Prolegomena to the History of IsraelWellhausen, Julius
Religion
Prolegomena to the History of Israel
Wellhausen, Julius
Bible. Old Testament -- Criticism, interpretation, etc.; Jews -- History -- To 70 A.D.; Judaism -- History -- To 70 A.D.
"Solomon brought up the daughter of Pharaoh out of the
city of David unto the house that he had built for her; for he
said, No woman shall dwell in the house of David, for the place
is holy whereunto the ark of Jehovah hath come" (viii. 11).
There is no further need to speak of viii. 12-16 (1Kings ix. 25);
more indifferent in their character are the addition in vii.
12-15, a mere compilation of reminiscences, the embellishment in
viii. 3-6, derived from 1Kings ix. 17-19, and the variations in
viii. 17 seq., ix. 2I, misunderstood from 1Kings ix. 26 seq.,
x. 22. The concluding chapter on Solomon's reign (1Kings xi.),
in which the king does not appear in his most glorious aspect, is
passed over in silence, for the same motives as those which
dictated the omission of the two chapters at the beginning.
The history of the son is treated after the same plan and by the
same means as that of the father, only the subject accommodates
itself more readily to the purpose of the change. The old
picture is retouched in such wise that all dark and repulsive
features are removed, and their place taken by new and brilliant
bits of colour not in the style of the original but in the taste of
the author's period,--priests and Levites and fire from heaven, and
the fulfilment of all righteousness of the law, and much music,
and all sorts of harmless legendary anachronisms and
exaggerations besides. The material of tradition seems broken up
in an extraneous medium, the spirit of post-exilian Judaism.
VI.II.
VI.II.1. After Solomon's death the history of Israel in Chronicles
is traced only through Jehovah's kingdom in the hand of the sons
of David, and all that relates to the ten tribes is put aside.
For according to the notions of the Judaistic period Israel is the
congregation of true worship, and this last is connected with the
temple at Jerusalem, in which of course the Samaritans have no
part. Abijah of Judah makes this point of view clear to Jeroboam
I. and his army in a speech delivered from Mount Zemaraim before
the battle.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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