In Part 1, we resolved one of the two mysteries in the ancient legend of Solomon’s Table: The table. We discovered its Egyptian roots and decoded its most sacred secret.
Now let’s proceed to unravel its other mystery: Solomon.
The Bible tells us that King Solomon was the third and last king of the rich and powerful United Monarchy of Israel. He was the wisest of men, a sublime judge, author of sacred texts, and the builder of a cherished Temple. However, from a historic and archaeological point of view, there is no evidence he ever existed, nor would it seem to matter to understand the table from what we learned in Part 1. But I love enigmas and King Solomon is one of the most renowned and intriguing. Besides, I would not have resolved the mystery of the table if I did not pay attention to detail, especially the ones that make no sense:
The legend of Solomon’s Table comes to us from the Jewish Kabbalah, which shares strong elements with the Egyptian belief system. Thus, knowing that the table and its secret are eminently Egyptian in nature, are we to conclude that Jewish sages one day simply took these two elements and randomly associated them to their most glorious king? It doesn’t make sense to me. In order for the esoteric association between the table and Solomon to make sense, Solomon, or the person he is inspired on, has to be necessarily Egyptian too; meaning, that to me it makes more sense that the Jewish sages adopted the complete package… At least, that was my logic when I started to investigate. What I didn’t expect was to find a real flesh-and-bone king who truly ruled over Jerusalem and built a temple there with table and all.
How is this possible in the face of total absence of evidence? As soon as I tell you the details your jaw will drop, so let’s get to it.
To resolve the enigma, we need to tackle it from two temporal fronts. We’ll start with the historical framework during which Solomon supposedly lived and ruled, the 10th century B.C., and we’ll follow with the historical framework during which his story was written down and edited, the 6th century B.C.
THE 10TH CENTURY B.C. – A DARK AND MYSTERIOUS TIME
I’ll insist once more, there is no written -outside the Old Testament- or archaeological evidence that Solomon existed. Period. And this extends to his rich and powerful empire. As it stands for now, the general consensus is that Jerusalem in the 10th century was a humble village, and the region of Judah was occupied by dispersed populations, mostly nomadic shepherds.
However, this should not deter us, because what is truly fascinating about the whole thing is that the void of information or evidence is not limited to Canaan. All of the Middle East, the Aegean, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Eastern Mediterranean in general suffered a historical blackout between the 13th and 8th centuries B.C. due to yet another mystery: The formidable collapse, around 1,200 B.C., of all the great civilizations of the time. Entire cities were razed and prosperous cultures disintegrated back to illiteracy; thus the lack of information that has scholars perplexed. I’m not exaggerating. In Greece, for instance, following the Minoan-Mycenaean collapse, writing would not reappear until the 8th century B.C. As for Egypt, though it survived, it was hit hard enough to lose control of Canaan and never fully recover.
Now let’s proceed to unravel its other mystery: Solomon.
The Bible tells us that King Solomon was the third and last king of the rich and powerful United Monarchy of Israel. He was the wisest of men, a sublime judge, author of sacred texts, and the builder of a cherished Temple. However, from a historic and archaeological point of view, there is no evidence he ever existed, nor would it seem to matter to understand the table from what we learned in Part 1. But I love enigmas and King Solomon is one of the most renowned and intriguing. Besides, I would not have resolved the mystery of the table if I did not pay attention to detail, especially the ones that make no sense:
The legend of Solomon’s Table comes to us from the Jewish Kabbalah, which shares strong elements with the Egyptian belief system. Thus, knowing that the table and its secret are eminently Egyptian in nature, are we to conclude that Jewish sages one day simply took these two elements and randomly associated them to their most glorious king? It doesn’t make sense to me. In order for the esoteric association between the table and Solomon to make sense, Solomon, or the person he is inspired on, has to be necessarily Egyptian too; meaning, that to me it makes more sense that the Jewish sages adopted the complete package… At least, that was my logic when I started to investigate. What I didn’t expect was to find a real flesh-and-bone king who truly ruled over Jerusalem and built a temple there with table and all.
How is this possible in the face of total absence of evidence? As soon as I tell you the details your jaw will drop, so let’s get to it.
To resolve the enigma, we need to tackle it from two temporal fronts. We’ll start with the historical framework during which Solomon supposedly lived and ruled, the 10th century B.C., and we’ll follow with the historical framework during which his story was written down and edited, the 6th century B.C.
THE 10TH CENTURY B.C. – A DARK AND MYSTERIOUS TIME
I’ll insist once more, there is no written -outside the Old Testament- or archaeological evidence that Solomon existed. Period. And this extends to his rich and powerful empire. As it stands for now, the general consensus is that Jerusalem in the 10th century was a humble village, and the region of Judah was occupied by dispersed populations, mostly nomadic shepherds.
However, this should not deter us, because what is truly fascinating about the whole thing is that the void of information or evidence is not limited to Canaan. All of the Middle East, the Aegean, the Caucasus, the Balkans, and the Eastern Mediterranean in general suffered a historical blackout between the 13th and 8th centuries B.C. due to yet another mystery: The formidable collapse, around 1,200 B.C., of all the great civilizations of the time. Entire cities were razed and prosperous cultures disintegrated back to illiteracy; thus the lack of information that has scholars perplexed. I’m not exaggerating. In Greece, for instance, following the Minoan-Mycenaean collapse, writing would not reappear until the 8th century B.C. As for Egypt, though it survived, it was hit hard enough to lose control of Canaan and never fully recover.
| What was the cause of such devastation and cultural regression? No one knows for sure. It is suspected that an unfortunate combination of climate change and natural disasters may explain some of the great migrations. But most probably, as if we didn’t have enough mysteries already, most of the damage is blamed on an enigmatic confederation named the Sea Peoples. Of uncertain origin, what little we know of them is thanks to the sole survivor, Egypt. |  |
And here is where I begin to drool, because now the clues that guided me to success start to appear.
MERNEPTAH’S STELE
The enigmatic Sea Peoples first attacked Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II (1,279 A.C. – 1,213 A.C.), and then again while his son, the Pharaoh Merneptah, was on the throne (1,213 A.C. – 1,203 A.C.). The latter was able to beat them as he boasts in four inscriptions: The Great Karnak Inscription, the Cairo Obelisk, the Athribis Stele, and the text we care about, the highly celebrated Merneptah Stele.
MERNEPTAH’S STELE
The enigmatic Sea Peoples first attacked Egypt during the reign of Ramesses II (1,279 A.C. – 1,213 A.C.), and then again while his son, the Pharaoh Merneptah, was on the throne (1,213 A.C. – 1,203 A.C.). The latter was able to beat them as he boasts in four inscriptions: The Great Karnak Inscription, the Cairo Obelisk, the Athribis Stele, and the text we care about, the highly celebrated Merneptah Stele.
Two items set this stele apart. On one hand it contains the oldest, non-biblical reference to a nomadic group of peoples (not a country) named Israel. (Some scholars read "Jezreel", instead of "Israel".) Then, while it celebrates the pharaoh’s victory over the Sea Peoples, at the end it inserts something that does not seem to belong there: A reference to a successful military campaign in Canaan.
Some experts argue that this final passage should not be understood as a military victory of Merneptah in Canaan, but rather a celebration of the peace he brought to the region as a result of defeating the Sea Peoples. You see, at the time Canaan was a province of Egypt and therefore fell under its veil.
Fine, but what does this have to do with Solomon? A lot. Egypt exercised influence over Canaan for thousands of years, but particularly in the period just before the Late Bronze Age Collapse, Canaan was, I repeat, an Egyptian province. Therefore, the impact of Ramesses II and Merneptah in the region was of special significance and explains their contribution to biblical narrative (as highlighted in Part 1).
If you recall, Ramesses II is the same pharaoh who, aside from carrying Moses in his name, had a battle tent with a portable throne identical to the Tabernacle and its Ark of the Covenant, leading many to suspect he may have inspired much of the Exodus. This includes plenty of parallelisms between Ramesses II’s battles in Canaan and Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, Ark included. And the coincidence that his son Merneptah mentions the nomadic people of Israel, redolent of the 40 years of wondering, only strengthens above suspicions.
All this is already known and suspected. Now I’ll move on to what I figured out and suspect.
I imagine you have paid attention to Merneptah’s name, knowing as we do the importance of names in Jewish-Egyptian beliefs. While in his father’s name we find Moses, in his we find God’s secret name, Ptah. At first this may seem a silly detail, for he wasn’t the first or would be the last to carry Ptah in his name, but considering the above, I thought I’d look a little into Merneptah’s biography… And how right I was to do so!
I found out that his birth name was Merneptah Hotep-Her-Maat. So, not only does he carry God’s secret name, Ptah, he also carries the table, Hotep, and this isn’t even the interesting part. When I checked out the translation of his full name, Beloved by Ptah, Pacifier, I said to myself: “Hey, just like Solomon!”
Some experts argue that this final passage should not be understood as a military victory of Merneptah in Canaan, but rather a celebration of the peace he brought to the region as a result of defeating the Sea Peoples. You see, at the time Canaan was a province of Egypt and therefore fell under its veil.
Fine, but what does this have to do with Solomon? A lot. Egypt exercised influence over Canaan for thousands of years, but particularly in the period just before the Late Bronze Age Collapse, Canaan was, I repeat, an Egyptian province. Therefore, the impact of Ramesses II and Merneptah in the region was of special significance and explains their contribution to biblical narrative (as highlighted in Part 1).
If you recall, Ramesses II is the same pharaoh who, aside from carrying Moses in his name, had a battle tent with a portable throne identical to the Tabernacle and its Ark of the Covenant, leading many to suspect he may have inspired much of the Exodus. This includes plenty of parallelisms between Ramesses II’s battles in Canaan and Joshua’s conquest of the Promised Land, Ark included. And the coincidence that his son Merneptah mentions the nomadic people of Israel, redolent of the 40 years of wondering, only strengthens above suspicions.
All this is already known and suspected. Now I’ll move on to what I figured out and suspect.
I imagine you have paid attention to Merneptah’s name, knowing as we do the importance of names in Jewish-Egyptian beliefs. While in his father’s name we find Moses, in his we find God’s secret name, Ptah. At first this may seem a silly detail, for he wasn’t the first or would be the last to carry Ptah in his name, but considering the above, I thought I’d look a little into Merneptah’s biography… And how right I was to do so!
I found out that his birth name was Merneptah Hotep-Her-Maat. So, not only does he carry God’s secret name, Ptah, he also carries the table, Hotep, and this isn’t even the interesting part. When I checked out the translation of his full name, Beloved by Ptah, Pacifier, I said to myself: “Hey, just like Solomon!”
That’s right. Did you know that Solomon had two names as well? According to 2 Samuel 12:25 the Prophet Nathan named him Jedidiah, which means Beloved by the Lord. And we know that Jews use Lord instead of God’s name because they’re not allowed to pronounce it.
As for the name Solomon it means Peaceful. According to the Old Testament, God chooses him to be king because his hands were clean of blood, which contributed to his realm being the most peaceful and prosperous in Israel…. Like the peace Merneptah brought to the region, perhaps?
Obviously, following this interesting name coincidence, I continued to dig.
Merneptah was the 13th child of Ramesses, from his second wife. I said to myself again: “Hey, almost like Solomon”. The Wise King was the 10th child of David, also from a second wife, and both ended up inheriting the throne from their powerful fathers despite the many brothers ahead in line.
Okay, so far we have two interesting coincidences which, to be honest, are quite normal for the time. But it does start to highlight the similarities between the Jewish monarch and an Egyptian pharaoh. Also, bear in mind that Solomon was said to be the king of a rich and powerful United Monarchy. Well, it just so happens that Egypt was indeed the rich and powerful United Monarchy par excellence (the sum of Upper and Lower Egypt). But, if this is not enough, there is a detail in the Bible that makes it clear:
As for the name Solomon it means Peaceful. According to the Old Testament, God chooses him to be king because his hands were clean of blood, which contributed to his realm being the most peaceful and prosperous in Israel…. Like the peace Merneptah brought to the region, perhaps?
Obviously, following this interesting name coincidence, I continued to dig.
Merneptah was the 13th child of Ramesses, from his second wife. I said to myself again: “Hey, almost like Solomon”. The Wise King was the 10th child of David, also from a second wife, and both ended up inheriting the throne from their powerful fathers despite the many brothers ahead in line.
Okay, so far we have two interesting coincidences which, to be honest, are quite normal for the time. But it does start to highlight the similarities between the Jewish monarch and an Egyptian pharaoh. Also, bear in mind that Solomon was said to be the king of a rich and powerful United Monarchy. Well, it just so happens that Egypt was indeed the rich and powerful United Monarchy par excellence (the sum of Upper and Lower Egypt). But, if this is not enough, there is a detail in the Bible that makes it clear:
“And Solomon became allied to Pharaoh king of Egypt by marriage, and took Pharaoh’s daughter, and brought her into the City of David, until he finished building his palace, and the house of the Lord, and the wall of Jerusalem round about.” – 1 Kings 3:
Of the 700 wives that Solomon supposedly had, the only one mentioned, though not by name (important detail), is “the pharaoh’s daughter”. This is an in-your-face clue if there ever was one, because it would have been impossible for Solomon, a foreign king, to marry a daughter of a pharaoh. In Egypt, they never allowed the “pharaoh’s daughter” (a title onto itself) to marry anyone outside the family, let alone a foreigner, because it was she who transmitted legitimacy to the throne. Consequently, for any pharaoh to be legitimate, he had to necessarily marry a “pharaoh’s daughter”. It assured the throne always remained within the family and, more importantly, in Egyptian hands, explaining why pharaohs married their sisters.
So, if in the above passage we substitute Solomon with Merneptah and David with Ramesses, we get a historical reality: Indeed, Merneptah married the “pharaohs daughter”, his sister, and took her to the City of Ramesses (Pi-Ramesses) until building his own palace in Memphis next to the Temple of Ptah (the one that gave name to Egypt).
To end, one more coincidence: Upon Merneptah’s death two of his sons fought for the throne resulting in the division, though temporary, of the United Kingdom of Egypt… that is, “hey, just like happened with Solomon!” Following his death, Israel was divided into the Kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
Could Merneptah have been the historical inspiration for Solomon? No. I dare to go a step further. I will provide evidence to suggest that Merneptah was Solomon.
WHAT IS AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE DOING IN JERUSALEM?
Between the 15th and 12th centuries B.C., that is, for 300 years approximately, Canaan was an Egyptian province. Its extension covering today’s Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel was almost equivalent to what the Bible claims was the expanse of the United Monarchy. To control the area and collect tributes, Egypt setup administration centers and garrisons with their relevant residences and temples. For example, some ivories found in Megiddo and dated to the 13th century B.C. mention “Ptah of Ashkelon” (city also mentioned in Merneptah’s Stele), denoting that there was a temple or shrine dedicated to Ptah in the Canaanite city.
Now for the big surprise: Investigating, I discovered there are little-known archaeological remains of an Egyptian temple dating back to the 13th century precisely in Jerusalem, thanks to an article titled What is an Egyptian Temple doing in Jerusalem? by the prestigious archaeologist Gabriel Barkay.
Barkay tells us that the temple was found in 1882 by the Dominican Friar Pere M. J. Lagrange, who also reports about it in his French book Saint Etienne et son sanctuaire a Jerusalem. Among the remains, he found a funerary stele with 17 hieroglyphs, a couple of typical Egyptian capitals decorated with lotus flowers, what seemed an offering table (oh my, could it be the actual table of Solomon?), and other items. Unfortunately, no one thought much of it, so they covered it up and built the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise and the Saint Etienne Dominican Monastery on top.
Gabriel Barkay, after reading the document, had the presence of mind to recover the mentioned artifacts along with others, such as some vessels and more fragments with hieroglyphs. Since then, experts like Peter van del Veen, have continued in this line of research and have found a number of Egyptian artifacts dated to the 13th century B.C. scattered around in museum basements and private collections. Among them, I’d like to mention two:
So, if in the above passage we substitute Solomon with Merneptah and David with Ramesses, we get a historical reality: Indeed, Merneptah married the “pharaohs daughter”, his sister, and took her to the City of Ramesses (Pi-Ramesses) until building his own palace in Memphis next to the Temple of Ptah (the one that gave name to Egypt).
To end, one more coincidence: Upon Merneptah’s death two of his sons fought for the throne resulting in the division, though temporary, of the United Kingdom of Egypt… that is, “hey, just like happened with Solomon!” Following his death, Israel was divided into the Kingdoms of Israel in the north and Judah in the south.
Could Merneptah have been the historical inspiration for Solomon? No. I dare to go a step further. I will provide evidence to suggest that Merneptah was Solomon.
WHAT IS AN EGYPTIAN TEMPLE DOING IN JERUSALEM?
Between the 15th and 12th centuries B.C., that is, for 300 years approximately, Canaan was an Egyptian province. Its extension covering today’s Syria, Lebanon, Jordan and Israel was almost equivalent to what the Bible claims was the expanse of the United Monarchy. To control the area and collect tributes, Egypt setup administration centers and garrisons with their relevant residences and temples. For example, some ivories found in Megiddo and dated to the 13th century B.C. mention “Ptah of Ashkelon” (city also mentioned in Merneptah’s Stele), denoting that there was a temple or shrine dedicated to Ptah in the Canaanite city.
Now for the big surprise: Investigating, I discovered there are little-known archaeological remains of an Egyptian temple dating back to the 13th century precisely in Jerusalem, thanks to an article titled What is an Egyptian Temple doing in Jerusalem? by the prestigious archaeologist Gabriel Barkay.
Barkay tells us that the temple was found in 1882 by the Dominican Friar Pere M. J. Lagrange, who also reports about it in his French book Saint Etienne et son sanctuaire a Jerusalem. Among the remains, he found a funerary stele with 17 hieroglyphs, a couple of typical Egyptian capitals decorated with lotus flowers, what seemed an offering table (oh my, could it be the actual table of Solomon?), and other items. Unfortunately, no one thought much of it, so they covered it up and built the Ecole Biblique et Archeologique Francaise and the Saint Etienne Dominican Monastery on top.
Gabriel Barkay, after reading the document, had the presence of mind to recover the mentioned artifacts along with others, such as some vessels and more fragments with hieroglyphs. Since then, experts like Peter van del Veen, have continued in this line of research and have found a number of Egyptian artifacts dated to the 13th century B.C. scattered around in museum basements and private collections. Among them, I’d like to mention two:
- A red granite statue of an Egyptian queen from Merneptah’s period. Could it be “the pharaoh’s daughter”, his sister and spouse?
- A sitting statue missing the head, which Barkay believes may be Ptah. Of all Egyptian gods, could this temple have been dedicated to Ptah?
Summarizing, it would seem that the Egyptian presence in Jerusalem was greater than traditionally thought, confirming the direct rule of a pharaoh over it. Yet this is not enough. For my hypothesis to stand, I need a direct link between Merneptah specifically —not just any other pharaoh of the 13th century— and Jerusalem.
Barkay handed me the solution on a platter. In his article, among the examples he lists to highlight Egyptian presence in Jerusalem, he references a paragraph from the Bible, Joshua 15:9, in which the Waters of Nephtoah are mentioned. Experts (Wilson 1969, p.258) interpret this name to be Me-nephtoah, that is, the Waters of Merneptah, an Egyptian control post also mentioned in non-biblical texts such as the Egyptian papyrus Anastasi III. Bingo! He, Merneptah, had a control post in Jerusalem.
How wonderful to discover that there was indeed a real-life monarch, who ruled over a rich and powerful Unified Kingdom, married to the “pharaoh’s daughter”, and who most probably was the builder of a temple in Jerusalem with its relevant table.
Now, let’s pause a minute to clarify something: It’s true that Merneptah lived 200 years before Solomon. However, it is also true that Solomon’s dating to the 10th century is only a guess. Not even the Bible gives us a date. His ruling is roughly calculated counting backwards from other biblical dates without an independent historical reference to corroborate it. Bearing in mind that after Merneptah the whole region went silent due to the information collapse until the 8th century, there is a good chance that this chronological gap is not being accounted for.
So mystery solved? No, not yet. We have one loose end to take care of… How did the legend of the Wise Jewish King come about as we know it today?
THE 6TH CENTURY – THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS AND THE WISE KING UTOPIA
Everything we know about Solomon comes to us from one-single-exclusive source: The Old Testament, specifically chapters 1 to 11 of the First Book of Kings. In it the author cites, in turn, as his source a lost text titled the Acts of Solomon (acts are historical records):
“As for the other acts of Solomon’s reign, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?” – 1 Kings 11:41
Jewish sages grant the authorship of the Book of Kings to the prophet Jeremiah. There are two details about him I’d like to bring to your attention:
Therefore, and unless archaeology proves otherwise, I can imagine Jeremiah, exiled in a distant land, hurting for a devastated and lost home, pressing against his chest what is left of his city, the historic documents entrusted to him by his king. Determined to leave a written record, maybe somewhat idealized of his people, he had the Acts of Merneptah translated to Hebrew, name and all. Later, when the translation was incorporated to the 6th century Babylon Bible (the Old Testament we know today), the memory of the ancient king was reedited to match the ideals of the wise king so prevalent precisely in Babylon lore.
And that is how the legend of a very real king is born: Solomon.
...So, who were those mysterious Sea Peoples who brought the great civilizations of the Mediterranean to their knees? I have a hunch, and it is pretty amazing...
Barkay handed me the solution on a platter. In his article, among the examples he lists to highlight Egyptian presence in Jerusalem, he references a paragraph from the Bible, Joshua 15:9, in which the Waters of Nephtoah are mentioned. Experts (Wilson 1969, p.258) interpret this name to be Me-nephtoah, that is, the Waters of Merneptah, an Egyptian control post also mentioned in non-biblical texts such as the Egyptian papyrus Anastasi III. Bingo! He, Merneptah, had a control post in Jerusalem.
How wonderful to discover that there was indeed a real-life monarch, who ruled over a rich and powerful Unified Kingdom, married to the “pharaoh’s daughter”, and who most probably was the builder of a temple in Jerusalem with its relevant table.
Now, let’s pause a minute to clarify something: It’s true that Merneptah lived 200 years before Solomon. However, it is also true that Solomon’s dating to the 10th century is only a guess. Not even the Bible gives us a date. His ruling is roughly calculated counting backwards from other biblical dates without an independent historical reference to corroborate it. Bearing in mind that after Merneptah the whole region went silent due to the information collapse until the 8th century, there is a good chance that this chronological gap is not being accounted for.
So mystery solved? No, not yet. We have one loose end to take care of… How did the legend of the Wise Jewish King come about as we know it today?
THE 6TH CENTURY – THE FIRST BOOK OF KINGS AND THE WISE KING UTOPIA
Everything we know about Solomon comes to us from one-single-exclusive source: The Old Testament, specifically chapters 1 to 11 of the First Book of Kings. In it the author cites, in turn, as his source a lost text titled the Acts of Solomon (acts are historical records):
“As for the other acts of Solomon’s reign, and all that he did, and his wisdom, are they not written in the book of the acts of Solomon?” – 1 Kings 11:41
Jewish sages grant the authorship of the Book of Kings to the prophet Jeremiah. There are two details about him I’d like to bring to your attention:
- Jeremiah lived in Jerusalem towards the end of the 7th century at the time of King Josiah’s reign and was his trusted prophet. Coincidentally, this is the same king who purportedly found historic records in the Temple of Jerusalem during its refurbishing. These records where entrusted to Jeremiah and are the basis for Israel’s history as told in the Deuteronomy, which includes the Book of Kings. If Solomon’s Temple was that of Merneptah, it would seem reasonable that among the documents found would be the Acts of Merneptah, translated as the Acts of Solomon (remember, they have the same names).
- Jeremiah also witnessed the fall of Jerusalem -and the Temple’s destruction- to Babylon in the year 586 B.C. Curiously, rather than being exiled to Babylon with the other prophets, guess where Jeremiah ended up? … In Egypt!
Therefore, and unless archaeology proves otherwise, I can imagine Jeremiah, exiled in a distant land, hurting for a devastated and lost home, pressing against his chest what is left of his city, the historic documents entrusted to him by his king. Determined to leave a written record, maybe somewhat idealized of his people, he had the Acts of Merneptah translated to Hebrew, name and all. Later, when the translation was incorporated to the 6th century Babylon Bible (the Old Testament we know today), the memory of the ancient king was reedited to match the ideals of the wise king so prevalent precisely in Babylon lore.
And that is how the legend of a very real king is born: Solomon.
...So, who were those mysterious Sea Peoples who brought the great civilizations of the Mediterranean to their knees? I have a hunch, and it is pretty amazing...
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