O'Donoghue MTh_Thesis-FinalCopy.pdf - South African Theological ...

the field,” would then ‘balance, “birds of the air (Hill 1977:144).”Fleming (Date unknown: 68) is more specific and says that the lilies Jesus refers tothe very beautiful Huleh Lilies. How he arrives at this conclusion is not clear. Bymaking a reference to lilies and then to grass, it seem best to accept lilies of the fieldas the generic for wild vegetation found in Galilee (France 1985: 141).Jesus makes the point that not even Solomon was arrayed like one of these flowers(Matt.6:29). Scholars are in dispute as to whether this reference to Solomon is apositive or negative one. Solomon is well known for governing Israel during a time ofabundant financial prosperity, Gerard von Rad notes the reign of Solomon was a“high point” in both Israel’s “culture and commerce (Longman & Enns 2008:734).”Solomon was seen to the Jewish audience as the “foremost example of human glory(Lioy 2004:171).” That Jesus makes reference to Solomon arrayed in all his glory itappears like Jesus is masking a positive reference to the way Solomon could dress(Matt.6:29).However as already noted Solomon is not always portrayed in a positive light and soit is worth exploring the idea that the reference to Solomon may be negative innature. While he is shown as a King who ruled over a prosperous age in Israel’shistory, he is also seen as a King whose (a) Integrity was at times in doubt and, (b)eventually ended up as an apostate (Provan 2000:788).Further Carter (2000:179) shows that references to Solomon in Matthew up to thispoint in the Gospel are negative ones. He argues so for the following reasons:a) Every time (13 times before this one) the phrase “Yet I say to you” appears itintroduces a “contrast.”b) Matthew 1:6-7 presents Solomon in a negative light.c) Jesus uses the personal pronoun “his” which shows that Solomon was preoccupiedwith his own glory. The OT paints a picture of Solomon, a king whogains wealth not by trusting God, but by using “military conscription, forcedlabour, requisitioned property, heavy taxation and slavery (p.178).”59