Although Solomon was not the eldest son of King David and Bathsheba, it was he who would inherit status as King of the Israelites. Under him, the kingdom accumulated enormous wealth and grew to fill the entire region to the west of the Euphrates River. The peace and prosperity that marked his reign directly contributed to the construction of the Holy Temple in Jerusalem.

King Solomon died of old age after serving 40 years as king, and he was buried in the City of David. The Kingdom, his son Rehoboam, would inherit, however, had already begun to disintegrate. According to biblical scripture, King Solomon broke the mandate of the Torah by, amongst other things, worshipping other gods — building shrines for the Moabite and Ammonite gods — and committing adultery. According to scripture, King Solomon had up to 700 wives and 300 concubines. Moreover, King Solomon sent many people into slavery, which he used to maintain his extravagant lifestyle.

According to Kings I, this alienated the God of Israel: “So the Lord became angry with Solomon because his heart had turned from the Lord God of Israel.” As punishment, God would “tear the kingdom away.”

Catalysed by heavy taxes levied by both kings, the people revolted against Solomon’s heir, King Rehoboam, causing the kingdom to split in 975 BCE. This resulted in the creation of two Hebrew states.

In the north was Israel, the capital was Samaria, and the King was Jeroboam. They comprised the ten tribes of Israel — Reuben, Simeon, Dan, Naphtali, Gad, Asher, Issachar, Zebulun, Manasseh, and Ephraim.

To the south was Judah, whose capital was Jerusalem, whose king was Rehoboam. They comprised the tribe of Benjamin and Judah. These kingdoms would remain separate for over two hundred years.