Solomon and Solomonic LiteratureConway, Moncure Daniel
History
Solomon and Solomonic Literature
Conway, Moncure Daniel
Hebrew literature -- History and criticism; Solomon, King of Israel
The Deuteronomist especially aims at suppression of the Solomonic
cult and régime. The law, not found in Exodus, against marriage with
foreigners (Deut. vii. 3) is especially turned against Solomon's
example by the addition that such a marriage will "turn away thy son
from following me, that they may serve other gods." The wife, or other
member of a man's family, who entices him to serve other gods, is to
be stoned to death. (xiii. 6-11.) Moses is represented as anticipating
the setting up of kings, and even the particular events of Solomon's
reign. Solomon's "forty thousand stalls of horses" (1 Kings iv. 26),
his horses brought out of Egypt (1 Kings x. 28), his wives, his silver
and gold, are all foreseen by the ancient lawgiver, who provides that:
"He [your king] shall not multiply horses to himself, nor cause the
people to return to Egypt to the end that he should multiply horses
... neither shall he multiply wives to himself, that his heart turn
not away; neither shall he greatly multiply to himself silver and
gold." (Deut. xvii. 16, 17.)
This Deuteronomist Moses foresaw, too, that some check on the divine
appointments to the throne would be needed. "Thou shalt in any wise
set him king over thee whom thy God shall choose: one from among thy
brethren shalt thou set over thee: thou mayest not put a foreigner
over thee." As all of these commandments were received by Moses from
Jahveh himself (Deut. vi. 1, and elsewhere), it is worthy of remark
that there should be no trace of that anger with which Jahveh met the
proposal for a monarchy: "they have rejected me, that I should not be
king over them." (1 Sam. viii.) In 1776 Thomas Paine, in his Common
Sense, used this scriptural denunciation of kings with much effect, and
it no doubt contributed much to overthrow British monarchy in America.
The special denunciations of sun-worship in Deuteronomy (iv. 19,
xvii. 3) suggest a probability that Solomon's allusion to the sun,
when dedicating the temple, may have been popularly associated with
the punishable practice alluded to in Job xxxi. 26, of kissing the
hand to the sun and moon. The words of Solomon are cancelled in the
Massoretic text, and do not appear in any English version, but they
are preserved by the LXX., and there declared to be in the book of
Jasher. "They are," says Dr. Briggs, "recognised by the best modern
critics as belonging to the original text [of 1 Kings viii. 12, 13]
which then would read:
"The sun is known in the heavens,
But Jahveh said that he would dwell in thick darkness.
I have built up a house of habitation for thee,
A place for thee to dwell in forever.
Lo, is it not written in the book of Jasher?" [6]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
Reviews
Reviews
No reviews yet
Be the first to share your thoughts on this work.
Join the Discussion
Join the discussion
Sign in to leave a comment or review.
Sign InorCreate an account