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declaring, “Would that they made me the judge in the land and
everyone who had a legal dispute would come before me and I
would declare his judgment” (2 Sam. 15:4). In this way, “Absalom
stole the hearts of the men of Israel” (2 Sam. 15:6).2.1.3.4 Solomon
In Israel’s memory, Solomon was the perfect judge. During a dream
theophany, Solomon asked for a “hearing heart” to judge (1 Kings
3:2–15). The gift was tested when two harlots came before the king
with their tale of one dead and one living baby. Solomon held a
trial, hearing both sides, and then rendered his famous “solomonic
judgment,” ordering the living child cut in two to test the two alleged
mothers. The decision made Solomon’s reputation, “For they saw
that the wisdom of God was in him to do justice” (1 Kings 3:16–28).2.1.3.5 The Later Kings of Israel
Only the “reforms” of Hezekiah and Josiah, which changed the reli-
gious infrastructure and centralized religion, are recorded. Micah’s
reference to “rules of Omri” (Mic. 6:16) indicates that the kings did
issue various decrees, as we would expect from rulers. The role of
the king as judge appears in several episodes from the Northern
Kingdom at the time of the Omrides. They are summarized below
in 2.9.1.2.1.3.6 The king’s role in justice is remembered in Proverbs: “Magic
is on the lips of the king, he cannot err in judgment” (Prov. 16:10).
In the Northern Kingdom, Hosea is very angry at the kings and de-
nounces the whole concept (Hos. 8:4; 13:10–11). In Judah, the prophets
are not as antagonistic to monarchy, and both the pro-monarchic
prophet Isaiah (Isa. 11:4; 32:1) and the less pro-monarchic prophet
Jeremiah ( Jer. 21:11–12; 22:2–3, 13–17) recall the role of the king
in justice. Josiah in particular is noted for having judged the cases
of the poor ( Jer. 22:15–16). After the Exile, the monarchy was not
restored.2.1.3.7 The king did not necessarily try cases that concerned the
king. The trumped-up trial of Naboth for blasphemy against both
God and king is tried before the elders as an ordinary trial; the king
was not present and did not even know about it (1 Kings 21:11–16).
Jehoshaphat of Judah appointed Zebadiah chief of Judah to be in
charge of all matters relating to the king (2 Chron. 19:11).westbrook_f27-975-1046 8/27/03 1:36 PM Page 984