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How RICH was King Solomon?
Exactly how rich was King Solomon?
How
much gold and silver did he possess?
Did
God make him wealthy, or did he have to earn it all himself?
What
are the four things that made him the wealthiest king IN THE WORLD during his
lifetime?
How
much gold, silver, and other valuable goods did he receive as GIFTS each year?
Many
people are aware that God gave Solomon, the son of King David, wisdom.
He
was given, however, far MORE than an understanding heart with which to judge
the children of Israel.
He
also was blessed to have and become increasingly incredibly rich!
Shortly
after Solomon became king the Eternal appeared to him in a dream and offered to
give him ANYTHING (1Kings 3:5), which included being rich as were most kings on the earth.
He requested, however, "an understanding heart" (verse 9) so that he
could fulfill his responsibilities as king over all of Israel.
God's
response to his selfless request was amazing and unique.
“12 I will do what
you (Solomon) have asked. I will give you more wisdom and understanding than
anyone has ever had before or will ever have again. 13 I will also give you what you have not asked for: all your
life you will have wealth (be rich!) and honor, more than that of any other
king.” (1 Kings
3:12 - 13)
God
not only promised to make Solomon the wisest man ever but also to make him
uniquely RICH.
There
are four primary ways King Solomon, in a fairly short period of time, became
the wealthiest king alive.
He
was made rich through commerce and trading, gifts he received, tribute money
paid to him and heavy taxation.
Commerce and Trading
"King Solomon also built a fleet of ships at Ezion
Geber . . . Then Hiram (King of Tyre) sent his servants with the fleet, seamen
who knew the sea, to work with the servants of Solomon. And they went to Ophir,
and acquired FOUR HUNDRED AND TWENTY TALENTS OF GOLD from there . . ." (1 Kings 9:26-28)
His
partnership with Hiram also brought him, every three years, things like ivory,
monkeys, apes, etc. (1 Kings 10:22-23).
The
Jewish historian Josephus also wrote about his rich trading for gold and
silver.
" . . . for
the King had many ships which lay upon the sea of Tarsus, these he commanded to
carry out all sorts of merchandise unto the remotest nations, by the sale of
which silver and gold were brought to the king, and a great quantity of ivory,
and Ethiopians, and apes; and they finished their voyage, going and returning,
in three years' time" (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 8, Chapter 7).
Gifts
The Queen of Sheba came special to Jerusalem to hear
Solomon's wisdom.
She
was so impressed that she gave him camels, jewels, a large quantity of gold and
other gifts.
“9 She (Queen of
Sheba) presented to King Solomon the gifts she had brought: almost five tons
(other translations say 'one hundred and twenty talents') of gold . . .” (2 Chronicles 9:1, 9)
The
Bible says that everyone who came to inquire of the king's wisdom brought him a
gift - either animals, spices, precious metals and so on (1 Kings 10:25).
Josephus
also wrote about how rich Solomon was through the gold and other goods he
received.
"Now the
weight of gold that was brought him was six hundred and sixty-six talents, not
including in that sum what was brought by the merchants, nor what the toparchs
and kings of Arabia gave him in presents."
"Accordingly
there went a great fame all around the neighboring countries, which proclaimed
the virtue and wisdom of Solomon, insomuch that all the kings everywhere were
desirous to see him, as not giving credit to what was reported, on account of
its being almost incredible. They also demonstrated the regard they had for him
by the presents they made him; for they sent him VESSELS OF GOLD, and silver,
and purple garments, and many sorts of spices, and horses, and chariots, and as
many mules for his carriages as they could find proper to please the king's
eyes, by their strength and beauty." (Antiquities of the Jews, Book 8,
Chapter 7)
Tribute Money
Tribute is money or goods paid by kingdoms or countries in
acknowledgment of another country's superiority.
"They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days
of his life. . . ." (1 Kings 4:24)
Heavy Taxation
Rehoboam, after he assumed the throne of his father,
travelled to the city of Shechem where many of the northern tribes of Israel
gathered to make him king.
The
people told the king, in no uncertain terms, what his father required of them.
Their
response makes it clear that Rehoboam's father was rich, in part, off the backs
of the people he ruled.
'Your father Solomon treated us harshly and placed heavy
burdens (he taxed them heavily) on us.' (1 Kings 12:4)
How much GOLD did he own and what was it worth?
While the Bible does not give us a value or weight of all
the silver, bronze, precious gems, garments, spices, etc. that came to Solomon,
it does give us a rough idea how much gold he brought in and how rich he was.
“14 Every year King
Solomon received over twenty-five tons (other translations say 'six hundred and
sixty-six talents') of gold, 15 in addition to
the taxes paid by merchants . . .” (1 Kings 10)
Used anciently, Talents were a measure of weight and money.
A
talent weighs roughly 75 U.S. pounds (34.3 kilograms), which is equal to 1,094
troy ounces.
At
$1,500 per troy ounce, a talent of gold in today's value is worth $1,641,000.
At
$1,600 per troy ounce, a talent is worth $1,750,400.
Solomon
received 666 talents of the metal EACH YEAR.
This
means the value of what he got each year was between $1,092,906,000 and
$1,165,766,400 U.S. dollars!
The
king became so immensely rich that ALL his cups were made of gold (not one was
made of silver – 1 Kings 10:21).
His
wealth was so immense that gold and silver were as common in Jerusalem as
STONES (2 Chronicles 1:15, see also 1Kings
10:27)!
Net worth
What exactly was Solomon's net worth?
Exactly
how rich was he?
There has never been a human in history who had SO MUCH gold
and silver "at his fingertips"
such that it was as common as pebbles!
Since
we know he ruled Israel for forty years, and that he brought in roughly 1.1
BILLION dollars of gold EACH YEAR, we can safely assume his assets were in the
billions of dollars.
Solomon,
however, possessed even MORE riches than what was mentioned above.
He
also inherited wealth from his father David, regularly received gold and silver
from the kings of Arabia, governors and merchants, and heavily taxed his own
people.
Additionally,
as if that was not enough, he received tribute money from countries and
kingdoms, plus gold, silver, ivory, animals, slaves and so on every three years
due to his business partnership with the King of Tyre.
AND
he garnered gifts of gold, spices, precious stones, garments, armor, and so on
EACH YEAR from a variety of others!
It
is safe to say that the king was certainly RICH, and likely one of the top ten
wealthiest humans EVER given the amount and variety of goods that came to him
on a regular basis!
What did wisdom teach him?
God made Solomon the wisest human who would ever live.
With
such a gift, the king felt it was necessary to write down what he understood
and pass it on to others for their benefit.
The
result of his efforts was the Book of Proverbs, where he wrote concerning being
rich and its true place in life.
"Happy is the man who finds wisdom, and the man who
gains understanding; For her proceeds are better than the profits of
silver, and her gain than FINE GOLD" (Proverbs 3:13 - 14)
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