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The Syro-Palestinian Context of Solomon's Dream

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 June 2011

C. L. Seow
C. L. Seow
Affiliation:
Princeton Theological Seminary
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Extract

Thirty years ago Siegfried Herrmann published an article wherein he suggested that the account of Solomon's dream in 1 Kgs 3:4–15 (cf. 2 Chr 1:3–13) belonged to the same literary genre as the Egyptian Königsnovelle—propagandistic stories of the king's inauguration, his building projects, and other accomplishments. In particular, Herrmann maintained that Solomon's dream ought to be compared with the dream of Tuth-mose IV, in which the Egyptian prince received divine promise of kingship.

Type
Research Article
Information
Harvard Theological Review , Volume 77 , Issue 2 , April 1984 , pp. 141 - 152
Copyright
Copyright © President and Fellows of Harvard College 1984

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References

1 Herrmann, Siegfried, “The Königsnovelle in Ägypten und Israel,” Wissenschaftliche Zeitschrift der Karl-Marx-Universität Leipzig 3 (1953/1954). Gesellschafts- und Sprachwissenschaftliche Reihe, 1. 51–62.Google Scholar

2 ANET (3d ed.) 449; Breasted, James Henry, ed., Ancient Records of Egypt (Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1906) 2. 320–24.Google Scholar

3 Mettinger, Tryggve N. D., Solomonic State Officials (ConB 5; Lund: Gleerup, 1971) 150.Google Scholar

4 Heaton, Eric William, Solomon's New Men (New York: Pica, 1974) 15–30.Google Scholar

5 Görg, Manfred, Gott-König-Reden in Israel und Ägypten (BWANT 105; Stuttgart: Kohlhammer, 1975) 54–268.Google Scholar

6 See Cross, Frank Moore, “The Ideologies of Kingship in the Era of the Empire: Conditional Covenant and Eternal Decree,” in Canaanite Myth and Hebrew Epic (Cambridge: Harvard University Press, 1973) 247–48Google Scholar; Fensham, F. C., “Legal Aspects of the Dream of Solomon,” Fourth World Congress of Jewish Studies (Jerusalem: World Union of Jewish Studies, 1967) 1. 67Google Scholar; Ishida, Tomoo, The Royal Dynasties in Ancient Israel (BZAW 142; Berlin: De Gruyter, 1977) 83–84CrossRefGoogle Scholar; Weinfeld, Moshe, Deuteronomy and the Deuteronomic School (London: Oxford University Press, 1972) 250–54.Google Scholar

7 See Gray, John, I & II Kings (OTL; Philadelphia: Westminster, 1970) 124Google ScholarPubMed, and Brongers, Hendrik Antonie, I Königen (Nijkerk, 1967) 52.Google Scholar Both mention the dreams of Krt and Danel, but only in passing. Montgomery, James A. and Gehman, Henry Snyder (The Books of Kings [ICC; Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1951] 106)Google Scholar mention only the “incubation” of Krt.

8 Cf. Albright, William F., Archaeology and the Religion of Israel (Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press, 1942) 139–55.Google Scholar

9 KAI 26, I, lines 10–11.

10 KAI 215, lines 9–13.

11 1 Kgs 4:20; KAI 215, line 9.

12 Blenkinsopp, Joseph (Gibeon and Israel [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1972] 96)Google Scholar argues that the bāmāh of Gibeon was a royal sanctuary at that time.

13 See ANET (3d ed.) 449.

14 See Oppenheim, Leo, The Interpretation of Dreams in the Ancient Near East (Transactions of the American Philosophical Society n.s. 46.3; Philadephia, 1956) 245–55.Google Scholar

15 The vocalization of this name is based on the name of a Mitannian king of Alalakh. See Albright, William F., Yahweh and the Gods of Canaan (Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1968) 118 n. 9.Google Scholar

16 See Obermann, Julian J., How Danel was Blessed with a Son: An Incubation Scene in Ugaritic (JAOSSup 6; New Haven: American Oriental Society, 1946) 21–23.Google Scholar

17 ḥāzon is used in combination with, or parallel to, ḥálom in Isa 29:7; Job 20:8; 7:14; 33:15; Zech 10:2. Clifford, Richard J. (“Psalm 89: A Lament Over the Davidic Ruler's Continued Failure,” HTR 73 [1980] 44 n. 21)CrossRefGoogle Scholar speaks of the “vision” here as a dream and a “cosmogonic empowering.”

18 DeGuglielmo, Antonine A., “Sacrifice in the Ugaritic Texts,” CBQ 17 (1955)196–216.Google Scholar

19 KA1 26, II, line 19.

20 KAI 214, lines 20–21. Cf. lines 15–16 of this inscription.

21 Obermann (Danel, 4–6 ) reconstructs 15 lines here, including a dream scene.

22 Cf. Zalevsky, Saul, “The Revelation of God to Solomon in Gibeon,” Tarbiz 42 (1973) 215–58.Google Scholar

23 The first word is usually read as mʾat. See CTA 14.1.38; Ginsberg, Harold L., The Legend of King Keret (BASORSup 2–3; New Haven: American Schools of Oriental Research, 1946) 35Google Scholar; Gray, John, The Krt Text in the Literature of Ras Shamra (Leiden: Brill, 1955) 30.Google Scholar The change of person from mʾat to ybky is awkward. Hence I prefer to read mn instead of mʾat. Cf. mannul mannil manna in the Amarna tablets (UT, 150). See CAD 10/1, 212–13; see Old Akkadian minum daprus, “why do you withhold?” Gelb, Ignace J., Old Akkadian Writing and Grammar (2d ed.; Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1961) 136.Google Scholar

24 Gray, I & II Kings, 124; Brongers, II Königen, 52. However, I do not think that this qualifies as an “incubation” in the classical sense of the term. The element of intentionality is absent, there is no preliminary ritual mentioned—unless one accepts the dubious connection between weeping and incubation rituals (so Obermann, p. 16)—and the dream took place in the king's chamber (bḥdrh) and not in a sanctuary.

25 Fensham, “Legal Aspect,” 67.

26 CTA, 62 n. 22.

27 CTA 14.1.56–58. Here it is partly reconstructed on the basis of the parallel passages (lines 125–29, 127–41, 282–87).

28 For the most part, my reading follows the restoration of Ginsberg (Legend, 36). However, 1 am restoring [tn n] ʿrm whereas Ginsberg reads [tn ṯʾa rm. The photograph in CTA shows an ʿáyin (or part of a śin?) before the letters rm. Virolleaud's drawing in CTA also shows an ʿáyin. Ginsberg's reading ṯʾarm appears to be incorrect. Moreover, the reading ṯʾar in line 15, which is supposed to support Ginsberg's reading here, is uncertain. Cf. Margalit, B., “Studia Ugaritica II: Studies in Krt and Aqhat,” UF 8 (1976) 139–40.Google Scholar He rejects the reading ṯʾar in line 15 on the basis of his reexamination of the photographs in CTA and in the Institut für Ugarit-Forschung. Although in Ugaritic bn is often differentiated from nʿr, the parallelism of bn and nʿr is attested (e.g., PRU 5. 68.25–26). In UT 1012.29, nʿry means “my children.” Note also the parallelism of bn and nʿr in Hos 11:1; Exod 2:6; Judg 13:5, 7, 8, 24; 1 Sam 17:55; 2 Sam 13:32; Qoh 10:16–17.

29 Cf. Fensham, “Legal Aspect,” 68; Zalevsky, “Revelation,” 226. Zalevsky's attempt to find the third element (victory over enemies) in this section of the Aqhat text is unconvincing.

30 Eaton, John H., Kingship and the Psalms (SBT 2d s. 32; Naperville: Allenson, 1976) 117–18.Google Scholar

31 Zalevsky, “Revelation,” 234–35.

32 Brunner, Hellmut, “Das hörende Herz,” ThLZ 79 (1954) 697–700Google Scholar; Görg, Gott-König-Reden, 82–84.

33 It was the prerogative as well as the responsibility of the king to “judge” the people. Hence, when Kirta became ill and could not judge (ṯpṭ) the widow and the orphan, he was urged to step down as king (CTA 16.2.27–28, 41–45). It is also relevant to note that the root ṯpṭ is often taken as a synonym of mlk (cf. CTA 4.4.43–44; 3.5.40–41).

34 Porteous, Norman W., “Royal Wisdom,” in Martin, Noth, ed., Wisdom in Israel and in the Ancient Near East, presented to Prof. Harold Henry Rowley (VTSup 3; Leiden: Brill, 1955) 249.Google Scholar

35 See Kalugila, Leonidas, The Wise King: Studies in Royal Wisdom as Divine Revelation in the Old Testament and Its Environment (ConB 15; Lund: Gleerup, 1980) 12–68.Google Scholar