Original scientific paper
https://doi.org/10.31192/np.15.1.3
Solomon’s judgment – linguistic analysis and interpretation (1 Kings 3, 16-28)
Agnes Eva DaDon
Kotel DaDon
orcid.org/0000-0002-3542-3754
Abstract
In this article the authors analyzes the famous judgment of king Solomon from a linguistic point of view, focusing on the Hebrew language and grammar. The authors begin with a general introduction to the famous wisdom of King Solomon, followed by a summary of the judgment story and its structure. In their analysis, the authors are looking at words and their hidden intentions and meanings. They compare the Hebrew version with two of the most popular Croatian translations, that by Jure Kaštelan and Bonaventura Duda (Kršćanska sadašnjost) and the one by Ivan Šarić and finds very important differences, which were omitted from the Croatian translations. This article is also trying to establish if King Solomon indeed acted wisely, coming to such a psychologically charged verdict. An important part of this work is the hypothesis that King Solomon knew who the real mother is before he gave his verdict and not only afterwards, and the authors bring several pieces of linguistic evidence to support this assumption. Finally, the authors ask why the Bible itself does not tell us the true backstory and tries to answer that question. In their work, the authors use many sources from the rabbinical literature since the Talmudic time through the Middle Ages until modern times. Much of this literature is translated into Croatian from Hebrew and Aramaic for the first time by the authors.
Keywords
King Solomon; Judgment; plaintiff; woman; child; sword
Hrčak ID:
177892
URI
Publication date:
21.3.2017.
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