שלמה המלך

In a single dream at Gibeon God offered the young Solomon whatever he would ask, and he asked neither for riches nor long life but for 'a listening heart to judge Your people' (I Kings 3). For that request he was granted wisdom and everything else besides, teaching that one who asks for the right thing receives it all.

His wisdom became known at once in the judgment of the two women, when he revealed the true mother by her willingness to give up the child so long as it lived (I Kings 3). 'And all Israel saw that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice.' A king whose wisdom served righteousness.

He fulfilled the dream of his life when he built the First Temple in Jerusalem (I Kings 6), the House toward which every Jew has lifted his eyes ever since. Seven years he built it in splendor and holiness, and at its dedication he prayed that even a foreigner coming from a distant land would be heard in this place.

Solomon was the wisest of men, spoke three thousand parables, and his wisdom drew kings and queens, foremost the Queen of Sheba who came to test him (I Kings 10). Three of his books entered the Holy Scriptures: Proverbs (Proverbs 1), Song of Songs, and Ecclesiastes.

In Ecclesiastes, in his old age, he summed up the whole journey of life: 'vanity of vanities, all is vanity' (Ecclesiastes 1), down to the conclusion 'fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the whole of man.' Even one who has tasted everything returns to the essence.

Yet his greatness bore a fall too: in his old age his foreign wives multiplied and turned his heart (I Kings 11), and on his account the tearing of the kingdom was decreed in his son's days. His story teaches that even the wisest of men needs guarding, and that there is no wisdom without constant humility.