Texts in Conversation
1 Kings uses the same language as Exodus for Solomon’s building projects, where Pharaoh made the Israelites build “storage cities” with forced labor. This language is only used in these two stories, the connection describes Solomon as a new Pharaoh and Jeroboam as a new Moses.
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Exodus 1:11
Hebrew Bible
10 Come, let’s deal wisely with them. Otherwise they will continue to multiply, and if a war breaks out, they will ally themselves with our enemies and fight against us and leave the country.” 11 So they put foremen over the Israelites to oppress them with hard labor. As a result they built Pithom and Rameses as store cities for Pharaoh. 12 But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and spread. As a result the Egyptians loathed the Israelites,
Date: 5th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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1 Kings 9:19
Hebrew Bible
17 Solomon built up Gezer, lower Beth Horon, 18 Baalath, Tadmor in the wilderness, 19 all the storage cities that belonged to him, and the cities where chariots and horses were kept. He built whatever he wanted in Jerusalem, Lebanon, and throughout his entire kingdom. 20 Now several non-Israelite peoples were left in the land after the conquest of Joshua, including the Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
Date: 6th Century B.C.E. (Final composition) (based on scholarly estimates)
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Notes and References
"... In the Book of Kings, Solomon makes an alliance with Pharaoh king of Egypt by marrying his daughter (1 Kings 3:1). He also acquires horses and chariots, the characteristic military trappings of Egypt (1 Kings 10:28). Most significantly, Solomon “conscripts laborers from all Israel …thirty thousand men” (מַס מִכָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל… שְׁלֹשִׁים אֶלֶף אִישׁ; see 1 Kings 5:27) for a multi-year construction program. Not only does he build his palace and the Temple, but he also deploys labor gangs to construct “storage cities” (ערי מסכנות), a term that otherwise occurs only in the exodus story (Exodus 1:11) ..."
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