Solomon’s Servants
Solomons Servants
( ; Sept. , Ezr 2:58; , Ezr 2:55; Neh 7:57; Neh 7:60; Vulg. filii servorum Salomonis). The descendants (sons) of persons thus named appear in the lists of the exiles who returned from the captivity. They occupy all but the lowest places in those lists, and their position indicates some connection with the services of the Temple. First come the priests, then Levites, then Nethinim, then the children of Solomon’s servants. In the Greek of 1Es 5:33; 1Es 5:35, the order is the same, but instead of Nethinim we meet with , servants or ministers of the Temple. In the absence of any definite statement as to their office, we are left to conjecture and inference.
(1.) The name, as well as the order, implies inferiority, even to the Nethinim. They are the descendants of the slaves of Solomon. The servitude of the Nethinim, given to the Lord, was softened by the idea of dedication.
(2.) The starting point of their history is probably to be found in 1Ki 5:13-14; 1Ki 9:20-21; 2Ch 8:7-8. Canaanites, who had been living till then with a certain measure of freedom, were reduced by Solomon to the helot state, and compelled to labor in the king’s stone quarries, and in building his palaces and cities. To some extent, indeed, the change had been effected under David, but it appears to have been then connected specially with the Temple, and the servitude under his successor was at once harder and more extended (1Ch 22:2).
(3.) The last passage throws some light on their special office. The Nethinim, as in the case of the Gibeonites, were appointed to be hewers of wood (Jos 9:23), and this was enough for the services of the tabernacle. For the. construction and repairs of the Temple another kind of labor was required, and the new slaves were set to the work of hewing and squaring stones (1Ki 5:17-18). Their descendants appear to have formed a distinct order, probably inheriting the same functions and the same skill. The prominence which the erection of a new Temple on their return from Babylon would give to their work accounts for the special mention of them in the lists of Ezra and Nehemiah. Like the Nethinim, they were in the position of proselytes, outwardly conforming to the Jewish ritual, though belonging to the hated race, and, even in their names, bearing traces of their origin (Ezr 2:55-58). Like them, too, the great mass must either have perished, or given up their position, or remained at Babylon. The 392 of Ezr 2:55 (Nethinim included) must have been but a small fragment of the descendants of the 150,000 employed by Solomon (1Ki 5:15). SEE NETHINIM.
Fuente: Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theological and Ecclesiastical Literature
Solomon’s Servants
i.e. “slaves”. (See SOLOMON.) Canaanites, living until Solomon’s time in comparative freedom, were forced to slaves’ work in the stone quarries, and degraded below the Nethinim (“given” or “dedicated to the Lord”), as the Gibeonites were; hewers of wood and drawers of water for the sanctuary, Jos 9:23): 1Ki 5:13-18; 1Ki 9:20-21; 2Ch 8:7-8; 1Ch 22:2. Their “children” or descendants discharged menial offices in the temple on the return from Babylon (Ezr 2:55-58; Neh 7:57-60). Their names betray their Canaanite origin: only 392, in contrast with Solomon’s 150,000.
Fuente: Fausset’s Bible Dictionary
Solomon’s Servants
SOLOMONS SERVANTS.See Nethinim.
Fuente: Hastings’ Dictionary of the Bible
Solomon’s Servants
( , adbhedhe shelomoh; , douloi Salomon): The children of Solomon’s servants constituted a company or guild of the Jewish exiles who returned with Zerubbabel from Babylonia to Jerusalem in 537 BC, pursuant to the decree of Cyrus; they are mentioned 5 times (Ezr 2:55, Ezr 2:58 parallel Neh 7:57, Neh 7:60; Neh 11:3). As the prime purpose of the returning exiles was the rebuilding of the Temple and the restoration of Yahweh’s worship (Ezr 1:2, Ezr 1:3), it was important that those who held the privileges of sanctuary service as a family heritage should go back to their duties. This included, besides priests and Levites, the NETHINIM (which see) and Solomon’s Servants. In every reference to them, Solomon’s Servants are connected with the Nethinim, who had been given or dedicated (nethnm or nethunm is pass. participle of nathan, to give, to appoint) by David for the service of the Levites (Ezr 8:20); so Solomon’s Servants traced their official beginning back to Solomon’s appointment, as their name indicates. In the joint references they always fall into the natural chronological order, i.e. following the Nethinim. It is possible, therefore, that they are referred to in Ezr 7:24 also, under the title servants of this house of God, which immediately follows Nethinim in the list of those exempt from taxation and tolls.
What their duties in the house of God may have been is not stated in the records. These must have been more or less menial, the more formal and honorable duties being reserved for the priests and Levites, the singers, (and) porters (Ezr 7:24). When the ark was brought to Jerusalem by David and the ceremonial of the sacrificial system was more strictly observed, the services of priests and Levites were greatly increased, and to meet the needs of the new order David appointed the Nethinim (Ezr 8:20; compare 1Ch 9:2). Likewise the much greater increase in such duties on the completion of Solomon’s Temple was the occasion for the dedication of an additional number of these assistants to the Levites.
The number of those who returned with Zerubbabel was not great, together with the Nethinim being only 392. This does not appear to have been sufficient for the needs of the sanctuary, since Ezra, in preparation for his expedition in 458 BC, made special appeal for Nethinim to go with him, of whom 220 responded (Ezr 8:15-20). No doubt at the first their service was considered to be lowly; but by the time of the exile, certainly after it, their position had developed into one of considerable honor and constituted them a privileged class in the nation. While many of the people were required by Nehemiah to live in Jerusalem, they were allowed to dwell in their possessions in the cities of Judah (Neh 11:3).
A question of some interest and of difference of opinion is whether Solomon’s Servants were Levites or non-Israelites. The latter view is the more generally held, for the following reasons; (1) After the completion of the Temple and his other great buildings a large body of workmen, whom Solomon had drafted from the non-Israelite population, were without occupation, and might well have been assigned to the menial duties of the Temple (1 Ki 9), their name in Septuagint (douloi) properly indicating such a class; (2) Ezekiel excludes non-Israelites from the service of his ideal temple, as though they had been allowed in the preexilic Temple (Eze 44:9); (3) they are always clearly distinguished from the Levites in the lists of religious bodies.
But, on the other hand, equally strong arguments favor their Levitical descent: (1) Levites also are called douloi in 1 Esdras; (2) it is more probable that Ezekiel refers to the abuses of Athaliah, Ahaz and Manasseh than to the institutions of David and Solomon; (3) Ezra specifically classifies the Nethinim as Levites (Ezr 8:15-20); (4) there is not the slightest intimation in the text of 1Ki 9:15-22 that the Gentilebondservants were assigned to temple-service after completion of the great building operations; such an interpretation is wholly inferential, while, on the contrary, it is more probable that such an innovation would have been mentioned in the narrative; and (5) it is not probable that Ezra and Nehemiah, or Zerubbabel, with their strict views of Israelite privilege (compare Ezr 2:62), would have admitted non-Israelites to sacred functions, the less so in view of Ezekiel’s prohibition. There is more ground, then, for holding that Solomon’s Servants, like the porters and singers, were an order of Levites.
Fuente: International Standard Bible Encyclopedia
Solomon’s Servants
Sol’omon’s Servants. (Children of Solomon’s Servants). Ezr 2:55; Ezr 2:58; Neh 7:57; Neh 7:60. The persons, thus named, appear in the lists of the exiles, who returned from the captivity. They were the descendants of the Canaanites, who were reduced by Solomon, to the helot state, and compelled to labor in the king’s stone-quarries, and in building his palaces and cities. 1Ki 5:13-14; 1Ki 9:20-21; 2Ch 8:7-8. They appear to have formed a distinct order, inheriting, probably, the same functions, and the same skill as their ancestors.