And people of all nations came to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and from all the kings of the earth, who had heard of his wisdom.
1 Kings 4:34
I feel as though God is leading me to venture deeper into the Old Testament to study the staggering integration of God’s word from beginning to end — particularly through the abundance of types, shadows, patterns, and prophecies. The longer I read and study God’s word, the more amazed I become at the unsearchable riches of His wisdom and truth — revealed to us through the Word — God the Son — Yeshua — our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
For the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Revelation 19:11
This simple verse reminds us of one core principle in Biblical interpretation — especially when studying patterns and typography. When the text or its interpretation aren’t clear, put Jesus right in the center of the context, and He is the answer. The Holy Spirit of God will always testify to the Son [John 16:13-15]. May Jesus forever be exalted!
King Solomon
Of all the places to start, why Solomon?
Why not Joshua or Moses or David or the Passover or the Exodus or the 7 Feasts of the LORD?
Well, for one reason I have never paid that much attention to Solomon as a type or shadow of Christ. Maybe it’s because David gets so much attention or because Solomon later led Israel into apostasy and idolatry and left the kingdom at the brink of civil war.
As I look a little closer, I have discovered some amazing parallels between King Solomon and the King of kings — the Lord Jesus Christ — some of which might surprise you.
Solomon — Son of David
“When your days are fulfilled and you lie down with your fathers, I will raise up your offspring after you, who shall come from your body, and I will establish his kingdom. 13He shall build a house for my name, and I will establish the throne of his kingdom forever.”
2 Samuel:12-13
The most obvious place to start is with the title, “son of David,” which emphasizes progeny and offspring. This expression epitomizes the expectation of the Messiah. The Jews were all too familiar with God’s covenant promise to David that one of his descendants would be the Messiah. Jesus perfectly fits the profile as He was born of the house of David — truly a son in the royal lineage [see Luke 1:31-33].
David was Israel’s greatest king and a Mighty Warrior who subdued all his enemies bringing rest to Israel on all sides. Tragically, David’s life also was marked by war and great adversity. He is known for his great sin and failure, causing pain to his family, and also for his great repentance before God. David’s desire was to build the Temple for the Name of the LORD, but God had other purposes. His house would be built by David’s son and chosen successor of his throne.
David loved his sons, but of them all, the LORD chose only one to be the primary prototype of the Messiah.
And it just so happens to be Solomon — the son of David and King of Israel.
SOLOMON — King of Israel
“And they made Solomon the son of David king the second time, and they anointed him as prince for the LORD, and Zadok as priest. Then Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD as king in place of David his father. And he prospered, and all Israel obeyed him. 24All the leaders and the mighty men, and also all the sons of King David, pledged their allegiance to King Solomon. 25And the LORD made Solomon very great in the sight of all Israel and bestowed on him such royal majesty as had not been on any king before him in Israel.“
1 Chronicles 29:22-25
The Kingdom of Israel experienced it’s zenith under the early years of Solomon. David had brought peace and Solomon expanded the kingdom during the golden age of Israel. Notice that Solomon sat on the throne of the LORD.
Of course, upon His return Jesus will be the King of Israel, outshining Solomon’s kingdom in power and glory like holding a candle to the sun.
“When the Son of Man comes in his glory, and all the angels with him, then he will sit on his glorious throne.”
Matthew 25:31
Solomon — Beloved Son of God
“Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days. 10He shall build a house for my name. He shall be my son, and I will be his father, and I will establish his royal throne in Israel forever.“
1 Chronicles 22:9-10
Solomon on several occasions was called God’s chosen and beloved son, much in the same way Abraham spoke of his son Isaac. As a matter of fact, when Solomon was born, Nathan the prophet told David what to call his son.
“Then David comforted his wife, Bathsheba, and went in to her and lay with her, and she bore a son, and he called his name Solomon. And the LORD loved him 25and sent a message by Nathan the prophet. So he called his name Jedidiah, because of the LORD.”
2 Samuel 12:24-25
Jedidiah means beloved of the LORD.
Of course, Jesus is the Beloved Son of God, loved of the Father before the foundation of the world.
“Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.”
John 17:24
Solomon — Prince of Peace
“Behold, a son shall be born to you who shall be a man of rest. I will give him rest from all his surrounding enemies. For his name shall be Solomon, and I will give peace and quiet to Israel in his days.“
1 Chronicles 22:9
The prophet Isaiah calls the Messiah the “Prince of Peace” [Isaiah 9:6-7], as the government will rest upon His shoulders. Solomon obviously is a prototype of Jesus Messiah, as He ruled Israel during the time of unprecedented peace and prosperity. Israel expanded its borders and governed more territory under Solomon than any other time in history.
Solomon’s name literally means peaceful, which again points us Jesus Christ and His coming kingdom. Solomon may have experienced peace on all sides during His reign, but the Kingdom of God under Jesus will experience global peace during the Millennium.
Solomon — The All Wise One
“Give your servant therefore an understanding mind to govern your people, that I may discern between good and evil, for who is able to govern this your great people?”
It pleased the Lord that Solomon had asked this. 11And God said to him, “Because you have asked this, and have not asked for yourself long life or riches or the life of your enemies, but have asked for yourself understanding to discern what is right, 12behold, I now do according to your word. Behold, I give you a wise and discerning mind, so that none like you has been before you and none like you shall arise after you.“
1 Kings 3:9-12
Of course it is difficult to study Solomon without mentioning his supernatural wisdom to rule God’s people with justice. Only Jesus Himself can declare to be superior to Solomon in wisdom and understanding.
“The queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with the men of this generation and condemn them, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something greater than Solomon is here.“
Luke 11:31
Solomon — The Envy of Nations
Solomon not only expanded the territory of his kingdom and experienced unprecedented peace, but also Israel was the envy of the nations. All the surrounding nations paid tribute to Solomon.
“Judah and Israel were as many as the sand by the sea. They ate and drank and were happy. Solomon ruled over all the kingdoms from the Euphrates to the land of the Philistines and to the border of Egypt. They brought tribute and served Solomon all the days of his life.”
1 Kings 4:20-21
Solomon himself prophetically affirms his own kingdom as a foreshadow of the coming Kingdom. He wrote this Messianic Psalm during His reign.
“In his days may the righteous flourish, and peace abound, till the moon be no more!
8May he have dominion from sea to sea,
Psalm 72:7-11
and from the River to the ends of the earth!
9May desert tribes bow down before him,
and his enemies lick the dust!
10May the kings of Tarshish and of the coastlands
render him tribute;
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
bring gifts!
11May all kings fall down before him,
all nations serve him!“
The Messiah in His glory will be the King of all kings and Lord of lords.
“And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its lamp. 24By its light the nations will walk, and into it the kings of the earth will bring their glory.”
Revelation 21:23-24
SOLOMON — The Bridegroom of the Virgin Bride
One of the most overlooked foreshadows in the life of Solomon is the portrayal of the marriage between the King and the virgin bride of Jerusalem. The prophets often used the powerful allusion of the marriage bond to signify the relationship between the LORD and His people.
God “marries” His people in the sense that He loves, cherishes, provides, protects, rejoices over and remains forever faithful to His bride — the church. The Messiah will consummate the marriage once He has put all things under His feet. It is interesting that the bride of Christ is also called the city of the great King — the city of Jerusalem.
You shall no more be termed Forsaken,
Isaiah 62:4-5
and your land shall no more be termed Desolate,
but you shall be called My Delight Is in Her,
and your land Married;
for the LORD delights in you,
and your land shall be married.
5For as a young man marries a young woman,
so shall your sons marry you,
and as the bridegroom rejoices over the bride,
so shall your God rejoice over you.
The Song of Solomon is a poetic prefigurement of this future marriage coronation.
Song of Solomon — 8:11
Go out, O daughters of Zion,
and look upon King Solomon,
with the crown with which his mother crowned him
on the day of his wedding,
on the day of the gladness of his heart.
And God uses this expression to the very end, as Christ fulfills all that has been written.
Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God, 11having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel …
Revelation 21:9-10
SOLOMON’S TEMPLE
But now the LORD my God has given me rest on every side. There is neither adversary nor misfortune. 5And so I intend to build a house for the name of the LORD my God, as the LORD said to David my father, ‘Your son, whom I will set on your throne in your place, shall build the house for my name.‘
1 Kings 5:4-5
Historically only two Temples have been built in Jerusalem. The first temple was funded by David and built by Solomon and became of the wonders of the ancient world in splendor and glory. After being destroyed by the Babylonians in 586 B.C., a second temple was constructed under the commission of King Cyrus and carried out by Joshua and Zerubbabel. The second temple was quite inferior to Solomon’s and later was profaned by Antiochus Epiphanes in the 2nd Century B.C.
In the days of Jesus, Herod was in the process of expanding and beautifying the Temple, but the effort proved futile and fatal as the Roman legions burned the second Temple to the ground in 70 A.D.
The Scriptures also speak of a third Temple, that will be built just prior to the great tribulation and will be desecrated by the Beast and made desolate.
But did you know that the Scriptures also speak of a fourth Temple? The Millennial Temple of the LORD!
This is significant for this study because it demonstrates once again how Solomon is one of the premier types of Christ. What we discover is that the Lord Jesus Himself will rebuild the Temple in The New Jerusalem to inaugurate the 1,000 years of His kingdom.
The prophet Zechariah provides the foundational text for this amazing prophecy.
And say to him, ‘Thus says the LORD of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD. 13It is he who shall build the temple of the LORD and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”’
Zechariah 6:12-13
The Branch is a common Messianic title used by the prophets. Furthermore, the identify of the Branch is already revealed in this prophecy. There is only One possible candidate who could build the Temple of the LORD and then sit down on the throne as both PRIEST and KING. That of course is the King of kings and our Great High Priest — the Lord Jesus Christ.
The LORD says to my Lord:
“Sit at my right hand,
until I make your enemies your footstool.”2The LORD sends forth from Zion
your mighty scepter.
Rule in the midst of your enemies!The LORD has sworn
Psalm 110:1-2, 4-5
and will not change his mind,
“You are a priest forever
after the order of Melchizedek.”5The Lord is at your right hand;
he will shatter kings on the day of his wrath.
Not only will the Lord Jesus build His temple during the millennial kingdom, but also His throne will reside there and His glory will forever fill that place, which leads to my last prefigurement in the life of Solomon.
SOLOMON and the SHEKINAH GLORY of the LORD
As soon as Solomon finished his prayer, fire came down from heaven and consumed the burnt offering and the sacrifices, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple. 2And the priests could not enter the house of the LORD, because the glory of the LORD filled the LORD’s house. 3When all the people of Israel saw the fire come down and the glory of the LORD on the temple, they bowed down with their faces to the ground on the pavement and worshiped and gave thanks to the LORD, saying, “For he is good, for his steadfast love endures forever.”
2 Chronicles 7:1-3
Other than the theophany on Mt. Sinai, there is no greater manifestation of the presence and glory of God than during Solomon’s dedication of the Temple. This imagery should immediately take us to the Millennial Temple that will be the eternal dwelling of God.
I fell facedown, 4and the glory of the LORD entered the temple through the gate facing east. 5Then the Spirit lifted me up and brought me into the inner court, and the glory of the LORD filled the temple.6While the man was standing beside me, I heard someone speaking to me from inside the temple, 7and He said to me, “Son of man, this is the place of My throne and the place for the soles of My feet, where I will dwell among the Israelites forever. The house of Israel will never again defile My holy name—neither they nor their kings—by their prostitution and by the funeral offeringsb for their kings at their deaths.
Ezekiel 43:3-7
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no more. 2And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. 3And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.
Revelation 21:1-3
It shall come to pass in the latter days
that the mountain of the house of the LORD
shall be established as the highest of the mountains,
and it shall be lifted up above the hills;
and peoples shall flow to it,
2and many nations shall come, and say:
“Come, let us go up to the mountain of the LORD,
to the house of the God of Jacob,
that he may teach us his ways
and that we may walk in his paths.”
For out of Zion shall go forth the law,
and the word of the LORD from Jerusalem.
Micah 4:1-2
Stay tuned to discover my next subject in Types and Shadows …
Days of Noah 