Thursday, June 11, 2015

Bit-Sulman in the Armana letters

Velikovsky did not use this argument in Ages of Chaos but a later Essay.

Mostly the criticism of this argument is that the "n" only became added to the name of Solomon in Greek transliteration, in Hebrew it is Shalamo.  Appealing to the Septuagint is something I reject on many levels.

I first feel the need the point out that I no longer believe the Salem or Shalem of Genesis was the Jerusalem of David and Solomon.

I could also nitpick Velikovsky's jumping from Bit/Beth to Temple when it just means House, that can include The Temple which is The LORD's house but not always.  The personal palace Solomon spent even more time constructing was likely still around at this time also.

Just as I feel the name Ebed-Tov as an alternate name for the King of Jerusalem could have a connection to Obed an Ancestor of the House of David.  I also think perhaps the real origin of the name Sulman is Salmon (Strong number 8012), an ancestor of Boas and Obed mentioned in Ruth 4:21 (spelled with an N there but without it in verse 20) Matthew 1:4-5 and Luke 3:32.

The versions of the name without the N are strong number 8009 and 8007 used in 1 Chronicles 2:11.  1 Chronicles 2:51 and 52 Identifies another Salmoh as the father of Bethlehem, and son of Caleb.  Presumably this Bethlehem was the founder of the city of Bethlehem.

Another related name is Zalmon (Strong number 6756), referenced in Psalm 68:14 and Judges 9:48 as a location and the name of a random Israelite in 2 Samuel 23:28.  There is no clear connection to Jerusalem here however.  The location seems like it's probably a Northern Kingdom one.

But since Salmon is rendered both with and without the N clearly in reference to the same person.  That could also be seen as evidence that adding an N to Solomon independent of Greek influence wasn't impossible though it has no known precedent in the Masoretic text.  Shalamo (Strong 8010) and Salmoh (Strong 8009) are spelled the same in Hebrew but merely pronounced different due to different vowels.

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