The Solomonic Districts and the Nimshide Dynasty Administrative System in the Southern Levant

Abstract

Scholars once eagerly claimed that 1 Kgs 4:7–19 contains historical information and represents a reliable source of information on David and Solomon’s administrative system. However, with the idea of a great United Monarchy becoming controversial since the 1990s, some pivotal studies have proposed new dates for this list’s composition, ranging from the 10th, mid-ninth, early eighth, and mid-seventh centuries BCE to even the post-exilic period. This article begins with the premise that 1 Kgs 4:7–19 represents the political reality of a specific time period, which could leave traceable factual evidence. Synthesizing topographical-textual, archaeological, and historical observations of 1 Kgs 4:7–19 to elucidate its likely historical background results in an inference suggesting early eighth century BCE composition during the reigns of Joash and Jeroboam II.