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. She lived most of her life in a harem dominated by Solomon’s mother, Bathsheba – if Bathsheba lived into old age. 26 And he took away the treasures of the house of the Lord, and the treasures of the king’s house; he took away all: and he took away all the shields of gold which Solomon had made. Was this the ultimate pay-back of a mother-in-law who blamed Solomon’s foreign women for ruining the kingdom? People blamed much of this social upheaval on the power and influence of Solomon’s foreign wives, among whom Naamah was prominent. If she lived to see his reign, she would have been the most powerful woman in the realm, the gebira or Queen Mother. So Solomon did evil in the eyes of the LORD; he did not follow the LORD completely, as David his father had done. Many scholars believe Bathsheba had a hand in the writing and editing of the stories about David and Solomon. The possible Despite this, her marriage was meant to encourage friendly relations between Solomon’s realm and Ammon, and Naamah was expected to use her influence to help the two states live in harmony. He was not like his father David. But over the years it grew in importance and Solomon transformed it, so that it became the scene of luxury and comfort. The question still remains: why are we given so little information about Naamah? Her children include the Nephilim, Shedim, and Ashmodai. Your Faithlife account signs you in to all our sites. Was life now much different from Egypt, where they had been the slaves of Pharaoh? The mother of the king, not his wife (a king had many) was the one who ruled the roost in ancient Israel. She would, Woman at the Window – ancient pagan ivory carving. When Solomon died his son to Naamah became King. Above, the fantasy: Visit of the Queen of Sheba, Edward Poynter Below, the more modest reality: Throne Room at Knossos. Ammon had an on-again, off-again relationship with Israel – it was anything but stable. Rehoboam was forty-one years old when he began to reign, and he reigned seventeen years in Jerusalem, the city which the Lord did choose out of all the tribes of Israel, to put his name there. According to Biblical chronology, Naamah was married to young Solomon by King David and thus this international marriage has to be viewed as the result of the latter's policy and not that of Solomon. These are the tantalizing questions we cannot answer. Women in the Bible – the Royal Women of the House of David Was there a lack of information because her life was cut short in childbirth? And his mother’s name was Naamah an Ammonitess. Naamah was from Ammon, a kingdom to the east of Jerusalem (see right center of map). Call us at 888-634-2038. They were from nations about which the LORD had told the Israelites, “You must not intermarry with them, because they will surely turn your hearts after their gods.” Nevertheless, Solomon held fast to them in love. Presumably she was a princess of the royal house, but this is not mentioned. He had a different vision of what a king should be: a hereditary political monarch rather than a popularly acclaimed leader. She is the lover and/or wife of some of the most formidable angels, Demons, and biblical heroes, including Azazel, Samael, Samyaza, Solomon, and Noah (and maybe his son, too). 2 One of the cities that was included in Judah’s “inheritance,” i.e., its portion of the promised land (1 Kings 14:21, 31). Naaman was mother of Rehoboam, the king who succeeded Solomon. The upper area had houses, but was not fortified. After Solomon’s reign primogeniture became the sometimes disputed but generally accepted principle of succession in Israel. She had a crowded life, yet there is virtually no trace of her. and if she survived the birth of her youngest child and lived into old age, she saw the beginnings of the disintegration of the united kingdoms of Israel and Judah. One of Solomon’s many wives, an Ammonitess (, The International Standard Bible Encyclopedia, Revised, 1. Organizing taxes needed a central political administration, which required officials who had to be supported, so taxes were raised. 1. Wife of King Solomon, woman of mystery. The walled fortress of Jerusalem at the time of King David (lower right of the image). 21 And Rehoboam the son of Solomon reigned in Judah. Who was Naamah in the Bible? If Naamah lived into old age, she saw the building of Solomon’s Temple and the Jerusalem palace. Naamah is the narrator of Aryeh Lev Stollman's novel published by Aryeh Nir/Modan (Tel Aviv) in Hebrew translation under the title Divrei Y'mai Naamah (דברי ימי נעמה). His reign marks the historical mid point between two ways of selecting a leader –. Naamah comes from Hebrew: נעם‎ naimand means pleasant. 1 A daughter of Lamech and his wife Zillah, and the sister of Tubal-cain . lived through a period of massive social dislocation. On a hill east of Jerusalem, Solomon built a high place for Chemosh the detestable god of Moab, and for Molech the detestable god of the Ammonites. The daughter of Lamech and Zillah who were descendents of Cain, and sister of Tubal-cain, the inventor of cutting tools (, 2. She and the other wives were blamed for Solomon’s religious laxity. Or did later editors of the text decide that the less said about Solomon’s wives the better. Rehoboam was the new King, making his mother Naamah his adviser and not his wife. There was an error while trying to create your account. Unfortunately her influence was the downfall of Solomon’s greatness. ‘King Solomon, however, loved many foreign women besides Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabites, Ammonites, Edomites, Sidonians and Hittites. This took large amounts of money and careful organisation, which were things only a central administration could provide. As the land value increased it became more attractive to neighboring kingdoms, and a central leadership had to counter attacks from outside. She stood out from the crowd of women in the royal harem, so she must have had. Did her origins as an Ammonite make her so unpopular that it was better to simply gloss over her story, ignore her, pretend she hardly existed? 3 An Ammonite wife of Solomon and the mother of Rehoboam, who succeeded Solomon’s Temple was probably similar in design, If she lived past Solomon’s death, she saw, A royal woman’s status depended on her ability to bear a son to the king. We know her name, where she came from, her husband’s and son’s names – and nothing else. 19th century artists painted Solomon in a lavish palace; in fact, Solomon’s palace in Jerusalem was relatively modest in size. By registering for an account, you agree to Faithlife’s, The most advanced Bible dictionary as a part of, 2. Reconstructing her life is a detective game. The meaning of her name is argued among Hebrew scholars; it refers either to her virtuous nature ("pleasing" to God (YHVH) or to a penchant for idolatry (singing "pleasant" songs to pagan idols). Get your church set-up with online giving, sermon streaming, and more in under 24 hours. primogeniture, the orderly inheritance by the eldest son of the ruler, whatever his capabilities. He had seven hundred wives of royal birth and three hundred concubines, and his wives led him astray. Please try again soon. We suspect she was never a committed worshipper of Yahweh, and that she probably supported and took part in worship of foreign deities from Ammon. Daughter of Zillah and Lamech in the list of Cain’s descendants (, The HarperCollins Bible Dictionary (Revised and Updated), 1. Flemish tapestry, fifteenth century. In Gnostic Kabbalah, she is called Nahemah and is the Qliphah corresponding to the Sephirah Malkuth. She is simply referred to as ‘the Ammonite’, in much to same way that Marie Antoinette was referred to as ‘the Austrian’, a disparaging title summing up the hostility of the common people to a marriage between their king and a princess from a country they mistrusted. Naamah (nay ´ uh-muh). 27 And king Rehoboam made in their stead brass shields, and gave them to the chief of the guard, which kept the door of the king’s house. This may have been so, but Solomon also used marriage to cement relations between Israel and the surrounding territories and nations. 24 And there were also sodomites in the land: and they did according to all the abominations of the nations which the Lord cast out before the children of Israel. Naamah . The aim of his wars was no longer to save Israel but to control trade routes and subjugate surrounding nations, taking over their land and using their people as forced labor.

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