Is Solomon’s wealth a literary fiction? The Biblical account of Solomon’s wealth has been described as unrealistic in standard critical commentaries, though some express confidence that the description has a basis in historical fact. What evidence has been gathered for Solomon’s wealth?
The Bible identifies ‘Ophir’ as one source of Solomon’s gold (1 Kings 9:28). Although the location of Ophir is unknown, an 8th century ostracon BCE identifies it as a historical source of gold, rather than a legendary motif. A. R. Millard states,
The expression “gold of Ophir” occurs not only in the Bible, but also on an eighth-century B.C. ostracon* found at Tell Qasile in Israel. That ostracon, while showing that the name was current to designate the origin or type of gold, throws no light on Ophir’s location.[1]
Millard also notes ancient uses of gold for construction which are analogous to Solomon’s: the tomb of Tutankhamen, extensive use of gold plating on buildings in the reign of Tuthmosis III, massive gold use on buildings of the Egyptian New Kingdom era, and the same kind of gold usage in Babylonia and Assyria.[2] Millard also points out that items described as ‘of gold’ were not always solid gold; often they were covered in gold plate or gold leaf.
While words like ‘a gold statue’ or ‘a gold bed’ in ancient documents should not be pressed to mean ‘made of solid gold throughout’ or ‘the purest gold’, they can be understood to mean ‘gold all over’, that is to say, nothing else could be seen.[3]
Solomon’s income of 666 talents of gold in one year (1 Kings 10:14),[4] is considered fictional by some commentators.
Although this income is unique in Ancient Near East records,
The only ancient text that reports the annual income of a powerful king in Old Testament times is the Hebrew Bible. In 1 Kings 10:14 the figure of 666 talents of gold (almost 25 U.S. tons) is given for Solomon. This may refer to a particular year, just as the 420 talents (15.75 U.S. tons) from Ophir refers to a particular source (1 Kings 10:11). Only two figures in ancient records approach the amount of 666 talents: the total of Pharaoh Osorkon’s gift to the gods and the amounts of treasure Alexander the Great found in Persia.[5]
None of these figures approach the amounts recorded for Solomon except for the booty gathered by Tuthmosis III (11,500 kg; 11.3 tons).[6]
However, the 120 talents of gold received by Solomon from Tyre (1 Kings 9:28) is matched and exceeded by gifts and tribute of gold from other Ancient Near East monarchs.
We learn from firsthand sources that Metten II of Tyre (ca. 730) paid a tribute of 150 talents of gold to our old acquaintance Tiglath-pileser III of Assyria, while in turn his successor Sargon II (727-705) bestowed 154 talents of gold upon the Babylonian gods – about 6 tons in each case. Going back almost eight centuries, Tuthmosis III of Egypt presented about 13.5 tons (well over 200 talents) of gold in nuggets and rings to the god Amun in Thebes, plus an unknown amount more in a splendid array of gold vessels and cult implements. Worth almost a third of Solomon’s reputed annual gold revenue, this was on just one occasion, to just one temple.[7]
When Damascus surrendered to Adadnirari III, probably in 796 BC, the Assyrian received 2,300 talents of silver (69,000 kg; 67.76 tons), 20 talents of gold (600 kg; 1,320 lbs), and much else. Some sixty years later Tiglath-pileser III subjugated Samaria, placing Hoshea on the throne as his nominee. Samaria paid 10 talents of gold (300 kg; 660 lbs) as tribute (and an unknown amount of silver). The same emperor received the submission of Tyre, and with it the large sum of 150 talents of gold (4,500 kg; 4.4 tons).[8]
K. Kitchen notes the vast gold expenditure of pharaoh Orsokon I exceeded even Solomon’s.
In Egypt Shishak’s successor Osorkon I gifted some 383 tons of gold and silver to the gods and temples of Egypt in the first four years of his reign, many of the detailed amounts being listed in a long inscription (now damaged) (figs. 22A, B). That sum would (in weight) be equivalent to almost seventeen years of Solomon’s annual gold revenue…[9]
Kitchen further suggests Orsokon’s wealth was the result of his father Sheshonq’s conquest of Solomon’s son Rehoboam (1 Kings 14:25-26), commenting,
Where could Osorkon have obtained such immense wealth, to spend on such a scale after only three and a third years of his reign? Barely five years earlier, Osorkon’s father Shishak had looted the wealth of Jerusalem. It seems unlikely to be a mere coincidence that almost immediately after that event Osorkon could dispose so freely of so much gold and silver.*The vast amounts of Solomon’s golden wealth may have ended up, at least in part, as Osorkon’s gift to the gods and goddesses of Egypt.[10]
[1] A. R. Millard, “Does the Bible Exaggerate King Solomon’s Golden Wealth?” BAR 15/03 (May/June 1989). [All emphasis in quotes is mine.]
[2] A. R. Millard, “Solomon In All His Glory” Vox Evangelica 12 (1981): 5-18 (Tutankhamen p. 7; Tuthmosis III, p. 9; new kingdom, p. 10; Assyria and Babylonia, pp. 10-12). [Available online at www.biblicalstudies.org.uk].
[3] Millard, “Solomon In All His Glory”, 11.
[4] Commentators are divided as to whether this represents an annual income, or the income of one particular year.
[5] A. R. Millard, “Does the Bible Exaggerate King Solomon’s Golden Wealth?” BAR 15/03 (May/June 1989).
[6] Millard, “Solomon In All His Glory”, 16.
[7] K. Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2003), 133-134.
[8] Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 74.
[9] Kitchen, On the Reliability of the Old Testament, 134.
[10] K. Kitchen, “Where Did Solomon’s Gold Go?” BAR 15/03 (May/June 1989).
The Origin of the Organic World – Part One