Was King Solomon a sexist?
In my last post I stated I would explain what I surmised King Solomon was really testing to find that resulted in him stating he could only find one upright man and not one upright women.
Testing for What?
Does anyone really know for certain what King Solomon was testing to find in a person that would apply a characteristic equal for both men and women? Was upright a correct translation of what he was seeking?
If you look up upright in Thesaurus, these word adjectives appear: decent, honest, respectable, moral, conscientious, honorable, upstanding, principled, and righteous. I chose “honest” in my initial post, but is honesty the exact character trait he was really testing?
To make any sense as to whether King Solomon’s statement was right or wrong, we need to know what King Solomon was actually testing to prove.
Riddles
King Solomon was known for his love of riddles. His Ecclesiastes was not written to be a story with a revealing ending. Instead it is a testament of his own personal experiences. So what exactly was he testing both men and women for? He begins the riddle with this verse.
Indeed, there is no one on earth who is righteous,
no one who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 20:7)
no one who does what is right and never sins. (Ecclesiastes 20:7)
However, if “no one on earth is righteous,” who was the man he found to be righteous?
His next clue of the riddle might be found in the final words of his Chapter Seven.
27 “Look,” says the Teacher,[ “this is what I have discovered:
“Adding one thing to another to discover the scheme of things—
28 while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
28 while I was still searching
but not finding—
I found one upright man among a thousand,
but not one upright woman among them all.
29 This only have I found:
God created mankind upright,
but they have gone in search of many schemes.”
Sexist Bias?
Was King Solomon a male sexist with a bias against women? In my opinion, if he had a bias, it was not against women. If anything, he held women in the highest esteem when he personified the pinnacle of wisdom to be a woman, the Goddess of Wisdom.
A human sexist bias may be a subjective righteousness measurement when compared to mortals values and attitudes which have continuously changed over time and within various cultures.
There cannot be a bias when you test for sin because sin is an offensive action which can be measured objectively for right or wrong when tested against the Ten Commandments.
Who then, in your opinion or interpretation of King Solomon’s verse who could be the one man Solomon found without sin?
In My Opinion
If you are interested in my opinion of who the mystery man could have been, I am sorry to say you will have to wait until I finish the second novel on Solomon. This second novel will be a continuation of where I left off in the first novel listed below. The novels are contemporary applications of a story form to relate God’s timeless wisdom to our modern world.
Regards and goodwill blogging.
Previous Posts
King Solomon’s Test Part One HERE
King Solomon’s Upright Woman Test Part Two HERE
As A Lily Among Thorns – A Story of King Solomon, the Queen of Sheba, and the Goddess of Wisdom by Rudy U Martinka
Now available as an eBook at most sellers. View at link below.
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