{"id":60788,"date":"2019-08-08T13:05:46","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T10:05:46","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60788"},"modified":"2023-03-05T09:50:03","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T07:50:03","slug":"both-finally-hang","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/both-finally-hang\/","title":{"rendered":"Both Finally Hang"},"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],"acf":{"old_id":"60788","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":54356,"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"But otherwise, Absalom and Ahitophel come to quite different ends","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">18:9 \u201cAnd Absalom chanced to be in front of David\u2019s servants, Absalom riding on his mule, and the mule came under the tangled branches of a great terebinth, and his head caught in the terebinth, and he dangled between heaven and earth, while the mule which was beneath him passed on.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Commentary: This striking and bizarre image of Absalom\u2019s penultimate moment provides a brilliant symbolic summation of his story. Most obviously, the head of hair that was his narcissistic glory is now the instrument of his fatal entrapment, Absalom the commander microcosmically enacting the fate of his army \u201cdevoured\u201d by the forest. There is nothing supernatural here &#8212; David\u2019s forces have shrewdly taken advantage of the irregular terrain &#8212; yet there is a sense that nature is conspiring against Absalom and his men. The mule is in this period the usual mount for princes and kings (one should recall that all the king\u2019s sons ride away on their mules after Absalom has Amnon killed), so Absalom\u2019s losing his mule from under him is an image of losing his royal seat. Having climbed from exile and rejection to the throne, he now dangles helplessly between sky and earth. The mule\u2019s \u201cpassing on\u201d (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">`avar<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">), as Polzin notes, picks up the key verb (\u201ccross over\u201d) that has characterized David\u2019s flight from the royal city. Fokkelman brilliantly shows that there is also a whole series of contrastive parallels between Absalom\u2019s fate and that of his counselor Ahitophel: \u201cThe counselor rides calmly on his ass to his home while the prince is abandoned by his mule, a fatal loss. He is thrown into an unknown, nameless, and ignominious grave while Ahitophel is \u2018buried in his father\u2019s grave\u2019&#8230;. With all these contrasts, they have one detail in common: both finally hang.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">From: Robert Alter, <em>The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton &amp; Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":54890,"id":54890,"title":"Alter-Cover","filename":"Alter-Cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/welcome-to-the-book-of-judges-unbridled-lust-implacable-hostility-mutual-mayhem\/alter-cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alter-cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":54889,"date":"2019-05-05 07:18:18","modified":"2022-01-31 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Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","main_caption":"Both Finally Hang","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"But otherwise, Absalom and Ahitophel come to quite different ends","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":54890,"id":54890,"title":"Alter-Cover","filename":"Alter-Cover.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/welcome-to-the-book-of-judges-unbridled-lust-implacable-hostility-mutual-mayhem\/alter-cover\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"alter-cover","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":54889,"date":"2019-05-05 07:18:18","modified":"2022-01-31 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