Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel

Description

Solomon's image as a wise king and the founder of Jerusalem Temple has become a fixture of Jewish, Christian, and Islamic literature. Yet, there are essential differences between the portraits of Solomon that are presented in the Hebrew Bible. In this volume, Isaac Kalimi explores these differences, which reflect divergent historical contexts, theological and didactic concepts, stylistic and literary techniques, and compositional methods among the biblical historians. He highlights the uniqueness of each portrayal of Solomon - his character, birth, early life, ascension, and temple-building - through a close comparison of the early and late biblical historiographies. Whereas the authors of Samuel-Kings stay closely to their sources and offer an apology for Solomon's kingship, including its more questionable aspects, the Chronicler freely rewrites his sources in order to present the life of Solomon as he wished it to be. The volume will serve scholars and students seeking to understand biblical texts within their ancient Near Eastern contexts.

Isaac Kalimi is Gutenberg-Research University-Professor in Hebrew Bible Studies and Ancient Israelite History, and Fellow of the Gutenberg Forschungskolleg at Johannes Gutenberg Universitat Mainz, Germany, Foreign Member of the Belgian Royal Academy for Overseas Sciences, and Honorary Member of the Scandinavian Society for Iranian Studies. Kalimi is one of the world's leading scholars in his field. He is also regarded as a pioneer of intercultural and interdisciplinary scientific exchange between Jewish and Christian theologies. Kalimi has published numerous books and articles, including The Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History in Chronicles (2005, reprinted 2012; recipient of the 2006 R. B. Y. Scott Book Award, by the Canadian Society of Biblical Studies), An Ancient Israelite Historian (2005), The Retelling of Chronicles in Jewish Tradition and Literature (2009), Fighting Over the Bible (2017), Untersuchungen zur Judischen Schriftauslegung und Theologie (2018), and Metathesis in the Hebrew Bible (2018).

'Writing and Rewriting the Story of Solomon in Ancient Israel takes on much more than the subject implied by its title. This volume principally addresses history, presenting Isaac Kalimi's views about 'what actually happened' ... Kalimi offers well-reasoned work on the biblical texts, and his examinations of the archaeological and epigraphical data is a delightful bonus. No one who is seriously interested in the texts about King Solomon should overlook this volume.' John W. Herbst, Reading Religion 'This detailed study offers comprehensive literary and historical-critical reading of, for the most part, the biblical texts which deal with the reign and person of Solomon ... [Kalimi] provides a detailed account of the differences between these sources and the reasons for them and covers extensively the various theoretical positions which have developed over the last century ... Excellent study ...' A. G. Hunter, Journal for the Study of the Old Testament