Marginal Glosses / בשולי מקראות

1. How Many Chariots Did Solomon Have? — In discussing the seemingly contradictory statements of I Kings vi : 5 (parallelled by II Chron. ix : 25a) contra ibid. x : 26b (parallelled by II Chron. i : 14b) the author points out that the latter number of chariots (4,000) fits the number of horses (12,000, at 3 horses per chariot); he further suggests, that these numbers probably represent the final complement of chariotry attained towards the second half of Solomon's reign; which number matches Ahab's chariotry (as mentioned in Shalmanessar III's account of the battle of Qarqar), on the assumption that the former sent only half of his chariotry to do battle at Qarqar (cf. I Kings xvi : 9). The second statement of Kings concerning the number of chariots is possibly to be assigned to the early period of Solomon's reign before he managed to organize the full complement of his 'heavy armour'. 2. Mount Moriah. — Since it is difficult to find a Hebrew root for this appellation, and since Jebusite Jerusalem presents several Khurrite names, it is suggested that this name, too, originates in the same language, either as (mount) + me/a [a relative particle: which is of] eweriya [= king], or: (mount) me/a [= this of] + eweriya [= king]. There is no denying that the threshing-floor of king Awarna acquired by David was royal property, and as such fits the description 'of the king', misunderstood by the early Israelites in Jerusalem as a n. pr. l. 3. Who of the Rulers of the Northern Kingdom Introduced Deuteronomic Legislation in His Kingdom? — The author suggests that this legislation has been introduced in Israel by Omri, seeing in Michah's outcry against 'the statutes of Omri... and all works of the House of Ahab...' a reference to such legislation by that king; while its evaluation on a par with the (evil) works of Ahab would be comprehensible in the mouth of a Judahite prophet, if the rulers of the Northern Kingdom applied the phrase: 'a place which the Lord your God shall choose...' (e.g. Deut. xii : 11) to the temples of the Northern Kingdom. The author further suggests that the Elid priests, who had been banned from the Temple by Solomon, and whose circle was responsible for the Early Deuteronomic Codex — according to the author — may have supported Omri against Tibni, and so were later rewarded by having their Codex proclaimed the official lawcode of the Northern Kingdom.