The Throne of King Solomon

[Moses]

http://www.globusz.com/ebooks/LegJew4/00000058.htm

Next to the Temple in its magnificence, it is the throne of Solomon that perpetuates the name and fame of the wise king. None before him and none after him could produce a like work of art, and when the kings, his vassals, saw the magnificence of the throne they fell down and praised God.

The throne was covered with fine gold from Ophir, studded with beryls, inlaid with marble, and jewelled with emeralds, and rubies, and pearls, and all manner of gems. On each of its six steps there were two golden lions and two golden eagles, a lion and an eagle to the left, and a lion and an eagle to the right, the pairs standing face to face, so that the right paw of the lion was opposite to the left wing of the eagle, and his left paw opposite to the right wing of the eagle. The royal seat was at the top, which was round.

When Solomon set foot upon the first step to ascend to his seat, its machinery was put into motion. The golden ox arose and led him to the second step, and there passed him over to the care of the beasts guarding it, and so he was conducted from step to step up to the sixth, where the eagles received him and placed him upon his seat. As soon as he was seated, a great eagle set the royal crown upon his head.


The throne did not remain long in the possession of the Israelites. During the life of Rehoboam, the son of Solomon, it was carried to Egypt. Shishak, the father-in-law of Solomon, appropriated it as indemnity for claims which he urged against the Jewish state in behalf of his widowed daughter. When Sennacherib conquered Egypt, he carried the throne away with him, but, on his homeward march, during the overthrow of his army before the gates of Jerusalem, he had to part with it to Hezekiah. Now it remained in Palestine until the time of Jehoash, when it was once more carried to Egypt by Pharaoh Necho. His possession of the throne brought him little joy. Unacquainted with its wonderful mechanism, he was injured in the side by one of the lions the first time he attempted to mount it, and forever after he limped, wherefore he was given the surname Necho, the hobbler.

Nebuchadnezzar was the next possessor of the throne. It fell to his lot at the conquest of Egypt, but when he attempted to use it in Babylonia, he fared no better than his predecessor in Egypt. The lion standing near the throne gave him so severe a blow that he never again dared ascend it. Through Darius the throne reached Elam, but, knowing what its other owners had suffered, he did not venture to seat himself on it, and his example was imitated by Ahasuerus. The latter tried to have his artificers fashion him a like artistic work, but, of course, they failed.  The Median rulers parted with the throne to the Greek monarchs, and finally it was carried to Rome.

I wander if it was taken apart for it gold and jewelry and mechanics or still somewhere to be discovered by the Archeology.

Its funny a legend that one pharaoh is called in Bible Neho not because this was his name but because he was crippled by the throne.
Nehe, Neho in Hebrew is crippled or disable.

But the legend must be true because of all the Kings wanting this Throne.

I also read somewhere that the King Ahasuerus in the book of Ester wanted to sit on this Throne but not able to do so he ordered to build an exact replica. Once this was completed he ascended to the Throne and declared days of celebration and royal  banquets.

This is one of these celebrations when queen Washti didn't come etc.
We know the rest of the megilah.

I think that Solomon was viewed by Egypt monarchy as one of the Egyptian Kings and the land as parts of Egypt. He was a King like King of Egypt Shishak etc.  That Egypt was divided in to number of kingdoms and Solomon's kingdom as one of them.

The cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer have now been extensively excavated. A stratum containing large palaces, temples and strong fortifications was found in each of these cities. The name of Solomon was not found, but the cartouche of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III instead.

I think we have a better chance to find Solomon's name if we knew his Egyptian name.

[Sekhmet]

Excellent post Moses however, I have to point out nowhere is Shishak called the father in law of Solomon.  I understand there is a Jewish tradition of calling him that.

In the days of Solomon, Tutankhamun, and Suppiluliumas I calling each other 'brother' indicated equally ranked and aged Kings.  In the case of the three above Suppiluliumas would be called father by Solomon, and Tutankhamun because of the age difference between them.

And all Kings were father to their people in those days.  So the tradition I have heard of; can mean simply Rehoboam's humbling himself along with everyone else in Jerusalem (2nd Chron. 12:5-10) before Ramesses II made him father to them all.  It does not have to be a literal father in law.

[Moses]

Very interesting.

I never though about it this way as to father of the nation or King Father.
Actually makes a lot of sense to me.

 Speculation

David    is     Psusennes  - A king who reigned before Shishak

Joab   is      Un-joab-endjed (Joab)   An army commander of the above king

Hiram Abi(f)   Herum Atif   A chief architect of the above king and his son

Maakhah Tamar   Maakhare Mu-Tamhat   A daughter of the above king

Was King David actually one and the same as the Lower Egyptian monarchy of the twenty-first and twenty-second dynasties?

[Sekhmet]

Very interesting.

I never though about it this way as to father of the nation or King Father.
Actually makes a lot of sense to me.

 Speculation

David    is     Psusennes  - A king who reigned before Shishak

Joab   is      Un-joab-endjed (Joab)   An army commander of the above king

Hiram Abi(f)   Herum Atif   A chief architect of the above king and his son

Maakhah Tamar   Maakhare Mu-Tamhat   A daughter of the above king

Was King David actually one and the same as the Lower Egyptian monarchy of the twenty-first and twenty-second dynasties?

My dear Moses,  last year we went through this I believe Michael (hoping his book is going well) even joined in a time or two.  Please forgive me for the semi-tardiness in replying to this post of yours, sir.

It very well could be, but when you look at it from a regional historical POV it just makes you laugh.  All the adjusting, that has to be done.  Psusennes was an Upper Egyptian, David was not.  Please explain how you justify this difference with scripture.  Then I will reconsider, sir.

Then there is the problem of if David is that late in time.  We still have tribal Hebrews in tents, please see verse 1Kings 12:16, "To your tents O! Israel!...."  How do you explain the much earlier Merneptah's  information that Israel, had Princes that begged for mercy just like Hittite, Canaan with it supposed city state kings (as from the Amarna Letters), Ashkelon and Gezer.  We know that the escaped Hebrew slaves wandering developed an elder system of government, and a theocracy from Judge to High Priest.  Merneptah was just to educated, to grant that much status to his dad's escaped slaves.  Sorry, no it is not logical, history, and above all else scripture is violated.


You support your man well, dear Moses but in this case he just is not worthy, friend.

[Sekhmet]

I think that Solomon was viewed by Egypt monarchy as one of the Egyptian Kings and the land as parts of Egypt. He was a King like King of Egypt Shishak etc.  That Egypt was divided in to number of kingdoms and Solomon's kingdom as one of them.

The cities of Hazor, Megiddo and Gezer have now been extensively excavated. A stratum containing large palaces, temples and strong fortifications was found in each of these cities. The name of Solomon was not found, but the cartouche of the 18th Dynasty Pharaoh Amenhotep III instead.

I think we have a better chance to find Solomon's name if we knew his Egyptian name.

My Dear Moses! 

Regarding your Amenophis III observations, this is all true, but this would have been at the time of Samuel, and created the people’s yearnings for their own king 1Samuel 9:5.  That resulted in Saul/Laban, becoming the “King” of Israel.



The combining of 18th Dynastic names with scripture is with many thanks to my old friend David M. Rohl.  He provided me some of the best original scholarship in his comparisons.  I have had the pleasure to read in a long time.
I arrived at the almost the same time period for the United Kingdom as he did, but in an very different manner.

Thanks again Moses, a great day to you, yours and to all.