by VM44 17 Replies latest watchtower bible
there is also controversy as to whether JESUS even existed... so to be honest, who cares... solomon was kinda a bastard, u know threatening to kill a baby and all... what kinda bastard does that??? and what if both women were like ok! and really, would the woman who wasnt the mother really just say "sure cut the baby in half!"? NOOOOOOOO!!
the infamous
To me Solomon is mostly, if not exclusively, a fictional character who embodies and illustrates the ancient Near Eastern notion of wisdom -- this is the reason why most all sapiential books in the Hebrew and Greek OT are ascribed to him as the "patron" of wisdom.
Wisdom in this perspective is mostly practical, especially related to the government of the king (e.g. 2 Samuel 14:20; Proverbs 16:10) whose main quality is justice, and 1 Kings 3 illustrates this perfectly.
It is also international, as implied by the connections of Solomon with Egypt (he marries the Pharaoh's daughter) or Arabia (the queen of Saba), etc. Interestingly the sapiential books overtly include real or fictitious non-Israelite sections (Amenemope in Proverbs 22:17--23:11, Agur in chapter 30, Lemuel in 31). They are conspicuously exempt of Israelite particularism and "revelation". They are mostly interested in natural and cultural reality.
No wonder the Deuteronomistic ideology treats Solomon as a "sinner by universalism" (1 Kings 11). This echoes the prophetic criticism of wisdom (Isaiah 5:21; 10:13; 19:3ff,11ff; 29:14ff; 31:1f; Jeremiah 50:35).
I say we cut Solomon in half to see if we can find any wisdom inside him.
I once read an interpretation of the Solomon / baby / prostitutes story that went something like this:
The story was really a politcal allegory. The northern tribes were preparing to rebel following the death of David, and Solomon wanted desperately to keep the kingdom together. So he had the baby /sword/prostitute story circulated far and wide, the meaning of which was, "I am perfectly willing to use the sword to divide the nation and will fight a long, bloody civil war if necessary. This will result in the death of untold thouands, as well as the likely destruction of our young kingdom. However, if you northerners are smart, you will be willing to "give up the baby" (allow me to rule over you all). Better to live as a united nation under me than be weakened by a civil war & ruled over by some invading army".
The Bible account says something to teh effect that all the tribes of Israle were in "fear and trembling" over th wisdom of Solomon. Why would they be in fear and trembling over a nice little story about a baby who got back to his true mother? The explanation that fits is that the tribes were afraid that what Solomon stated would come true, and so remained united under him.
I say we cut Solomon in half to see if we can find any wisdom inside him.
WAAaahhahahahaaa!!!
I just had visions of King Solomon-shaped pinatas. Hit it! Yeah! Hit it! *poof* CANDY!!
I just found this at http://math.truman.edu/~thammond/history/Circle.html
I Kings 7:23 states "And he (Solomon) made a molten sea, ten cubits from one one brim to the other: it was round all about, and its height was five cubits; and a line of thirty cubits did compass it round about." This appears to give a value of 3 for pi. The author's theory (which has recently been making the rounds) that a more accurate value (3)( 111 / 106 ) is coded in the text by the use of gematria. The written form has numerical value 111 and the spoken form has numerical value 106. The corresponding value of pi is 3.141509, accurate to better than one part in ten thousand. Stern's theory has come under attack, and not least for this reason, this short article makes a good subject for classroom discussion. Closely related topic
Whaddya think?
steve
If Solomon was wisdom personified and he had all these hot chicks, well....um , never mind.
The Bible gives one example of his wisdom in the way that he determined which mother was the the actual mother of a baby. A method, by the way, that involved trickery.
i would have resolved it that way too
am i really wise?
