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  • From: Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>
  • To: b-hebrew AT lists.ibiblio.org
  • Subject: Re: [b-hebrew] qohelet
  • Date: Sat, 19 Sep 2009 19:14:18 +0200

Dear Kevin,

Your points regarding "Son of (PN)" are well taken. So it is bias rather than ignorance when so many scholars say that the writer of the book of Daniel erred when he says that Nebuchannezzar was the father of Belshazzar (5:11,13), and use this as evidence for a late writing of the book.
But I still think that the claim that the text in the book of Qohelet "inplies" that Solomon was the writer ("Imply" in the sense "indicate without saying, hint, suggest-Webster) is correct.

It is correct as George Athas has written that we have no hard data, no proofs, and no evidence that king Solomon wrote the book, and that it is not a pseudipigraphic work. But the hints are clear, as Dave Washburn and Karl Randolph have written. The writer says the following things about himself:

1. He was son of David. That could fit many kings.

2. He was king over Israel i Jerusalem (1:12). That could not fit any of the kings of Judah. But it could fit Saul, David, Solomon, and Rehabeam, but not the kings of Israel who reigned from Samaria.

3. The writer was (claimed to be) a "good king" (Dave)

4. He claims to have amassed wisdom above all who were before him (1:16-18) (Karl). That could not fit any other king after Solomon, because Solomon is described in the historical books as the wisest king who has lived.

5. All that the king experienced according to chapter 2 fit Solomon very well, according to what is written about him, but it hardly fits the description of any other king.

All these points taken together shows clearly, in my view, that the author, whether or not he was Solomon, wanted the readers to believe that he was Solomon.


Best regards,

Rolf Furuli
University of Oslo




Quoting Rolf Furuli <furuli AT online.no>:
The book implies that Solomon wrote it....

I write:
But this is not necessarily so. It states "Son of David, king in
Jerusalem" (Qoh 1.1 NRSV). All of the kings of Judah bore the
appellation "Son of David" just as all the rulers in Damascus bore the
appellation "Son of Hadad" and various Aramaean dynasts bore the
appellation "Son of (PN)" as noted in Assyrian documents. In view of
this, it could be attributed to any of the rulers of Judah, including
Jehoiachin who died in Babylon in the late sixth century.

For this practice, I recommend the following (I'll add other citations later):
Hélène Sader's, _Les États Araméens de Syrie: Depuis leur fondation
jusqu'à leur transformation en provinces assyriennes_. Beiruter Texte
und Studien 36. Wiesbaden: Franz Steiner Verlag, 1987.

Some time ago I wrote a series of blog posts on the "Son of PN"/"House
of PN" usage in Assyrian. Those will explain this usage:
http://www.bombaxo.com/blog/index.php?s=b¥t-pn

Qohelet neither states nor implies that Solomon is its author. It is
*traditional* to assign the book to Solomon through an intertextual
reading of Ecclesiastes in light of the MT text of 1 Kings, in which a
picture emerges of a repentant Solomon late in life providing sage
advice to others so that they will avoid his own various earlier
mistakes. But he was not the only king of Judah with wealth,
concubines, and so on, to which such reminiscences would apply. But
it could just as easily, and more fittingly in a linguistic sense, be
applied to the former king Jehoiachin, revisiting his own prideful
state as a king of however brief duration, and his direct suffering of
the consequences of his actions and decisions, placed in context over
the course of a difficult life, which lasted until at least about 560.
I suggest this as a distinct possibility.

Regards,
Kevin P. Edgecomb
Berkeley, California

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