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Jerome Walsh notes that the temple and palace of Solomon were completed 500 years after the exodus (480 years in 1 Ki 6:1 + 20 years for completion, 9:10). Walsh suggests that the 500 year total alludes to the Jubilee; this would have been the 10th Jubilee since the exodus, and might be seen as a kind of "SuperJubilee."
If so, then it is an ironic one. At the Jubilee, land returned to its original owners, its original JEWISH owners; but after Solomon has completed the temple and the palace, he sells a portion of Galilee to Hiram of Tyre. Gentiles (even Canaanites ESidon is the first son of Canaan, and Tyre is the twin of Sidon) take over part of the holy land. Ahab, a perverse Solomon, is merely carrying Solomon's policies forward several degrees when he enters a marriage alliance with Sidon, and pursues a re-Canaanitization of the land. Throughout Kings, the chipping away of the holy land is increasingly a theme, particularly the chipping away of the land from the house of David. Eventually, they lose the land entirely. But the process begins under Solomon.
posted by Peter J. Leithart on Saturday, October 09, 2004 at 03:21 PM
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