Biblical Hebrew Forum

["Lewis Reich" <lewreich AT javanet.com>]

Niels Peter Lemche wrote:

> Well, if we should continue this thread, was there a Jerusalem in
Solomon's
> time...remembering the present Tel Aviv (university)-Jerusalem (Hebrew
> University) controversy as to the status of Jerusalem in the 10th century
> BCE. But has this with Hebrew to do?

Not a great deal, as you correctly observe, and I should probably apologize
for having initiated it.  If I'd thought it would develop into a thread, I
probably would not have begun it. Probably I should also apologize for
continuing it by trying to explain myself.

My main, perhaps somewhat pedantic point, was that saying that something
"left no trace" carries with it, at least to me, an implication that a
search has been made in all possible places where a trace might conceivably
be found.  Saying that "no trace of [something] has been found" implies (at
least to me) that a reasonably thorough search has in fact been made.  Since
in the case of Solomon's Temple, the likeliest places for finding traces
have not been subjected to much, if any, archaeological examination, using
those expressions seems to me to carry an unwarranted implication that
traces will not be found, when we really have very little idea about the
likelihood of finding them.

(I'm assuming, of course, that by "Solomon's Temple" we are referring to the
"First" Temple that the Bible reports as destroyed by the Babylonians (ca.
586 BCE).  By the Bible's account, the building during its history fell
intor disrepair and was substantially reconstructed.  Thus, even if one
accepts the historicity of the account of Solomon's having built the first
Jewish temple structure on the site, one would not necessarily expect to
find traces that could be unambiguously attributed to him.  If by "Solomon's
Temple" we mean the actual structure that the Bible reports as having been
built during his reign, then I would certainly agree that in view of the
subsequent history of the site it seems improbable that traces will be found
that could be definitively attributed to Solomon.)

Apologetically,

Lewis Reich