Tag Archives: Tyre

Ezekiel 27 A Satirical Lament for Tyre

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Tyre, Lebanon – columns of what is believed to be palaestra (athletes’ training area) at the Al Mina excavation area By Heretiq – Own work, CC BY-SA 2.5, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=555876

Ezekiel 27

1The word of the LORD came to me: 2Now you, mortal, raise a lamentation over Tyre, 3and say to Tyre, which sits at the entrance to the sea, merchant of the peoples on many coastlands, Thus says the Lord GOD:
O Tyre, you have said,
“I am perfect in beauty.”
4Your borders are in the heart of the seas;
your builders made perfect your beauty.
5They made all your planks
of fir trees from Senir;
they took a cedar from Lebanon
to make a mast for you.
6From oaks of Bashan
they made your oars;
they made your deck of pines
from the coasts of Cyprus,
inlaid with ivory.
7Of fine embroidered linen from Egypt
was your sail,
serving as your ensign;
blue and purple from the coasts of Elishah
was your awning.
8The inhabitants of Sidon and Arvad
were your rowers;
skilled men of Zemer were within you,
they were your pilots.
9The elders of Gebal and its artisans were within you,
caulking your seams;
all the ships of the sea with their mariners were within you,
to barter for your wares.
10Paras and Lud and Put
were in your army,
your mighty warriors;
they hung shield and helmet in you;
they gave you splendor.
11Men of Arvad and Helech
were on your walls all around;
men of Gamad were at your towers.
They hung their quivers all around your walls;
they made perfect your beauty.
12Tarshish did business with you out of the abundance of your great wealth; silver, iron, tin, and lead they exchanged for your wares. 13Javan, Tubal, and Meshech traded with you; they exchanged human beings and vessels of bronze for your merchandise. 14Beth-togarmah exchanged for your wares horses, war horses, and mules. 15The Rhodians traded with you; many coastlands were your own special markets; they brought you in payment ivory tusks and ebony. 16Edom did business with you because of your abundant goods; they exchanged for your wares turquoise, purple, embroidered work, fine linen, coral, and rubies. 17Judah and the land of Israel traded with you; they exchanged for your merchandise wheat from Minnith, millet, honey, oil, and balm. 18Damascus traded with you for your abundant goods — because of your great wealth of every kind — wine of Helbon, and white wool. 19Vedan and Javan from Uzal entered into trade for your wares; wrought iron, cassia, and sweet cane were bartered for your merchandise. 20Dedan traded with you in saddlecloths for riding. 21Arabia and all the princes of Kedar were your favored dealers in lambs, rams, and goats; in these they did business with you. 22The merchants of Sheba and Raamah traded with you; they exchanged for your wares the best of all kinds of spices, and all precious stones, and gold. 23Haran, Canneh, Eden, the merchants of Sheba, Asshur, and Chilmad traded with you. 24These traded with you in choice garments, in clothes of blue and embroidered work, and in carpets of colored material, bound with cords and made secure; in these they traded with you. 25The ships of Tarshish traveled for you in your trade.
So you were filled and heavily laden
in the heart of the seas.
26Your rowers have brought you
into the high seas.
The east wind has wrecked you
in the heart of the seas.
27Your riches, your wares, your merchandise,
your mariners and your pilots,
your caulkers, your dealers in merchandise,
and all your warriors within you,
with all the company
that is with you,
sink into the heart of the seas
on the day of your ruin.
28At the sound of the cry of your pilots
the countryside shakes,
29and down from their ships
come all that handle the oar.
The mariners and all the pilots of the sea
stand on the shore
30and wail aloud over you,
and cry bitterly.
They throw dust on their heads
and wallow in ashes;
31they make themselves bald for you,
and put on sackcloth,
and they weep over you in bitterness of soul,
with bitter mourning.
32In their wailing they raise a lamentation for you,
and lament over you:
“Who was ever destroyed like Tyre
in the midst of the sea?
33When your wares came from the seas,
you satisfied many peoples;
with your abundant wealth and merchandise
you enriched the kings of the earth.
34Now you are wrecked by the seas,
in the depths of the waters;
your merchandise and all your crew
have sunk with you.
35All the inhabitants of the coastlands
are appalled at you;
and their kings are horribly afraid,
their faces are convulsed.
36The merchants among the peoples hiss at you;
you have come to a dreadful end
and shall be no more forever.”

This lament or dirge that Ezekiel is commanded to compose has been viewed in several manners. Historians have looked upon the list of goods and locations as a witness to the trade networks of the Tyrians of this time. Like many lists of goods and locations it contains many words rarely used in the Hebrew Bible and scholars have attempted to designate which type of wood or which city or nation is being referenced. Yet, for all the detail in portraying Tyre metaphorically as a trading ship filled with agricultural and luxury goods from across the known world its accumulated wealth and beauty are wrecked in a simple line, the east wind has wrecked you in the heart of the sea. Tyre, wealthy city of traders, is lamented by those who participated in trade with her.

Extracted from its placement in Ezekiel it would be easy to read this passage as a genuine lament from the author’s point of view because Tyre was a city of great resources and was a trading hub for the Mediterranean. Yet, within its placement in Ezekiel it is in the middle of a set of oracles against Tyre it is clear the author’s intent is satirical. Even so, with the detailed list of trade and trading partners, there may be a sense of envy for the wealth of the city. If this is written close to the oracles of the previous chapter, it also would share the bitterness of Tyre still standing after the fall of Jerusalem.

The initial imagery of Tyre as a ship is bracketed by the statements, “I am perfect in beauty” and “they have made perfect your beauty.” Between these two statements is a list of the materials used to construct this metaphorical ship, the crew of the ship and the soldiers who protect this vessel. Without getting into the weeds of types of wood, these are high quality timbers used for purposes appropriate to their strengths. For example, the mast made of a tall cedar tree from Lebanon, oars made of hard wood. The practical use of these fine materials is also combined with luxury when the deck is also inlaid with ivory, the sail which also serves to identify the ship comes from finely embroidered material and the coverings for the deck are made with royal colors. The crew come from Phoenicia: Sidon, Arvad, Gebul (Byblos) all cities along the coast and allies with Tyre. The defense of the ship comes from across the world: soldiers from Paras (Persia?), Lud and Put (Asia Minor and Libya) as well as archers from Arvad, Helech and Gamad.[1]

The poetic metaphor of the beautiful ship is temporarily interrupted by a list of nations and their resources which are filling the ship. Perhaps Ezekiel viewed the ship as in port taking on goods and it is surprising that Ezekiel would have the knowledge of trade that a list like this would require. Yet, Ezekiel has in other places shown an eclectic array of knowledge. Tarshish, Jonah’s hoped destination in Jonah 1:3, is probably a Phoenician port in southern Spain at the edge of the Mediterranean Sea.[2]Juvan, Tubal and Meshech are listed as traders in both vessels of bronze but also slave trafficking. Slave trafficking was an accepted part of the commerce of the ancient world and there is no indication that Ezekiel is highlighting these three trading partners or Tyre for their participation in this trade. However, Joel 3:6 accuses the people of Tyre and Sidon of selling the people of Judah and Jerusalem as slaves to the people of Juvan.[3] Judah and Israel are in the middle of the list as vendors of agricultural goods, and the rest of the list comprises a mixture of luxury and agricultural goods from across the region.  As the list concludes the metaphor resumes with the ship weighed down from goods brought in by land and sea and stored in the ship holds.

The east wind in the Mediterranean Sea has a reputation for destruction in the bible. Psalm 48:7 has the east winds shattering the ships of Tarshish, and we have seen Ezekiel use the east wind twice previously in metaphors to dry up the vine of Israel.[4] Now this wind proves disastrous for the ship of Tyre heavily laden with both crew and the wealth of the nations. All Tyre has accumulated in the metaphor are gone in an instant and the people who traded with her mourn. Tyre had been a central hub in the trading of the region, and many had made their profits in her harbors, and in the metaphor those who were once her patrons are now appalled by the fate of this city. The metaphorical destruction of Tyre upsets not only the merchants and people of the coastlands, but even kings are horribly afraid. The fear of kings may relate to the perceived impregnability of Tyre, and if this island fortress can fall to Babylon what hope do they have before this unstoppable force.

Tyre functioned like New York or Los Angeles, bringing goods into port for distribution throughout the region and as a location where the goods of the region were sent to the Mediterranean. The trading network of this time is smaller than modern cross ocean trade, but Tyre’s trade network spread across North Africa, the Middle East, and Southern Europe as far a Spain. The city would be a rich treasure if captured by any army, but being an island nation, it also proved a difficult city to conquer. Historically we know that Babylon was easily able to capture the sister cities on land who provided the food that normally fed the city, but without a blockade Tyre was able to sustain itself during the siege. As mentioned in the previous chapter, Babylon never captures Tyre. They are reported to have the city under siege for thirteen years and at the end they take the king of Tyre into captivity, but the city remains, in terms of the metaphor, seaworthy. Ironically the lament for Tyre here, and the briefer lament in the previous chapter, provide a pattern for Revelation’s lament over Babylon in Revelation 18.[5]

[1] Arvad is mentioned above. Helech may be Cilicia and the location of Gamad is uncertain.

[2] Jeremiah 10:9 refers to beaten silver brought from Tarshish. (NIB VI:1378)

[3] NRSV translates this are Greeks in Joel 3:6. The Juvans were the Ionians, the Greeks of western Asia Minor.

[4] Ezekiel 17:10; 19:12.

[5] Babylon in Revelation is a cypher for Rome, but the irony of using a lament for a city besieged by Babylon as a model for the lament of Babylon remains.

Ezekiel 26 Against Tyre

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Prophesied Destruction of Tyre By John Martin – -gF2vHlFlZ8p2A at Google Cultural Institute maximum zoom level, Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=21880083

Ezekiel 26

1In the eleventh year, on the first day of the month, the word of the LORD came to me: 2Mortal, because Tyre said concerning Jerusalem,
“Aha, broken is the gateway of the peoples;
it has swung open to me;
I shall be replenished,
now that it is wasted,”
3therefore, thus says the Lord GOD:
See, I am against you, O Tyre!
I will hurl many nations against you,
as the sea hurls its waves.
4They shall destroy the walls of Tyre
and break down its towers.
I will scrape its soil from it
and make it a bare rock.
5It shall become, in the midst of the sea,
a place for spreading nets.
I have spoken, says the Lord GOD.
It shall become plunder for the nations,
6and its daughter-towns in the country
shall be killed by the sword.
Then they shall know that I am the LORD.
7For thus says the Lord GOD: I will bring against Tyre from the north King Nebuchadrezzar of Babylon, king of kings, together with horses, chariots, cavalry, and a great and powerful army.
8Your daughter-towns in the country
he shall put to the sword.
He shall set up a siege wall against you,
cast up a ramp against you,
and raise a roof of shields against you.
9He shall direct the shock of his battering rams against your walls
and break down your towers with his axes.
10His horses shall be so many
that their dust shall cover you.
At the noise of cavalry, wheels, and chariots
your very walls shall shake,
when he enters your gates
like those entering a breached city.
11With the hoofs of his horses
he shall trample all your streets.
He shall put your people to the sword,
and your strong pillars shall fall to the ground.
12They will plunder your riches
and loot your merchandise;
they shall break down your walls
and destroy your fine houses.
Your stones and timber and soil
they shall cast into the water.
13I will silence the music of your songs;
the sound of your lyres shall be heard no more.
14I will make you a bare rock;
you shall be a place for spreading nets.
You shall never again be rebuilt,
for I the LORD have spoken,
says the Lord GOD.
15Thus says the Lord GOD to Tyre: Shall not the coastlands shake at the sound of your fall, when the wounded groan, when slaughter goes on within you? 16Then all the princes of the sea shall step down from their thrones; they shall remove their robes and strip off their embroidered garments. They shall clothe themselves with trembling, and shall sit on the ground; they shall tremble every moment, and be appalled at you. 17And they shall raise a lamentation over you, and say to you:
How you have vanished from the seas,
O city renowned,
once mighty on the sea,
you and your inhabitants,
who imposed your terror
on all the mainland!
18Now the coastlands tremble
on the day of your fall;
the coastlands by the sea
are dismayed at your passing.
19For thus says the Lord GOD: When I make you a city laid waste, like cities that are not inhabited, when I bring up the deep over you, and the great waters cover you, 20then I will thrust you down with those who descend into the Pit, to the people of long ago, and I will make you live in the world below, among primeval ruins, with those who go down to the Pit, so that you will not be inhabited or have a place in the land of the living. 21I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again, says the Lord GOD.

In contrast to the relatively brief oracles against Ammon, Moab, Edom, and Philistia, Tyre receives a sprawling collection of oracles only eclipsed by Ezekiel’s words against Egypt. Tyre and their partner Sidon had been present in the discussion of envoys in Jeremiah 27: 1-7 and continued to resist Babylon even after the fall of Jerusalem. Egypt and Tyre become the only two powers left to resist the Babylonians, and Tyre’s position as a major trading site made it an attractive but difficult target for the Babylonians.

If you visit Tyre in modern day Lebanon it is a peninsula, but at this point Tyre was an island roughly six hundred yards from the coastline. It has two ports, one facing north towards Sidon (twenty-five miles away) and one facing south towards Egypt and Africa. Tyre as a city has ancient origins but began its “golden age” under Hiram I (969-936 BCE). This coincided with the golden age of the Davidic monarchy under David and Solomon, and both partnered with Hiram I. Hiram provided material and masons to build David’s house (2 Samuel 5:11) and would later provide material and masons for Solomon’s ambitious building projects. (1 Kings 5) Solomon gained great wealth copying the practices of Tyre, but this also brought about Solomon’s demise as his adoption of the economic practices brought him into alliances by marriage and the adoption of the worship of his wives. Tyre would later form alliances with Samaria, most famously with King Ahab who marries the daughter of King Ethbaal of the Sidonians (whose throne was in Tyre).[1] Tyre often receives condemnation in the Bible for its commercial wealth, but they were often allied with Judah and Israel for trade.

The dating of this oracle against Tyre is incomplete and there is no straightforward way to resolve its intended date. In the date there is no month, and the fall of Jerusalem comes in the eleventh year of King Zedekiah in the fourth month on the ninth day.[2] Presumably this is a time close to the fall of Jerusalem, which fits with what we know about the beginning of Nebuchadrezzar’s siege of Tyre. If Daniel Block’s hypothesis that it is the first day eleventh month of the eleventh year (February 3, 585 BCE), then you can fix an exact date. (Block, 1998, p. 35) Yet, a date within a year of the fall of Jerusalem makes sense and is close enough for any reasonable attempt at dating, especially since the siege of Tyre lasts for thirteen years according to ancient sources.

Tyre’s offense is seeing an opportunity for profit in the aftermath of Jerusalem’s demise. Jerusalem is a central location for overland trade between Egypt and Africa in the south and Babylon, Cyprus, and Greece to the north and east. Although Jerusalem and Tyre had a mutually beneficial trading relationship in the past, Tyre may see the unrest on the overland routes in the countries along the Eastern Mediterranean as a boon to their maritime trading. Yet, for Ezekiel this schadenfreude exhibited by the residents of Tyre is the reason for the LORD’s condemnation of them.

Initially the opponent against Tyre is the LORD the God of Israel directly. God hurls the nations at Tyre like the sea breaking against the rock of the island. God personally scrapes the soil from the island making it a bare rock while the nations break down the walls and towers that protect the city. Tyre will become the plunder for the nations, and the ‘daughter-towns’ which are the land cities which provide the water and food the city requires are killed by the sword. The first oracle ends with the declaration that amid this destruction the people of Tyre will know that the one who has brought about their destruction in the LORD. The sovereignty of God is an important point for Ezekiel but throughout the book the nations are never streaming to the LORD in adoration, only in subjugation.

The second oracle begins with announcing the tool that the LORD will use in this judgment: Nebuchadrezzar. This is the first time the King of Babylon is mentioned by name. He brings his military might against the city. The description of siege warfare is detailed and reflective of practices of the day for assaulting a city on land. Yet, the issue is that Tyre is an island, and it is nearly impossible to set up a ramp against an island fortress or bring the battering ram to bear. In contrast to the expectations of Ezekiel, the siege of Tyre lasted for thirteen years but the city is never captured or destroyed. Nebuchadrezzar at the end of the siege deported the king of Tyre and exacted tribute, but the city would not be destroyed until Alexander the Great created a land bridge and captured the city in 332 BCE. The land bridge continued to gather deposits from the sea and now forms the peninsula that connects Tyre to the coast of Lebanon. Ezekiel acknowledges the failed siege of Tyre and promises Egypt as a payment to Nebuchadrezzar in Ezekiel 29: 17-20.

A lament for the city of Tyre begins in verse fifteen. The princes of the sea may be kings and rulers who traded with Tyre, or they may be merchants who made their living off the trade through their ports. The imagined removal of Tyre as a trading partner and a military power in the region causes the surrounding region to tremble and mourn. A similar tone is struck in Revelation 18 at the lament over Babylon (which is significantly longer than this short lament).

The final declaration of God in this chapter brings mythological language into the destruction of Tyre. God brings up the deep (Hebrew tehom) over them. Tehom is often used in scripture as the cosmic waters or chaos that can resist God or can be that which creation is pulled from, but here it becomes a tool like Nebuchadrezzar utilized for God’s judgment. After the deep comes over the city the residents go down to the Pit, the place of the dead. As a place of the dead, it is not necessarily a place of torment, like the much later notion of hell, but it is a place that separates the living from the dead. Here it is a ruin separated from the dwelling places of the living. The chapter closes with the first instance of “I will bring you to a dreadful end, and you shall be no more; though sought for, you will never be found again” which structurally helps provide a marker for these three chapters of words against Tyre. Tyre, like Ammon and Moab, is to be no more in this prophecy.

Like the previous chapter with its oracles against the nations surrounding Judah, this is the cry of a conquered people attempting to make sense of their place with God and the nations. Jerusalem and the temple are destroyed and yet the nations who taunt them seem to prosper. The only person they can turn to for vengeance in their humiliation is their God. These chapters are difficult as a modern reader. Troubling for some readers is the reality that the events described by Ezekiel do not occur as the prophet foresaw.  Other readers may be troubled by the portrayal of a vengeful God. Yet, our struggles with this text are miniscule compared to the struggle to reinterpret the faith of the people of Judah in the aftermath of the destruction of their society.

 

[1] Tyre and Sidon are often mentioned together and often the term Sidonians refers to both.

[2] 2 Kings 25:3, Jeremiah 39:3.

1 Kings 10 The Queen of Sheba and the Golden King

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Edward Poynter, The Visit of the Queen of Shebe to King Solomon (1890)

1 Kings 10: 1-10 The Queen of Sheba and Solomon

1 When the queen of Sheba heard of the fame of Solomon (fame due to the name of the LORD), she came to test him with hard questions. 2 She came to Jerusalem with a very great retinue, with camels bearing spices, and very much gold, and precious stones; and when she came to Solomon, she told him all that was on her mind. 3 Solomon answered all her questions; there was nothing hidden from the king that he could not explain to her. 4 When the queen of Sheba had observed all the wisdom of Solomon, the house that he had built, 5 the food of his table, the seating of his officials, and the attendance of his servants, their clothing, his valets, and his burnt offerings that he offered at the house of the LORD, there was no more spirit in her.

6 So she said to the king, “The report was true that I heard in my own land of your accomplishments and of your wisdom, 7 but I did not believe the reports until I came and my own eyes had seen it. Not even half had been told me; your wisdom and prosperity far surpass the report that I had heard. 8 Happy are your wives! Happy are these your servants, who continually attend you and hear your wisdom!

 9 Blessed be the LORD your God, who has delighted in you and set you on the throne of Israel! Because the LORD loved Israel forever, he has made you king to execute justice and righteousness.” 10 Then she gave the king one hundred twenty talents of gold, a great quantity of spices, and precious stones; never again did spices come in such quantity as that which the queen of Sheba gave to King Solomon.

There has been a long running dialogue among scholars about the location of Sheba. One common thought was Ethiopia and there is a long existent tradition in the church of Ethiopia which traces their royal line back to a liaison between the queen of Sheba and Solomon. Others looked to the Northern Arabian deserts and others to the southwestern part of the Arabian Peninsula (modern day Yemen). Late biblical texts regularly associate Sheba with gold, spices, and other luxury trading items.[1] Perhaps Sheba was an ancient and wealthy kingdom, like Tyre, that was based around walled cities and palaces but for the purpose of our narrative it could also be a people who lived off trade. A traveling queen who brings with her numerous camels and a large retinue (typically an armed force)[2] does not indicate the type of medieval kingdoms with palaces and walled cities many often imagine. At this time there are many groups that live a nomadic existence of traveling both for trade and with flocks of animals and if Sheba is in one of the proposed desert locations they would need places to stop, but much of their existence would be in motion.

This worldly traveled queen comes to Solomon and observes this newly constructed capital of Israel and hears the wisdom of Solomon and is left breathless[3]. Solomon has been aggressively engaged in building projects and trading and has acquired significant displays of wealth. He has also welcomed the entourage of Sheba to enjoy his hospitality as he answers the questions of the queen. Perhaps she views Solomon as a worthy and wise partner to trade ideas with, but she certainly views Solomon as a trading partner worthy of cultivation. Yet her vision of Solomon’s reign is probably centered around the palace complex and the city that Solomon has worked to build. Yet, with the prosperity that Solomon has surrounded himself with he seems to this worldly queen to be blessed.[4]

Something has changed in Solomon’s reign. Early in his reign a conflict between two prostitutes was brought before him but now he spends his time with royalty and trading partners. Solomon continues to acquire gold, precious stones and spices but these precious items are likely traded on the agricultural produce of the land. While I am not opposed to luxury nor do I expect kings to live like peasants, the continual focus on gold and precious items in these chapters about Solomon likely indicate a focus on gathering together and displaying the wealth that has been accumulated. Throughout the past seven chapters there has been very little focus on the condition of the people of Israel and whether they are sharing in this prosperity with their golden king.

1 Kings 10: 11-29 The Golden King

11 Moreover, the fleet of Hiram, which carried gold from Ophir, brought from Ophir a great quantity of almug wood and precious stones. 12 From the almug wood the king made supports for the house of the LORD, and for the king’s house, lyres also and harps for the singers; no such almug wood has come or been seen to this day.

13 Meanwhile King Solomon gave to the queen of Sheba every desire that she expressed, as well as what he gave her out of Solomon’s royal bounty. Then she returned to her own land, with her servants.

14 The weight of gold that came to Solomon in one year was six hundred sixty-six talents of gold, 15 besides that which came from the traders and from the business of the merchants, and from all the kings of Arabia and the governors of the land. 16 King Solomon made two hundred large shields of beaten gold; six hundred shekels of gold went into each large shield. 17 He made three hundred shields of beaten gold; three minas of gold went into each shield; and the king put them in the House of the Forest of Lebanon. 18 The king also made a great ivory throne, and overlaid it with the finest gold. 19 The throne had six steps. The top of the throne was rounded in the back, and on each side of the seat were arm rests and two lions standing beside the arm rests, 20 while twelve lions were standing, one on each end of a step on the six steps. Nothing like it was ever made in any kingdom. 21 All King Solomon’s drinking vessels were of gold, and all the vessels of the House of the Forest of Lebanon were of pure gold; none were of silver — it was not considered as anything in the days of Solomon. 22 For the king had a fleet of ships of Tarshish at sea with the fleet of Hiram. Once every three years the fleet of ships of Tarshish used to come bringing gold, silver, ivory, apes, and peacocks.

23 Thus King Solomon excelled all the kings of the earth in riches and in wisdom. 24 The whole earth sought the presence of Solomon to hear his wisdom, which God had put into his mind.25 Every one of them brought a present, objects of silver and gold, garments, weaponry, spices, horses, and mules, so much year by year.

26 Solomon gathered together chariots and horses; he had fourteen hundred chariots and twelve thousand horses, which he stationed in the chariot cities and with the king in Jerusalem. 27 The king made silver as common in Jerusalem as stones, and he made cedars as numerous as the sycamores of the Shephelah. 28 Solomon’s import of horses was from Egypt and Kue, and the king’s traders received them from Kue at a price. 29 A chariot could be imported from Egypt for six hundred shekels of silver, and a horse for one hundred fifty; so through the king’s traders they were exported to all the kings of the Hittites and the kings of Aram.

Solomon has become a trading partner with Sheba, Tyre, and Egypt. The accumulation of six hundred sixty-six talents (over 25 tons) of gold in a single year is an incredible amount to comprehend. It is possible that the text wants us to understand this as an annual income of gold, but it also may represent one year at the height of the gold trade for Solomon. The number 666 here has no connection with the use of the number in Revelation, but there are many ways where Solomon’s reign begins to look like the portrayal of Babylon in that book from centuries later. As Walter Brueggeman can state, “the impression is given that all roads and all gold leads to Jerusalem.” (Brueggemann, 2000, p. 134)

Solomon’s wisdom, as represented by 1 Kings, has been primarily applied to trading and construction of luxurious buildings. Solomon’s great ivory throne may be lifted up by the text as unique, but it displays the type of ostentatious use of resources expected by kings of the surrounding kingdoms. Everything is gold, even silver is considered of little value. Golden shields which only serve the purpose of display (both the full-length shields and the bucklers) rather than being practical for defense are much like the apes and peacocks (or baboons)[5] which are brought into the royal menagerie. Everything Solomon touches seems to turn to gold like the legend of King Midas. Yet, the golden king seems to be emulating Pharaoh, Hiram of Tyre, and the Queen of Sheba more than his father King David.

Solomon has also become an arms trader. Solomon’s downfall is narrated in the following chapter and the listing of Solomon’s acquisition and trading of horses and chariots from Egypt and Kue as well as his amassing of vast quantities of gold and other precious resources and the taking of many wives in the following chapter is the opposite of the ideal king imagined in Deuteronomy 17: 16-17. The forty year reign of Solomon is a time where much seems to be gained in Jerusalem, but one also has to wonder if there was also something lost. The wisdom of Solomon seems to have left the law of God behind in pursuit of the wealth of the world. As we prepare to enter the final chapter of 1 Kings which covers King Solomon’s reign we may wonder if this golden king has gained the wealth of the whole world but lost his soul[6] and the soul of the nation he is chosen to reign over.

[1] Isaiah 60: 6, Jeremiah 6:20, Ezekiel 27:22

[2] The Hebrew hayil behind entourage typically refers to a military force. (Cogan, 2001, p. 311)

[3] The Hebrew ruach means both spirit and breath and so having no more spirit can also mean being breathless.

[4] The Hebrew ‘asre can be translated ‘blessed’ or ‘happy’ and is very common in the book of Psalms and throughout wisdom literature.

[5] Translators have struggled with the Hebrew tukki for years. It may be a word from Tamil (tokai) indicating trade with India (hence peacocks) but others have suggested baboons from African trade. Translation of rarely used words is often very challenging.

[6] The idea of soul (nephesh) in Hebrew is not an immortal portion of being separate from the earthly body, it is closer to the essence of life itself. Soul and life are often interchangeable in Hebrew thought.