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The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature

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The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature Folklore ISSN: 0015-587X (Print) 1469-8315 (Online) Journal homepage: http://www.tandfonline.com/loi/rfol20 The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature S. Schechter To cite this article: S. Schechter (1890) The Riddles of Solomon in Rabbinic Literature, Folklore, 1:3, 349-358, DOI: 10.1080/0015587X.1890.9720020 To link to this article: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0015587X.1890.9720020 Published online: 14 Feb 2012. Submit your article to this journal Article views: 1 View related articles Full Terms & Conditions of access and use can be found at http://www.tandfonline.com/action/journalInformation?journalCode=rfol20 Download by: [University of Sussex Library] Date: 22 June 2016, At: 06:22 THE RIDDLES .OF SOLOMON IN RABBINIC LITERATURE. HE place which the Solomon Riddles occupy in the T literature of almost every nation suggested to me that the publication of a previously inedited Hebrew text on the subject, with an English translation and a few introductory ^explanatory remarks, will not be without interest to the. readers of FOLK-LORE. As to the Hebrew text, it is edited for the first time from the Midrash Hacliephez, existing only in Yemen MSS., 'of which the British Museum has four copies, bearing the Press marks Oriental 2351 and Or. 2380-82. Our copy is 'Prepared from Or. 2382. The MSS. vary very little, and the only essential variation we found we have inserted in its Place. The Bodleian (see Dr. Neubauer's Catalogue, No. 2492) and the Royal Library in Berlin also possess copies of this Midrash. In the catalogue of the latter, by Dr. Stein- schneider,* p. 71, a full description is given of this work, and We see there that its compiler, Yachya Ben Sulieman, Wrote as late as 143a The new version of the Riddles, Which we give here, would accordingly have no claim to great antiquity. But, on the other hand, it has been Proved already, at least with regard to other Midrashic col­ lections coming from Yemen, that the Jews in this country Were, up to a comparatively late date, in possession of very ^cient Rabbinic sources, <which had long before dis­ appeared among their coreligionists in Europe. Thus the kte age of the compiler would not prove much against the Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 06:22 22 June 2016 antiquity of his version of the legend. Now, it is true that that part of the Rabbinic literature *n which the Solomon Riddles are mentioned at all, as the 350 T/ie Riddles of Solomon in Midrash on Proverbs and the Second Targum to Esther, are, according: to the best authorities, not older than the tenth century,1 whilst neither the Talmud of Jerusalem nor that of Babylon, nor any of the other earlier Midrashim (homiletfc comments on the Old Testament), ever allude to them. But the silence of these sources may be explained on other grounds. Indeed, it would seem that the earlier Rabbis purposely avoided touching on the whole subject For we read in the name of R. Samuel bar Nachmani, a famous Aggadist of the third century: "He who translates the words Malkath Sheba as 'the Queen of Sheba' is mistaken, its real meaning being 'the kingdom of Sheba."* It hardly necessary to say that this Rabbi Samuel's explana­ tion is against all grammar. But we know from other places that this Rabbi was rather fond of such forced in­ terpretations of Scriptural stories, which in their simple meaning would rather be irreconcilable with the ideal which posterity has formed of their heroes.1 We may therefore assume, I think, that also in the present case the passage quoted was also meant as a protest against some legends about Solomon, current at the time, which the Rabbis considered unworthy of the Solomon idealised by a later generation. The legend which scandalised the Rabbis was probably that which is to be found first in the Pseudo-Sirach* according to which the relation be­ tween Solomon and the Queen ended in a love affair of which Nebuchadnezzar was the result This legend, again, is based on the Scriptural words: "And the King Solomon Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 06:22 22 June 2016 gave unto the Queen (Malkath) of Sheba all her desire" (i Kings, x, 13; 2 Chroa ix, 12; and Bertheau, ad lot)- The best way to make an end to all such stories was, therefore, to explain the word Malkath as if it were 1 See Znns, Die gottesdienstliche Vortrage, p. 268, and Monk** edition of the Second Targum, p. 10. Comp. also Rapoport, Ered* Millim, p. 23. * See Baba Baihra, 154 and Sabbath, 56a and b. ' See Pseudo Ben Sira, ed. Steinschneider, p. Munk's Second Targum, p. 23; and A. Epstein's Beitraege, etc., p. 122. Rabbinic Literature. 351 toeludtatk, meaning "kingdom". Thus the Queen goes ^together out of the story, and the Riddles with her, though they were circulating among the people, and it t°°k centuries before the above objections were subdued ~~at least with regard to the Riddles. On the other nar»d, it is clear from the statement in the Bible, "The Queen, of Sheba . came to prove Solomon with hard questions" (1 Kings, x, 1; 2 Chron. ix, 1), that even in Biblical times some such riddles or puzzles were current among the people. That those which we here rescue from °blivion cannot trace back to the riddles current in Biblical braes is clear from* the anachronisms contained in them. The student of folk-lore is familiar with the tenacity of Popular memory, and there is therefore the remote chance that similar riddles to those given in our text are referred t°. in the Bible. The above considerations would then e_xplain how they failed to make any appearance in the literary productions of the Rabbis. This exclusion from what we may call the official litera­ ture for such a long time may perhaps also account for the" corrupt and incomplete condition jn which these Riddles are found We possess nowadays three versions of them: the version of the Second Targum to Esther, i, 2, con­ sisting of three riddles; the version of the Midrash on Proverbs, i, I, consisting of four; and the version which we now publish for the first time, consisting of nineteen riddles. The first four riddles of this version, as well as the introduc­ tion, agree on the whole with the Midrash on Proverbs. Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 06:22 22 June 2016 There is only this difference: that the verse from job which 13 here given by R Ishmael is quoted in the Midrash from another Rabbi of a much later date. The quotation was probably shortened by the copyist; for there'can hardly he any doubt that the Rabbi's allusion aimed at the suc­ ceeding verses in Job, in which the treasures of Ethiopia (Cush) are spoken of, which country was, as it is well known, .confused by the ancients with Sheba. We may now proceed at once to give the text and trans­ lation of the Yemen Midrash. 352 T/te Riddles of Solomon in -TIDO nnrm rmbv bp tnoan it bnyo& ~i ton nt#» KSD/i r**o naanm [-iowi in] nam '/opt ibid TJN drafl nobty •?» viD3n ntpow tap ioba it Twa opo nro*1 •tot on kvt nan on vioan .-thin t?n rnotf jtjmw »» dn *T/T03rr bin -pty vwd» ib mo» to** jttt vso noan in* *n *o nfr td» 'mro *mi t-tin two dw Twaa njwrn rwn» mow ft moa TOU/n 1 "rn* rw&rn trw* nu "o» nio» jt? ton •nnw ins •TTN NT nnwn thni rano RRO m •RMM .•ton ft man win nVwt» Tim :nn» oan v? rrios •iniro* •an »a nnfc •••too Tj*pn m ton nnb rnDK'*7 TON na nab moa art mb bt> vn it vera rk tbk td "bvb *&* p ^ «£nsn mow niapji nna? t? m*'-."1 RN ubv MAN 'owni nvbp ft warn D-ONO!? h-*"1 , 0 nnno nnpb vn rnapm •nn» |rm rnpft r^a-^ :/TD"pj ibn DNOR -Am ,t> ton 'prVz* t n»a /inn rrn-^ to ito n ft «nsn jtion oft-iw oftino rattan una tftrna nnan itik /in nnsi bra ]rab vsn •rtraitn vro yrss xbarav aba xbi •yiaip wo - Dft-|y FTNL DftviO ft« !T> ION TJITJS fts" Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 06:22 22 June 2016 :nn» can ft RNOTF. ion •no nVi •ftu vb tm *d RNONI win rftw Tan ft mow win rbxv TON :rra D'obiyn pra m rft *0 .*ft "ION 'TVm 01« *ft« *»DW nm Vfott V-)N It* nsn no ft mow vn» .t;nk- TAN ion mpw rnn m|30 onaw ••wn nnsj tom nvnna mnbn rrvW mvyi 'nm bp amn v isn nb ton "udj ma owns Rabbinic Literature. 353 t*atw !YJ*Y "b & a<2p) mm ens P nt NINVI ^ •FTMTRA Trwi Tunon opai *T»DI "ran •rrran" *T^»n NSV Twnttoi onaM *iwn ppai nrnrs rrnan LAA whi IRAPATYAI iVn rm tj maw nfow Ton ^ rroto nthd 'uvsm nrw it rb nan *nVn 1» miraj tt^w ten nasa ana npnu Nln im *6) flwaam NAAI WAI nanm ON lto* mVbt r£ ion Ttfran •TjUfefr loaaa n©ty Nina 'mn r®i nan on tew •FN"> w vniaa w» vrb rb idn 'ROWAN wan tbk ,l/?3nD nam ibno lapm *n nan nth na 00 Tw IT ftsnaro arm NR i^NA -opm NAV IT nan •napn'Tsm nVia ato p«i vwn ifaa rwte am NA •rrv laoa NMAI6 "few waste MRTO rr? BR Tvthm rb las Tart int> trno nipab IDAAARC rnato "Wri am mpab LOAAA wattn RTNTYI "jrotj RRAAN "awn ib» 'ma J6i TTONM aw na •wran ma dvd 'nn rra iranvwn TKRW *6T na ;rroai vr&» nt rr? •foaai TO-MM *rcia maiaa sin na 'barn nt rb "ia» ^SnnsT anna am na .nWi9 IT rf? naa 'nanan nsa 1 Downloaded by [University of Sussex Library] at 06:22 22 June 2016 nb -iaa -tn ivroai iwm paai pn n-pVi pn ? ttw pg JTT^ j»n pn!?- /teuiMi *ian mwa t»b]n*a P/VO ^ANA WRA am NA •mvT> nt TT pmatti 'QVwtei n»o» nt R6 noa pnaa paa vb m ntra 'Jimn V? MAM xiaa NA N""^ NM RWPNW waa >3^WR6 NFE MS *«PY vm rm vm m rb naa 'tran rrm ^JWN tpn trmn is 354 The Riddles of Solomon in mat* rw nrmi 'epyn xn *ptm vrmn vm ypnvw 72b TTO T^N nvm txrom by aiai roan /ISDVT ft •'tt/TIDN nt nbiM •.no-reft noan \ra wi "W**J R.
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