Title: Prophet, Priest and King -- A novel of King Solomon
Genre: Historical Fiction
Pages: 204
Synopsis:
King Solomon is often equated with wisdom, but, contrary to popular belief, the Bible does not always portray him as wise and good. In fact, the Bible also depicts him as an evil, cruel, hedonistic tyrant. The truth probably lies between these two Biblical extremes. Here, perhaps, in this novel lies the real Solomon, the real prophet, priest and king. After all, he was a man whom the Bible fails to praise for his greatest accomplishment -- religious tolerance. Instead the Bible condemns and vilifies Solomon because he allowed the priests of Baal unhindered access to Palestine. No doubt the king reasoned that if the priests were freely allowed to set up their Baals in all the high places, they would win very few converts. On the other hand, if the priests were actively persecuted and thus given heaps of free publicity, they might well attract tens of thousands to their false beliefs. So perhaps Solomon really was the fountain of Wisdom the Bible presents -- but maybe for the very opposite reasons?
