On Solomon

On Solomon and on his election and on his righteousness [Memra] 56, which he composed on Solomon and on his election and on his righteousness. King David took the authority of the kingdom of the world and gave it to his son, lest the covenant of his words be altered. The son of Jesse saw that in his jubilee the crown was hidden, and he warned his son not to be negligent and lose his rank. He heard that the sceptre of his headship was eternally extended, and he gave his crown to his son in advance. During his lifetime he gave the crown which the king over all gave him, because he saw that evil was destined to seize the greatness of his rank. He sealed his crown with the seal of the oil that cannot be changed, and he saw evil and rejoiced in the contempt of the covenant of his Lord. With the oil of holiness the mighty king sealed his crown, so that the cunning crafts of sorceries would not overcome him. He was grieved that his son would join with evil, and before the oil, he began to remove his hand from evil. To Solomon he gave the crown and the rank of headship, so that his name would be complete in deed for the salvation of man. The great salvation was hidden in the name that was given to him, and David revealed it through the crown and the rank that he placed in his hands. His first name, beloved of God, he called him openly, and the other name loved the salvation of the wicked. The names of the signs were covered for him in righteousness, one from Jesse and one from David, the mighty ones in unity. Jesse called him beloved, the Lord loved him, and David called Solomon the salvation of the Messiah of man.

son Solomon, and he set names for the Messiah, who before the creation loved God the All and all his servants. The love of truth and the love of peace filled his names, and in both of them the son of Jesse rejoiced to complete his son. Wisely the wise one acted at the end of his life, that he made his son king and taught him the power that is hidden in his name. To his son he handed over the crown and his rank, the righteous king, so that he might be a guide with his jubilee, the confession of his words. To the confession of his Lord the true one loved more than anything, and he also his Lord repaid him a love greater than his love. Through his deeds he sealed his words for the sake of his household, honoring his son with the truth of wisdom that resembles his own. In his father the wise son resembled at the beginning of his kingdom, and like his parent he followed righteousness and subdued the wicked. Against the wicked he armed himself manfully, and like an athlete he descended into the arena of righteousness. The young boy took the scepter of authority and raised his hand to strike down the wicked oppressor. With a harsh yoke he subdued the wicked among his people, and from his harshness the wicked in the houses of the nations trembled. By the harshness of his decrees the wicked were terrified and the righteous were amazed, as much as the speech of his mouth was to his father David. The truth of wisdom that was in his birth they heard from his mouth, and the good and the evil feared him and obeyed his commands. The sign of his election cast a boundary among their thoughts, and although they did not wish it, they submitted to his choice and honored his rank. He again, the sign, strengthened his movements with the power of wisdom, and he set for his time a treasury of parables of mysteries.

like a treasury he opened his storehouse for the needy people, and he enriched the poor with the choice of knowledge of the house of good and evil. The people were in need of the choice of his knowledge, and he drove away the darkness of shame from the face of the people. With the knowledge of murder he destroyed the first sign of his election, and he saw that it was pure, he adorned his beauty for the eyes of the seers. With swift glances he established his truth, and with his actions he interpreted the name of the lover of peace. Two contrary things dwelt together in a confused manner, without being equal, and they mixed and mingled unjust things equally in the yoke of the contest. The unequal things he mixed equally in the contest of equality, and they boiled and reached the order of the begetter who is set in the contest. Their inequality revealed the hiddenness of their actions, and it brought them into the choice of the furnace of the knowledge of the contest. Swiftly he slept the sleep of forgetfulness like the dead, and he restrained the burden of the hour and did not rejoice and did not feel. For one slept and killed her son secretly, and one drowned and did not awaken at the end of her iniquity. Full of iniquity she slept, killed, and rose, and was amazed; and full of mercy she slept, was silent, and rose, and was astonished. Beyond the order the hour conquered the secret, and she did not awaken at the voice of her child when he was being torn. The burden of her iniquity fell upon her iniquity, and her life was silent; and when she awakened, her iniquity did not awaken. Only her body groaned from the hour of heaviness, and her soul drowned in the burden of iniquity that is without measure. The harsh iniquity desired to serve through the death of her son, and in place of her iniquity she mixed and gave birth to a grievous iniquity.

She saw the folly that was a pitfall in her laxity, and she abhorred the yoke and the knowledge of the iniquity that would heal her shame. She saw that she was cut off from the upbringing of the eloquent fruit, and she cried out for the pride of the robberies to be covered by him. Like a troop she fell from the peace upon her partner, and snatched from her the living yoke and placed the living one. The yoke in the yoke she desired to exchange the fullness of iniquity, and wickedly she took the living one and placed the dead one. She took the living and placed the dead with insolence, and when the healing of her shame was spread, her shame increased. With the living yoke she desired to establish the end of her soul, and with her dead son she desired to shame the face of mercy. With her child she separated the pitfall-like one who was not hers, and to her own she called him hers when he was not. To the one not hers she opened her womb until morning, and she did not know that the light came and spread for her. Until morning the evil one awoke to the harlots, and he stood the circumcisions to the ones not theirs as if they were theirs. Pride turned the order of the mother, and when they were theirs and not theirs truly. To the ones not theirs he led both of them falsely, until the morning revealed her falsehood. The morning showed her falsehood in the face of the yokes, and with their forms he spread and revealed the cunning. In the face of the yoke she saw the mother of the living yoke, and she saw that the dead one who lay in her womb was not hers. Amazement seized her at the deeds of the lawless one, that her yoke was stolen and another yoke was placed in her bed. Without law the wanton one acted against her partner.

And she chose a life of iniquity with a curse. The spirit of shamelessness clothed her mind with impudence. And she began to bear a yoke that was not her own, a dead iniquity. As a bear in the forest, she fell upon both with deceit and shamelessness, and they contended for the victory of the living iniquity. The mother of the living contended with the spirit of love, and the mother of the dead with the adorned spirit of denial. The mother of the living hardened her heart against her own supplication, and shamelessness dragged her to the impudence of snatching from the midst. The foolish ones made a great uproar over their iniquities, and their foundation was not laid until the king and the people heard. The son of David heard of the good of the slaughter that came to his ears, and he rejoiced and was emboldened to proclaim his name in deed. The command of the ruler over all chose him for the fire of the man, and he too began to anoint the man with his name. Through deeds he desired to show the fire of his name, and he assembled and called the tribes of the people to hear his judgment. All the tribes were troubled to hear the new judgment, that in one utterance they would see the power of the son of David. The power that the strength of the wise placed in him troubled them, that in revelations they would see the power of the hidden things. The troubled ones stood, all the companies of their hearings, and they waited for when he would open the door of his mind. In the likeness of the dead, the young and the old were weary to hear the word from the mouth of the youth who counseled from the shadows. With the desires of passion, all the multitudes stood at the time of judgment, until when the heart of the king would give birth to his judgment of iniquity.

Also to him, the king, the bonds of truth were difficult for him, that he might bring forth hidden things, the covering of iniquity before the beholders. The mother stood in his thought to produce fables, and he was destroying the generation of the word without blemish. He commanded the sharp one, and he went up to the foolish women, and he stood in the house of judgment, and he began to seek one from love and rejoicing in impudence. He said, "Show me the living one under the story gently, and the mother of the dead one, strike with a club violently." She loved her iniquity, she sought her iniquity like a robber, and she killed her son, she cried out like a madwoman without shame. With shamelessness, the son of David marveled at how bold she was, and he looked and was perplexed as to where he should dismiss her disturbance. He saw that she was bold, a hard club of rebellion, and apart from witnesses, her falsehood is not concealed. He saw that if he said, "The dead iniquity is mine," she would deny it before him, as if he were a king who is not his own. He looked that if he commanded, "The iniquity shall be hung for the curse," the people would see that [...] with faces, he did with the one who is trodden down. He saw that if he loosed the bonds of the living one without a sign, the wisdom of truth that dwells in his nature would not be revealed. Wisely, he looked into the judgment that approached him, and with a sign he examined and revealed the eye of the beholders. By means of a sign, the wise son of the wise commanded that the sword come and loose the inheritance of the two living ones. Into the place of the sword, the mother of the living one and the mother of the dead one entered for the trembling ones, and he saw which one is the mother of the living one and the mother of the dead one. The sword became a clear witness in the hidden iniquity, and it examined for us that the living iniquity is the one that weeps.

He revealed to you the hidden things of the cunning serpent, and he related to you how iniquity passes over into iniquity. In great wonder the Hebrews stood at the king's command, and they were amazed at the new judgment that was not customary. The partisans stood, his hearers who sought the sword, whether his judgment was true or not true, they were perplexed. The frivolous of heart considered the word he spoke as a jest, and the lovers of truth feared that the truth was hidden by the command. Without the agreement of their minds, the son of David saw, and he sought a sword that would choose which side to go with the small ones. As if to deceive, he entered into the furnace of choice, and the pure one from him cleansed the filth of the beloved without equality. The sword and the executioner stood in the house of judgment, and the king commanded to cut the living iniquity in two. The son of David commanded to cut the living iniquity in two, and they gave his limbs, half to one and half to the other. Upon his life, the fragile cries were pressed, and his life departed, and behold, they are drunk from the press. In the midst of the trembling of the hands, she will prevail over the cries of his life, and she will be sated from him in one equality, the cup is finished. The mother of the living one saw the command of the terrible king, and she trembled, for she thought that in truth he sought to kill her son. She saw that the executioner raised the sword to strike, and her affections ran and seized her hand from killing. Nature taught her to follow the love that is placed in nature, and taught her to restrain the terrible death of the king's command. "Not the son of David, nor the just one of your judgment," she cried out in the house of judgment, "and not justly did you command concerning the living iniquity that is to die.

The just king followed the wicked one and slew the woman. And do not hasten to the one who shed blood without investigation. The wicked one grew strong in your father, the wicked one, and he became like him. And the honor of truth that was hidden in your name like your parent. See that you do not loosen the boundary of the wicked one that your father set. And do not learn to deceive people by taking bribes. Do not give the land to the wicked one to become arrogant. When he sees you, he will pursue you on the path of injustice. Do not destroy the wicked one's life when he is not guilty. And do not delight in the innocent blood that was shed because of sins. Give all of it to insolence, and it will be hers. And do not divide it among the parts without profit. A person cannot see his death when it is cut off. And if a person sees it, death is better for me than life. O Cain, how much did you pursue and follow the pursuit of your sin? And you did not rest until the stake of your adversary. O Cain, how manfully did you approach the sword? And you did not give place for the line of your heat to be shaken. O Cain, how strong you were to fight sinfully? And you did not yield and fall from the command of the king and his power. O Cain, to the beloved ones of love, how much did her lovers reveal? That she gave the wicked one to insolence alone. O to the foolish one, the dead one, how much did you not spare? That you cast the likeness of the wicked one, the living one, so that it would not be divided. O how much did the heart of stone stand firmly? That it was not shaken when the sword saw the face of the youth. O how much did insolence stand before the son of David? That it is not mine, nor yours, from the dead as it was decreed.

At her impudence Solomon was amazed, the just king, the Messiah's type, a man. And from her impudence he learned the whole of what was hidden in her heart. By the love and affection of the mother of the child, the son of David was amazed. And from her festivals he discerned and understood that she was his mother. She was his mother, and her love testified that he was her own. He gave while he lived, and she rejoiced in his life as she had asked. The just one conquered and placed upon her, the king, a crown of victory. And her impudence, the impudent one, was shamed and went out naked. Crowns of praises the spectators wove for the just king. For he conquered well and condemned well, wisely. By judgment [hidden] hidden, he revealed the justice of the son of his people. And he testified with the people that his judgment was true and his testing just. By judgment he taught them that there is power in him to clothe judgment. And they feared him and honored the degree of his headship. As in a generation he chose his standing by testing of women. And he showed the beauty of the purity of his soul to the sons of his people. Also the Creator, seeing him pure from corruption, desired him in a vision and interpreted with him the power of his wisdoms. In a vision of the night the vigilant one of his vigils spoke with him. And he commanded him to ask for the seal of truth of the just judgment. He asked, he said to him as one who does not know what he wants. And I shall fulfill the request of your soul by means of deeds. Give me heart and also understanding, O son of David. And I shall pursue truth and conceal falsehood without corruption. The just judgment asked of the son of David from the Creator. And also the Creator filled him with answer and confirmed his words.

First he gave him the wisdom of the heart to hear judgment, and again he added to him the wealth of righteousness and priesthood. With these two riches he attained the rank of his kingship, by the wisdom of the soul and the beauty of the desire of the corporeal things. With spiritual and corporeal things the son of David grew rich, and spiritually and corporeally he was pleasing and was adorned. In body and soul he was pleasing to God and to men, and he sought and attained the holy matter for the foundation of his Lord. In the house he sought to fill from him heaven and earth, and though he did not dwell in the work of his hands, he dwelt in it through love. By means of revelations he showed his love toward his son, that while he himself was in all, he chose a dwelling in the house of righteousness. The greatness of the love of David the great revealed in the son of David, and the confession of his words was completed in deed as he confessed. The kingdom of the world was confessed to him, the son of Jesse, and he made his son king and gave him wealth and wisdom of heart. By the greatness of his wealth and the wisdom of his soul all peoples were astounded, and the goodness of his generation went forth through the boundaries of the earth. To all regions the goodness of his generation was attached, and in all peoples the seeds of his judgments were sown. To the hearing of his judgments kings of the peoples trembled and were terrified, and they sent envoys of their peace to see his face. The wonder of his name terrified the full of wealth, and they trembled and were confounded by the greatness of what was hidden in his name. The name that concealed in him cast a snare for the mighty ones, and though they did not wish, their forms were bent by the arrow of his name.

the Egyptians trembled, the Ethiopians were astounded, the Indians were amazed, and they erred and brought forth the demons of the air to do battle with him. The distant ones desired, the foreigners were troubled, the neighbors were pressed to hear from him the wisdom of truth that was given to him. Truth was revealed and was seen at the door of his house, and the name of the Creator was praised in his righteousness. God was praised by every mouth, and not-gods were proclaimed by every tongue. With the demons of kings, the king over all was honored, and the worship of the demons of the air was scattered. Blessed is the God who dwelt among his people; all peoples cried out, and the rebellion of those who abolished the voice of the name of his gods was shaken. All peoples paid the debt of praise through the son of David, and they seized the thunder of praise that men gave through the son of man. The name of the Creator was magnified through the son of man, and envy stirred him up because of what the earth had increased. But the great father put on envy in the honor of his Lord, and he began to mount swift horses that were sent to his name. The armor of all was prepared in his heart for the consumption that he would make a quarrel with the Creator through the son of man. All the armor of his bitterness the rebel stirred up, who set up rebellion against the throne of the son of David. All his strength gathered and called to the abyss, that with all the horses he might lower the height of the fear of truth. His demons were troubled, his armies stirred up, his suns called, that their spears in a harsh quarrel might confront him. His snares were deep, his nets were hidden, his traps were spread, that he might catch the man who was honored in him, the name of the Creator.

The net of the wicked one he spread as a snare for the son of the true one, so that he might stumble in it, his error be revealed, and his rank be lost. With twisted ropes of the daughters of Eve he bound his neck, so that he might not escape from the snares of his bitterness. Like a moth he cast envy in the path of the daughters of Hava, so that the king Solomon might pass through and be ensnared. On the path of kings he cast a snare and the seekers of his secrets, and he stirred up and set his snare for the king and sent forth his desire. All the desire of Shem the founder he snatched from his head and left him naked, without the covering of the fear of truth. The snare of his father he set for the lion who terrified the peoples, and as he had snared David, so also he snared him through the love of women. The son of the wrath of women, the evil one snared the eloquent one, the serpent, and through their error he stopped up his ear from hearing. Through the corruption of women he overturned the strength of the mighty warrior and cast his bound one into the prison of ignorance. Through ignorance the twisted one bound the wise one of all, so that it was not easy for him to struggle against his wiles. Women he sent as spies and they spied out his freedom, and he persuaded the serpent that he might be persuaded by the secrets of the child. Through women the twisted serpent concealed his bitterness, and through their tongues he stung him in his error as if with a sting. A blow to the inheritance, the deaf one struck the strong of soul, and the bitterness of his sorcery flew and settled in all his senses. Like a madman he became agitated from the house of women, and he wrote in his soul and stirred up the hair of the head of his mind. In the form of a millstone he ground his mistress upon his limbs, and she flew and caused to totter even the hidden movements of his soul.

The hunter set a snare for the prey before his gates, and like a moth he drew his net toward his entanglements. The vile one spread out the garments of the daughters of the vain one, and by them he caught the lightness of the one who was called Solomon. Woe to the one who was caught by the nets of the vile women, and who entered his prison in the harsh bonds of fornication. Woe to the man whose limbs the snares stripped, and who took away the sign of the Creator's name from his mind. Woe to the beautiful one who was beloved of the good in his body and soul, that he marred his beauty with the foul stain of vileness. Woe to the wise one at whose knowledge even the spirits marveled, that he mingled himself with fools and their foolish deeds. Woe to the knower who probed the mysteries of the hidden one, that the raging demons laughed and mocked at his wisdom. Woe to the wise one who healed the sick with his words, that he sickened himself with the grievous pain of fornication. Woe to the true one who abandoned the error of those without law, that he left the path of the word of truth and pursued error. And again: Woe to the upright one who raised the head of vanity, that he bowed the head of his truth before deceivers. Woe to the sweet singer who enlightened the peoples with the sound of his songs, that the voices of his beautiful songs were silenced by the bewitching fornicators. Woe to the interpreter who used to translate the wisdom of truth, that the young demons cut off the branches of his soul. Woe to the flute on which the will of his Lord used to play, that the demons broke it and it was not sufficient for the sound of the spirit of revelation. Woe to you, O king, adorned above the kings who were and will be, that your rank was cast down to the place of earth and heavens.

He did not marvel at the vileness of the [...] of the one who was profligate, who cast his dignity to the winds without profit. He did not mourn over the humiliation of the one who, by his own hand, cast down the meditation of spiritual matters and translated it into the profane. He did not feel the change of the great sea, which swallowed his wisdom and dried up the spring of his discernment. He did not weep over the contrived allegory of parables, which became a parable, and behold, his laughter is mocked in your entirety. He did not fear the ordinances of ignorance, for when he did not know, he ordained and fell into pitfalls. He did not cut off the hidden things within himself, for without perceiving, he wrought pains and squandered his wealth. He did not become and was not vigilant in the battle with his entirety, for the snares multiplied from the depth of the abyss before his thoughts. He did not bar his soul from captivity, for on the day he spoke, he closed the door of his treasures. If the wise man, in his zeal, considers the wisdom of his soul, how can he guard his treasures from the cunning? If the frivolous man, his traps among the demonic enemies of women, why does he not flee from the entanglement of the daughters of Eve? If the man falls into the snares of their disturbances, why does he not flee to the love that is beyond their temptations?