{"id":60468,"date":"2018-07-09T17:43:58","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:43:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-281\/"},"modified":"2023-03-05T15:00:19","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T13:00:19","slug":"wall-281","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-281\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-II Samuel-18"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"281","date":"20260927","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"60451","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - II Samuel Chapter 18 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - II Samuel Chapter 18","slug":"jps-audio-bible-ii-samuel-chapter-18","old_id":"60451","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34686,"post_title":"Soundcloud","slug":"soundcloud","old_id":"34686","first_name":"","last_name":"","description":"","short_description":"","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34656,"alt":"","title":"491","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","width":300,"height":300,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","medium_large-width":300,"medium_large-height":300,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","large-width":300,"large-height":300,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","1536x1536-width":300,"1536x1536-height":300,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","2048x2048-width":300,"2048x2048-height":300,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","post_full_size-width":300,"post_full_size-height":300,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/491-2.jpg","home_baner-width":300,"home_baner-height":300}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"4","show_author_image":true,"old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"","post_main_content_content":"","post_main_content_image":"","post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"JPS Audio Bible","tile_main_caption":"II Samuel 18","tile_main_caption_size":"2","tile_sub_caption":"Hear the daily chapter","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":"","tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"https:\/\/soundcloud.com\/929-bible\/JPS_Audio_Bible_II_Samuel_Chapter_18","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","old_create_date":"","links":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"113226","color":"#effaea","size":"2","name":"Purim Is Coming! 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Jonesing for some quality Purim content? Looking for the whole megillah? Well, look no further. We've got you covered.<\/p>\r\n

    \r\n\t
  1. You can navigate to the Book of Esther from the drop-down menu in the upper left hand corner of the screen.<\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Or go to each chapter via the links here:
    \r\nChapter 1<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 2<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 3<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 4<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 5<\/a>,\u00a0
    \r\n    Chapter 6<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 7<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 8<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter 9<\/a>,\u00a0Chapter\u00a0 10,<\/a>\u00a0the Summary Page<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. ALSO - Check out two 929 series, excerpting new books on Purim, its narrative, characters and more, by two prominent scholars:\r\n\r\n
      \r\n\t
    1. Dr. Seymour (\"Epi\") Epstein -\u00a0The Esther Scroll\u00a0 - The Author's Tale <\/em><\/a>\u00a0(Mosaic)<\/li>\r\n\t
    2. Dr. Erica Brown - Esther: Power, Fate And Fragility In Exile<\/em><\/a> (Koren). Scroll down for the Esther material.<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n\t
    3. AND: Not least: check out these two videos on Megillat Esther:\r\n\r\n
        \r\n\t
      1. The Megillah Project<\/a> - A\u00a0unique partnership between\u00a0BINA: The Jewish Movement for Social Change<\/a>,\u00a0Judaism Unbound<\/a>,\u00a0929 English<\/a>,\u00a0The Oshman Family JCC in Palo Alto<\/a>, and\u00a0jewishLIVE<\/a>.\u00a0
        \r\nSee         the project website here.<\/a><\/li>\r\n\t
      2. 24 in 24: 929's production, Esther: The Human And The Divine<\/a>,\u00a0<\/em>featuring Shira Schiowitz<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n<\/li>\r\n<\/ol>\r\n

         <\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":82041,"alt":"","title":"ps30-purim","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","width":738,"height":700,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-300x285.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":285,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","medium_large-width":738,"medium_large-height":700,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","large-width":738,"large-height":700,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","1536x1536-width":738,"1536x1536-height":700,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","2048x2048-width":738,"2048x2048-height":700,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim.png","post_full_size-width":738,"post_full_size-height":700,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps30-purim-443x420.png","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"Collected 929 Wisdom, Insight, Fun And Frivolity","tile_main_caption":"Purim Is Coming!","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Jonesing for some quality Purim content? 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        The chapter begins with an inversion of the Bathsheba story. There, David stayed back in the city while Joab and the army fought their battles in the field. Here, David insists on joining his troops in battle, but his commanders implore him to stay back in the city for safety.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The battle spread out over that whole region, and the forest devoured more troops that day than the sword (verse 8).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        What does the text mean by the \"forest devoured more than the sword\u201d? Rabenu Yonatan explains that the beasts of the forest would attack Absalom\u2019s troops. God had the beasts of the forest aid David in his battle. Radak explains that the text should be taken at face value: that the troops were getting injured by the tangle of vines and branches. The verse itself does not specify that the troops that were lost came from one side or the other, so Radak\u2019s interpretation does make sense in context.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The verse could be a lead into the next verse:\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom encountered some of David\u2019s followers. Absalom was riding on a mule, and as the mule passed under the tangled branches of a great terebinth, his hair got caught in the terebinth; he was held between heaven and earth as the mule under him kept going.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Reading these two verses together, one could see Radak\u2019s interpretation play out in real time. One could also read verse 8 as referring to quality, not quantity. Absalom is the big get here, and although the war was spread out over the land, the forest was able to devour more than the swords on the field because the forest helped ensnare Absalom. The midrash explains that Absalom was caught in the branches by his hair as a punishment, for his overweening pride in his good looks and resplendent locks, that those should be enough to take the crown from his father. Because his hair caused him to rebel, it is his hair that gets him in trouble as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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","post_title":"A Jewish Narcissus?","slug":"a-jewish-narcissus","old_id":"113245","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":62571,"post_title":"Yaakov Bieler","slug":"yaakov-bieler","old_id":"62571","first_name":"Yaakov ","last_name":"Bieler ","description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University in 1974. He has lectured and written extensively on Modern Orthodoxy, and blogs daily at https:\/\/yaakovbieler.wordpress.com ","short_description":"Rabbi Yaakov Bieler has been involved in Jewish education and the synagogue Rabbinate in New York, NY and Silver Spring, MD since being ordained by Yeshiva University. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":62572,"alt":"","title":"OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","width":141,"height":180,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler-141x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":141,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium-width":141,"medium-height":180,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","medium_large-width":141,"medium_large-height":180,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","large-width":141,"large-height":180,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","1536x1536-width":141,"1536x1536-height":180,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","2048x2048-width":141,"2048x2048-height":180,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","post_full_size-width":141,"post_full_size-height":180,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/09\/yaakov-bieler.jpg","home_baner-width":141,"home_baner-height":180}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The rather inglorious end of an overly proud rebel\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

        This chapter describes the collapse of Absalom\u2019s rebellion, and his own inglorious end:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom encountered some of David\u2019s followers. Absalom was riding on a mule, and as the mule passed under the tangled branches of a great terebinth, his hair got caught in the terebinth; he was held<\/span> between heaven and earth as the mule under him kept going (verse 9).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The rabbis (Mishna Sota 1:8, 9b) consider what happened to Absalom as a case of \u201cjust deserts.\u201d \u201cAbsalom was excessively proud of his hair, and therefore he was hanged by his hair\u201d:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        No one in all Israel was so admired for his beauty as Absalom; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head he was without blemish. When he cut his hair\u2014he had to have it cut every year, for it grew too heavy for him\u2014the hair of his head weighed two hundred shekels by the royal weight (II Samuel 14:25-6).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        An anecdote in the Talmud (Nedarim 9b) offers context, when compared with the tale of Absalom:<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Rabbi Shimon HaTzaddik said: In all my days, I never ate the guilt-offering of a ritually impure Nazirite, except for one. One time, a particular man who was a Nazirite\u2026 and I saw that\u2026 the fringes of his hair were arranged in curls. I said to him: My son! What did you see that made you decide to destroy this beautiful hair of yours?
        \r\n<\/span>He said to me: I was a shepherd for my father in my city, and I went to draw water from the spring, and I looked at my reflection, and my Inclination quickly overcame me and sought to expel me from the world. I said to myself: Wicked one! Why do you pride yourself in a world that is not yours? \u2026 I swear by the Temple service that I shall shave you for the sake of Heaven.
        \r\n<\/span>I immediately arose and kissed him on his head. I said to him: My son, may there be more who take vows of naziriteship like you among the Jewish people. About you the verse states: \u201cWhen either a man or a woman shall clearly utter a vow, the vow of a Nazirite, to consecrate himself to the Lord\u201d (Numbers 6:2).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        While the contrasts with the Narcissus legend of Greek mythology are to be noted, the concept of how appearance in general, and hair in particular, can contribute to vanity turns the accounts into cautionary tales. It is possible that being raised humbly vs. as a royal prince, contributes to the two stories\u2019 resolutions; nevertheless everyone can derive benefit from the lessons therein.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        image:\u00a0Caravaggio: Narcissuss, 1595<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":113246,"alt":"","title":"-640425e2daba3--640425e2daba52sam18-narcissus image 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Artson is married to Elana Shavit Artson, and they are the parents of twins, Shira and Jacob.\r\n","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"short_description":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson is the Dean of the Ziegler School of Rabbinic Studies and is Vice President of American Jewish University in Los Angeles.","link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33993,"alt":"","title":"Rabbi Dr Bradley Shavit Artson","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","width":204,"height":199,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-256x300.png","medium-width":256,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","medium_large-width":204,"medium_large-height":199,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","large-width":204,"large-height":199,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","1536x1536-width":204,"1536x1536-height":199,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","2048x2048-width":204,"2048x2048-height":199,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","post_full_size-width":204,"post_full_size-height":199,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Rabbi-Dr-Bradley-Shavit-Artson-e1532029361140.png","home_baner-width":204,"home_baner-height":199}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"What did the Israelites want David to be doing to advance the battle from within the city?","post_main_content_content":"

        David\u2019s civil war with his own son, Absalom, is about to overflow into all out war. The aging king (and tormented father) feels called to stand at the head of his troops, just as he did during his youth, just as the kings of the region do in each of their wars. Boldly asserting his royal leadership, David tells the people gathered for combat, \u201cI shall also go forth with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Surprisingly, in an age in which being king meant fomenting annual wars and riding in at the front of the army, David\u2019s people come up with a better idea. Despite the example of Pharaoh\u2019s leading the charge, of Assyrian kings riding their chariots against their enemies, the tribes of Israel offer David a better way. They highlight that his value is such that he will actually endanger the troops he escorts into battle \u2013 the enemy will seek to capture him, putting everyone around him at risk. And he is too important to the cause of Israel to fall into the hands of the rebels. \u201cIt is better that you help us from the city,\u201d they tell their king. And King David responds, \u201cWhatever is best in your eyes, I shall do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Where did the Israelites get the insight, unparalleled in their age, that their king can serve the cause best by not being in battle? And what, precisely, did they want David to be doing to advance the battle from within the city? Rashi and the Targum suggest that what David can do is offer prayers, and that the prayers of their poet king would do more to benefit the soldiers than any swordsmanship he might offer. Radak, on the other hand, suggests that what David can offer is his military advice.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Two different understandings of what leadership can offer.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        On the one hand, a sense of spiritual clarity, passion, and a consciousness of the divine. David, the author of Psalms, can provide uplift, courage and inspiration that is no less crucial for victory than the grueling physical exertion that accompanies war.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Or, armed by his many years of front line experience, David can literally harvest the broader perspective of the balcony, getting a view of all possibilities and offering strategies that can\u2019t be seen from the thick of the battle, the heat of the particular moment.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Maybe we don\u2019t have to pick between these possibilities. Leadership, it turns out, involves more than one path. We do need inspiration and passion to motivate the work of victory. We also need strategy and perspective to translate that passion into a pathway to triumph. David can offer both, but only by staying away from the front line.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        They also serve who stand behind the fray, offering uplift, strategy, hope, and tactics.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Frederick Leighton - David, 1865 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60876,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","width":800,"height":704,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-300x264.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-768x676.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":676,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":704,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":704,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":704,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":704,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-477x420.jpg","home_baner-width":477,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Leadership of Spirit; Leadership of Action","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"What did the Israelites want David to be doing to advance the battle from within the city?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60876,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","width":800,"height":704,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-300x264.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-768x676.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":676,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":704,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":704,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":704,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":704,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-477x420.jpg","home_baner-width":477,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"402","name":"Leadership","old_id":"802"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"}]},{"order":7,"id":"60859","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Joab\u2019s Choice\u00a0 ","post_title":"Joab\u2019s Choice\u00a0","slug":"joabs-choice","old_id":"60859","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34891,"post_title":"Miriam Gedwiser","slug":"miriam-gedwiser","old_id":"34891","first_name":"Miriam","last_name":"Gedwiser ","description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz Upper Upper school and is a core faculty member at Drisha. She has a BA from the University of Chicago in the History and Philosophy of Science and a JD from NYU School of Law. She studied in the Drisha Scholars Circle as well as at other programs in Israel and Boston, and has taught at a variety of synagogues and Hillels. She previously practiced commercial litigation at a large law firm, and completed a judicial clerkship in the Southern District of New York","short_description":"Miriam Gedwiser teaches Talmud and Tanakh at Ramaz and at Drisha.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":60045,"alt":"","title":"Miriam Gedwiser 2 cropped","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","width":453,"height":522,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-260x300.jpg","medium-width":260,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","medium_large-width":453,"medium_large-height":522,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","large-width":453,"large-height":522,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","1536x1536-width":453,"1536x1536-height":522,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","2048x2048-width":453,"2048x2048-height":522,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1.jpg","post_full_size-width":453,"post_full_size-height":522,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Miriam-Gedwiser-2-cropped-1-364x420.jpg","home_baner-width":364,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Joab serves the kingdom, not the king","post_main_content_content":"

        When Absalom first began to assert himself, Joab was<\/span> powerless<\/span><\/a> to stop him.\u00a0 Now, the conflict between David and Absalom is a zero sum game: neither can rule while the other survives. The fact that the conflict centers on the person of David dictates, paradoxically, that David stay out of the military action and Joab take center stage. (Previously, David got into trouble when<\/span> he stayed home<\/span><\/a> while Joab and his men went out to fight). And yet, despite his physical remove, David attempts to dictate the most important term of the battle: \u201cDeal gently with my boy Absalom, for my sake.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab, whose<\/span> obedience<\/span><\/a> seems secure after<\/span> shaky beginnings<\/span><\/a>, is in a bind. His job is to serve the king. But in this case, what the king wants as a father will undercut him as a king; Joab<\/span> knows full well<\/span><\/a> that Absalom will remain a source of potential chaos in the kingdom as long as he is alive.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab\u2019s choice to kill Absalom is highlighted with masterful detail.\u00a0 When informed that Absalom is hanging in a tree, Job asks the messenger, incredulously, \u201cWhy didn\u2019t you kill him then and there?\u201d For Joab, it is as if the King\u2019s impossible request to \u201cdeal gently\u201d has simply not registered. The text has Joab\u2019s interlocutor explicitly cite the king\u2019s order, however, to highlight the conscious choice Joab is making.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        What is at stake?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The man ends his reply to Joab with a cutting comment: \u201cIf I betrayed myself . . . you would have stood aloof.\u201d The man seems to understand as well as Joab - as well as anyone not blinded by affection or guilt like David - that Absalom must die for the conflict to end. But he also knows that bringing about Absalom\u2019s death in contradiction of David\u2019s edict is a grave personal risk. He almost dares Joab to take that risk upon himself rather than leave it to a subordinate. So Joab does.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        What is at stake is, on one side, the stability of David\u2019s monarchy, and perhaps David\u2019s life.\u00a0 On the other side is Joab\u2019s own life and his relationship with David. Joab chooses the high road, risking himself for the good of the kingdom (even if the king doesn\u2019t realize it).\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        While such a calculus may seem like it should be made by the king, not his general, Joab can sense (as the events of the next chapter make clear) that David is so compromised by his personal feelings that he cannot make the decision dispassionately or responsibly. Joab serves the kingdom, not the king, and is willing to risk himself to do so.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60860,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-chess","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Joab\u2019s Choice\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Joab serves the kingdom, not the king","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60860,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-chess","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-chess-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"900","name":"Joab","old_id":"1300"}]},{"order":8,"id":"60856","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Was Absalom a Lanister? ","post_title":"Was Absalom A Lannister?","slug":"was-absalom-a-lannister","old_id":"60856","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":39058,"post_title":"Samuel Stern","slug":"samuel-stern","old_id":"39058","first_name":"Samuel ","last_name":"Stern ","description":"Samuel Stern is a fourth-year rabbinical student at Hebrew Union College-Jewish Institute of Religion in Los Angeles and has received an MA in Jewish Communal Service from Baltimore Hebrew Institute at Towson University and an MA in Hebrew Letters from HUC-JIR. He currently serves as the Rabbinic Intern of the Hillel at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. Prior to attending HUC, he had worked as a Youth Professional in synagogues for 8 years.\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Samuel Stern is a rabbinical student at HUC-JIR, and serves as the Rabbinic Intern of the Hillel at the University of Southern California in Los Angeles. . ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":39059,"alt":"","title":"samuel stern","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995.jpeg","width":460,"height":443,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995-150x150.jpeg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995-300x289.jpeg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":289,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-768x740.jpeg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":740,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995.jpeg","large-width":460,"large-height":443,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995.jpeg","1536x1536-width":460,"1536x1536-height":443,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995.jpeg","2048x2048-width":460,"2048x2048-height":443,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995.jpeg","post_full_size-width":460,"post_full_size-height":443,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/09\/samuel-stern-e1535867738995-436x420.jpeg","home_baner-width":436,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"And could Joab have acted differently and saved Absalom, from death and from himself?","post_main_content_content":"

        It\u2019s like something out of Game of Thrones. The rebellion shatters after a pivotal battle and the king\u2019s general murders the son of the king. Absalom meets an ignominious end as he is suspended from a terebinth and then once he is found he is stabbed and bludgeoned to death. Absalom may not have been destined through prophecy to be king, but we saw in him the potential to be a bridge-builder and an important figure. He was able to win over the leaders of Israel and Judah through a mixture of sympathy and cunning, showing political talent and leadership ability. He was willing to take counsel. The fall of Absalom is a tragedy, not because a person should cheer Absalom and his followers but because of the spoiled potential represented by Absalom.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        And what of Joab, the general who becomes the Pinchas of his generation? Indeed, much as the zealotry of Pinchas led to murder, so too did Joab\u2019s zealous support for David\u2019s claim lead him to murder the captive Absalom. Joab will remind David that Absalom stood against peace, but the wise course would have been to heed David\u2019s command and to bring the captive Absalom before David. Joab could have helped Absalom live up to his name (<\/span>avshalom - <\/span><\/i>\u201cfather of peace\u201d) if Absalom had been convinced to renounce his rebellion. Instead, the reign of David takes longer to stabilize.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        In dramatic storytelling Absalom\u2019s end is fitting, but what should we glean from this? That hubris leads to wasted potential, and that we all have a role to play in our lives. If we proceed in our dealings with others in a respectful way (both respectful of individuals and of the Torah), then we shall succeed in our endeavors.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        If not, we may just be caught up in a terebinth of our own without any way to move forward.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: <\/span>Absalom, by Albert Weisgerber, 1912 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60857,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","width":405,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-243x300.jpg","medium-width":243,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","medium_large-width":405,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","large-width":405,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","1536x1536-width":405,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","2048x2048-width":405,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","post_full_size-width":405,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-340x420.jpg","home_baner-width":340,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Was Absalom A Lannister?","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"And could Joab have acted differently and saved Absalom, from death and from himself?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60857,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","width":405,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-243x300.jpg","medium-width":243,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","medium_large-width":405,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","large-width":405,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","1536x1536-width":405,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","2048x2048-width":405,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber.jpg","post_full_size-width":405,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Absalom_Albert_Weisgerber-340x420.jpg","home_baner-width":340,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II 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From 2011-16 he was Vice President for Research and Senior Economist at Energiya Global, a Jerusalem-based solar energy company focused on the developing world and he continues to consult on renewable energy and climate change preparedness. In 2014 he published together with Hazon, a translation of Rabbi Abraham Isaac Kook's great work on shmitta, the Sabbatical year, \"Introduction to Shabbat Ha'aretz.\" Yedidya holds a BA from Oxford University, an MPA from the Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and lives with his family in Jerusalem.","short_description":"Yedidya Sinclair is a Jerusalem-based rabbi and economist, and is Senior Rabbinic Scholar at Hazon. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":36278,"alt":"","title":"yedidya sinclair","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","width":200,"height":200,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","medium_large-width":200,"medium_large-height":200,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","large-width":200,"large-height":200,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","1536x1536-width":200,"1536x1536-height":200,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","2048x2048-width":200,"2048x2048-height":200,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","post_full_size-width":200,"post_full_size-height":200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/yedidya-sinclair.jpg","home_baner-width":200,"home_baner-height":200}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Two messengers, two messages, two realities - that are really one","post_main_content_content":"

        Today's chapter ends with the fascinating episode of the messenger(s) whom Joab sends to tell David that the battle is won and the king's son Absalom was killed. I bracket the plural \"s\" of messengers deliberately, because the tension of this story turns around whether there is one messenger or two. This ambivalence turns out be deeply significant\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        At the transmission end, Joab wants to send just one messenger. When Ahimaaz son of Zadok the priest volunteers to bear the news to David, Joab answers, \"you shall not be the one to bring tidings today...for the king's son is dead\"( v.20). Instead, Joab instructs\u00a0 \"a Cushite to go.\" Ahimaaz begs to run after this first messenger, but Joab tells him no, there's no point. After the Cushite gives his report, Joab says, \"you will have no news worth telling.\" Ahimaaz insists that he's going anyway, and Joab gives grudging consent.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The same bifurcation is repeated at the receiving end. When the first messenger comes in sight of David's camp, the watchman informs the king, who enigmatically answers, \"if he is alone, he has news to report.\" Then the second messenger appears and the king says\"that one too brings news.\" In David's mind at least, two pieces of news. \"This one too\" surely implies different news. If the second messenger's news were expected to be the same as the first, then it wouldn't be news.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        This splitting happens yet again when the report is given to David. For Ahimaaz, who has overtaken the Cushite to arrive first, cannot bring himself to tell David both parts of his message, namely the good news that David's army put down the rebellion and the devastating tidings that his son Absalom is dead. It is left to the Cushite who comes in second to deliver that shattering blow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        This narrative, I suggest, brilliantly dramatises David's almost pathological bifurcation between his beloved son and the rebellion that he led. Absalom <\/span>was<\/span><\/i> the rebellion. He made himself the focus and rallying point for popular discontent against his father and headed a determined and ruthless campaign to overthrow the king.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Yet David persists in the tender illusion that his son could be separated from the insurrection; that the rebellion could be crushed, yet Absalom preserved. Joab is fully aware of David's delusion and so wants both pieces of news to be told the king simultaneously as one message. Yet fate and David's desperate hoping against hope conspire to deliver two distinct announcements, sustaining the tragic split in David's soul.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60847,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-double","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Tragic Split In David\u2019s Soul","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Two messengers, two messages, two realities - that are really one","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60847,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-double","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-double-630x420.jpg","home_baner-width":630,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"386","name":"Psychology","old_id":"786"},{"term_id":"585","name":"Soul","old_id":"985"},{"term_id":"813","name":"Rebellion","old_id":"1213"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":10,"id":"60852","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Death Of Absalom ","post_title":"The Death Of Absalom","slug":"the-death-of-absalom","old_id":"60852","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33877,"post_title":"Marc Bregman","slug":"marc-bregman","old_id":"33877","first_name":"Marc","last_name":"Bregman","description":"Marc Bregman received his Ph.D. from The Hebrew University in Jerusalem in 1991. He taught at the Hebrew Union College (Jerusalem), The Hebrew University in Jerusalem, the Schechter Institute for Judaic Studies in Jerusalem, and at the Ben-Gurion University in Beer Sheba, Israel. During 1993 he was Visiting Associate Professor at Yale University, and during 1996 he was the Stroum Professor of Jewish Studies and Visiting Research Fellow at the University of Washington in Seattle. During 2005, Bregman served as the Harry Starr Fellow in Judaica at Harvard University and was awarded a Teaching Fellowship at the Center for Advanced Judaic Studies at the University of Pennsylvania. He also has served as Forchheimer Visiting Professor in the Faculty of Humanities at The Hebrew University in Jerusalem. He is the author of The Tanhuma-Yelammedenu Literature: Studies in the Evolution of the Versions (Gorgias Press, 2003). In 2006, Bregman was appointed the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro, where he also headed the program in Jewish Studies, until 2013. Bregman retired from UNCG as of July 31, 2017. He has now returned to Jerusalem where he is continuing his research and teaching activities.","credit":"","image_url":"","short_description":"Marc Bregman is the Herman and Zelda Bernard Distinguished Professor of Jewish Studies emeritus, at the University of North Carolina in Greensboro.","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":33878,"alt":"Marc Bregman","title":"Marc Bregman","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","width":361,"height":488,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-222x300.jpg","medium-width":222,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","medium_large-width":361,"medium_large-height":488,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","large-width":361,"large-height":488,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","1536x1536-width":361,"1536x1536-height":488,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","2048x2048-width":361,"2048x2048-height":488,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman.jpg","post_full_size-width":361,"post_full_size-height":488,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Marc-Bregman-311x420.jpg","home_baner-width":311,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The punishments fit the crimes","post_main_content_content":"

        Our chapter relates the tragic and dramatic death of Absalom and his father, David\u2019s, piteous mourning for him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        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 (sovekh ha-\u2018elah ha-gedolah)<\/em>. This detail echoes how Abraham\u2019s sacrificial ram became entangled by its horns in a thicket (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>\r\n

        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 -- the heart of his father, the heart of the court, and the heart of Israel -- 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>\r\n

        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>\r\n

        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... 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 'my son' (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>\r\n

        image: James Tissot, The Death of Absalom, c. 1890 \/ wikimedia<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60853,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","width":312,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-156x300.jpg","medium-width":156,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","medium_large-width":312,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","large-width":312,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":312,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":312,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":312,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-218x420.jpg","home_baner-width":218,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"The Death Of Absalom","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The punishments fit the crimes","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60853,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","width":312,"height":600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-156x300.jpg","medium-width":156,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","medium_large-width":312,"medium_large-height":600,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","large-width":312,"large-height":600,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":312,"1536x1536-height":600,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":312,"2048x2048-height":600,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":312,"post_full_size-height":600,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-tissot-death-of-absalom-218x420.jpg","home_baner-width":218,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"363","name":"Midrash","old_id":"763"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":11,"id":"60820","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"David Between Two Gates\u00a0 ","post_title":"David Between Two Gates\u00a0","slug":"david-between-two-gates","old_id":"60820","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34245,"post_title":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger","slug":"rachel-sharansky-danziger","old_id":"34245","first_name":"Rachel Sharansky","last_name":"Danziger","description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born writer and speaker who blogs about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. 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        Absalom must die.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        We, the readers, already know it: Nathan predicted disaster, and so the disaster must come.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Joab, the general, already knows it: as he will imply in the following chapter, Absalom\u2019s death is required to save David\u2019s life. Like Machiavelli, he knows that one can\u2019t forgive rebels; pardoning usurpers creates new revolts.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        (One day, this very truth will come back to haunt him, dooming him as surely as it dooms Absalom now.)<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        But King David does not know it. Or if he does, he tries to tell himself otherwise. If the grand drama that unfolds before us is a variation on the story of the Akedah, David doesn\u2019t want to be an Abraham; he wants to play the angel and stay the would-be-killer\u2019s hands. \u201cDeal gently with my boy Absalom,\u201d he tells the troops as they march out to battle, echoing the angel\u2019s \u201cDo not raise your hand against the boy.\u201d (Genesis 22:12)\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        But the angel couldn\u2019t save Isaac; only Abraham had the power to heed the angel\u2019s words and spare his child. By assuming the role of the angel, David surrenders this final decision into other people\u2019s hands. He makes his speech in everyone\u2019s hearing, but then must wait while others act.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        As he waits, David is \u201csitting between the two gates,\u201d (2 Samuel 18:24) a description that overflows with suggestiveness. Two gates immediately evoke the image of two options: which road will be taken? Which future will unfold? The king sits between them, suspended between hope and dread and threat and promise. Will his words serve his purpose? Will his \u2018boy\u2019 live --- or die?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The king is sitting \u2013 and it marks him as helpless. Eli used to sit, in the beginning of 1 Samuel. He sat and was helpless while his sons sinned \u2013 and died. Like Eli, David sits and awaits news from the battlefield. Like Eli, he has no power to shape the events. Like all the parents who came before and after him, he can\u2019t save his children from life and from themselves.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        In this painful moment of helpless suspense, Absalom, too, is powerless to act. Like Isaac, he is bound. Like Isaac, he is silent. But no ram will appear, \u201ccaught in the thicket by its horns\u201d, (Genesis 22:13) to take the place of the \u2018boy\u2019 whose hair is caught in \u201cthe tangled branches of a great terebinth.\u201d (2 Samuel 18:9) Joab is no Abraham; he won\u2019t heed the king\u2019s warning.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        In this variation on the ancient Akedah, the words of the \u2018angel\u2019 will fall on deaf ears.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60844,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-two gates","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","width":1920,"height":1115,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-300x174.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":174,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-768x446.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":446,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-1024x595.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":595,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":892,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1115,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-1200x697.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":697,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-723x420.png","home_baner-width":723,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"David Between Two Gates\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The king is helpless, while he leaves others to do his bidding - or not...","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60844,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-two gates","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","width":1920,"height":1115,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-300x174.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":174,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-768x446.png","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":446,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-1024x595.png","large-width":1024,"large-height":595,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":892,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates.png","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1115,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-1200x697.png","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":697,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-two-gates-723x420.png","home_baner-width":723,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"452","name":"Angel","old_id":"852"},{"term_id":"454","name":"Akedah","old_id":"854"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":12,"id":"113216","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Tanakh Podcast-IISam18","post_title":"The Tanakh Podcast-IISam18","slug":"the-tanakh-podcast-iisam18","old_id":"113216","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":33692,"post_title":"Alex Israel","slug":"33692-2","old_id":"33692","first_name":"Alex","last_name":"Israel","description":"Alex Israel teaches Tanakh at the Pardes Institute, Yeshivat Eretz Hatzvi and Matan, Jerusalem. 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the uprising has been quashed, David\u2019s suffering is far from over\u00a0","post_main_content_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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\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>\r\n

        Image: Marc Chagall, David and Absalom, 1956 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60863,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-color-david-absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","width":480,"height":292,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom-300x183.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":183,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","medium_large-width":480,"medium_large-height":292,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":480,"large-height":292,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":480,"1536x1536-height":292,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":480,"2048x2048-height":292,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":480,"post_full_size-height":292,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","home_baner-width":480,"home_baner-height":292}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"","tile_main_caption":"Bearing The Painful News","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Though the uprising has been quashed, David\u2019s suffering is far from over\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60863,"alt":"","title":"2sam18-color-david-absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","width":480,"height":292,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom-300x183.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":183,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","medium_large-width":480,"medium_large-height":292,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":480,"large-height":292,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":480,"1536x1536-height":292,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":480,"2048x2048-height":292,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":480,"post_full_size-height":292,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-color-david-absalom.jpg","home_baner-width":480,"home_baner-height":292}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"813","name":"Rebellion","old_id":"1213"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":14,"id":"60788","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Both Finally Hang ","post_title":"Both Finally Hang","slug":"both-finally-hang","old_id":"60788","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":54356,"post_title":"Robert Alter","slug":"robert-alter","old_id":"54356","first_name":"Robert ","last_name":"Alter","description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, where he has taught since 1967. He has written over twenty books, focusing on such topics as the European novel from the 18th century to the present, contemporary American fiction, and modern Hebrew literature. He has also written extensively on the literary aspects of the Bible. His most recent work is his monumental three volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019 - from which the selections in 929 are taken. ","short_description":"Robert Alter is the Class of 1937 Professor of Hebrew and Comparative Literature at the University of California at Berkeley, and author of the three-volume translation of the entire Hebrew Bible - The Hebrew Bible, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":54357,"alt":"","title":"robert alter","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","width":184,"height":275,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium-width":184,"medium-height":275,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","medium_large-width":184,"medium_large-height":275,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","large-width":184,"large-height":275,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","1536x1536-width":184,"1536x1536-height":275,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","2048x2048-width":184,"2048x2048-height":275,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","post_full_size-width":184,"post_full_size-height":275,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/04\/robert-alter.jpg","home_baner-width":184,"home_baner-height":275}},"tags":false},"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","post_main_content_content":"

        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>\r\n

        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 -- David\u2019s forces have shrewdly taken advantage of the irregular terrain -- 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>`avar<\/span><\/em>), 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.... With all these contrasts, they have one detail in common: both finally hang.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        From: Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible<\/em>, vol. 2: Prophets, W. W. Norton & Co., 2019, ad loc. By permission of the author.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"From Robert Alter's Bible Translation and Commentary","tile_main_caption":"Both Finally Hang","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But otherwise, Absalom and Ahitophel come to quite different ends","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":54890,"alt":"","title":"Alter-Cover","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","width":1200,"height":693,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-300x173.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":173,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-768x444.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":444,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1024x591.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":591,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","1536x1536-width":1200,"1536x1536-height":693,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover.jpg","2048x2048-width":1200,"2048x2048-height":693,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-1200x693.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":693,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Alter-Cover-727x420.jpg","home_baner-width":727,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":15,"id":"60792","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"To Kill Absalom?\u00a0 ","post_title":"To Kill Absalom?\u00a0","slug":"to-kill-absalom","old_id":"60792","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":56443,"post_title":"Moshe Halbertal","slug":"moshe-halbertal","old_id":"56443","first_name":"Moshe ","last_name":"Halbertal ","description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. His latest book, co-authored with Stephen Holmes, The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel was published by Princeton University Press in 2017. Halbertal was the recipient of the Michael Bruno Memorial Award of the Rothschild Foundation and the Goldstein-Goren Book Award for the best book in Jewish thought in the years 1997 to 2000. In 2010, Halbertal was named a member of Israel\u2019s Academy for the Sciences and the Humanities.","short_description":"Prof. Moshe Halbertal is a professor of Jewish thought and philosophy at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and a professor of law at New York University (NYU) and the Interdisciplinary Center Herzliya. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":56444,"alt":"","title":"Moshe-Halbertal","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","width":500,"height":500,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-300x300.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","medium_large-width":500,"medium_large-height":500,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","large-width":500,"large-height":500,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","1536x1536-width":500,"1536x1536-height":500,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","2048x2048-width":500,"2048x2048-height":500,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal.png","post_full_size-width":500,"post_full_size-height":500,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/05\/Moshe-Halbertal-420x420.png","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"For Joab, loyalty to David\u2019s kingship took precedence over David\u2019s own paternal permissiveness","post_main_content_content":"

        Absalom\u2019s extraordinary final moments are fraught with symbolic meanings that have not eluded generations of readers. His hair, the focus of the prince\u2019s narcissistic preoccupations and the mark of his virility, became the instrument of his execution. His mule -- the symbol of royal standing -- has ridden off, leaving him tangled and exposed, helplessly hanging between heaven and earth with no ground on which to stand. Wishing to end the battle and quell the rebellion as quickly as possible, Joab had no intention of following David\u2019s self-indulgent command. Loyalty to David\u2019s kingship took precedence over David\u2019s own paternal permissiveness and anxiety. Rather than personally defying the king\u2019s command, however, Joab would have much preferred for Absalom\u2019s death to be compassed by an insignificant and dispensable subordinate. He thus chastised the soldier for not finishing Absalom off on the spot, and forgoing the prize he would have gotten for killing the rebel leader.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Excerpts from The Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel<\/em> \u2013 Moshe Halbertal and Stephen Holmes, Princeton University Press, 2017, p. 135.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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from:\u201cThe Beginning of Politics: Power in the Biblical Book of Samuel\u201d ","tile_main_caption":"To Kill Absalom?\u00a0","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"For Joab, loyalty to David\u2019s kingship took precedence over David\u2019s own paternal permissiveness","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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        The denouement of Absalom\u2019s rebellion was at hand. David divided his forces among his three commanders: the stalwart Joab, Joab\u2019s brother Avishay, and a newcomer named Ittay the Gittite, intimating that he either ran a wine press\u2014<\/span>gat<\/span><\/i>\u2014or was a mercenary from the Philistine city of that name. (Recall that Uriah the Hittite, erstwhile husband of Batsheba, was also employed by David as a soldier.) Before dispatching them to the field of battle, David publicly instructed them to \u201cgo easy\u201d on Absalom (5).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        The battle took place in the Ephraim forest, and 20,000 of Absalom\u2019s soldiers were killed in what the text calls a <\/span>magefah<\/em> <\/span>(7), the customary word for plague or pestilence, which, as a derivative of the verb <\/span>N-G-P<\/span><\/i> (to gore, as an ox), may also signify a slaughter. A postscript, however, notes \u201cthe forest devoured more than the sword\u201d (8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Rashi, following the venerable Aramaic version (Targum) of Yonatan ben Uziel, interpreted this to mean \u201cthe wild animals of the forest.\u201d Radak, however, offered an alternative explanation; namely, that \u201cthey were scattered about in their flight and wounded by the trees of the forest.\u201d I believe that if we read just a bit further we can determine which of the two interpretations is more consistent with the context.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Absalom, astride a donkey, rode beneath a tree and his hair got entangled in a branch, leaving him suspended \u201cbetween heaven and earth\u201d (9). (Recall 14:26, an earlier foreshadowing concerning his luxuriant hair.) Joab, in direct disobedience to David\u2019s earlier instruction, stabbed Absalom three times in the heart, and ten of his armor bearers finished him off (15). There is a very subtle reminiscence here as well. In response to the wise woman of Tekoah\u2019s plea for her ostensible son, David had sworn \u201clest one hair of his head fall to the ground\u201d (14:11). The fictitious son, of course, represented Absalom who now died without his hair falling to the ground.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        In light of this, Radak\u2019s interpretation that the soldiers were felled by the trees themselves appears to be more consistent with the context than Rashi\u2019s suggestion that they were killed by wild animals.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

        Image: Gustav Dore, The Death of Absalom, 1866 \/ 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        \u201cAlarms and Signals\u201d<\/a><\/u> by Cameron Hamm: Explore Biblical alert mechanisms.<\/p>\r\n

        \u201cWere the Rabbis Reading Greek and Roman Mythology? Narcissus and the Nazir\u201d<\/a><\/u> by Tzvi Sinensky: Explore possible parallels.<\/p>\r\n

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          \r\n\t
        1. Joab - makes his own decisions<\/em>. David\u2019s orders regarding Absalom were crystal clear to all who heard them. Note, for instance, the lad who refuses to kill him in verses 12-13. Why does Joab do otherwise? Does he feel responsible for the fate of the kingdom? Or is it personal baggage from previous stories?<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
        2. Heroes\u2019 hair and their downfall.<\/em> Absalom\u2019s impressive head of hair, described to us four chapters ago as part of his imposing looks and a point of personal pride, leads to his downfall: helplessly hanging from a tree branch. Does this remind you of any other hero whose hair was the source of his strength, and his ultimate weakness?<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
        3. Absalom\u2019s Monument<\/em>. \u201cNow Absalom, in his lifetime, had taken the pillar which is in the Valley of the King and set it up for himself; for he said, \u2018I have no son to keep my name alive.\u2019 He named the pillar after himself...\u201d (verse 18). A stone memorial instead of a son. A royal monument, compared with the heap of stones that cover the body of the dead rebel.<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
        4. The observer, the gatekeeper, the messenger<\/em>. The story of how the news of Absalom\u2019s death is broken to David (verses 24-32) expresses the tension in the scene, and also the different points of view of the different actors, physical and emotional. What sort of news or reaction does each of them expect here?<\/span><\/li>\r\n<\/ol>","post_main_content_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"post_main_content_embedded_video":"","post_main_content_video_duration":"","post_main_content_show_fb_comments":"1","post_main_content_credit_media":"","tile_top_caption":"II Samuel 18","tile_main_caption":"Points to Ponder","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Insights and questions for personal reflection and group discussion","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":86314,"alt":"","title":"Points to ponder","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","width":1000,"height":1000,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-300x300.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-768x768.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":768,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","large-width":1000,"large-height":1000,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","1536x1536-width":1000,"1536x1536-height":1000,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","2048x2048-width":1000,"2048x2048-height":1000,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder.jpg","post_full_size-width":1000,"post_full_size-height":1000,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/01\/Points-to-ponder-420x420.jpg","home_baner-width":420,"home_baner-height":420}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"","alternate_tile_top_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption":"","alternate_tile_main_caption_size":"1","alternate_tile_sub_caption":"","alternate_tile_hide_media":"0","tile_group_preview_image_url":"","tile_group_main_caption":"","tile_group_sub_caption":"","tile_group_popup_package_extra_content":"","tile_group_read_time":"","home_color":"","home_gallery_top":"","home_gallery_middle":"","home_gallery_book":"","home_gallery_bottom":"","seo_seo_title":"","seo_seo_description":"","seo_seo_default_title":"","seo_seo_default_description":"","links":false,"tile_link_for_pay":"0","send_noty":false,"chapter_info":{"books_group":"Prophets","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"18","chapter_main_number":"281","date":"20260927","wall_id":"281"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false}],"hide_acf":true,"home_image":false,"home_posts":false,"home_posts_title":"","posts_home":[],"static_cube_title":"","static_cube_brief":"","static_cube_color":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall\/60468"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wall"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/wall"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60468"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}