SOLOMON’s SERVANTS. A class of state slaves in Israel instituted by Solomon.

All subordinates of a king might be considered his servants. The feast which Solomon gave for all his “servants” (1 Kings 3:15) certainly included his officials, if not exclusively so. These officials are named in 1 Kings 4:1-19. But the Heb. term עַבְדֵ֣י שְׁלֹמֹ֑ה, tr. “Solomon’s servants,” does not refer generally to all those who served Solomon in any capacity. Rather, it is a technical term referring to a class of state slaves in Israel.

State slaves were common in the ancient Near E. Prisoners of war were made servants for big commercial or industrial enterprises which were carried out by the king. Not until the time of David was Israel strong enough to have any state slaves. David began on a restricted scale with the Ammonites (2 Sam 12:31). But the extensive building projects of Solomon called for state slavery on a vast scale. It was thus Solomon who reduced the native Canaanites to slavery (1 Kings 9:20, 21), and the new class of slaves was appropriately called “Solomon’s servants” (1 Kings 9:27; 2 Chron 8:18; 9:10). The class of state slaves continued throughout the monarchy, though varying in number and economic importance. The “sons of Solomon’s servants” are noted in Ezra 2:55-58 and Nehemiah 7:57-60; 11:3 as having been merged with Nethinim or Temple servants.

Bibliography R. de Vaux, Ancient Israel (1965), 88-90, 141, 142; M. Haran, “The Gibeonites, the Nethinim and the Servants of Solomon” in Judah and Jerusalem (1957), 37-45; I. Mendelsohn, Slavery in the Ancient Near East (1949), 92-106; A. F. Rainey, “Compulsory Labour Gangs in Ancient Israel,” IEJ (1970), 191-202.