Who was the wise king of the ancient Israelites?

A:This was Solomon, whose defining legend was his great wisdom, gifted to him by God. If there ever was a King Solomon, The Bible says that he was the wisest of kings.

Finding specific biblical examples of his wisdom proves difficult. In fact, the story of the two mothers is the only biblical account that purports to show Solomon's wisdom. Soon after God granted Solomon wisdom, two women asked for judgement over the ownership of a small baby. In this episode, Solomon gave his most famous judgement. The reader is expected to agree with Solomon when he knew that only one woman would be willing to give up her claim to the child rather than have it killed, and that woman could only have been the birth mother.

The Jewish people needed a glorious past, with both great and wise rulers, and Solomon became part of that past. So, although not actually a wise ruler on the biblical evidence, he was a wise ruler in tradition. To support this tradition, the Books of Proverbs and Ecclesiastes and even some Psalms were eventually attributed to King Solomon, although scholars can prove that he could not have been the author.