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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492 ISAAC KALIMI
Samuel 7), the Chronicler retrospectively (post eventum) consid-
ered Solomon’s birth, reign, and Temple building as fulfillment of
Nathan’s prophecy (1 Chr 17,11-12 // 2 Sam 7,12-13) 35. Thus the
Chronicler went one step further and deduced that Solomon’s name
was also given by the Lord himself. According to him, the child
was named Shelomoh, before he was born, against the background
of his future peaceful period of reign. Notice, by the phrase:
bybsm wybywa-lkm wl ytwxnhw
the Chronicler refers ― in chiastic order ― to 2 Sam 7,1b:
wybya lkm bybsm wl-xynh hwhyw
(though there the phrase was said regarding David, the Chronicler
omitted it for his own reasons) 36.
The phenomenon of naming a child by God or divine messenger
before his birth most likely was known to the Chronicler from other
cases in the earlier “biblical†writing, for example, regarding Ish-
mael and Isaac (Gen 16,11; 17,19) as well as from the report in 1
Kgs 13,2 regarding King Josiah of Judah, and in Isa 7,14 regarding
the young woman’s child that shall be called “Immanu-El†37. The
phenomenon of assigning someone to a high position, already in
his mother’s womb, is also well known in biblical and ancient Near
Eastern literature (e.g., Jer 1,4-5 and Isa 49,1) 38.
The Chronistic historian provides double explanations for the
name Shelomoh (both in texts that have no parallel in the Hebrew
Bible or elsewhere):
The first one derives the name Shelomoh from the word shalom,
as stated in 1 Chr 22,9. As is expounded above, possibly the Chron-
icler interpreted the name Shelomoh against the background of the
On this issue, see in detail KALIMI, “The Rise of Solomon in the Ancient
35
Israelite Historiographyâ€, 38-40.
See KALIMI, Reshaping of Ancient Israelite History, 36-39. For the re-
36
lation of these verses in Chronicles to Nathan’s Prophecy (2 Samuel 7 // 1
Chronicles 17), see also below in this study.
See also later on in Matt 1,21.
37
See in detail KALIMI, “The Rise of Solomon in the Ancient Israelite His-
38
toriographyâ€, 22-23 and note 64.
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