cheenc03a.pdf

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SOLOMON
political imporrancc has bcen vary nluch exaggerated.
9. Politioal .4lre.1cly in r K. [j,] we find the
extent of his kingdom idenliscd as ,hat
of David had been. It is not difficult to
nccounf for this. The gragmphical statement in 424
[jr].~risrr
simply fcom a mlnntrrpretariun of ,?? (niihur)
in a. 11 [6r]. which really means thc 'nibrl Miyrim,'
but war supposed to mean the Euphrates.' Later
ages went farther in the sac& course, aoii in Prs. 45
72 (the latter of which, however, hnr received a
later insertion) his hie furnishes the framework for
ilicturei of the \Lrsrinnic king Against this idealisation
thc redactor of ECCLESIASTES (,. uu) . in his own
,vsy protests.
\Vc now turn to Solomon'r religious position. TYaa
he a polytheist? Did he ever, as \Y. E. Barnes
1 Haitings. oB2~1.b) rxpressesit. 'pntronire
lo, Not foreign worship?' An affirmative answer is
PalflAeist. suggested by I K. 11.-s. TI is plain, how
ever, from 6's text, as well as from the phenomena of
hlr, that the original h a been much expanded by
latiter hands from r religious motive.' There war no
bad faith in thir ; the later writers simply refart history
in the light of certain fundamental principles-those of
Ueurrrvnomy (cp KINGS [BOOK], 4 6). And their
procedure appe~rr more startling than it really was,
owing to the fact that the ethriic names and the names
of the gods have been accidentaliy corrupted. The
original statement probably war that which underlies
11,. 'Then did Solomon build a sanctuary for the god
of Cusham and Jer+s~eel'-i.c, for his Misrite wife;
this probably stood in connection with the account of
Solomon's marriage (cp 1631-33).
varions commentr oil this were inserted in the margin, and
introduced by the redactor or redrccorr inco the text l.anly,
sorrllpliu"~iiinif"rnled 'the god ufcushsm' into 'Chemoah the
god (abommnrlon) of Moab,' and 'Jerah,m~el'into'Qrilcom rhe
(ahom~nnt~on) of the b'tlc Ammon. In whar is now% r,
eini~meel~re. Alirrite. Rehohochite' hccame 'Monbite. Am-
.!~l~it~.~~lumircifr~m'l~rammire,~~arrriant
to "Jerapm?e~re"),
Zidoliin'!, and Hia~te,' rod in whar ir now v. 3. pnnces~s
I;hmiulltr\' became 'princerrcr reven hundr-d,' and 'concuhlnr,
Irt#,naelirer' became 'concubines three hundred.'
fiat Solomon had a number of wives, both Israelite
and non-Israelite. is probable enough, but he did not
makc altars fix all of them, nor did he himself combine
the ivorship of his niver' gods with that of Yahwh. He
can have 11;td no thought of denyiilg the sole divinity of
Ynhir-8 in the land which was Y?h\ve'r 'inhenlance.'
11 is a dirlortion of the true text when aL represents
Solomon as 'burning incense and sacrificing' (GUupAa
xol €Due) to foreign gods.$ That thir anlbitious k,ng
had such a chastened piety as we find in I K. 8 14-61
lco Driver. Inlr.lel 200 Kl is 011
, .
all eround~ inconceivahle:
hut we have no r;a;on to don6 thnt according to
his lights he was a faithful worshipper of Yahw*, so far
as this war consistent milh his demotic inclieationr.
[In the apocryphal Bmk of Wisdom, the con~poririon
of an Egypilrn Hellenist, who from internile:idence is jud ed
to have lived iomcwhaf carlier than ~fiil~
11. Later iree wrsoou or soiorlox), ~~i~~~~~ is
idealisation. introdnced uttering wonls of rdmo,>ition,
~mb~te$ with the .nirir of Greek philorophcrs,
to healhen rorcreignr. Che ro-called Platter of Solnmon, on
rhcorher hand, acollrclio%i of Phs~iiet Psalm, prmerved lo ur
only in i. Greek uelrion, h3.i noching ro do ~irh Solomon or the
tind'irional conceprlon of his pcrson. to owe it.
,or rnn\c?iher who ,ha5 dirii,lg,li.hed there "ewer pieces fro",
the older ' Phalmr of i)avid.'4l1n NT rimer Solomon war rhe
type alike of maOiih,ence md lvirdum (11t.t;~~
rk. 11~'). B U ~ jewirh ir;enl~
,hir.
rrrrrinp from a bl-c inlerpretrtion of EccIcr.28, gave him
rovcreiglIIy over demuns, Lo which wcrc added (by a prruer.ion
of 1 K.4,,>. lordship over all bearrr and hirds,nnd the pver of
~~:#deirlnndln&! rhrlr sprrch. There fnhler w e d io the Arrbr
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1 Cp Er7ul.r. Rnoox nr and rcr Wi. G122+4.
2 See Henzin~eiand ~i&l, and cp Driver, fntr.1~1, 19.
3 Szc, hoiucurr, Rurney (Hartinxi IlE28*jn, nolet), who
fauoarr '3r, and thinks that the fact 'hiu,ken tonrd down by
rolnc larcr hand into the statement of >KT.
4 0x1 the Aprocryphrl 'Psalm-of Solomon'see Awca~vs~~c
L~raa*Tuns, 8s 77.85. Cp alro ~ m c a r r P ~ rI. ~ ,
SON OF GOD
.eforc the time of 3luhrmmed (~l'i6ickz. 123). tuunJ i place in
he Konll md pue Solomon ('lulclmln) ;I kirlinp Ollie
hroughou; chc Qlorlem Earr. Thc rrviy of Solonrun. the
,mopr, the queen of Shehr in the Korm(.Sur. 21) closrly
.iiows the second ~~rgum to hth. I a, where rhr 1cwi.h
il,lrl =buur him be rrrd at large. 5oIunlon was i~bppo~eci
hir .orereignrs over demons to the poi,eiiion of s reid
,n rb,ci> tile 'mciu great name of God' wa, engnvcd. bec
>a"c, ,,,#a,, Nigiih, Incrud., n. zr, and chap. 1, n. 15.-
~ALXIAX. T. K. C.
SOLOMON'S PORCH (H croh [royl coho-
M W ~ [ ~ ] Jn. ~ ~ 10x3 ) . AcLr 51%. See TEMPI.E. § 30 f
SOLOMON'S SERVANTS, CHILDREN OF ('I?
lih~ '13'). a guild of persons attached to the second
emple, nrentioned in Ezra Zijjs Keh. isr b I13t
ylol AOYAWN CAAWMWN [BAI.]; Ezi~255 y.
~BAHcEA [HI; 218 y. ACEAHCEAMA [Bl. y. &BAH-
-s&n\a [A]), with the XBTHIKIM (yil.), and rutnctirnrs
'i.,+, Seh. 3263, 1019) appaccntly included undrl thni
erm. Rerthenu-Ryrsel leaves if uncertain whether this
+Id of ' servants of Sololrlolr' grew out of n srriill p:ot
,r the cnnaanitish ~Q~KISCTVZ~~S (I I