Connections Between the Torah Parashah & the Haftarah
Our two liturgical readings this week are connected by numerous features that they have in common. First they open in a very similar way. The Parashah very early on tells us “And Pharaoh awoke. וַיִּיקַ֖ץ פַּרְעֹֽה׃” Compared with the opening words of the Haftarah which says “Then Solomon awoke… וַיִּקַ֥ץ שְׁלֹמֹ֖ה” In both instances an influential individual is gifted by God with great wisdom. After his very symbolic dream, Pharaoh, whose name is never revealed, calls for all his court magicians, but none of them are able to explain the two dreams for him. Only a long forgotten prisoner can interpret them. Once Joseph successfully decodes the two dreams and thankfully to Pharaoh’s approval, the king of Egypt announces to everyone that this is certainly “a man in whom is the spirit of God.” Pharaoh praises Joseph directly when he says that “there is none so discerning [נָב֥וֹן] and wise [וְחָכָ֖ם] as you [כָּמֽוֹךָ].
Likewise in King Solomon’s case, he receives in a dream God’s promise of “a wise [חָכָ֣ם] and discerning [וְנָב֔וֹן] mind”—so exceptional that “there has never been anyone like you [כָּמ֙וֹךָ֙] before,” nor will would ever be another person as wise again (1st Kings 3.12). This very capability is fully demonstrated in his judgment of the two women, with the result that “all of Israel” recognized that their newly appointed king “possessed divine wisdom [חָכְמַ֧ת אֱלֹהִ֛ים] to execute proper justice” (1st Kings 3.28). Commenting on the prior verse, the Talmud Bavli claims in Makkot 23b that a voice from Heaven revealed to Solomon who the actual mother was. However, the Jewish Study Bible by Oxford University Press on page 664, says that Solomon is able to discern a distinctive pattern in each of the two women’s speech. One of them emphasizes death first while the other one emphasized life. So Solomon intuitively knew who the mother of the living child was and announced it circumspectly.
Even though both men are immensely blessed with not only divine wisdom, but discernment as well, each person initially applies it in a somewhat different way: Joseph successfully understands and reveals the hidden language of Pharaoh’s two dreams; King Solomon determines the truth of a conflicting legal testimony in his court. Here we can see two models whereby a trusted mediator is requested to resolve a problematic case. In the parashah, it’s the king’s personal perplexity over the meaning of his dreams that requires interpretation, and only he is able to acknowledge the validity or fitness of Joseph’s clarification (Genesis 41.37). By contrast, the haftarah reading deals with an interpersonal dispute whose resolution depends upon the people’s trust in the judge and his method of resolving the problem; consequently, only the people (the litigants specifically, and society as a whole) can acknowledge the procedure and its result (1st Kings 3.28). Being able to trust in a mediator is therefore a very important factor in the resolution of conflict. In the two cases at hand, this very trust is a function of demonstrated wisdom and skill. Neither social standing nor high office can inherently bring this about.
~Christo Chaney [כלב דניאל]
Congregation Shaareth Israel - Lubbock TX