own official Jeroboam of the tribe of Ephraim. Death, succession of Rehoboam, and kingdom division King Solomon is a central biblical figure, who, according to the Hebrew Bible, was the builder of the First Temple in Jerusalem and the last ruler of a united Kingdom of Israel. After a reign of forty years, he died of natural causes at around 60 years of age. Upon Solomon's death, his son, Rehoboam, succeeded him, but ten of the Tribes of Israel refused him as king, splitting the monarchy into the northern Kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam, while Rehoboam continued to reign over the much smaller southern Kingdom of Judah. Henceforth the two kingdoms were never again united. Solomon is associated with the peak "golden age" of the independent Kingdom of Israel and is a legendary source of judicial and religious wisdom. According to Jewish tradition, King Solomon wrote three books of the Bible: Mishlei (Book of Proverbs). A collection of fables and wisdom of life. Kohelet (Ecclesiastes). A book of contemplation and self-reflection. Shir ha-Shirim (Song of Songs). A collection of erotic verse. The verse has been interpreted both literally (describing a romantic and sexual relationship between a man and a woman) and metaphorically (describing a relationship between God and his people). The Hebrew word לשלמה appears in the title of two hymns (72 and 127) in the Book of Psalms. This Hebrew word means "to Solomon", but it can also be translated as "by Solomon," thus suggesting to some that Solomon wrote the two psalms. Apocryphal or deuterocanonical texts Rabbinical tradition attributes the Wisdom of Solomon (included within the Septuagint) to Solomon, although this book was probably written in the 2nd century BCE. In this work, Solomon is portrayed as an astronomer. Other books of wisdom poetry such as the Odes of Solomon and the Psalms of Solomon also bear his name. The Jewish historian Eupolemus, who wrote about 157 BCE, included copies of apocryphal letters exchanged between Solomon and the kings of Egypt and Tyre. The Gnostic Apocalypse of Adam, which may date to the 1st or 2nd century, refers to a legend in which Solomon sends out an army of demons to seek a virgin who had fled from him, perhaps the earliest surviving mention of the later common tale that Solomon controlled demons and made them his slaves. This tradition of Solomon's control over demons appears fully elaborated