Salomo, Gibeon und Jerusalem. Das gegenseitige Verhältnis der vier Berichte von Salomo in Gibeon (1 Königreiche 3; 3 Königreiche 3; 2 Chronik 1; 2 Paralipomena 1)

The narrative of Solomon’s dream at Gibeon occurs in the Hebrew Bible in two parallel passages, 1 Kings 3, 2-15 and 2 Chron 1, 2-13. The Old Greek translation differs on several points from the Hebrew Masoretic texts, both in Kings and in Chronicles. These differences are not due to the Greek translators. On the contrary, they are faithfully rendering their underlying Hebrew text, their Vorlage.

Thus the narrative existed in four different Hebrew forms. Moreover, in 2 Chr 1, 13 according to the Masoretic text, there is a reading considered by all critics ancient and modern as impossible (“to the high place of Gibeon” instead of “from the high place…”). The present study tries to establish the genealogy of the four forms of the narrative, arguing that 1 Kgs 3 in the Old Greek was the point of departure and 2 Chr 1 the point of arrival of a literary and theological development in four steps. The reconstruction of this literary development in turn sheds light on the difficult, but correct and meaningful Masoretic reading in 2 Chr 1, 13.