Solomon and Solomonic LiteratureConway, Moncure Daniel
History
Solomon and Solomonic Literature
Conway, Moncure Daniel
Hebrew literature -- History and criticism; Solomon, King of Israel
But this idea of the returning hero does not appear to have been
original with any Semitic people; it is first found among them in the
Oriental book of Job, who longs to sleep in some cavern for ages,
then reappear, and, even if his flesh were shrivelled, find that
his good name was vindicated (xiv.). This idea of the Sleeping Hero
(which is traced in many examples in my work on The Wandering Jew)
appears to have gained its earliest expression in the legend of King
Yima, in Persia,--the original of such sleepers as Barbarossa and
King Arthur, as well as of the legendary Enoch, Moses, and Elias, who
were to precede or attend the revived Son of David. Solomon, whose
name probably gave Jerusalem the peaceful half of its name (Salem)
would no doubt have been central among the "Undying Ones" had it not
been for the Parliament of Religions he set up in that city. But he
had to wait a thousand years for his honorable fame to awaken.
In the "Wisdom of Solomon" the Queen of Sheba is also recalled into
life. She is, as Renan pointed out, transfigured in the personified
Wisdom, and her gifts become mystical. "All good things together came
to me with her," and "Wisdom goeth before them: and I knew not that
she was the mother of them." She is amiable, beautiful, and gave him
his knowledge:
"All such things as are secret or manifest, them I knew. For Wisdom,
which is the worker of all things, taught me: for in her is an
understanding spirit, holy, one only, manifold; subtle, lively,
clear, undefiled, plain, not subject to hurt, loving the thing that
is good, quick, which cannot be letted, ready to do good, kind to
man, steadfast, sure, free from care, having all power, overseeing
all things, and pervading all intellectual, pure, and most subtle
spirits. For Wisdom is more moving than motion itself; she passeth
and goeth through all things by reason of her pureness. For she is the
breath of the power of God, and a pure influence flowing from the glory
of the Almighty: therefore can no impure thing fall into her. For she
is the brightness of the everlasting light, the unspotted mirror of
the power of God, and the image of his goodness. And alone, she can
do all things; herself unchanged, she maketh all things new; and in
all ages, entering into holy souls, she maketh them intimates of God,
and prophets. For God loveth only him who dwelleth with Wisdom. She
is more beautiful than the sun, and above all the order of stars;
compared with the light she is found before it,--for after light
cometh night, but evil shall not prevail against Wisdom." (vii. 21-30.)
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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