SOLOMON is a teen-ager when he becomes king. He loves Jehovah, and he follows the good advice that his father David gave him. Jehovah is pleased with Solomon, and so one night he says to him in a dream: ‘Solomon, what would you like me to give you?’

At this Solomon answers: ‘Jehovah my God, I am very young and I don’t know how to rule. So give me the wisdom to rule your people in a right way.’

Jehovah is pleased with what Solomon asks. So He says: ‘Because you have asked for wisdom and not for long life or riches, I will give you more wisdom than anyone who has ever lived. But I will also give you what you did not ask for, both riches and glory.’

A short time later two women come to Solomon with a hard problem. ‘This woman and I live in the same house,’ explains one of them. ‘I gave birth to a boy, and two days later she also gave birth to a baby boy. Then one night her baby died. But while I was asleep, she put her dead child next to me and took my baby. When I woke up and looked at the dead child, I saw that it was not mine.’

At this the other woman says: ‘No! The living child is mine, and the dead one is hers!’ The first woman answers: ‘No! The dead child is yours, and the living one is mine!’ This is the way the women argue. What will Solomon do?

He sends for a sword, and, when it is brought, he says: ‘Cut the living baby in two, and give each woman half of it.’

‘No!’ cries the real mother. ‘Please don’t kill the baby. Give it to her!’ But the other woman says: ‘Don’t give it to either of us; go on and cut it in two.’

Finally Solomon speaks: ‘Don’t kill the child! Give him to the first woman. She is the real mother.’ Solomon knows this because the real mother loves the baby so much that she is willing to give him to the other woman so he won’t be killed. When the people hear how Solomon solved the problem, they are glad to have such a wise king.

During the rule of Solomon, God blesses the people by making the soil grow plenty of wheat and barley, grapes and figs and other foods. The people wear fine clothes and live in good houses. There is more than enough of everything good for everybody.

BEFORE David died, he gave Solomon the plans from God for building Jehovah’s temple. In the fourth year of his rule, Solomon begins building the temple, and it takes seven and a half years to finish it. Tens of thousands of men work on the temple, and the building costs lots and lots of money. This is because so much gold and silver are used in it.

The temple has two main rooms, just as the tabernacle had. But these rooms are twice the size of those in the tabernacle. Solomon has the ark of the covenant put in the inside room of the temple, and the other things that were kept in the tabernacle are put in the other room.

When the temple is finished, there is a big celebration. Solomon kneels in front of the temple and prays, as you can see in the picture. ‘Not even all of heaven is large enough to hold you,’ Solomon says to Jehovah, ‘how much less, then, can this temple hold you. But, O my God, please listen to your people when they pray toward this place.’

When Solomon finishes his prayer, fire comes down from heaven. It burns up the animal sacrifices that have been made. And a bright light from Jehovah fills the temple. This shows that Jehovah is listening, and that he is pleased with the temple and Solomon’s prayer. The temple, rather than the tabernacle, now becomes the place where the people come to worship.

For a long time Solomon rules in a wise way, and the people are happy. But Solomon marries many women from other countries who do not worship Jehovah. Can you see one of them worshiping before the idol? Finally his wives get Solomon to worship other gods too. Do you know what happens when Solomon does this? He no longer treats the people kindly. He becomes cruel, and the people are not happy anymore.

This makes Jehovah angry with Solomon, and he tells him: ‘I will take the kingdom away from you and give it to another man. I will not do this in your lifetime, but during the rule of your son. But I won’t take all the people of the kingdom away from your son.’ Let’s see how this happens.