{"id":60178,"date":"2019-07-28T11:15:16","date_gmt":"2019-07-28T08:15:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60178"},"modified":"2023-02-19T21:40:00","modified_gmt":"2023-02-19T19:40:00","slug":"david-rejects-slander","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-rejects-slander\/","title":{"rendered":"David Rejects Slander"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[834,805,363],"acf":{"old_id":"60178","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"272","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"David doesn\u2019t believe what Ziba implies about Mephiboshet - yet...","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In our chapter, David asks if there is anyone still alive from Saul\u2019s descendants with whom he might \u201ckeep faith for the sake of Jonathan\u201d. David is told by Ziba, Saul\u2019s servant, that there remains a son of Jonathan,\u00a0Mephiboshet, whose feet are crippled (see 4:4). Ziba adds that Mephiboshet is in the house of Machir son of Ammiel \u201cin Lo-Devar.\u201d King David has him brought from Lo-Devar (9:1-6). \u201cLo-Devar\u201d, clearly a place name, is identified by some as Hirbet \u2018Um \u2018A-Dabar, 15 km northeast of Bet Shean.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Chapter 17:27 says that Machir son of Ammiel was \u201cfrom Lo\u2019 (ending here with \u2018aleph)\u00a0 Devar\u201d. There does not seem to be a significant difference between \u201cLo-Devar\u201d and \u201cLo\u2019-Devar\u201d. But the Rabbinic Sages made creative use of these variants, particularly \u201cLo\u201d spelled with a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">vav <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">indicating possession, and \u201cLo\u2019\u201d spelled with an <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">aleph <\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">indicating negation.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Talmud (Shabbat 56a) understands that Ziba slandered Mephiboshet by suggesting to David that Mephiboshet \u201chad something\u201d (Lo-Devar, lit. \u201cto him, a thing\u201d) against David, perhaps even plotting to overthrow David and claim the Kingship of Israel for himself. But David realized that Ziba was lying and therefore he rejected his slanderous suggestion. But David wisely understands that Mephiboshet came \u201cfrom no such thing\u201d (Mi-Lo\u2019-Devar), that he had no designs on David\u2019s throne. This explains why, in the continuation of our chapter, David receives Mephiboshet with the honor due the grandson of King Saul, the son of his faithful friend, Jonathan. This midrashic interpretation of our chapter serves to illustrate how, at least here (compare 16:1-4), David rejected Ziba\u2019s slander (<em>leshon ha-ra\u2019<\/em>).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David may be seen here as acting in accordance with contemporary halakhic teaching. The highly influential Rabbi Yisrael Meir Kagan (Poland, died 1933), known popularly as the Chofetz Chaim, devoted considerable attention to the Laws of Slander. In his Hilkhot <em>Leshon Ha-Ra\u2019,<\/em> Chapter 7, Halakhot 1-2, the Chofetz Chaim rules that it is forbidden to believe <em>Leshon Ha-Ra\u2019.<\/em>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Even if the speaker spoke publicly before several people one should not consider it to be true. One may not believe what is being said even if the speaker spoke in the presence of the one spoken of, and even if the one spoken of hears what is being said about him and remains silent. How much more so if the speaker only says that he would be willing to say what he is saying in the presence of the one spoken of. People often err in this. Even if the one spoken about now keeps silent, though it is not in his nature to remain silent, this time he may have decided not to argue, or he may have realized that the listeners would believe the speaker more than himself. For unfortunately people often believe Leshon Ha-Ra\u2019, though the victim denies it a hundred times.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60185,"id":60185,"title":"2sam9-gossip","filename":"2sam9-gossip.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-rejects-slander\/2sam9-gossip\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam9-gossip","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60178,"date":"2019-07-28 08:15:03","modified":"2022-08-02 08:58:30","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":400,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","medium_large-width":400,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","large-width":400,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","1536x1536-width":400,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","2048x2048-width":400,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","post_full_size-width":400,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam9-gossip.jpg","home_baner-width":400,"home_baner-height":300}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"David Rejects Slander","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"David doesn\u2019t believe what Ziba implies about Mephiboshet - 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