{"id":60852,"date":"2019-08-08T22:49:58","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T19:49:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60852"},"modified":"2023-03-05T09:21:00","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T07:21:00","slug":"the-death-of-absalom","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-death-of-absalom\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death Of Absalom"},"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":[914,363],"acf":{"old_id":"60852","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"The punishments fit the crimes","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter relates the tragic and dramatic death of Absalom and his father, David\u2019s, piteous mourning for him.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">According to 2 Samuel 18:9, Absalom\u2019s copious hair (see 2 Samuel 14:25-26) becomes entangled in \u201cthe branches of a great terebinth\u201d <em>(sovekh ha-\u2018elah ha-gedolah)<\/em>. This detail echoes how Abraham\u2019s sacrificial ram became entangled by its horns in a thicket <em>(ne\u2019haz ba-sevakh be-qarnav)<\/em>. It seems as if Absalom is being depicted as a sacrificial victim already hung up and just waiting to be slaughtered.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In teaching the principle that \u201cthe punishment fits the crime\u201d, Mishnah Sotah 1:8 states that \u201cAbsalom was overly proud of his hair, therefore he was hanged by his hair. And because he had sexual relations with ten of his father\u2019s concubines (16:2), therefore [they thrust] ten spears in him, as it is said, \u201cten of Joab\u2019s young arms-bearers closed in and struck at Absalom until he died\u201d (18:15). And because he stole three hearts &#8212; the heart of his father, the heart of the court, and the heart of Israel &#8212; as it is said, \u201cAbsalom stole the hearts of the men of Israel\u201d (15:6), therefore three darts were driven into him, as it is said, that Joab \u201ctook three darts in his hand, and thrust them through the heart of Absalom, while he was yet alive in the midst of the terebinth\u201d (18:14).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Talmud Bavli Sotah 10b teaches that when Absalom found himself hanging from the branches of the great terebinth, he took his sword to cut himself loose, but at that moment hell opened beneath him into which he would have plunged.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Talmud continues: \u201cThe king was shaken. He went up to the upper chamber of the gateway and wept, moaning these words as he went, \u2018My son Absalom! O my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!\u2019&#8230; The king covered his face and the king kept crying aloud, \u2018O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!\u2019\u201d (19:1-5).\u00a0 Why is &#8216;my son&#8217; (beni) repeated eight times? Seven times to raise him from the seven compartments of Gehinnom. Some say that the eighth mention of \u201cmy son\u201d was to reunite his severed head with his body. And some say that it was to bring Absalom into the world to come.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image: James Tissot, The Death of Absalom, c. 1890 \/ wikimedia<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60853,"id":60853,"title":"2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom","filename":"2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-death-of-absalom\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60852,"date":"2019-08-08 19:49:44","modified":"2019-08-08 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