How old was Solomon when he became king?

Q. My Sunday school curriculum said Solomon was 20 years old when he became king and God appeared to him in a dream. But when I did some research, it says his age is uncertain. Some say he was around 12 or 14 years old; some say he was at least 20 years old, or even close to 30. What age do you think he was?

A. The Bible did not say the age Solomon became king. Tradition said 12, while Josephus said 14. However, I doubt it was 12 or 14 based on the following:

• 1 Kg 11:42-43 Solomon reigned in Jerusalem over all Israel forty years. Then he rested with his ancestors and was buried in the city of David his father. And Rehoboam his son succeeded him as king.
• 1 Kg 14:21 Rehoboam son of Solomon was king in Judah. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, …
• 2 Chron 12:13 King Rehoboam established himself firmly in Jerusalem and continued as king. He was forty-one years old when he became king, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, …

Rehoboam became king of Judah when his father Solomon died. If Solomon became king at the age of 12, and he reigned forty years, then he died at age 52. However, Rehoboam was 41 years old when he became king, which means that he was already one year old when Solomon became king 40 years earlier. He would therefore be born when Solomon was only 11 years old, and conceived when Solomon was 10! While people marry at an early age in those days, biologically it’s highly unlikely that a 10-year-old could father a child.

Outside of the Bible, according to the Talmud, while at age 13 a boy becomes a “son of the commandment” (Bar Mitzvah), the proper age for marriage is 18 (range between 16-24), and at age 20 should be earning a livelihood. If Solomon became king at 18-20, then fathering Rehoboam at 16-18 is a high possibility, and he died at around 58-60.

This would also fit 1 Kg 11:4 better: As Solomon grew old, his wives turned his heart after other gods, and his heart was not fully devoted to the LORD his God, as the heart of David his father had been. The late 50s could be properly called “old” considering the life expectancies then, whereas to call the late 40s-early 50s “old” would be really stretching it.

This is not definitive, but more reasonable when all factors are taken into consideration. My opinion is therefore Solomon became king around 20.

Strategy 1

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* Joseph tests his brothers
* Solomon tests mothers

Q. Joseph pretended to be a stranger before his brothers (Gen 42:7-25, 44:1-17). Was it just a strategy, probably to learn what they intended to do? It may be for a selfish purpose but how about for a more noble purpose, such as Solomon’s command to cut the baby into halves (1 Ki 3:16-28), or did he actually mislead the women being judged to believe it was his real intention? Is God commanding Abraham to slay Isaac a similar setting to “test” the person under trial or was it an abuse of power in some sense? How far can Christians adopt such a strategy? Is Tamar’s pretense to be a whore a noble sacrifice (Gen 38:14-26), or even worse than Rahab telling white lies because she committed adultery? Is such pretense justifiable?

A. Joseph
• Gen 42:7a As soon as Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them.
• Gen 42:24a He turned away from them and began to weep, but then turned back and spoke to them again.
• Gen 44:33-34 “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy, and let the boy return with his brothers. How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery that would come upon my father.”

I believe it was Joseph’s strategy to find out whether his brothers had changed. The last time he saw them he was 17 (Gen 37:2), distressed and pleading with them for his life, but they would not listen (Gen 42:21). He was 30 years old when he became second-in-command in Egypt (Gen 41:46). There were 7 years of abundance before the famine began (Gen 41:53-54). So it was at least 20 years he had not seen them. What kind of people had they become? Were they still jealous and ruthless, not caring about their own brother or father? He needed to know, and the only way he could find out is to test them, using situations similar to 20 years ago to see how they would react, e.g.:
• Benjamin’s portion five times as much as anyone else (Gen 43:34), to see if the elder brothers would be jealous,
• Framing Benjamin so that he will become a slave and freeing the rest (Gen 44:10), to see if they will save Benjamin.
His strategy worked and his witnessed their change, turning from selfish people who didn’t care about anyone else to willing to sacrifice themselves to save their brother and father. I don’t think it was for a selfish purpose.

Solomon
He actually led the women to believe that was his intention, otherwise the real mother would not have given up her baby to the other woman:
• 1 Kings 3:26 The woman whose son was alive was filled with compassion for her son and said to the king, “Please, my lord, give her the living baby! Don’t kill him!” But the other said, “Neither I nor you shall have him. Cut him in two!”
Is this deception? I would say no. Solomon had no personal advantage to be gained. The women were alone, there was no one in the house as witness (3:18). This was a case of one person’s word against another (22-23). The only way he could get at the truth was to know what’s in their heart, which one has compassion for her son. Truly he had wisdom from God to administer justice (3:28).

(To be continued)