{"id":60862,"date":"2019-08-08T23:38:15","date_gmt":"2019-08-08T20:38:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60862"},"modified":"2023-03-05T09:50:51","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T07:50:51","slug":"bearing-the-painful-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/bearing-the-painful-news\/","title":{"rendered":"Bearing The Painful News"},"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":[914,834,813],"acf":{"old_id":"60862","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":58643,"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Though the uprising has been quashed, David\u2019s suffering is far from over\u00a0","content":"

The conflict between Absalom and David heats up.\u00a0 David has been forced by increasingly alarming circumstances to acknowledge that Absalom will stop at nothing to dethrone his father. The consummate warrior, David begins to prepare for the inevitable battle.<\/span><\/p>\n

Using a familiar strategy, he divides his soldiers under three loyal generals.\u00a0 At the urging of his men, however, David remains in his palace, as they convincingly protest that he is too valuable a target to go out to war himself. His only caution, made for all to hear, is to \u201cgo easy on the lad Absalom, for me\u201d. Even at this juncture, David cannot set aside his innate love and concern for his son.<\/span><\/p>\n

The fighting is intense, as is the dense forest terrain where it occurs. Death grips thousands in its relentless jaws, but Absalom is found by David\u2019s warriors in the most bizarrely vulnerable state imaginable:\u00a0 while meandering through the woods on his mule, Absalom\u2019s ample mane has become tangled on the branches of a tree. The animal continues, leaving Absalom suspended by his hair. The image is powerful. Absalom, a man of good looks and great vanity, will be brought down by his most prized asset. He hangs both literally and figuratively in the balance between life and death.<\/span><\/p>\n

Recalling David\u2019s plea, the first man to chance upon this astonishing sight refuses to act.\u00a0 Only Joab, David\u2019s hotheaded nephew and chief general, is willing to disobey his uncle\u2019s wishes and stabs Absalom in the heart. Seeing this, Joab\u2019s inferiors rush in to finish Absalom off. With that, the fighting comes to an abrupt end. Absalom is unceremoniously buried on the spot, a grievous insult to a man obsessed with his legacy, who had constructed a grand mausoleum for himself during his own lifetime.<\/span><\/p>\n

At first, Ahimaaz, one of David\u2019s most trusted men, eagerly offers to notify David that the rebellion is over. Joab shrewdly advises against this, but Ahimaaz will not be deterred, and runs swiftly to be the first person to relay the information. Yet strangely, upon questioning by David, Ahimaaz changes course and denies knowledge of Absalom\u2019s status. The medieval French commentator Gersonides (Ralbag) offers a wise explanation. When Ahimaaz realized that David\u2019s heart was still filled with worry for his son\u2019s welfare, he could not bring himself to shatter it, and thus concealed the truth from David, allowing an unnamed messenger instead to be the bearer of painful news. Though the uprising has been quashed, David\u2019s suffering is far from over.<\/span><\/p>\n

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