Solomon
was king over all Israel. The fourth chapter of 1 Kings tells us that
Solomon was trying to rectify the lack of government in managing such a large
kingdom by the appointing of new positions and by setting up an
administration. This is a system of
government that was different than that which Israel had experienced up to that
point[1]. Solomon was setting up a labour force and a
management plan to deal with the expanding kingdom properly; however, by the
account in 1 Kings chapter 9, the kingdom
of Israel was falling
into a class system and divides among the people were more evident. The expenses of running the new government
and the tax levies that Solomon had against the people were difficult for the
common people to bear, and as such a distinction between the rich and the poor
was being made[2].
From
the onset of the chapter dealing with Solomon by Miller and Hayes[3]
they are openly against any possible validity of the possibility that the
biblical record contains some truth regarding the Solomonic reign. They make arguments in a mocking fashion,
such as with statements like, “The ‘wise’ Solomon”, “The ‘powerful’ Solomon”,
and “the ‘wealthy’ Solomon”, and follow these statements with stating that he
could not have been these things because of the problems that his government
had in functioning[4]. Some arguments that they make are valid and
appropriate, such as when they question why a long running reign of forty years
would leave behind no written records, as well as why a king that was reputed
to do much international trade would leave behind little or no archaeological
evidence of the foreign luxury goods that are listed as having been imported[5]. Thus, even though Miller and Hayes come
across as being rather petty and judgmental or biased against the biblical
record, they at least also pose some good arguments against the biblical
account.
Millard
approaches his essay on the analysis of the Solomon Narrative with what appears
to be an open mind and an understanding that in the literary narratives there
usually some aspect of truth, albeit exaggerated at times[6]. One of the arguments that Millard makes in
defence of the Solomon Narrative is concerning the gold gilding of the
temple. Millard says that while it is
very doubtful that the interior of the temple was gold plated in its entirety,
it is likely that parts of it were, such as the doors, pillars, and
alters. He uses the examples of
contemporary Babylon,
the Inca and Maya, and Indian architecture to show that the practice was used
by other cultures[7]. Some of the other defences that Millard
makes are in relation to the use of gold dining-ware, the use of ivory gilded
with gold for the throne, and that the lack of archaeological evidence
containing Solomon’s name is not unusual[8].
According
to the essay by Wightman[9], there are many things
that archaeological evidence has been able to prove about the period around
when Solomon was to have lived in Israel. There are many digs, such as those at Megiddo, that have been
attributed to Solomon’s time. However,
it is also stated that one of the problems facing the archaeological evidence’s
validity is the concept that a certain style of building has been attributed to
a specific time without having any further evidence other than ‘gut feeling’ to
go off[10]. Thus, while there is evidence from Solomon’s
time period, what can and can’t be trusted from it is still in question.
The
overall picture that the Bible paints of Solomon and his reign is that of a
good and wise king. There are parts of
Solomon’s rule where it appears that he goes into debt and begins to worship
the gods of his non-Israelite wives. The
Biblical account[11]
tells that at this time the Lord told Solomon that he was to loose the kingdom
to a servant, and it was after this that the kingdom split into two, thus tying
together the downfall of the kingdom with the actions of Solomon.
Bibliography
Holy Bible, The. King James Version. 1989.
The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints. Salt
Lake City, UT.
Millard, A. (1997). ‘King Solomon in his Ancient Context’, in The Age of Solomon: Scholarship at the Turn of the Millennium (ed., L.K. Handy; Studies in the
History and Culture of the Ancient Near East 11; Leiden: Brill). pp. 30-53.
Miller, J., and
Hayes, J. (2006). A History of
Ancient Israel and Judah. Westminster John Knox Press, London. Ch. 7
Old Testament: 1
Kings – Malachi.
Religion 302 Student Manual.
Church Educational System, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day
Saints, Salt Lake City, UT.
(1982). pp. 4-9
Wightman,
G.J. (1990). ‘The Myth of Solomon’, Bulletin of the American Schools of Oriental Research 277/8. pp. 5-22
[1] Old Testament Student Manual 1 Kings -
Malachi, p. 4-5
[2] Ibid, p.
8
[3] Miller
& Hayes, A History, p. 186
[4] Ibid
[5] Ibid, p.
187
[6] Millard,
King Solomon in Ancient Context, p.
30-31
[7] Ibid, p.
33
[8] Ibid, p.
34-49
[9]
Wightman, The Myth of Solomon
[10] Ibid,
p. 8-9
[11] 1 Kings
11:11-38
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