By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — These brief all-prose passages from “The Former Unnamed Prophets” purport to summarize a description of the construction of the First Temple, i.e. King Solomon’s “house.” Solomon is depicted simply as wise, via a gift from the LORD. [1]
The connection to the Torah Reading is that in the Torah we have the description/instructions for building the portable Tabernacle, whereas in this Haftorah, we have the fragmentary recorded details of the Building of the First Temple. [2]
I use my own paraphrased adaptation of the Hebrew translation by Robert Alter, Professor Emeritus at the University of California, Berkeley. [3]
Quickly, Solomon comes across as a cruel taskmaster on the building project. The text briefly summarizes: The building of the “house” involved an alliance between King Hiram of Lebanon and King Solomon. Solomon’s contribution was ‘forced labor from all Israel’ of 30,000 men.
The text of this Haftorah then proceeds to enumerate expanded numbers of the forced labor: “…70,000 porters, 80,000 quarriers in the mountains, besides Solomon’s prefect officers over the labor (3,300 in count).” [4]
The Temple (“house”) is claimed to have been completed in the 480th year after the escape from Egypt. The “house” was 60 cubits in length, 20 in width, and 30 in height. Incomprehensible further fragmentary descriptions and dimensions included: an outer court (20 x10 cubits) in front of the great hall, an inset and latticed windows, and a large balcony of three tiers all around the building, respectively 5 cubits of the lowest one; 6 cubits of the middle one; and 7 cubits of the highest, apparently connected via a spiral staircase. The building was embellished with cedar wood.
Now comes the mandatory upbeat ending.
“And the word of the LORD came to Solomon…if you walk by My statutes and do My laws and keep all My commands…I shall fulfill My word with you that I spoke to David your father, and I shall dwell in the midst of the Israelites, and I shall not forsake My people Israel.”
To me, these details constitute homage to the undeserving, cruel King Solomon. To have preserved them, ultimately in the form of a Haftorah to be recited annually and proudly at a Shabbat service, is an uncomely stretch. The rabbis truly scraped the bottom of the barrel in choosing these passages for an “inspiring” Shabbat morning service.
God, who is applied as justifier for this activity, sadly does not look either Godly or good. I prefer to think of all this text as the embellished imagination, with inconsistencies, of a cumulative group of unobjective writers — a phenomenon not unusual in the “received” Tanach.
If asked to write these passages, I confidently state I could have done better with clarity. This even considers that the “Former Prophet” writers, in those primitive days, had lower performance standards.
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[1] This is contestable. He is to me more an ambitious and cruel leader, of questionable wisdom.
[2] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 499
[3] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 456-459. It appears to this reader that Alter himself has difficulty making clear sense of these ‘received’ fragmentary details.
[4] Ibid. Alter, pp. 456-7
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.