Rabbi Rifat Sonsino, Ph.D.
May 2, 2019
In my previous blog on this subject I discussed the cases of
Moses and Jesus, two great historical personalities that generated unbelievable
amount of legends. In this blog I will discuss the cases of Kings Solomon and
Alexander the Great.
1. KING SOLOMON
According to the Hebrew Bible, King Solomon (10th
cent. BCE) was the son of King David and the second son of Queen Bath-Sheba. He
rained for 40 years (a popular number of years attributed to other kings, like
Saul and David), and died at the age of 80. He built the first temple of
Jerusalem. Because of his reputation as a wise person, a number of books were
attributed to him, such as the biblical books of Song of Songs and the Book of
Ecclesiastes, as well as The Wisdom of Solomon (2nd cent. BCE). He represented
the Golden Age of the United Kingdom in ancient Israel.
The legends about King Solomon are plentiful. Both the
Talmud and the Quran consider him a major prophet. The Greek Orthodox Church
views him as a saint. According to the Bible, “He had seven hundred wives of
royal birth and three hundred concubines” (I K 11:3), but, as he grew older, he
turned idolater under the influence of his many foreign wives. He frequently
conversed with the demon, Ashmedai. In a midrashic
account, the Queen of Sheba heard of King Solomon’s great wisdom and
declared: “I will go and see whether he is wise or not, and I will come to test
him with riddles.” She came to Solomon and asked him: “Are you the Solomon about
whose kingdom and about whose wisdom I have heard?” He replied that he was. She
then said to him: “You are truly wise, now I will ask you something, and we
shall see if you are capable of answering me,” to which he responded: “For the
Lord grants wisdom; knowledge and discernment are by His decree” (Prov. 2:6).
The Queen of Sheba asked: “What are the seven that issue and nine that enter,
the two that offer drink, and the one that drinks?” Solomon answered: “The
seven that issue are the seven days of menstrual impurity. The nine that enter
are the nine months of pregnancy. The two that offer drink are the breasts, and
the child is the one who drinks.” (Midrash Proverbs [Buber ed.] 1). Rabbinic legend also
tells us that Solomon was punished for his overbearing pride when he was
impersonated by the demon king Ashmedai, and removed from the throne. He died
in abject poverty.
2. ALEXANDER THE GREAT
He was a Macedonian ruler, who established the largest empire in the
ancient world. Born in Pella, in 356 BCE, to king Phillip II and Queen
Olympias, he became the student of the famous Greek philosopher, Aristotle.
After his father’s death, he took command of the army and conquered much of the
civilized world of his time-from India to Egypt. He founded the city of
Alexandria, and died at the age of 33.
Alexander also generated various legends: he was the son of the god,
Zeus; he undid the Gordium knot, which was tied by Gordius, the King of
Phrygia, to be untied by the future ruler of Asia; in the Quran (Sura 18), he
is portrayed as “the two-horned One” like the Egyptian god, Amon-Ra. According
to the Talmud (Yoma 69a), Simon the Just, the High Priest, came along with
other priests to the Gates of Jerusalem to meet Alexander the Great as he
strode on his famous horse, named Bucephalus. When Alexander saw Simon, he
dismounted and bowed down to him, out of respect. Alexander treated the Jews
well, and they agreed to name every child born the next year as “Alexander.”
So, once again, when we deal with great personalities of the past, one
must be careful about the legends that they also generate, and do not take them
literally.
