It took King Solomon seven years to build the Temple in Jerusalem and thirteen to construct his palace. He had help, as artist Patrociño Barela reminds us in this 18-inch juniper wood sculpture of two laborers from the time of Solomon. According to 1 Kings 5:13–17, “King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered 30,000 men … Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stone cutters in the hill country … At the king’s command, they quarried out great costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.” No doubt, the work was backbreaking. In Barela’s sculpture, the men struggle to carry a heavy burden down a deep slope.
Solomon’s policy of forced labor created tremendous dissatisfaction among the Israelites. After Solomon died, the Israelites (and the rebel Jeroboam) complained to his son Rehoboam: “Your father made our yoke heavy. Now therefore lighten the hard service of your father and his heavy yoke that he placed on us, and we will serve you.” Rehoboam didn’t listen, and the united monarchy was split, with Rehoboam ruling over Judah and Jeroboam ruling over the northern kingdom of Israel. Barela’s men seem to be similarly at odds with each other, even though they are carved from a single piece of wood. Each is dragging the shared burden in the opposite direction.
An unlettered day laborer himself, Barela (c. 1900–1964) was born in Arizona. He dropped out of school early and traveled the American Southwest, working as a shepherd, coal miner, railroad worker and farm hand, among other things. He eventually settled near Taos, New Mexico, where he taught himself how to sculpt, often choosing biblical subjects.
Man in the Time of Solomon c. 1935–1943 By Patrociño Barela
It took King Solomon seven years to build the Temple in Jerusalem and thirteen to construct his palace. He had help, as artist Patrociño Barela reminds us in this 18-inch juniper wood sculpture of two laborers from the time of Solomon. According to 1 Kings 5:13–17, “King Solomon conscripted forced labor out of all Israel; the levy numbered 30,000 men … Solomon also had seventy thousand laborers and eighty thousand stone cutters in the hill country … At the king’s command, they quarried out great costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones.” […]
You have already read your free article for this month. Please join the BAS Library or become an All Access member of BAS to gain full access to this article and so much more.
