Political and social failure

The Yisraelites, as we know, were originally nomads, a proud and haughty people, difficult to lead, always inclined to argue, apt to reject authority save perhaps that of the head of the family. Mosheh needed to exert all his influence to maintain the cohesion of these tribes in their loyalty to YAHWEH; they were always endeavouring to have their own way and seemed incapable of any movement of generosity for the common good. Their lives as wandering shepherds increasingly developed in them a spirit of independence, often not far short of social anarchy.

But the pastoral period was now over. Under the leadership of Yahshua Ben Nun (1200-1175) the nomads finally settled in the land of Canaan, the famous Promised Land, where these former shepherds were rapidly transformed into farmers and horticulturists. Each of the Twelve Tribes obtained a foothold in the new territory by conquest; and the districts thus occupied took the name of the eponymous ancestor of the tribe. In fact, each of these groups of the same family intended to remain independent, and each held to its own institutions and special customs. Between the tribes the sole bond of federation was the belief of YAHWEH, the ONE YAHWEH, the protector of the Chosen People.

Nevertheless, they were soon obliged to unite, at least from time to time when they had to repulse the 'Sons of the East', the Ammonites or Midianites from Trans-Yardenia, mounted on their swift-moving camels, on raids to pillage the crops of Canaan. But the Yisraelites took care not to choose a king. Their extreme individualism rejected with horror the very idea of such a thing. In time of danger they were content to designate a temporary leader, a 'judge', to whom was entrusted the command of the confederate armies. After victory this judge had, normally, to rejoin his tribe and return to his usual occupations. Quite certainly Yisrael remained opposed to any monarchical organization.

Now this seems singularly anachronistic; the permanence of a group of farmers and horticulturists, settled on the land, could not be assured by laws and customs which for thousands of years past had regulated the lives of nomad shepherds, always on the move from one pasture to another, from one oasis to another. In addition certain social imperatives began to influence the minds of some of the chieftains: the hurried choice of a 'judge' at the very moment when the advance guard of their assailants appeared insight had serious disadvantages and could well endanger the very existence of Yisrael. Thus in this collection of tribes, opposed on principal to any form of centralization, we find authoritative voices raised vociferously demanding the election of a permanent leader who would effectively unite the Twelve Tribes under his command and who would be ready at any moment to go to war to safeguard them from sudden attack.

Those who favoured this notion were told that YAHWEH had always been the only king of Yisrael. HE had spoken by the mouth of those whom HE inspired; HE could also be consulted through HIS oracles. If the law of Mosheh was observed the people of YAHWEH could be sure of victory against the idolaters.

These were no doubt very respectable theological arguments, but they did not convince the opposing party. Soon a serious campaign in favour of a monarchy was set on foot, asserting that if Yisrael desired to live (and we have already seen something of its tremendous dynamic quality) it needed a king as soon as possible.

It was thus that suddenly there appeared in history the first king accepted by the Twelve Tribes. This was Saul (1030-1010), though it was an experiment that turned out badly. But the second, with David (1010-970), succeeded beyond all expectation, both at the political and spiritual levels. David was endowed with rare qualities: acute intelligence, profound compassion and an innate sense of justice. And since he was well acquainted with the feelings of the tribes he took especial care not to hurt their well-founded pride and refrained from any decision that was likely to upset them or turn them against the monarchy. By his personal charm he contrived to appease past rancour and to avoid complications that might arise in the future. Despite the old hostility which still subsisted (the reason for it is unknown) between the ten tribes of the north, known collectively under the name of Yisrael, and the two tribes of the south, known as Yahudah, David, a statesman of subtle genius, continued to work effectively but with flexibility for the unity of the People of YAHWEH.

With him YAHWEH remained, it could be said, the king of Yisrael. David always regarded himself as the servant of YAHWEH. He gave evidence of sincere, profound and, on occasion, moving piety.

None of this prevented his standing out as an unequalled military commander. After many hard campaigns he succeeded in quelling Yisrael's internal and external enemies. The Chosen People now occupied the whole of the Promised Land.

With David the monarchy appeared as an ideal institution which would ensure for Yisrael for the ages to come happiness and peace.

David had grouped around him a somewhat rustic court, of a kind that might be compared with that of the Saxon kings in England or the Merovingians in France. At Hebron, and even later in Yerusalem in the modest palace that he built on the rock of Yerusalem, David was not unlike the early Norman kings, men who were still somewhat uncouth and content with a relatively primitive form of comfort.

With Solomon the Magnificent, on the other hand, we are struck at once by the ostentatious magnificence of the royal setting. The surroundings were sumptuous, the etiquette strict. The palace had become a complex building in which ministers and their officials, dignitaries and their families, the harem, and the various stores were all grouped around the sovereign. The king was the keystone of this complex establishment, from which he scarcely emerged save on state occasions. Hence forward Solomon was cut off from his people. He commanded and was obeyed.

Quite mistakenly Solomon had modeled himself on the potentates of Egypt, Mesopotamia and even Phoenicia. He regarded his subjects as expendable pawns; as building machines. The people had no other function than to work with their hands on the monuments intended to proclaim the honour of the king. Through forced labour the children of Yisrael had been transformed into a band of slaves and beasts of burden.

Forced labour. In the evening in the shepherd's tents when they were nomads, the story-tellers had for long, recounted the trials undergone by Yacob's descendants in Egypt at the time of Rameses II (1301-1234) and his son Meneptah (1234-1225). Still later they still recalled the bitter memories of that period when they had suffered under the lash of the overseers, and remembered those who met their death at the work.

And then in Solomon's time the sons of Yacob once more experienced the horrors of forced labour, like that which for centuries the monarchs on the banks of the Nile or the Euphrates had employed when they wanted to put up the colossal monuments intended to render their names immortal. In his turn Solomon, in an access of foolish pride, mobilized the able-bodied men of his country and sent them to the building sites. Like their fathers in Egypt, these descendants of the Yisraelite shepherds were to suffer under the lash of the overseers. These bands of Yisraelite workers, scattered about in the kingdom according to the needs of the Phoenician architects, have already been mentioned. Husbands were brutally separated from their wives, fathers from their sons; families were broken up, homes ruined. Everywhere it was tragedy, anguish and tears; all of which bred rebellion.

For Solomon was unable to count on the placidity of his subjects. They were not to be compared to the Egyptian fellaheen or the Babylonian peasants accustomed for generations past to these inhuman methods. Every three months, ten thousand men were sent to the forests of Lebanon to fell the trees for Solomon's buildings. Other bands of men like beasts of burden had to haul the enormous trunks from the beaches of the Mediterranean to Yerusalem. There were also the men working in the quarries, and the copper-founders labouring at the furnaces. Other contingents were sent to Ezion-geber on the coast of the Red Sea; there in the terrible climate, under an unrelenting sun, the men from the Twelve tribes baked the bricks to build this immense city of factories and warehouses. Men were also needed for the mining of minerals, for crushing them and melting them over fires of wood. How many young men in the full flower of their strength and energy thus met their death?

Solomon now appeared to his people as a merciless despot, entirely unconcerned at the numerous tragedies that he caused. Through the abhorrent forced labour and the commandeering of his subjects Solomon prepared the way for the political failure of all that David had achieved.

Already, here and there among the labourers some murmuring was to be heard, followed by widespread complaints, the certain forerunners of rebellion. The prophet Ahijah, in conjunction with Jeroboam hatched a far-reaching plot in great secrecy. But Solomon possessed excellent sources of information which enabled him to nip the plot in the bud. To save his life Jeroboam fled to Egypt where he was warmly welcomed by pharaoh. Subsequently, after Solomon's death (931), Jeroboam hastened to return to Canaan to place himself at the head of the opposition, an action which earned for him the crown of Yisrael. For the time being, as long as Solomon lived, he had to remain in prudent exile.

Thus the seditious were put out of the way and the repression was pitiless; from what we know of Solomon we can be sure of this. And with increased ferocity the overseers' lashes fell on the shoulders of the unfortunate Yisraelite labourers.

By these prompt measures Solomon and his counselors imagined that they had put an end to all attempts at revolt. They were wrong; they had merely exacerbated the anger of the people; thus they were working actively at the social collapse of the nation.

Examination of the course of events shows that Solomon seems to have adopted a contrary internal policy to that of his father. With remarkable skill David had always endeavoured to consolidate the union, difficult indeed of realization, between the government of the tribes of the north (Yisrael) and the tribes of the south (Yahudah) in order to establish a strong, cohesive State under the protection of the ONE YAHWEH and the government of one king. Solomon (of Yahudah), however, offended the men of Yisrael, always jealous of their independence and disinclined to acknowledge the political pre-eminence of Yahudah. In consequence, in Solomon's time tribal pride was everywhere to the fore and, when forced labour was introduced, it was manifested with increased violence. Not only were men of Yisrael commandeered but they had to work for the honour of a monarch of the house of Yahudah, Solomon, son of David the Bethlehemite! The northern tribes would never forget their shame.

Outwardly all obeyed the king's orders with eagerness. In reality deadly hatred burned in the hearts of those compelled to do forced labour. The natives of the ten tribes of Yisrael, especially, pondered on their grievances and turned over their separatist plans in their heads. Thus the whole work of unification, successfully initiated by David was gradually undermined by Solomon with almost criminal thoughtlessness.

Just at this time an unexpected economic revolution occurred. The situation which had been bad enough previously underwent considerable deterioration.

Already two centuries previously (1200-1150) the whole system had been greatly disorganized when the tribes changed from their nomadic pastoral way of life to that of settled farmers. This evolution, a normal stage in the cycle of civilization, had hardly come to an end when a further change of a more alarming nature occurred. The Yisraelites had scarcely settled down to their agricultural existence when they were confronted by new problems provoked by the development of industry and commerce. The construction of cities, the start of numerous building projects, the establishment of factories (Ezion-geber), the construction of ports, the emergence of a wealthy privileged class all combined to cause an enormous increase in hand-made articles. And the peasants, too inclined in the circumstance, perhaps, to exaggerate their poverty flocked to the towns. It was an exodus of the country-dwellers to the towns to which they were attracted by the relatively high wages.

At once the wealthier classes took advantage of the departure of the small-holders to obtain great estates for themselves at the lowest possible price. There thus emerged a landed aristocracy, determined at all costs to obtain rich rewards from their investment by treating their workpeople with a severity hitherto unknown.

On the other hand, in the cities a parallel social development took place; financiers obtained control of the workshops and thus the workman was promptly reduced to a state bordering on slavery.

We are given some idea of this warfare between the classes for at this period it also occurred in Phoenicia; there a powerful and merciless oligarchy worked to death artisans and masons, woodcutters and sailors. From time to time the people revolted; the rebellion was suppressed with fearful bloodshed. And all this for the benefit of a few families with fabulous fortunes.

Canaan appeared to be taking the same course. The Yisraelites experienced a certain bitterness in remembering their wonderful tribal autonomy of past centuries when the wandering shepherd could, in practice, regard himself as his own master in his tent.

Thus the king was greatly hated, as was his entourage. And now hatred began to appear between the new social classes which had recently emerged. The poor men stood out against the rich man, the proletariat against their exploiters.

Quite certainly, Solomon's innovations do not appear to have made peace reign among his subjects.

There were other blunders, of a political nature: Solomon's establishment at Ezion-geber began to cause disquiet to Egypt which had always regarded the Red Sea as its own particular domain. Shortly after Solomon's death it was this which caused Pharaoh Sheshonk to start his campaign to liberate these territories from the influence of Yahudah -Yisrael; before beginning action himself he prevailed upon Hadad, king of Edom, to attack, and this latter was soon in a position to reconquer the kingdom of his fathers from Solomon's armies.

These few instances show clearly Solomon's successive mistakes; quite definitely he seemed to be working against his own interests.

While his teams of labourers were building YAHWEH's tabernacle already Solomon, with the harshness of an oriental despot, was setting about the political ruin of the work accomplished by his father.

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Solomon The Magnificent Index   Solomon Sitemap  Scripture History Through the Ages  Solomon The Historian  RADIANT DAWN  Solomon's Wisdom  SOLOMON IN ALL HIS HONOR  David's role in building the Temple  Dates of the building of the Temple  Division of the Temple  The Ark of the Covenant  The most Kodesh Place  Dedication of the Temple  SOLOMON Prince of Peace  SOLOMON THE TRADER   Solomon's Ophir expedition  The queen of Sheba  LITERARY ACHIEVEMENTS OF SOLOMON  First historical works of the Hebrews  What did Solomon write  THE SHADES OF NIGHT  Political and social failure  Solomon's spiritual failure  The moral failure of Solomon  CONCLUSION of Solomon