The Book of Solomon

A Testament for Roboam

Solomon entrusts his knowledge to Roboam as an inheritance more precious than wealth, commanding his son to study, preserve and honour its teachings. [1][3][2]

Greater Key · Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203

A Testament for Roboam

The Additional MS 10862 introduction begins with Solomon asking his son to treasure his words. Roboam asks how he can follow a father whose knowledge of living things came through an angel. Solomon answers by recounting his own revelation, then explains how its secrets were gathered into the Key. [1]

In the Lansdowne introduction, Solomon speaks near death and offers an inheritance more precious than his riches. He gives particular attention to the movements of the heavens and the different employments of spirits. Roboam must retain the teaching carefully, understand it, and direct its use towards divine honour. [3]

The Preliminary Discourse adds an account of the testament’s preservation. It says that rabbis wrote the teaching on bark and inscribed the pentacles on copper plates kept in the Temple. The discourse thus assigns different materials to the written instructions and their diagrams, explaining how both were handed down after Solomon. [2]

The English introductions call the son Roboam, their form of the name Rehoboam. In each, Solomon addresses him directly: the book preserves a father’s instruction to his heir, together with commands to study, remember and guard it. The gift includes both the secrets themselves and responsibility for their transmission. [1][3]

Sources and editions

Greater Key — Introduction from Additional MS 10862
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed pages 2–4; facsimile PDF pages 9–11. Revelation, address to Roboam, burial and rediscovery of the ivory casket.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
Greater Key — Preliminary Discourse from Lansdowne MS 1203
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed page 1; facsimile PDF page 8. Angelic teaching, testament for Roboam, bark and copper plates, attributed translation and Arles transmission narrative.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10
Greater Key — Introduction from Lansdowne MS 1203
S. L. MacGregor Mathers, The Key of Solomon the King (1889), manuscript introductions attributed to British Library Additional MS 10862 and Lansdowne MS 1203. Printed pages 5–6; facsimile PDF pages 12–13. Star and thunder revelation, celestial and terrestrial creatures, testament and ethical conditions.
Full passage · accessed 2026-10-10

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A Testament for Roboam

Sources and editions