{"id":60654,"date":"2019-08-05T18:33:01","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T15:33:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60654"},"modified":"2023-02-28T22:44:54","modified_gmt":"2023-02-28T20:44:54","slug":"absaloms-strategic-assault-on-davids-justice-mishpat","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/absaloms-strategic-assault-on-davids-justice-mishpat\/","title":{"rendered":"Absalom\u2019s Strategic Assault on David\u2019s \u2018Justice\u2019 (Mishpat)"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":[914,884,834,391,414],"acf":{"old_id":"60654","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":38322,"related_cahpter":"278","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"David\u2019s current abuse of mishpat while in power is an extension of his manipulation of mishpat during his dubious beginnings and renders his regime particularly vulnerable\u00a0","content":"

The initial step in Absalom\u2019s insurrection against his father is crafting his image as a champion of the rule of law. Absalom seizes on some failure of David\u2019s governance that must have caused resentment among the populace. Those seduced by power always exploit political disgruntlement to rally support in their fledgling campaigns against the current regime.<\/span><\/p>\n

Absalom intercepts litigants seeking justice in David\u2019s courts. His warning that the king will not afford them a \u201chearing\u201d must credibly appeal to be effective. This strategy proved successful for regime change previously. Discontent with corruption in the administration of justice was the very reason the people rejected Samuel\u2019s prophetic dynasty in favor of kingship: that Samuel\u2019s successor sons were \u201cbent on gain, accepted bribes, and subverted justice (<\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i>)\u201d (I Sam 8:3). Thus begins a recurring play on the term <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> (law; custom; practice) throughout the Saul\/David narrative.<\/span><\/p>\n

Absalom\u2019s first question regarding what town the disputant comes from and its elicited response, \u201cfrom one of the Israelite tribes,\u201d are revealing. For the 19<\/span>th<\/span> century commentator Malbim, Absalom pointedly targets David\u2019s bias favoring his own tribe to the detriment of all other Israelites. Once the litigant identifies himself as outside David\u2019s clan, Absalom offers an impartial alternative to David\u2019s prejudiced judicial administration. Fueling civil unrest garners Absalom popular support needed to ensure a successful insurgency already stirring in the first verse describing his ominous formation of a private militia, \u201cAbsalom provided himself with a chariot, horses, and fifty runners.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Ironically<\/span>, <\/span><\/i>David\u2019s own pretensions to Saul\u2019s throne began with <\/span>subversions<\/span><\/i> of the law. First, he attracted a ragtag band of misfit recruits comprising those \u201cin straits, in debt, and desperate\u201d (1 Sam 22:2) who sought <\/span>escape<\/span><\/i> from the law. These weren\u2019t citizens mistreated by Saul, but rather precisely those failing to fulfil their legal obligations toward others, seeking relief that an outlaw life with David offered.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Second, David\u2019s premiere association with <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> occurred during his refuge from Saul under the protection of the Philistines. David would ransack for personal gain non-Israelite towns leaving no survivors who could controvert his deceptive report to the Philistine king that he had plundered Israelite villages, conduct characterized as \u201chis practice\/law (<\/span>mishpato<\/span><\/i>) as long as he stayed in the territory of the Philistines (I Samuel 27:11).\u201d David\u2019s insurrection was thus marked by the lawlessness of his supporters compounded by banditry, wholesale murder, and deception characteristic of his <\/span>mishpat.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n

David\u2019s current abuse of <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> while in power is really an extension of his manipulation of <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> during his dubious beginnings. But it is what renders his regime particularly vulnerable to the machinations of his opponents, in this case his own son. The recurring appearance of the term <\/span>mishpat<\/span><\/i> in the record of Absalom\u2019s nascent strategy toward an eventual coup invokes David\u2019s Machiavellian distortion of <\/span>mishpat <\/span><\/i>to gain power which, when systemically instituted while in power, exposes his greatest weakness. It also further corroborates Samuel\u2019s prediction of the king\u2019s oppressive <\/span>mishpat <\/span><\/i>which would inevitably degenerate into enslavement (I Sam 8:11-17).<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60655,"id":60655,"title":"2sam15-justice","filename":"2sam15-justice.png","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam15-justice.png","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/absaloms-strategic-assault-on-davids-justice-mishpat\/2sam15-justice\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam15-justice","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60654,"date":"2019-08-05 15:32:48","modified":"2019-08-05 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