Who was Solomon in the Bible?

Son of David and Bathsheba. He reigned forty years over the united kingdom. David, when near his death, appointed Solomon his son — whom God had chosen to sit on the throne of the kingdom of Jehovah — to be his successor, and he began his reign by carrying out righteous judgment, as Christ will when He comes to reign, followed by a reign of peace.

Solomon was one who entered into another man's labours; he reaped where another had sown; he enjoyed by inheritance the honours and the name which David had gained in his trouble and service… For David the Lord called His servant, but Solomon He called His son, saying, "I will be to him a father, and he shall be to me a son."

In a dream one cannot disguise the true state of one's heart; a person is not controlled by reason or will to hold back what is really inside… Lastly, there is his awareness of his youth, his ignorance, his inability. "I am but a little child: I know not how to go out or come in." Such a state of soul promises abundant blessing.

Solomon's wisdom was not confined to certain lines, for he spoke of trees, from the greatest to the lowest, of animals, birds, creeping things and fish. The fame of his wisdom spread throughout the world, so that from all nations people came with the one object of hearing the wisdom of Solomon.

Three books of Scripture have come down to us from the pen of king Solomon — Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and the Song of Songs… The passionate language of the Song points to Solomon's early days, when his spiritual affections were alert towards God. Proverbs was probably written in the days of his maturity; and Ecclesiastes, with its language of chastened disappointment, was almost certainly Solomon's last work.

David was unable to build this house, for peace had to be established before the Lord could make His lasting dwelling among His people… God cannot dwell in rest where there is war. The first condition of His settled dwelling with His people in Canaan is that peace be made.

His name means "peaceable." David was the warrior king, the man who subdued all the enemies. When Solomon sent to Hiram he said, "there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent." Every hostile force had been subdued, and this man of peace, in his glory and supremacy and in divine wisdom, takes the kingdom and orders every part of it according to the will of God.

Solomon was disobedient, and "did evil in the sight of the LORD"… It is Solomon himself who in the first years of his reign pictured the peaceful glories of Messiah's rule and kingdom; in his later years he becomes the leader, the first link among the kings of Israel, of the abominations which in the end brought the long-threatened judgment of God on king and people.

Christ… now lives as greater than Solomon, the One to whom we may turn for all direction in life, the very wisdom of God for us, who can solve all our hard questions as Solomon solved the Queen of Sheba's, and who can so captivate our hearts by His personal greatness and glory that we desire nothing apart from Him.