by the king, to her house that he had built for her, near his own palace, he, Solomon, then built the Milo, so that the city should be contiguous, and that it could be surrounded with a single wall. Apparently, the structures of the king’s house, including the house for Pharaoh’s daughter, were built in the Milo. Nothing is known of the personal relations between Solomon and the daughter of Pharaoh, but it is clear that his marriage to her was a significant diplomatic achievement, which is why it is also mentioned separately above (3:1), as well as in the list of the king’s wives (11:1).

Three times a year Solomon offered up burnt offerings and peace offerings upon the altar that he had built to the Lord, and he burned incense on that which was before the Lord, and he completed the necessary work for the House.

King Solomon made a fleet of ships in Etzyon Gever, which is beside Elot, on the shore of the Red Sea. There was great commercial rivalry in the Mediterranean Sea between the Phoenicians of Tyre and Sidon, the Philistines who lived in port cities, the Egyptians, and other maritime trade nations. Solomon had the advantage of control over the approach to the Red Sea. The establishment of a navy in this strategic location is further testimony to his kingdom’s scope and strength. This place, Etzyon Gever, was in the land of Edom. The entire region south of Judah officially belonged to Edom, but in practice Solomon was the supreme ruler there as well, and he used its towns for his own needs.

Hiram sent with the fleet his servants, experienced shipmen who knew the sea, with the servants of Solomon, to provide them with assistance.

They came to Ofir, and they took from there gold, four hundred and twenty talents, and they brought it to King Solomon.

The queen of Sheba heard of Solomon’s renown in the name of the Lord, as Solomon became widely renowned among the nations as the cleverest of men, who possessed divine wisdom; she came to test him with riddles, and to hear his wise answers. She did not undertake the trip for political purposes, but did so mainly to meet the man whose fame had reached all the way to her land. Sheba was possibly located in southern Arabia, in the region of Yemen, or in East Africa, perhaps Ethiopia.

She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices and gold in very large amounts, and precious stones. She came to Solomon, and she spoke to him of everything that was in her heart.

Solomon responded to all her concerns; he answered all her questions, and there was no matter concealed from the king that he could not tell her.

The queen of Sheba saw all the wisdom of Solomon, and also the house that he had built,

and the food of his table, and the seating of his servants, and the standing of his attendants, and their garments, and his cupbearers, and his stairway by which he would go up from his house to the House of the Lord, and it took her breath away.

She said to the king: It was true the account that I had heard in my land about your words and your wisdom.

I did not believe the accounts I heard until I came and my eyes saw; behold, the half was not told to me. The stories that I thought were exaggerated do not cover even half of what I have witnessed myself. You have exceeded in wisdom and goodness beyond the report that I had heard. The term “goodness” can refer to moral, functional, or aesthetic qualities.

Happy are your men, happy are these servants of yours, who stand before you continually, and who hear your wisdom. I had to come all the way to your land to hold a few conversations with you, whereas they are always here and can hear your wisdom at any time.

May the Lord your God be blessed, who favored you, to place you on the throne of Israel, in the Lord’s love of Israel forever, and He appointed you as king over them, to perform justice and righteousness.

She gave the king one hundred and twenty talents of gold, and a great amount of spices, and precious stones. There has never come a quantity of spices like that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon. Never again was there such a wealth of spices in Jerusalem.

In connection with the treasures that the queen of Sheba gave to Solomon from her region, the chapter mentions other riches that Solomon received at that time from the south via the sea: Also the fleet of Hiram, which had carried gold from Ofir, brought from Ofir a large amount of sandalwood [almuggim], and they also brought precious stones.

The king made of the sandalwood a parapet for the House of the Lord, and for the king’s house, and harps and lyres for the singers. Sandalwood like this had not come and had not been seen to that day. Such a large quantity of sandalwood was capable of arriving in Jerusalem only thanks to Solomon’s navy.

King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba everything she desired that she requested, which she could not obtain in her own land, besides that which he gave her as gifts out of the generosity of King Solomon. She turned and went to her land, she and her servants.

The weight of the gold that came to Solomon in one year, the year when the queen of Sheba visited and gold was brought in the Sidonian ships, was six hundred and sixty-six talents of gold,

delivered centrally to the king’s treasury, besides that which was from the itinerant merchants, in the form of taxes to Solomon, and from the trade of the smaller-scale peddlers, and all the Arabian kings and the governors of the land.

King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold. Some explain that this refers to gold whose color changes from red to white with the addition of a small quantity of slag. Six hundred shekels of gold, golden coins whose combined weight is 6.84 kg, in accordance with the opinion that a gold shekel weighed 11.4 g, would go into each shield;

and similarly, three hundred bucklers, smaller shields, of beaten gold, three maneh, a unit of weight consisting of one hundred coins, of gold would go into each buckler; and the king put them as a stockpile of weapons, a treasury, and perhaps also as an ornament, in the royal House of the Forest of the Lebanon.

This house also contained Solomon’s throne: The king made a great throne of ivory, and he plated it with the gold from the distant city of Ufaz [mufaz]. According to the Syriac translation, the city of Ufaz was in the region of Ofir. Some explain that mufaz means gold that had undergone extensive refinement through beating and stretching.

There were six stairs ascending to the throne, and there was a round top for the throne at its back, for resting one’s head or for decoration; and armrests on this side and that of the place of the seat, and two lions standing next to the armrests. Two statues of lions, probably made of gold, were positioned near the armrests.

There were twelve lions standing there on the six stairs on this side and on that. A lion was placed on both sides of every step. Nothing like it was made for any other kingdom.

All the drinking vessels of King Solomon were made of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of the Lebanon were of pure, refined gold. There was no vessel in the king’s house made of silver, because it, silver, was not considered anything in the days of Solomon, due to the overabundance of gold.

For the king had a fleet of strong and powerful ships that were capable of reaching Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of Tarshish would come, bearing gold, silver, ivory, and monkeys and peacocks.

King Solomon became greater than all the kings of the earth in wealth and in wisdom.

Due to his commerce with far-flung lands, all the world sought the presence of Solomon, to hear his wisdom that God had placed in his heart.

Each of his many visitors would bring his tribute: silver vessels, gold vessels, garments, weapons, spices, horses, and mules, each year’s due in its year. Thus Solomon amassed great treasures.

Solomon accumulated chariots and horsemen; he had one thousand four hundred chariots and twelve thousand horsemen, and he directed them into the chariot cities. He transferred some of his horsemen and chariots to those cities for organizational purposes and to thwart possible robbers and plunderers, and some of them remained with the king in Jerusalem.

The king caused silver to be in Jerusalem like stones. There was so much silver that it was as common as stones. And cedars he caused to be as abundant as sycamores that are in the lowland. The cedars that were brought to Jerusalem were as numerous as sycamore trees in the lowlands, where they are quite widespread.

The origin of the horses of Solomon was from Egypt. Collection was by the king’s merchants, who would buy a collection at a price. In other words, in Egypt there was a collection of horses by Solomon’s merchants, as Solomon had obtained the right to sell the horses, and purchasers would acquire them at a price from him.

A chariot would cost and be exported from Egypt for six hundred silver and a horse for one hundred and fifty; so it was for all the kings of the Hitites, they were sold to them at this price, and for the kings of Aram. Since they all required chariots and horses for their armies, they would bear the expense by their means. They all acquired them from Solomon, as he was the supplier. Solomon bought the horses in Egypt, cultivated them, and sold them to the more northern kingdoms.

King Solomon loved many foreign women, and the daughter of Pharaoh, who enjoyed a higher status than Solomon’s other foreign wives. He loved Moavites, Amonites, Edomites, Sidonians, and Hitites

from the nations about whom the Lord had said to the children of Israel: Do not consort with them, and they shall not consort with you, as if you do so, they will sway your heart after their gods; Solomon clung to them for love.

He had seven hundred full-fledged noble wives and three hundred concubines, who had a lower legal status than the wives; and his wives swayed his heart.

It was at the time of Solomon’s old age, after many years of marriage, that his wives swayed his heart after other gods, and although Solomon himself did not actually engage in idolatry, nevertheless his heart was not whole with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

Solomon followed Ashtoret, goddess of the Sidonians, and the god Milkom, detestation of the Amonites.

Solomon did evil in the eyes of the Lord and did not fully follow the Lord as David his father had.

Then Solomon built a shrine for Kemosh, the detestation of Moav, on the mountain that faces Jerusalem, in the area of the Mount of Olives, and for Molekh, the detestation of the children of Amon.

So he did for all his foreign wives, who burned incense and slaughtered to their gods. The king’s pampered wives had no responsibilities and they busied themselves with their former customs. Solomon sinned by turning a blind eye to their actions.

The Lord was incensed with Solomon, because his heart had swayed from the Lord, God of Israel, who had appeared to him twice, once in a dream after his coronation, and a second time after the dedication of the Temple,

and had commanded him about this matter, that he not follow other gods, but he did not keep that which the Lord had commanded. Solomon’s wisdom, greatness, and especially the direct prophecy he had experienced, should have prevented him from tolerating such conduct.

The Lord said directly to Solomon, or through a prophet: Since it has been like this with you, and you did not keep My covenant and My statutes that I commanded you, I will rend the kingship from you, and I will give it to your servant.

However, in your days I will not do it, for the sake of David your father; in his merit you will retain the kingship, but from the hand of your son will I rend it.

However, I will not rend away the entire kingdom; I will give one tribe to your son, for the sake of David My servant, and for the sake of Jerusalem that I have chosen. The divine selection of the Davidic line remains in force, but due to Solomon’s sins the dynasty will no longer rule over the majority of the kingdom.

The Lord established an adversary to Solomon; he was Hadad the Edomite, from the descendants of the king of Edom.

The events developed as follows: It was when David was in Edom, when Yoav, commander of the army, went up to bury the corpses from the war, that he smote every male in Edom;

for Yoav and all Israel had stayed there six months, until he eliminated every male in Edom.

Hadad fled, he and some Edomite men from his father’s servants with him, and they helped him to come to Egypt; Hadad was a young lad.

They rose from Midyan, and came to Paran. They headed southward through the Sinai desert, part of which belonged to Edom while other areas were inhabited by nomadic Midyanite tribes, until the northern border of Moav. And they took men, other refugees, with them from Paran, and came to Egypt, to Pharaoh king of Egypt. He gave him a house, assigned someone to provide food for him from government coffers, and he gave him land. Thus, Hadad was transformed from a refugee to a landowner.

Hadad found great favor in the eyes of Pharaoh, and he gave him as a wife the sister of his wife, the sister of Tahpenes the queen.

The sister of Tahpenes bore him Genuvat his son. Tahpenes weaned and raised him in Pharaoh’s house; and Genuvat was in Pharaoh’s house among the sons of Pharaoh, as he was the queen’s nephew. If this was the same Pharaoh who gave his daughter as a wife to Solomon, the special favors he granted Hadad, Solomon’s enemy, presumably also stemmed from political considerations: Maintaining a balance of power between the crown prince of Edom and the king of Israel.

Hadad heard in Egypt that David had died and lain with his fathers, and that Yoav commander of the army had died. Hadad said to Pharaoh: Send me, and I will go to my land.

Pharaoh said to him: But what are you lacking here with me, where you are granted the best possible conditions, that you seek to go to your land, which is less productive, less impressive, and less culturally developed than Egypt? He, Hadad, said: Nevertheless, send me. Evidently, Pharaoh acquiesced and permitted Hadad to return to Edom. Hadad sought to solidify his position as the future king of Edom, and although he did not yet pose a threat to Solomon, he began to establish power in his land. Edom was still subservient to Solomon, but the king of Israel did not impose his rule there with an iron fist and did not attach much significance to Hadad’s return to his land.

God established an adversary for him, Solomon: A man named Rezon son of Elyada, who fled from Hadadezer king of Tzova, his master, the king of Aram whom David defeated. Perhaps Rezon had served as an officer under Hadadezer when he fought against David.

He gathered men to him, and he became commander of a troop when David killed them, Hadadezer and his men; they, Rezon and his troop, went to Damascus, also a city in Aram, and resided there, and reigned in Damascus.

He was an adversary to Israel all the days of Solomon, along with the trouble of Hadad; he loathed and rebelled against Israel, and he reigned over Aram. Rezon ruled from within Solomon’s empire, as Solomon had built Tadmor, which is northeast of Damascus, and yet Solomon did not respond. Rezon was not a powerful king who posed a significant threat to Solomon, but he was another figure who caused trouble for Israel. Solomon did not send his armies to expel Rezon from Damascus or Hadad from Edom. His soldiers were tasked primarily with maintaining security. Benaya son of Yehoyada, Solomon’s general and a holdover from the time of David, was a great warrior, but during Solomon’s reign he apparently did not command any significant campaigns.

Yet another adversary arose against Solomon, and this one would eventually become the most severe: Yorovam son of Nevat was an Ephraimite from the small town of Tzereda, a servant of Solomon, and his mother’s name was Tzerua, a widow; he raised his hand against the king. Yorovam, an orphan, initially came to serve King Solomon, but at some point he defied the king and even rebelled against the throne.

This was the matter for which he raised his hand against the king: Solomon built the Milo, in order to encircle the City of David and the upper city, which included the Temple, within one wall; and in so doing, he closed the breach between the two sections of Jerusalem in the city of David his father. Before the construction of the Milo it was possible to enter Jerusalem from any direction and its wall primarily served an aesthetic purpose. Perhaps Yorovam argued that Jerusalem, as a holy place, should not be turned into a fortified city.

The man Yorovam was a mighty warrior, meaning that he was successful and talented; and Solomon saw with regard to the lad that he was a capable worker. Recognizing the youth’s skill and potential, Solomon decided to help cultivate his talent, and he appointed him over all the duty, the collection of all debts and taxes of the house of Joseph, as Yorovam was from the tribe of Ephraim. Solomon’s appointment of Yorovam endowed him with a dignified status.

It was at that time that Yorovam went out of Jerusalem for some unspecified reason, and the prophet Ahiya the Shilonite found him on the way. He, Yorovam or Ahiya, was clothed in a new garment [salma], and the two of them were alone in the field. A salma is a long, wide garment.

Ahiya grabbed the new garment that was on him, and he rent it into twelve pieces.

He said to Yorovam: Take ten pieces for yourself from this garment; for so said the Lord, God of Israel: Behold, I will rend the kingdom from the hand of Solomon, and I will give rule over ten of the tribes to you.

But the one tribe of Judah will be for him, Solomon, for the sake of My servant David, and for the sake of Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen from all the tribes of Israel.

It is because they have forsaken Me, and have prostrated themselves to Ashtoret goddess of the Sidonians, to Kemosh god of Moav, and to Milkom god of the children of Amon; they did not follow My ways, to do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My ordinances, as David his father had.

I will not take the entire kingdom from his hand, despite his sins; for instead I will set him as a prince, that is, I will preserve Solomon’s current status, all the days of his life, for the sake of David My servant, whom I chose, who kept My commandments and My statutes.

I will take the majority of the kingdom from the hand of his son, and I will give it to you, the ten tribes.

But to his son I will give one tribe, so that it will be a kingdom for David My servant all the days before Me in Jerusalem, the city that I have chosen for Me to place My name there.

You I will take, and you will reign over everything that your heart will desire, and you will be king over Israel.

It shall be that if you heed everything that I command you, and follow My ways, and do that which is right in My eyes, to keep My statutes and My commandments, as did David My servant, I will be with you, and I will build you a lasting house, a dynasty, as I built for David, and I will give Israel to you.

I will afflict the descendants of David for this, because of Solomon’s actions, but their suffering will not last for all the days, as eventually they will be restored to their previous exalted state.

Yorovam understood this prophecy of Ahiya the Shilonite as a promise for the future and did not attempt to organize an overt rebellion against Solomon. However, he did instigate trouble for the king and Solomon sought to put Yorovam to death, but Yorovam rose and he too fled to Egypt, to Shishak king of Egypt; he was in Egypt until the death of Solomon. Apparently, Shishak was not from the Egyptian royal house. Perhaps he was from the Nubian dynasty that ruled Egypt. It was easier for Yorovam to find refuge with a king who did not have any marital ties to Solomon.

The rest of the matters concerning Solomon, and everything that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of Solomon?

The days that Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel were forty years.

Solomon lay with his fathers, he died in peace, and he was buried in the city of David his father. Rehavam, his son, reigned in his place.

Rehavam went to Shekhem, for all Israel had come to Shekhem to crown him. Although the Temple was in Jerusalem, the people did not yet consider Jerusalem their capital city. Perhaps Shekhem was deemed a more appropriate location for the new king’s coronation over the entire nation, due to its central location. Alternatively, the people deliberately arranged for the coronation to take place in Shekhem in order to strengthen Yorovam and undermine Rehavam’s authority.

It was when Yorovam son of Nevat heard about Solomon’s death and the coronation of Rehavam, and he was still in Egypt, where he had fled due to King Solomon, and Yorovam had settled in Egypt, in a kind of political exile,

that they sent and summoned him following King Solomon’s death. The tribes of Israel were familiar with Yorovam, and apparently thought that as he had been bold enough to criticize Solomon during the king’s own lifetime, he was the right person to present their demands to his son, Rehavam. Yorovam and representatives of the entire congregation of Israel came, and they spoke to Rehavam, seeking a serious conversation about the political system, saying:

Your father made our yoke difficult through his extensive taxation. Although Solomon received large amounts of gold and silver from external sources, he also levied hefty taxes in order to fund the high costs of his government and his palaces. As for you, lighten now the difficult labor of your father, and his heavy yoke that he placed upon us, and we will serve you. We agree to accept your rule, but we ask you to lighten our tax burden.

He said to them: Go for three more days, to give me time to consider the matter, and return to me. The people went.

King Rehavam consulted with the elders, who had stood and served as government advisors before Solomon his father while he was alive, saying: How do you counsel to respond to this people?

They spoke to him, saying: If today you are a servant to this people, serve them by accepting their request, respond to them, and speak kind words to them, they will be your servants always. Rehavam would have fewer expenses than Solomon, as he was not engaged in any grand building projects. Therefore, the experienced advisors counseled him to agree to the people’s request. Perhaps they recognized the people’s bitterness and realized that the new king had not yet firmly established his authority. They therefore advised him to accept the people’s appeal at this time.

He, Rehavam, abandoned the counsel of the elders who counseled him. These elders did not have their own independent ministries, but were secretaries to the king and dependent upon him, and therefore he could simply ignore their advice. And instead, he, Rehavam, consulted the youths who had grown up with him, who were standing now before him, and around whom he intended to construct his government.

He said to them: What do you counsel that we may respond to this people, who spoke to me, saying: Ease the yoke that your father placed upon us?

The youths who grew up with him spoke to him, saying: So you shall say to this people who spoke to you, saying: Your father made our yoke heavy; you, ease it for us; so shall you speak to them: My little finger is thicker than my father’s waist. Do you think that I will be a minor king, the son of a great king? On the contrary, if my father was great, I will be even more powerful.

Now, my father burdened you with a heavy yoke; I will add to your yoke. My father chastised you with whips, but I will chastise you with barbed lashes, whips with spikes at the end, that cause tremendous pain. Rehavam had grown up as a prince, fully confident in his entitled status. His young advisors also assumed that the monarchy would not be taken from their friend and patron under any circumstances. Consequently, they counseled him not to give a gentle response and not to accept the people’s request even partially, but rather to confront Yorovam and the entire nation with the full authority of the new king.

Yorovam and all the people came to Rehavam on the third day, as the king had spoken, saying: Return to me on the third day.

The king answered the people harshly, and he abandoned the counsel of the elders who had counseled him.

He spoke to them in accordance with the counsel of the youths, saying: My father made your yoke heavy, and I will add to your yoke; my father chastised you with whips, and I will chastise you with barbed lashes.

The king did not heed the people. Perhaps Rehavam acted in this manner due to personal psychological factors; as the son of the king, he considered himself above all the rest. Alternatively, he was simply not wise enough to come to a more sensible decision. However, the verse itself states a very different kind of reason, more characteristic of a book of Prophets: As it was a plan from the Lord, in order to fulfill His word that the Lord had spoken by means of Ahiya the Shilonite to Yorovam son of Nevat. These events unfolded in this manner in order to fulfill the decree pronounced by the prophet Ahiya (11:31–37).

All Israel saw that the king did not heed them, and the people responded to the king, saying: What share is there in David for us? There is no inheritance for us in the son of Yishai. We have no essential ties to the Davidic dynasty. Disperse to your tents, Israel, a slogan that had previously been used by those who opposed King David. Now, see to your own house, David; rule over your own family alone. If you will not take our requests into account, we will separate from you and consider ourselves no longer bound to your regime. Israel went to their tents.

But as for the children of Israel who resided in the cities of Judah, Rehavam reigned over them, as they accepted his authority.

King Rehavam sent Adoram, who was appointed over the levy back in the days of David, and therefore he must have been an elderly and distinguished man. And despite this, all Israel stoned him with stones, and he died. Presumably, the officer of the levy was not a popular figure, and therefore the decision to send him to enforce order was unwise. King Rehavam, seeing the mass rioting, hastened to mount his chariot to flee to Jerusalem. It is possible that the stones were aimed only at the individual whose demands directly provoked the people at that moment, rather than at Rehavam himself, as they might have retained some respect for the king or his father.

Thus, Israel rebelled against the house of David, to this day. The stoning of Adoram was a kind of uprising and a declaration of war on the part of Israel against the house of David. Since they had lived under a monarchy for decades, they realized that they could not return to the anarchy of the times of the judges. Rather, they wished to establish an alternative kingdom.

It was when all Israel heard that Yorovam had returned, and they sent and summoned him to the congregation; they crowned him king over all Israel, as he had been the head of the opposition to the Davidic dynasty even during Solomon’s lifetime. There were none who followed the house of David, except the tribe of Judah alone, and possibly the tribe of Benjamin as well.

Rehavam, who considered the secession solely in terms of a rebellion against his reign, came to Jerusalem, and he assembled the entire house of Judah and the tribe of Benjamin, which was located nearby and was friendly with Judah. One hundred and eighty thousand choice warriors gathered to wage war against the house of Israel, to forcefully restore the kingdom to Rehavam son of Solomon, and impose his rule over the entire nation. Rehavam had an entire army at his behest, whereas the rest of Israel had not yet had a chance to organize themselves.

The word of God was with Shemaya, the man of God, saying. Shemaya was a new prophet who revealed himself at this stage, when there arose a need for his message:

Say to Rehavam son of Solomon, king of Judah, and to the entire house of Judah and Benjamin, and to the rest of the people, saying:

So said the Lord: You shall not go up, and you shall not wage war against your brethren the children of Israel; each man return to his house, as this matter is from Me. A prophet had the right to veto any governmental decision, including the decision to wage war. They heeded the word of the Lord, and they refrained from going, in accordance with the word of the Lord. Little is known of Rehavam’s nature, but even if he was not as righteous as his grandfather David, he had no doubt that he must obey the prophet in this regard.

Yorovam built up Shekhem, the prominent city where his coronation had been held, in the highlands of Ephraim, and he dwelled in it. He later left there, and built Penuel, in the territory of Gad on the eastern side of the Jordan River. Perhaps Yorovam left Shekhem due to the complex associations it aroused in the minds of the people, or maybe he was disturbed by the ancient history of the city involving the Canaanites who lived there in the time of Jacob. Alternatively, he left Shekhem precisely because it was located in the territory of his native tribe, Ephraim, as he wanted to be perceived as reaching out to the rest of the nation.

Yorovam said in his heart: Although many people joined my protest and anointed me as their king, and I have built several cities, I am concerned that now the kingdom will return to the house of David.

If this people goes up to perform offerings in the House of the Lord in Jerusalem, the heart of this people will return to their lord, to Rehavam king of Judah, as Jerusalem remains his capital; and they will kill me and return to Rehavam king of Judah.

The king consulted, and he fashioned two golden calves. He said to them, the people of Israel: Going up to Jerusalem is superfluous for you. Behold, these are representations of your gods, Israel, which took you up from the land of Egypt.

He placed one in Beit El, an ancient place of worship, and placed the other in the north, in the territory of Dan. The two calves were thus located at the two ends of his kingdom.

This matter became a sin; the people went before one of them as far as Dan, at the edge of the land. The people became attached to the worship of these calves.

He, Yorovam, made a shrine, with altars, and he appointed priests from the range of the people, who were not of the sons of Levi. In Solomon’s Temple, the service was performed by priests from the tribe of Levi, as commanded by the Torah. However, even non-priests were permitted to perform the sacrificial service in the shrines before the construction of the Temple. Consequently, Samuel and Saul, who were not priests, were permitted to offer sacrifices. Thus, Yorovam considered David and Solomon innovators, whereas he remained loyal to the older practice. In his mind, the rituals of his calves closely resembled the ancient Israelite customs. The division of the sacrificial service into two separate sites and the performance of the services by priests from all sectors of the nation were very similar to commonplace practices from a short time previously.

In order to accentuate the difference between the kingdoms of Israel and Judah, Yorovam made a festival in the eighth month, on the fifteenth day of the month, like the festival that is in Judah. The festival of Sukkot was celebrated in Judah on the fifteenth day of the seventh month, Tishrei. Yorovam delayed it until the eighth month, Heshvan. Since it is unusual for there to be strong rains in this early winter month, it was still possible to organize a public celebration. And he, Yorovam himself, went up onto the altar. So he did in Beit El, to sacrifice to the calves that he had fashioned; he installed in Beit El the priests of the shrines that he had appointed. Yorovam preferred to celebrate this new festival in Beit El, both because it had been considered a sacred place for generations and because it was more centrally located than the northern region of Dan, which meant that it was more accessible to the majority of the people. Thus, the primary calf was the one in Beit El, while the one in Dan was used by the residents of the Galilee, so that they would not have to travel too far.

He ascended onto the altar that he had made in Beit El on the fifteenth day in the eighth month, in the month that he fabricated from his own heart. The festival of Sukkot in the seventh month had been established at Mount Sinai, whereas the festival of the eighth month was fabricated by Yorovam. And he made a festival for the children of Israel, and he went up onto the altar to burn offerings. Since his priests were not from the tribe of Levi, Yorovam, who was from the tribe of Ephraim, could also perform the priestly duties.

Behold, a man of God, a prophet, the prophet Ido according to one opinion, came from Judah to Beit El by the word of the Lord, and Yorovam was standing on the altar to burn offerings, as he had declared that anyone could serve as priest on his altar (12:31).

He, the prophet, called against the altar by the word of the Lord, and said: Altar, altar, so said the Lord: Behold, a son will be born, in the distant future, to the house of David, Yoshiyahu his name; he will slaughter upon you, altar, the priests of the shrines who burn offerings upon you, and they will burn upon you human bones. Thus you, the altar, will be utterly defiled.

He, the prophet, provided a portent, a sign that his prophecy would be fulfilled, on that day, saying: This is the portent that the Lord has spoken: Behold, the altar will split, and the ashes that are upon it will be spilled.

It was when the king heard the word of the man of God that he had called against the altar in Beit El that Yorovam extended his hand from upon the altar, saying, commanding his men: Seize him. His hand that he had extended toward him shriveled and was paralyzed, and he could not bring it back to himself. God took from him the ability to do anything to the prophet.

The altar indeed split and the ashes were spilled from the altar, in accordance with the portent that the man of God had provided at the word of the Lord.

The king spoke out and he said to the man of God: Implore the Lord your God, and pray for me that my paralyzed hand be restored to me, so that I will be able to move it once again. The man of God implored the Lord, and the king’s hand was restored, and it was as before. Yorovam regained the use of his hand.

The king said to the man of God: Come home with me, and dine; I will honor you with a meal, and I will also give you a gift. Notwithstanding the harsh content of the prophecy, and although the prophet had informed him that his actions were repulsive, and that they would eventually lead to destruction and disgrace, Yorovam treated the man of God with respect.

The man of God said to the king: Even if you give me half your house, I will not come with you; I will not eat bread and I will not drink water in this place.

For so was commanded to me by the word of the Lord in a prophecy, saying: You shall not eat bread, and not drink water, and not return by the way that you went.

He, the man of God, indeed went on a different way, and he did not return by the way that he came to Beit El.

There was a certain elderly prophet residing in Beit El, who was probably not one of the false prophets who were complete frauds but an individual blessed with divine inspiration, albeit not an actual prophet, and his son came and related to him the entire deed that the man of God had performed that day in Beit El, the words that he had spoken to the king; and when his other sons arrived they too told them to their father.

Their father said to them: Since the man of God said that he must return by another path, which way did he go? His sons saw the way that the man of God, who came from Judah, had gone, and they told their father.

He said to his sons: Saddle the donkey for me. They saddled the donkey for him and he rode on it.

He went after the man of God from Judah and found him sitting and resting beneath a terebinth. He said to him: Are you the man of God who came from Judah? He said: Indeed, I am he.

He said to him: Come with me to the house and eat bread.

He said: I am unable to return with you and to come with you, and I will not eat bread, and I will not drink water with you in this place.

For there was word to me by the word of the Lord: You shall not eat bread and you shall not drink water there, and you shall not return by the way that you came.

He said to him: I too am a prophet like you, and an angel spoke to me by the word of the Lord, saying: Bring him back with you to your house, and he will eat bread and drink water. The verse notes that he, that elderly man, lied to him, the prophet from Judah. No angel had spoken to him. He may have lied because he yearned for the company of a real man of God, or he may have been caught up in his desire to express his gratitude and affection.

In any case, the elderly man’s statement undermined the prophet’s certainty. Assuming that this message from the angel had been delivered after his own prophecy, he reasoned that it negated the earlier command he himself had received. He, the prophet, therefore returned with him, and he ate bread in his house and drank water.

It was as they sat at the table, enjoying a friendly meal, and the word of the Lord was with the prophet who brought him back. The elderly man from Beit El received a prophecy.

He, the elderly prophet, called to the man of God who came from Judah, saying: So said the Lord: Since you defied the Lord’s directive and did not keep the commandment that the Lord your God commanded you,

and you returned, and ate bread and drank water in the place about which He spoke to you: Do not eat bread and do not drink water, you will therefore die, and furthermore, your corpse will not come to the grave of your fathers.

It was after his eating bread and after his drinking, and at that point he, the older man, saddled the donkey for the prophet from Judah whom he had brought back. The elderly prophet still sought to act in a friendly manner.

He, the prophet from Judah, went, riding on the donkey, and a lion found him on the way, as lions lived in Israel during that period, and the beast killed him, and his corpse was cast on the way; the donkey was standing near it, the corpse, and the lion was also standing near the corpse. According to the natural order of things, if the lion had been hungry it would have eaten the donkey. In miraculous fashion, the lion killed the prophet without tearing his body apart and did not touch the donkey. While the corpse of the prophet lay strewn on the ground with the donkey alongside it, the lion stood by like a guard of honor.

Behold, people were passing, and they saw the corpse cast on the way and the lion standing near the corpse; they came and spoke of it in the city in which the elderly prophet lived. They reported this strange sight of a lion that had not torn apart the body and had left the donkey alone, while it remained standing alongside them.

The elderly prophet, who had brought him back from the way, heard and said: It is the man of God who defied the directive of the Lord, and the Lord has delivered him to the lion, and it mauled him and killed him in accordance with the word of the Lord that He spoke to him. You are unfamiliar with him, but I know the victim’s identity, as I myself prophesied to him that he would die.

He spoke to his sons, saying: Saddle the donkey for me. They saddled it.

He went and found his corpse cast on the way, and the donkey and the lion standing near the corpse; the lion had not eaten the corpse, and it had not mauled the donkey.

When he saw that the lion was standing still, the old man dared to approach the spot. The prophet picked up the corpse of the man of God, placed it upon the donkey that had carried the prophet from Judah before his death, and brought it back; he came to the city of the elderly prophet, to lament and to bury him.

He laid his corpse in his grave, which he had prepared for himself for when his time would come, and they lamented him: Alas, my brother.

It was after he buried him, and he said to his sons, stating: Upon my death, bury me in the grave in which the man of God is buried; place my bones next to his bones.

For the matter that he called by the word of the Lord about the altar in Beit El, and about all the shrines that are in the cities of Samaria, will come to pass. His prophecy will indeed materialize. The elderly prophet was certain that the man of God from Judah had been a true prophet, and he considered it an honor to be buried alongside him.

After this matter, Yorovam did not repent from his evil way, despite the prophecy he had heard, the miracle that the prophet had performed in the king’s presence, and the miraculous manner of that prophet’s demise, and he again appointed to serve as priests of the shrines from the range of the people, regardless of their credentials. Anyone who so desired, he would ordain him, and he would be one of the priests of the shrines. Anyone who wished to be a priest at one of the shrines was accepted for the job.

This matter, the illegitimate service of God in the shrines and by means of those sham priests, became the sin of the house of Yorovam. Due to this fundamental transgression, God decided to punish the house of Yorovam, to eradicate and to destroy it from upon the face of the earth. Although the priests of the shrines and those who brought offerings there did not actually worship idols, but chose to sacrifice their offerings to God there for political reasons, nevertheless they violated God’s will and thereby performed a severe transgression.

At that time, Aviya son of Yorovam, probably his firstborn, fell ill.

Yorovam said to his wife: Please rise, and disguise yourself and they will not know that you are the wife of Yorovam. Go to Shilo; behold, Ahiya the prophet, a great, true prophet, is there; he spoke concerning me to be king over this people. We can turn to him, not only because he recognizes my greatness, as his prophecy about me came to pass, but also due to an innate connection between us and because I have a sense of gratitude toward him. However, Yorovam may have been concerned that if she initially presented herself as his wife, Ahiya might be unwilling to receive her, as he knew that the prophet was unhappy with his political decisions and his religious innovations, so he told her to disguise herself. Alternatively, Yorovam instructed her to disguise herself so that people on the way should not ask her where she was going, as they would realize that the king was seeking the help of a prophet whose commands he did not follow.

Take in your hand ten loaves of bread, crackers, dry, seasoned bread, and a bottle of honey, and come to him. He will tell you what will be with the lad.

Yorovam’s wife did so, and she rose, went to Shilo, and came to the house of Ahiya. By that time, Ahiyahu was unable to see, for his eyes had dimmed due to his old age.

Earlier the Lord had said to Ahiyahu, before her arrival: Behold, the wife of Yorovam is coming to seek word from you concerning her son, as he is ill, and such and such you shall say to her. It will be that when she comes, she will be dissembling, in disguise.

It was when Ahiyahu heard the sound of her feet coming into the entrance, as his hearing was unimpaired, and he said: Enter, wife of Yorovam; why are you dissembling? I know who you are, and I am sent to you harshly. I have tough statements to say to you on the matter of your concern.

Go, say to Yorovam: So said the Lord, God of Israel: For I elevated you from among the people, and set you as ruler, appointed you king, over My people Israel,

and I rent the kingdom from the house of David and gave it to you; yet you were not like My servant David, who kept My commandments, and who followed Me with all his heart, to do only what is right in My eyes.

You have acted evilly beyond all who were before you, and you have gone and made for yourself other gods and cast images to anger Me. Ahiya did not find it necessary to define precisely the nature of the calves in Beit El and Dan; rather, he simply presented them as forms of idolatry. And Me, you cast behind your back.

Therefore, behold, I am bringing harm upon the house of Yorovam, and I will excise from Yorovam any who urinate against the wall, the protected and the supported in Israel, and I will eradicate the house of Yorovam like one eradicates dung, until its end, just as excrement is entirely cleaned away. This is a highly derogatory comparison.

The dead of Yorovam in the city the dogs will eat, and the dead in the field the birds of the heavens will eat, for the Lord has spoken.

You, get up and go to your house; and know that when your feet enter the city, the child will die.

All Israel will lament him and bury him; for only he of Yorovam will come to a grave. He is the only member of the family of Yorovam who will rest in peace and be buried with honor, because something good was found in him, in his behavior toward the Lord, God of Israel, in the house of Yorovam.

The Lord will establish for Himself a king over Israel who will eliminate the house of Yorovam starting from this day, and even now. The troubles that will be visited upon you now will be the start of your downfall.

The Lord will smite Israel with one blow after another, until the nation will tremble as a reed sways by the wind in the water, barely attached to the ground; He will uproot Israel from this good land, which He gave to their fathers, and scatter them beyond the Euphrates River, because they made their sacred trees, thereby angering the Lord.

He will give up all Israel to their enemies who will exile them because of the sins of Yorovam that he sinned and that he caused Israel to sin.

Yorovam’s wife got up and went, and she came to the city of Tirtza, which Yorovam chose for the capital of his kingdom, or simply as his place of residence; she entered the threshold of the house, and the lad died, as Ahiya had predicted.

All Israel buried him, and lamented him in accordance with the word of the Lord that He spoke by means of His servant Ahiyahu the prophet.

The rest of the matters concerning Yorovam, that he fought and that he reigned, the battles conducted in his days, the city he established, and his other acts, behold they are written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel.

The days that Yorovam reigned over Israel were twenty-two years, and he lay with his fathers, after dying a natural death, and Nadav his son reigned in his place.

Rehavam son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Rehavam was forty-one years old when he became king. Rehavam was possibly King Solomon’s oldest son. According to the dates given in the verses, he was born before Solomon became king, as Solomon’s reign lasted forty years (see 11:42). And he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city that the Lord had chosen from all the tribes of Israel to place His name there; his mother’s name was Naama the Amonite.

Judah did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and they angered Him beyond everything that their fathers did with their sins that they sinned. The transgressions of Judah during Rehavam’s days were worse than the sins of their fathers.

They also built for themselves shrines, monuments, and sacred trees on every high hill and under every flourishing tree. Since the Temple was in their midst, they did not commit these sins for political reasons, as was the case in the Kingdom of Israel, but due to cultural influences.

There were also cult prostitutes in the land, male prostitutes who participated in the cult of the Ashera, and their deeds were therefore considered a double abomination. They behaved like all the abominations of the nations that the Lord had dispossessed from before the children of Israel. The people of Judah regressed to the deeds of the Canaanites. The weakening of the people’s loyalty to God had already begun in the days of Solomon, who was himself an indirect cause of these sins (see 11:1–11). Rehavam, his father’s inferior in both talent and deeds, was unable to thwart the decline of the people of Judah, who adopted Canaanite rites.

The internal decline was also accompanied by troubles from without: It was in the fifth year of King Rehavam that Shishak king of Egypt went up against Jerusalem. As the head of a regional power, Shishak was powerful enough to subjugate Jerusalem.

He took the treasures of the House of the Lord and the treasures of the house of the king, which still remained from the time of David and which had further accumulated during Solomon’s reign; he took it all. He took all the golden bucklers that Solomon had made. Solomon possessed so much gold that he had even coated the shields of his guards with gold. Aware of the treasures in Jerusalem, Shishak assumed that Rehavam would be unable to resist him and embarked on a campaign of plunder against Jerusalem.

King Rehavam made bronze bucklers in their place, as he could no longer permit himself to fashion golden shields, and he entrusted them into the hands of the commanders of the Runners, who guarded the entrance of the king’s house. Even these bronze shields were considered too expensive to be given to the guards themselves to take wherever they went. Instead, they were deposited with the guards of the palace.

It was with each entrance of the king into the House of the Lord that the Runners, his guard of honor, would bear them, and when the king returned, they would return them to the chamber of the Runners. This ceremony introduced by Rehavam merely highlighted the miserable state of his kingdom, as it inevitably brought to mind the large-scale looting of the golden shields and the loss of the kingdom’s treasures.

The rest of the matters concerning Rehavam, and everything that he did as king, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah?

There was war between Rehavam and Yorovam always. They did not engage in actual warfare, as the prophet had prevented Rehavam from sending an army against the Kingdom of Israel when Yorovam and the tribes and Israel were not yet organized. However, there were mutual raids and reprisals along the common border, and incessant violent confrontations.

Rehavam lay with his fathers and was buried with his fathers, in the royal tomb of David and Solomon, in the City of David; his mother’s name was Naama the Amonite. Aviyam his son reigned in his place.

In the eighteenth year of King Yorovam son of Nevat, Aviyam son of Rehavam reigned over Judah in his father’s place.

He reigned three years in Jerusalem, and his mother’s name was Maakha daughter of Avishalom. She was possibly the daughter, or granddaughter, of David’s son Avshalom. Perhaps this is the same daughter of Avshalom who is mentioned in II Samuel 14:27.

He followed all the sins of his father who had performed them before him. Rehavam did not initiate evil deeds, but he also did not contest the rites performed at the private altars, neither the unlawful forms of service of God nor the actual idol worship. His, Aviyam’s, heart was not whole with the Lord his God, as the heart of David his father had been.

For it was for the sake of David that the Lord his God gave him a continuity of rule in Jerusalem, to establish his son after him and to uphold Jerusalem as the holy capital city,

because David had done that which is right in the eyes of the Lord, and he had not turned away from all that He had commanded him all the days of his life, except for the matter of Uriya the Hitite. Although David committed one grave sin, the rest of his life and deeds were in accordance with God’s will. This verse is emphasizing that the strength of the kings of Judah stemmed from their devotion to the will of God, and that they were punished for abandoning His path, as God had conveyed to David and Solomon (see 9:2–9).

There was war between Rehavam and Yorovam all the days of his, Rehavam’s, life.

The rest of the matters concerning Aviyam, and everything that he did as king in Jerusalem, are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? There was also war, recurring raids and border attacks, between Aviyam and Yorovam.

Aviyam lay with his fathers, and they buried him in the City of David, alongside his royal ancestors. Asa his son reigned in his place.

In the twentieth year of Yorovam king of Israel, Asa king of Judah became king. Although it is stated above that Aviyam’s rule began in the eighteenth year of Yorovam’s reign and lasted for three years, these were not full years, which is why the verse states that Asa became king in Yorovam’s twentieth year.

He reigned forty-one years in Jerusalem, and his father’s mother’s name was Maakha daughter of Avishalom (see verse 2). Asa was young when he ascended to the throne, as his father had been king for only a short period of time. Therefore, the queen mother during Asa’s rule was his grandmother. The verse below (15:13) likewise indicates that she had special status.

Asa did what was right in the eyes of the Lord, like David his father.

Accordingly, he removed the cult prostitutes, men who performed sodomy as part of ritualistic idol worship, from the land, and he removed all the idols [gillulim] that his fathers had made or allowed to be made. Gillulim, literally “excrement,” is a derogatory term for idols.

He, Asa, also deposed Maakha his mother from being queen mother. It is evident from elsewhere in the Bible as well that the king’s mother had a unique status. Certainly, then, the king’s grandmother was a distinguished figure. Nevertheless, Asa removed Maakha from her royal position due to her wicked deeds, as she had made a monstrosity, a horrific idol, to a sacred tree [ashera]. Asa chopped down her monstrosity, which was apparently made of wood, and burned it in the Kidron Valley.

But the shrines were not removed; nevertheless, Asa’s heart was whole with the Lord all his days.

He brought the consecrated items of his father and his own consecrated items to the House of the Lord, including silver, gold, and vessels. This valuable collection consisted not merely of items dedicated for the Temple service but also the reserve of the royal treasury itself, which was stored in the Temple.

The chapter interrupts its account of the consecrated valuables to provide background information: There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel, who had in the meantime established a new dynasty in the Kingdom of Israel, all their days. This was not a personal war but a continuation of the persistent tension and friction between the two kingdoms.

At one point, when tensions were high, Baasha king of Israel went up against Judah. He advanced his troops but did not yet attack. And he, Baasha, built the Rama, the city where Samuel the prophet had lived, which was currently on the southern border of the Kingdom of Israel, and he constructed a well-fortified fortress there, so as not to allow going and coming for Asa king of Judah. He blocked the main roads that linked Judah with Israel to prevent Asa from launching any significant military operation in the future. In general, the kings of Israel did not attempt to overthrow the kings of Judah, and even Baasha probably did not intend to launch a direct military attack, but Asa found himself in a tactically inferior situation and decided to act.

Since Asa and his army were not powerful enough to confront Baasha, he adopted a solution that was used by several later kings as well: Asa took all the remaining silver and the gold in the treasuries of the House of the Lord and the treasuries of the king’s house, and he gave them into the hand of his servants. King Asa sent them to Ben Hadad, son of Tavrimon, son of Hezyon, king of Aram, who lived in Damascus, saying:

There is a covenant between me and you, between my father and your father. We have enjoyed a positive relationship for years. Although we do not have an official accord, there have been no conflicts between us, since we do not share a common border. Therefore, behold, I have sent to you an inducement of silver and gold; go, breach your covenant with Baasha king of Israel, in favor of a covenant with me, for which I will reward you. Protect my interests over those of the king of Israel, and he will withdraw from upon me. I cannot do anything against him myself, but you can attack him from the north and thereby stop him from harassing me.

Ben Hadad heeded King Asa. He accepted Asa’s offer. Apparently, Ben Hadad was not eager to remain loyal to the Kingdom of Israel, and once he received a monetary incentive and a promise of cooperation from the south, he sent the commanders of his soldiers, together with military units, against the cities of Israel, and he smote Iyon, Dan, Avel Beit Maakha, and all Kinerot, with all the land of Naphtali. He invaded the Kingdom of Israel, raided cities near its northern border, and took captives and plunder. The phrase “all Kinerot,” the plural form of Kineret, refers to the entire area of the city of Kineret. Alternatively, Kinerot is the name of a group of cities on the coast of the Sea of Galilee, which is known as the Kinneret.

It was when Baasha heard of the invasion from the north that he ceased building the Rama. As expected, he halted his military campaign against the Kingdom of Judah and focused on stabilizing his borders instead of taking belligerent action. And he stayed in Tirtza, a city renowned for its beauty, built by Yorovam as the new capital of Israel.

King Asa mustered all the men of Judah, and no one was exempt, even those who were usually not drafted to the military; and they carried away the stones of the fortress in the Rama and its wood that Baasha had built. Asa ordered his men to dismantle the structure and remove all the building materials from the area, in order to eliminate the potential threat. King Asa built with them, with those same stones and timber, his border cities of Geva of Benjamin and the Mitzpa.

The book provides only a general outline of Asa’s reign, as well as certain important particulars. The rest of all the matters concerning Asa, all his might, everything that he did, and the cities that he built, are they not written in detail in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Judah? The verse adds one further comment about Asa: However, in his old age he ailed in his feet. According to the book of Chronicles, rather than praying to God to remove his illness, Asa turned to doctors, whose treatment was apparently ineffective.

Asa lay with his fathers, and he was buried with his fathers in the city of David his father. Yehoshafat his son reigned in his place.

Nadav son of Yorovam became king over Israel in the second year of Asa king of Judah, as Asa’s reign began in the twentieth year of Yorovam’s rule (verse 9), and Yorovam ruled for twenty-two years (14:20). And he reigned over Israel for two years.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and he followed the way of his father and his sin that he had caused Israel to sin. The golden calves and foreign rituals continued throughout Nadav’s reign.

Baasha son of Ahiya of the house of Issachar conspired against him, and Baasha smote him at Gibeton, the city of the Philistines, as Nadav and all Israel were besieging Gibeton. Since the Philistines threatened his western border, Nadav lay siege to Gibeton in an effort to fortify the border. Only soldiers were present during the siege, and Baasha apparently managed to convince some of them to join his rebellious plot.

Baasha put him to death in the third year of Asa king of Judah and reigned in his place. Nadav’s reign did not last a full two years.

When he, Baasha, became king, he smote the entire house of Yorovam; he did not leave a soul of Yorovam until he had destroyed it, in accordance with the word of the Lord that He spoke by means of His servant, Ahiya the Shilonite. Baasha did not act in order to fulfill God’s word; rather, he wished to ensure that no member of Yorovam’s family could claim the throne in the future.

God decreed this upon the house of Yorovam for the sins of Yorovam that he sinned and that he caused Israel to sin, with his provocations with which he angered the Lord, God of Israel.

The rest of the matters concerning Nadav and everything that he did, are they not written in greater detail in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

There was war between Asa and Baasha king of Israel all their days.

Beginning in the third year of Asa king of Judah, Baasha son of Ahiya reigned over all Israel in Tirtza, and his reign lasted twenty-four years.

He did evil in the eyes of the Lord, and he followed the way of Yorovam and his sin that he had caused Israel to sin.

The word of the Lord was with Yehu son of Hanani, one of those prophets about whom nothing is known other than their name, concerning Baasha, saying:

Although I raised you from the dust, as you were previously a commoner, and placed you as ruler over My people Israel, you have nonetheless followed the way of Yorovam and caused My people Israel to sin, to anger Me with their sins.

Behold, I will eliminate Baasha and his house; I will render your house like the house of Yorovam son of Nevat. Your family will be exterminated, just as you did to Yorovam’s house.

Baasha’s dead in the city the dogs will eat, and his dead in the field, where there are no dogs, the predatory birds of the heavens will eat.

The rest of the matters concerning Baasha, and that which he did, and his might, as he was a man of war (see 15:17), are they not written in the book of the chronicles of the kings of Israel?

Baasha lay with his fathers, and he was buried in Tirtza; Ela his son reigned in his place.

Also by means of the prophet Yehu son of Hanani was the word of the Lord concerning Baasha, and concerning his house, because of all the evil that he performed in the eyes of the Lord, to anger Him with his handiwork, being that his house was like the house of Yorovam, and because he smote him, Yorovam’s son. Baasha had betrayed and murdered his king. This revolt would have been justified had he brought about a change in the style of leadership and the spiritual state of the people; however, as Baasha continued in Yorovam’s sinful ways, his betrayal of the kings and his murder of Yorovam’s son were deemed severe transgressions.