Isaac Kalimi, «King Solomon: His Birth and Names in the Second Temple Period Literature», Vol. 93 (2012) 481-499
In Chronicles Solomon is represented as one who was born under normal circumstances. He appears in the center of David’s nineteen descendants, and as the youngest of Bathsheba’s four sons, but still gained the kingship. The name «Solomon» was given to the child by God prior to his birth and He elected him as king. The root of the name was interpreted twice, but there is no mention of «Yedidyah». The allusions to or ignorance of the name «Yedidyah» in Psalms, Nehemiah, Chronicles, and Josephus, as well as the question if «Qoheleth» is Solomon’s third name, are also discussed.
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KING SOLOMON
child ― Solomon (12,24-25). Instead of these, he gives the list of
David’s sons as is mentioned in 2 Sam 5,14, and adds to the end of
the list: “four by Bathshua daughter of Ammiel†(1 Chr 3,5c) 12:
2 Sam 5,14-16 1 Chr 3,5-8
14. These are the names of
5 a. These were born to him in Jerusalem:
those who were born to him in Jerusalem:
b. Shimea, Shobab, Nathan 13, and Solomon
Shammua, Shobab, Nathan, Solomon,
c. four by Bathshua, daughter of Ammiel
15. Ibhar, Elishua, . . . and Ibhar, Elishama, [. . .]
The information regarding the names of the sons of David in 1
Chronicles 3 was taken from 2 Sam 5,14-17. The Chronicler repeats
this list verbatim, once again, in 1 Chr 14,4-6, a place that stands
in parallel to 2 Sam 5,14-15 14. However, although the names
“Shimea, Shobab, Nathan, and Solomon†appear in 2 Sam 5,14 and
Solomon is mentioned there in the fourth spot among the 11 sons
of David, no one would conclude from 1 Chronicles 14 that
Bathsheba had four sons. That Bathsheba delivered four sons to
David, Solomon being the fourth and youngest one, emerges only
from 1 Chr 3,5. This content clearly stands in contrast to what is
known about the children Bathsheba bore in 2 Samuel, that she
gave birth to two children: the first one died and the second was
Solomon ― her first, the oldest and the only surviving child. Be-
sides, there is no further information in any early text on the number
of children born to Bathsheba. In short, according to the early bib-
lical texts, Bathsheba had one child and not four, and, in any case,
Solomon was her first, the only and the oldest son rather than the
These words appear only here and in 1 Chr 14,4-6 (// 2 Sam 5,14-15).
12
Jesus’ genealogy presented in Luke 3,31 traces him through Nathan rather
13
than through Solomon as in Matthew 1,6-16; see the discussion by KALIMI,
Retelling of Chronicles, 66 and note 134. Is the “House of Nathan†mentioned
in Zach 12,13 related to Nathan mentioned in the texts under review?
This repetition in Chronicles probably stresses Solomon’s birth place.
14
That is to say, Solomon was born in a city which became the spiritual and
cultural center of the Jewish people in the time of the Chronicler himself; see
KALIMI, “The View of Jerusalem in the Ethnographical Introduction of Chron-
iclesâ€, An Ancient Israelite Historian, 88.
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