01_Biblica_1_E_Kalimi_Layout 1 04/02/13 09:27 Pagina 497 01_B 497 KING SOLOMON Yedidyah, Solomon bore a third name that appears in Ecclesiastes: Qoheleth. The rabbis explain that Solomon was also called Qoheleth (from qhl, “the one who assembles”) because he taught/talked in as- semblies, as it says: “Then assembled Solomon […]” (1 Kgs 8,1) 47. A similar opinion was expressed also by some medieval Jewish com- mentators, such as Rashi (“he assembled numerous wisdoms”), Rabbi Abraham ibn Ezra 48, and also by some modern exegetes, for instance, Mordechai Zer-Kabod 49. However, as already noted in bib- lical research, the similarities between Solomon and Qoheleth are just Solomonic fiction in the first chapters of the book of Qoheleth, which “the prosaically minded editor mistook for authorship” 50. In fact, the name “Solomon” never appears in the book of Qoheleth and, despite all that is mentioned above, there is no explicit identification of Qoheleth with Solomon in this or any other biblical book. That Solomon could not be the author of Qoheleth is clear from the post- exilic Hebrew of the book, and from the late date of the composition (Persian or even early Hellenistic period as some scholars assume) 51. Moreover, the author of Qoh 6,2 uses an idiom from the book of Chronicles (2 Chr 1,11b) 52, which was composed in the Persian era. Thus, the language and the late date of the book contradict identifi- cation of Qoheleth with Solomon. Probably, the rabbis’ intention was to identify the unknown speaker of the book with the well-known biblical prototype of wisdom, i.e., Solomon, and attribute to him the disputed holiness of the book of Qoheleth (Babylonian Talmud, Sab- bath 30b; Abbot deRabbi Nathan, Text A, I) 53, in order to include it See Midrash Qoheleth Rabbah 1,1; Midrash Song of Songs Rabbah 1,1; 47 Seder Olam Rabbah 15; Babylonian Talmud, Baba Bathra 15a. See their commentaries on Qoh 1,1. 48 See M. ZER-KABOD, Qoheleth (Daat Mikra; Jerusalem 1973) 3-4, a (He- 49 brew). G.A. BARTON, The Book of Ecclesiastes (ICC; Edinburgh 1908) 58-59, 50 67; see also R.E. MURPHY, Ecclesiastes (WBC 23A; Dallas, TX 1992) 1-2; B. WILLMES, Menschliches Schicksal und ironische Weisheitskritik im Ko- heletbuch (Biblisch-Theologische Studien 39; Neukirchen-Vluyn 2000) 80- 82; L. SCHWIENHORST-SCHÖNBERGER, Kohelet (HThKAT; Freiburg im B. – Basel – Wien 2004) 140-141. On this issue, see the secondary literature listed by KALIMI, “The Date of 51 the Book of Chronicles”, An Ancient Israelite Historian, 51, note 52. See KALIMI, Retelling of Chronicles, 17. 52 For Abbot deRabbi Nathan, Text A, I, see J. GOLDIN (ed.), The Fathers 53 According to Rabbi Nathan (Yale Judaica Series 10; New Haven, CT 1955) 5. © Gregorian Biblical Press 2012 - Tutti i diritti riservati