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| Solomon: The Lure of Wisdom
ISBN: 9780300171679
Platform/Publisher: JSTOR / Yale University Press
Digital rights: Users: unlimited; Printing: chapter; Download: chapter
Subjects: Solomon King of Israel; Jews -- Kings and rulers -- Biography; Bible. O.T. -- Biography;
Weitzman (Surviving Sacrilege: Cultural Persistence in Jewish Antiquity) writes in the tradition of critical biblical scholarship with great eclat, which makes his latest effort something of a demolition derby. This is illustrated well by the most familiar story told of King Solomon, finding him judging two women who are vying for the same baby, a sword suspended above it. In some versions of the Bible, a second, dead child exists, "accidentally smothered by its mother and scarcely acknowledged after its death." Likewise, recent archaeological research has not only debunked what was thought to be evidence of the king's construction projects, including his Temple, but also his Kingdom, once thought to be vast. This kind of brush clearing opens the way for a tour de force evaluation of Solomon's wisdom-both the practical mastery which brought him to political power and the wisdom which God granted him while he slept-a trait that the biblical narrative does "not explain or describe...but only shows in action, leaving us awestruck and puzzled," Claims Weitzman. His effort is organized through successive tales-Solomon's Kingdom, his Temple, and so on-clearly illustrating the many cultures, including Islam, Rome, and medieval Catholicism, that contributed, creating a foundation story for our culture. A thoroughly entertaining treatment of a controversial topic. (Mar.) © Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved.
Steven Weitzman is the Daniel E. Koshland Professor of Jewish Culture and Religion at Stanford University. He was awarded the Gustave O. Arlt Prize for Outstanding Scholarship in the Humanities for his first book, Song and Story in Biblical Narrative , and has received fellowships from the American Council of Learned Societies and the Yad-Hadiv Foundation. His other books include Surviving Sacrilege and The Jews: A History . |
