Midrash su Proverbi 31:1

Likewise, He that loveth his son chasteneth him betimes refers to the righteous Bath-sheba, who rebuked her son, Solomon, as it is written: The words of king Lemuel, the burden wherewith his mother corrected him (Prov. 31:1).⁵The name Lemuel was applied to Solomon by his mother as a means of chastising him. According to Canticles Rabbah 1, he was surnamed Lemuel because he spoke against God in his heart. Lemuel is read as lemu el (“what is God?”). See Sanhedrin 70b. R. Yosé the son of Hanina posed the question: What is meant by The burden wherewith his mother corrected him? It means that Bath-sheba turned him over a whipping post and punished him by beating him with a rod. What did she say to him as she did this? What, my son? and what, O son of my womb? and what, O son of my vows? (Prov. 31:2). With these words she was saying to him: “Everyone knows that your father is a God-fearing man, and if you should go astray, they will say that you are my son, and I am responsible for what you are.” And what, O son of my womb? “When the other women of your father’s house became pregnant, they saw the king’s face no more, but I went to him so that I might have a well-formed and powerful son.”⁶It was believed that cohabitation during the last three months of pregnancy affected the embryo positively but the mother negatively. Despite the danger she went to David in order to strengthen her unborn child. And what, O son of my vows? “All the other women of your father’s house vowed: I shall have a son fit for kingship, but I vowed: I will have a son wise in the knowledge of the law and worthy of prophecy.” Therefore she beat him and chastised him and said to him: It is not for kings, O Lemuel, it is not for kings to drink wine; nor for princes to say: “Where is strong drink?” (Prov. 31:4). That is to say, she was telling him: “What have you to do with kings who drink wine, become drunk, and say, O Lemuel, what is God to us? It is not for princes to say: Where is strong drink? (ibid.). Shall he, to whom all secrets of the world are revealed, drink wine and become drunk?” Therefore she chastised him, and He was wiser than all men (I Kings 5:11).

(Prov. 31, 1) The words of King Lemuel, the prophecy with which his mother instructed him. R. Jochanan, in the name of R. Simon b. Jochai, said: Infer from this that his motlier tied him to a pillar, saying (Ib.) What hast thou done, O my son? and what, O son of my body? and what, O son of my vows? i.e., O my son — all are aware that thy father was God-fearing, and now [seeing you go in a wrong way], they will say: 'It was caused by his mother.' The son of my body; i.e., all the wives of thy father never saw the king after their pregnancy, but I have troubled myself to see him even after pregnancy. The son of my vows; i.e., all the wives of thy father offered vows [to the sanctuary] praying I wish I would have a son fit for the throne, but I offered vows and asked: I wished to have a son who should be healthy, a bright student, and should be powerful in the Torah, and fit for prophecy." Not for kings, O Lemuel, not for kings [is it fitting] to drink wine, not for princes [rosnim] strong drink! She said to him: "What hast thou to do with kings who drink wine, become intoxicated, and say: Lama-El (why do we need God)? And to rosnim (strong drink) i.e., is it right that he to whom all the mysteries of the world are revealed should drink wine to intoxication? According to others: He, to whose door all the princes of the world are hastening, shall he drink wine to intoxication?" R. Isaac said: "Whence do we know that Solomon repented and confessed to his mother? From the following passage (Ib. 30, 2) Surely I am more brutish than any man, and have not the understanding of a common man; i.e., I am more brutish (M'lsh) than any man means more than Noah, as it is written (Gen. 9, 20) And Noah, who was (Ish) a husbandman, began his work, and he planted a vineyard. Of a common man (Adam), refers to Adam."

...Rabbi Ishmael said, the same night that Solomon had completed the Temple, he married the daughter of Pharoah and there was a great celebration in the Temple. And the celebration of the Daughter of Pharaoh rose above the celebration of the Temple. As it is said, “That it is always so that people flatter the king”. In that moment God thought of destroying it [the Temple] as it says (Jeremiah 32:31) “The city has aroused My anger and My wrath from the day it was built until this day; so it must be removed from My sight.” And Rabbi Levi said, regarding the Morning Sacrifice that was coming close to the fourth hour. What did the Daughter of Pharoah do? She made a certain sheet [and placed it above his bed], and placed on it stars and planets, and every time that Solomon would try to wake up, he would see these stars and planets and would return to sleep for another four hours. Rabbi Levi said, on that day the Morning Sacrifice came close to being sacrificed in the fourth hour. [and regarding that hour it was taught: there was a situation in which the Morning Tamid was sacrificed in the fourth hour nad the people of Israel were saddened, for it was the day of the Inaugration of the Temple and they could not carry out the sacrifice because Solomon was asleep, and they were afraid of waking him because of the fear of the Kingship. They went and told Bat-Sheva his mother, and she went and woke him up and rebuked him, as it is written, “rebuke that his mother rebuked him” ...