{"id":60572,"date":"2019-08-04T10:34:29","date_gmt":"2019-08-04T07:34:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60572"},"modified":"2023-02-26T18:27:47","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T16:27:47","slug":"david-calls-for-his-son","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-calls-for-his-son\/","title":{"rendered":"David Calls For His Son"},"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":[914,529,834,484,704],"acf":{"old_id":"60572","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34250,"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"King David was pining away for Absalom, for he was comforted about Amnon, because he died\r\n\r\n","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">After ordering Amnon\u2019s revenge killing, Absalom takes no chances with his father\u2019s reaction and flees to his mother\u2019s family. Though David had been \u201cgreatly upset\u201d (13:21) over Amnon\u2019s rape of his half-sister, Tamar, the king hadn\u2019t taken action against Amnon; naturally, Absalom expected that his own action would not meet the king\u2019s favor and neither would he himself, and so he fled.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The text, however, allows for some ambiguity with regard to the king\u2019s feelings. \u201cAbsalom had fled, and he came to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And [King David] mourned over his son a long time\u201d (13:37). Most assume the son mourned in this verse is Amnon \u2013 and as we are told two verses later that David \u201chad gotten over Amnon\u2019s death,\u201d it is certainly reasonable to assume he was the one David mourned before that comfort.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">However, Amnon is not named; we are instead informed vaguely that David mourned \u201chis son,\u201d alluding perhaps to a bit of internal conflict David had essentially lost two sons; how could he choose just one to mourn? And so perhaps he was really mourning both, uncertain how to handle his conflicted feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">A more literal translation of v. 39 might indicate how he was able to move towards a partial reconciliation with his living son: \u201cKing David was pining away for Absalom, for <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">he was comforted about Amnon, because he died<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">.\u201d Amnon was gone, and as David himself expressed in the heartwrenching episode of his baby\u2019s illness and death in chapter 12, death cannot be changed. Absalom, however, was still alive, and David\u2019s thoughts turned increasingly towards him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Still, however, it took the intervention of his general, Joab, and a clever woman hired from Tekoa, to help the king see his way to sending for Absalom to come \u2013 not home, exactly, but near to it. For as we well know, conflicted emotions can be difficult to sort out in one\u2019s own mind and heart. After sleeping with Bathsheba and arranging for her husband\u2019s death, David found clarity about his own conduct only once the prophet told him a story removed from himself: it was easy to rule objectively and decisively on that case, and once the parallel was pointed out to him he was able to see the same truth in his own story. And so Joab has a clever woman present a case to the king that immediately stirs his sympathies for the living parties in the matter; once the parallel is pointed out to him, David can see more clearly through his own conflicted feelings.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Nothing has been fully resolved, nor will it be without more internal and external conflict and heartache. But in that moment, David calls for his son.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: \u201cDavid Pardoning Absalom\u201d by William Blake, 1803<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60573,"id":60573,"title":"2sam14-blake","filename":"2sam14-blake.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/david-calls-for-his-son\/2sam14-blake\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam14-blake","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60572,"date":"2019-08-04 07:34:14","modified":"2019-08-04 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