Hi Kirk (and Karl, as it turns out), One small correction, if I may:
> But "all the kings before me" > would only refer to David and Saul if Solomon was speaking. Actually, he says "all those before me over Jerusalem" in 1:16. Saul, of course, was king neither over Jerusalem nor in it. David did the conquering. That would leave "all those" as David alone - unless we appeal to the Jebusites, as Karl did, which seems very much clutching at straws to me. (My opinion, of course ... but what do earlier Jebusite rulers have anything to do with anything in Israelite thinking?) An extra little complexity for the "literally Solomon" view, which I forgot to mention, is in 1:12: Qohelet says "I, Qohelet, was/have been (HYYTY) king over Israel in Jerusalem". Why the perfect, given that Solomon died in office? OK, I've started down this path, I might as well blunder on (hence the change of subject)... While we're at it, I have other problems, based on internal evidence (since we've thrashed the borrowed words horse), with the identification of Solomon, or any other king of Judah for that matter, as the author. (None of these observations is original, by the way.) The basic issue is that after the first two chapters, there is nothing in the rest of the book which even hints at a royal identification - and several passages which sound downright strange if we take them to be coming out of the mouth of the annointed davidic king; for example, strong critiques of those in power, and consistent 3rd-person references to the king/ruler: 4:1, "Again, I observed all the acts of oppression being done under the sun. Look at the tears of those who are oppressed; they have no one to comfort them. Power is with those who oppress them; they have no one to comfort them." 5:8-9, "If you see oppression of the poor and perversion of justice and righteousness in the province, don't be astonished at the situation, because one official protects another official, and higher officials protect them. The profit from the land is taken by all; the king is served by the field" (or however that should be translated) 8:2-5, advice on obeying the king, how to react to his word, etc. - all in the third person 10:5-7, the evil the author has observed "as an error proceeding from the presence of a ruler", which has to do with appointing fools to positions of authority. 10:20, warning against cursing the king. So why the obvious allusions and "I am the king" references - without ever using the king's name - in chapters 1 & 2, and then nothing for the rest? The reason, in my view, seems to be 2:12: "for what will the man be like who comes after the king? He (or They) will do what has already been done." That is, if the great Solomon himself can't find meaning and purpose and durability in these things, with all his wealth and resources and wisdom, then it can't be found. Of course, if the book was written in the 10th century, all of this is very problematic. Was it Solomon, or someone pretending to be Solomon? The former has difficulties, as shown above ... but if the latter, did they expect their readers to "get it", or were they really trying to fool people? Wouldn't we read in Kings about how some chap was arrested for impersonating the king and thrown in prison? (ok, that wasn't a serious question...) HOWEVER, if this were written some centuries later (later in the monarchic period, after the exile, whatever), then it would be blatantly obvious to all that this is a literary device, whereby Qohelet the wisdom teacher is putting on the persona of the greatest and wisest king in history, for the purpose of philosophical testing of all the potential "meaning-makers" in life "under the sun". It would be neither cryptic nor deceitful - no less than if I were to write a playful little piece on the English language, presenting myself as a well-known English Bard observing with horror the modern atrocities that have been committed with my plays... By the end of chapter 2, Qohelet has finished that little exercise, and the persona is dropped. Thus, in the rest of the book (that is, in the other teachings of Qohelet which the narrator has collected), he speaks as the "ordinary", non-royal person that he is, critiquing, observing, advising, etc. So-that's-perfectly-clear-glad-we-all-agree-on-it... <ducking for cover> Stephen Shead Centro de Estudios Pastorales Santiago, Chile _______________________________________________ b-hebrew mailing list [email protected] http://lists.ibiblio.org/mailman/listinfo/b-hebrew
