{"id":60659,"date":"2019-08-05T21:57:51","date_gmt":"2019-08-05T18:57:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60659"},"modified":"2023-02-26T16:28:34","modified_gmt":"2023-02-26T14:28:34","slug":"tamars-coat-of-many-colors","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tamars-coat-of-many-colors\/","title":{"rendered":"Tamar’s Coat Of Many Colors"},"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":[576,771,523,484,567],"acf":{"old_id":"60659","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":41916,"related_cahpter":"276","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"And when Tamar rends her royal tunic, symbolizing her lost honor and the violence done to her, she prefigures the future rending of the Davidic kingdom","content":"

“She was wearing a <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em>, for maiden princesses were customarily dressed in such robes. And his servant brought her outside, and barred the door after her. And Tamar put dust upon her head, and she rent the <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> that she was wearing. She put her hands on her head as she walked about, crying aloud as she went.”\u00a0 II Sam. 13:18\u201319.<\/span><\/p>\n

The tunic Tamar was wearing announced her royal and virgin status. A <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> was a multi-colored, striped tunic or cloak that maiden princesses wore over their clothing. This finely flowing and identifiable garment functioned as both a badge and a shield, and bore an implicit warning: \u201cHere walks one of the king\u2019s beloved virgin daughters. Let no one molest her in any way, for she is under the protection of the king.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

We have encountered such a distinctive coat of many colors once before; the only other time such a garment is mentioned, in Genesis 37:3, when Jacob gives his beloved son, Joseph, a <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em>. Much has been written about Joseph’s special cloak. It was a mark of Jacob\u2019s special love for the boy, his son from his beloved wife, Rachel. Jacob gifted the cloak to him because it was known in the ancient Near East as a princely garment. The cloak singled the boy out above his brothers and prompted envy and rage in them, and cockiness and braggadocio in Joseph himself.<\/span><\/p>\n

Joseph\u2019s bloody and torn <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> was the final proof that his brothers presented to their aged father to demonstrate unequivocally that their brother \u201cwas no longer.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

The <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/i> links the Joseph and Tamar stories. In both stories the cloak is considered \u201croyal\u201d raiment, calculated to point out the wearer\u2019s favored status. In both stories the coats are torn, providing mute evidence of brutal violence perpetrated against the wearer. And in both stories the violence was done to the wearer by his or her siblings. Finally, in both stories the wearer is exiled or an outcast.<\/span><\/p>\n

After she is raped by her brother Amnon and thrown bodily out of Amnon’s house, Tamar displays mourning and agony. She rubs dirt onto her head, crying out for her lost maiden self and for her lost future. She will never be a virgin bride; no Israelite man will wed her now; she may never bear children, never be a mother in Israel. She has been violated and shamed. With dust trickling down her face, she stands and grasping the neckline of her striped tunic — the <\/span>kutonet passim<\/span><\/em> — tears it apart in one pull. This, too, is an act of public mourning. In the words of the Malbim, she has been stripped of her honor as she now strips herself of her cloak.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As the author of Samuel intended, when Tamar rends her royal tunic — her <\/span>kutonet passim <\/span><\/em>— <\/span><\/i>she is the Tanach’s clarion voice, prefiguring the future rending of the Davidic kingdom.<\/span><\/p>\n

image: by Elisheva Horowitz courtesy of the artist (see her representation of Joseph’s tunic here<\/a>).<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60821,"id":60821,"title":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva horowitz","filename":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tamars-coat-of-many-colors\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60659,"date":"2019-08-08 10:46:38","modified":"2020-11-29 13:26:10","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1205,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-300x241.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":241,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-768x617.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":617,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-1024x823.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":823,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","1536x1536-width":1500,"1536x1536-height":1205,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1205,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-1200x964.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":964,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-523x420.jpg","home_baner-width":523,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Tamar's Coat Of Many Colors","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"And when Tamar rends her royal tunic, symbolizing her lost honor and the violence done to her, she prefigures the future rending of the Davidic kingdom","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":60821,"id":60821,"title":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva horowitz","filename":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/tamars-coat-of-many-colors\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60659,"date":"2019-08-08 10:46:38","modified":"2020-11-29 13:26:10","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1500,"height":1205,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-300x241.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":241,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-768x617.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":617,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-1024x823.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":823,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","1536x1536-width":1500,"1536x1536-height":1205,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz.jpg","2048x2048-width":1500,"2048x2048-height":1205,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-1200x964.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":964,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam13-tamar-elisheva-horowitz-523x420.jpg","home_baner-width":523,"home_baner-height":420}},"preview_video":"","external_link":"","link_for_pay":false,"tile_gallery_items":false,"credits":""},"alternate_tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"","hide_media":false},"tile_group":{"preview_image_url":false,"main_caption":"","sub_caption":"","":null,"popup_package_extra_content":"","read_time":""},"home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo":{"seo_title":"","seo_description":"","seo_default_title":"","seo_default_description":""},"links":false,"send_noty":false},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60659"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60659"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60659\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":112994,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60659\/revisions\/112994"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}