Editing Solomon (section)

===Biblical criticism: Solomon's religiosity===
[[File:SolomonsTemple.png|thumb|upright=1.15|A sketch of [[Solomon's Temple]], based on descriptions in the Scriptures.]]
From a critical point of view, Solomon's building of a temple for Yahweh should not be considered an act of particular devotion to Yahweh because Solomon is also described as building places of worship for a number of other deities.<ref name=JE /> Some scholars and historians argue that the passages, such as his dedication prayer ({{bibleverse|1|Kings|8:14–66|HE}}), that describe Solomon's apparent initial devotion to Yahweh were written much later, after Jerusalem had become the religious centre of the kingdom, replacing locations such as [[Shiloh (Biblical city)|Shiloh]] and [[Bethel]]. Earlier historians maintain that there is evidence that these passages in Kings are derived from official court records at the time of Solomon and from other writings of that time that were incorporated into the canonical books of Kings.<ref>{{Citation |last=Harrison |first=RK |year=1969 |title=Introduction to the Old Testament |place=Grand Rapids |publisher=Eerdmans |pages=722–724}}</ref><ref>{{Citation |last=Archer |first=GL |year=1964 |title=A Survey of Old Testament Introduction |place=Chicago |publisher=Moody Press |pages=276–277}}</ref>{{Sfn|Thiele|1983|pp=193–204}} More recent scholars believe that passages such as these in the [[Books of Kings]] were not written by the same authors who wrote the rest of the text, instead probably by the [[Deuteronomist]].{{sfn|Dever|2001|p=145}}