""And Solomon the Son of David,"" poetry

Revised Edition: LukivPress (Victoria, BC), 2022.

Introduction

With Solomon, the king who chooses wisdom and knowledge of his God over riches and honour from men, Second Chronicles begins (1037 BCE). His rule of 40 years, generally of peace (although marred by apostasy), ends with his death in 997 BCE. His foolish son Rehoboam, lacking consideration for his fellow Hebrews' day to day challenges, invites revolt. In 997 the kingdom splits. Ten tribes sever ties to the new king, setting up a northern kingdom. Only the tribes of Judah and Benjamin (forming a southern kingdom) remain loyal to Solomon's son. But apostasy stains his rule. In fact, it also characterizes the (northern) ten-tribe kingdom, which Jehovah allows Assyria to overturn in 740 BCE. Then, in 607 BCE, he allows Babylon to overturn the southern kingdom of Judah and Benjamin. Surviving Israelites transported to Babylon (in 607 BCE) eventually lose much knowledge of their dramatic past. Second Chronicles, completed by Ezra in 460 BCE, vividly details events of the Davidic lineage, in essence resurrecting Jewish heritage and history. The book highlights the blessings of obedience versus the results of disobedience to Jehovah, covers 500 years, and ends with the repatriation of Jews from Babylon to Jerusalem (537 BCE).

An excerpt

Chapter 20

Ammon, push that red
Button called thermonuclear
Death;

Moab of Chemosh
That ate children, gather
Gold not yours;

Mount Seir, with eyes
Like Esau, pretend that
Your god does not look
A lot like you:

Such sons of Abraham,
Travel wide roads that
Rome would have carved
Into the young earth
If the madness of lead that
Sweetened its wine had not
Spawned idiots,

And search for rest in green
Meadows where images of
Sodom do not

Stick in your dreams, like
Thorns or thistles not in the paws
Of a beast.

The author

Dan Lukiv, published in 19 countries, is a poet, novelist, columnist, short story and article writer, and independent education researcher (hermeneutic phenomenology). As a creative writer, he apprenticed with Canada's Professor Robert Harlow (recipient of the George Woodcock Achievement award for an outstanding literary career), the USA's Paul Bagdon (Spur Award finalist for Best Original Paperback), and England's D. M. Thomas (recipient of the Cheltenham Prize for Literature, Orwell Prize [biography], Los Angeles Fiction Prize, and Cholmondeley award for poetry). He attended The University of British Columbia (creative writing department), the acclaimed Humber School for Writers (poetry writing program), and Writer's Digest University (novel writing program).