DustyTomes

Solomon, son of David and fourth monarch of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah c. 1000 BCE, is well known in the common discourse of Christians as a wise king. [1] His sins against God through his acquisition of a multitude of foreign wives and horses is equally discussed in Christian circles. Curiously, there is little discussion of his wealth beyond this vast collection of concubines and animals. His wealth in gold, silver, and other precious materials would rival that of the wealthiest private individuals of today.

Solomon’s story in the accepted canon takes place primarily within in the First Book of Kings and the Second Book of Chronicles, and the details in these two books will serve as the primary sources for determining how wealthy Solomon was during his reign. Before diving into this discussion, some important distinctions must be made. Firstly, all calculations for the value of his possessions will use their present valuations as of 2/15/2026. Secondly, all weights and measures will be presumed to follow standard conventions seen elsewhere in the Bible – for example, one cubit is equal to about 45cm; one shekel is equal to about 11g; and one talent is equal to about 34kg. All tabulations will be placed at the bottom of the article of ease of reading.

The first indication of Solomon’s financial gains comes through a passage in 1 Kings. In 9:14, we see that Hiram sent Solomon 120 talents of gold, and a few verses later in 9:28, Solomon earned another 420 talents of gold from Hiram. In the next chapter, the queen of Sheba visits and gifts him 120 talents of gold, as well as precious stones and a volume of spices “never again” seen in this world.[1 Kings 10:10] During this chapter, it is revealed that Solomon netted a total of 666 talents in that year (probably the year the queen visited), so we can conclude he earned another 446 talents of gold from other sources that year.

In the third chapter of 2 Chronicles, it is noted that Solomon used 600 talents of gold and an additional 50 shekels of gold to furnish the most holy part of the temple in Jerusalem. [2 Chronicles 3:8-9] It is safe to assume that this gold predates the sums from 2 Kings, as this chronologically occurred first. It is worth mentioning that in chapter 17, an individual named Huram (not Hiram) gifts Solomon with 450 (not 420) talents of gold, but for the most accurate calculations, the spelling and weight differences will be presumed to be erroneous. Therefore, the information from 2 Kings will be used.

As of writing, gold is $5043.92/oz or approximately $177.92/g [2] Similarly, silver is $77.40/oz or roughly $2.73/g [3]

Table of Calculations

According to these calculations, Solomon had not north of 10 billion dollars during his time as king, and this does not take into account the value of his inheritances from David, nor the worth of any of the precious stones or spices or other valuable metals that he certainly possessed. It is worth mentioning that, according to 1 Chronicles 22, David had accrued over 100,000 talents of gold and 1,000,000 talents of silver for use in the construction God’s temple. Presumably, Solomon utilized these inherited sums.

As a result, Solomon’s net worth amounted to at least 708.6 billion dollars in today’s currency. That would place Solomon neatly between today’s two wealthiest individuals, Elon Musk ($849.3 Billion) and Larry Page ($251 Billion) – well above Jeff Bezos at $214.1 Billion. [4] Another fascinating detail from this story, the total of gold collected by David is roughly half the sum of the US Federal Reserve’s collection (261.5 million troy ounces or about 239,000 talents), and the amount of silver is roughly 34,000 metric tons (8,000 metric tons more than the entire world produced in 2023). [5]

#bible #christianity #oldtestament #hypothetical

Sources:

[1] https://www.britannica.com/biography/Solomon

[2] https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/gold

[3] https://tradingeconomics.com/commodity/silver

[4] https://www.forbes.com/real-time-billionaires/#2d66a9ea3d78

[5] https://www.statista.com/statistics/253293/silver-production-volume-worldwide/

Eric B – BA History, Minor in Religious Studies
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