{"id":60473,"date":"2018-07-09T17:43:54","date_gmt":"2018-07-09T14:43:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wall\/wall-277\/"},"modified":"2023-02-27T16:26:19","modified_gmt":"2023-02-27T14:26:19","slug":"wall-277","status":"publish","type":"wall","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/wall\/wall-277\/","title":{"rendered":"chapter-Prophets-II Samuel-14"},"parent":0,"template":"","acf":{"type":"chapter","wall_id":"277","date":"20260921","book":"II Samuel","chapter":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","books_group":"Prophets","posts":[{"order":1,"id":"60443","color":"#f8ebe3","size":"1","name":"JPS Audio Bible - II Samuel Chapter 14 ","post_title":"JPS Audio Bible - II Samuel Chapter 14","slug":"jps-audio-bible-ii-samuel-chapter-14","old_id":"60443","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":"277","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 14","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_14","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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":2,"id":"113007","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"More Parables To Instruct The King ","post_title":"More Parables To Instruct The King","slug":"more-parables-to-instruct-the-king","old_id":"113007","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":78133,"post_title":"Josh Blechner","slug":"josh-blechner","old_id":"78133","first_name":"Josh ","last_name":"Blechner ","description":"Josh first finished the Tanach during Yeshiva in Mevaseret Zion. He and his daughter studied the Tanach again for her bat mitzvah. Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group. When not studying for 929, Josh works as an in-house lawyer in New Jersey.","short_description":"Josh has taught many classes on Tanach throughout the years and currently in the New Rochelle 929 group, and is an in-house attorney in New Jersey. 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Joab once again intervenes in David\u2019s story. This time, he senses that David wants a reunion with Absalom, but that he does not want to make the first move. Joab borrows a page from Nathan the prophet and devises a plan for a woman to bring a parable before David in order to trick him into admitting he would like to bring Absalom back. To accomplish this, Joab brings a \u201cwise woman from Tekoa.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why Tekoa? According to the Talmud in Menachot 85b, Tekoa was a city that was rich in olive oil. This oil was the source of all oil for Temple offerings. \u201cThe people were accustomed to use olive oil, wisdom is prevalent there.\u201d The city was in the tribe of Asher who was blessed with living in olive rich lands. The Talmud is silent as to what the connection is between olive oil and wisdom. One possibility is that olive oil has health benefits to assist in brain function. In fact, modern studies have shown an increase in memory functionality in diets rich in olive oil. Another possibility is that because olive oil for the Temple service came from Tekoa, its inhabitants needed to be very well-versed in the various laws pertaining to the Temple, or in this case Tabernacle, service.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Another possibility is that the fact that she was from Tekoa was not the reason she was wise. Joab selected Tekoa not because of the wise people, but because it was in the territory of Asher. If Joab wanted to trick David, he needed to make sure the woman would not be familiar to David or anyone in court in Jerusalem. The tribe of Asher is practically absent from the books of the prophets, so its people were most likely to be unknown in the royal court.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Because Tekoa was rich in olive oil, Joab has to make a special request to the woman not to anoint herself with olive oil: \u201cPretend you are in mourning; put on mourning clothes and don\u2019t anoint yourself with oil; and act like a woman who has grieved a long time over a departed one.\u201d (verse 2) The Mishnah Torah: Laws of Mourning derives two laws of mourning from this verse: 1) a mourner may not wear new clothes 2) a mourner may not wash themselves or use oils on their body.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab\u2019s plan works initially as David agrees to bring Absalom back, but the happy reunion materializes only some years later, as Absalom is banished from seeing David in person. Perhaps Joab should have asked the wise woman from Tekoa if his intuition was right in the first place.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

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In a canny mirroring of the prophet Nathan\u2019s allegory of the sheep a mere few chapters earlier, here Joab induces a \u201cwise woman\u201d from the city of Tekoa to again persuade King David to change his behavior, this time to return his son Absalom from exile. The woman, unlike Nathan, does not tell a story about someone else, but rather structures her conversation with the king around an anecdote she tells him has taken place in her own life.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why, here, would Joab send this woman to the king rather than position himself like Nathan? He could approach David on his own and share the same parable. It\u2019s possible that, if Joab was familiar with Nathan\u2019s interaction with David in the aftermath of his affair with Bathsheba, he suspected that David would not succumb to the same gambit. However, it\u2019s also possible that there was more intentionality in Joab\u2019s choice to request of the nameless woman that she plead before the King.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The pleading mother, standing before the king or prophet, is a common motif in the Prophets. The wise woman in this scene evokes the Shunnamite woman whose son Elisha revives, and, of course, the desperate mother seeking counsel from the king prefigures the two women who will seek counsel from Solomon over the custody of their one remaining baby. This is a powerful Biblical image that Joab -- or rather, the author, through Joab -- is crafting.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the wise woman herself is not merely an actor, performing a trope in the Biblical drama. She steps out of the confines of her image as a pleading mother to offer David direct and deep counsel: \u201cWe must all die; we are like water that is poured out on the ground and cannot be gathered up,\u201d (II Samuel 14:14). The Tekoan woman lives up to her epithet: she is wise, able to teach and guide the king himself.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

It is easy for the reader of the Bible to become desensitized to the differences between minor characters. After all, the main figures of the Bible are those we focus on, the subjects of our folktales and sometimes the originators of our prayers. But those lesser-known figures\u00a0 are not merely wallpaper for the adventures of main characters; those who make only brief appearances carry wisdom with them as well.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: <\/span>A depiction of the woman of Tekoa before David, by Caspar Luiken, c. 1700 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60594,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","width":525,"height":675,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-233x300.jpg","medium-width":233,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","medium_large-width":525,"medium_large-height":675,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","large-width":525,"large-height":675,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","1536x1536-width":525,"1536x1536-height":675,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","2048x2048-width":525,"2048x2048-height":675,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","post_full_size-width":525,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-327x420.jpg","home_baner-width":327,"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":"A Minor Character Takes The Fore","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"She bears wisdom for the King, and for the ages","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60594,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","width":525,"height":675,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-233x300.jpg","medium-width":233,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","medium_large-width":525,"medium_large-height":675,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","large-width":525,"large-height":675,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","1536x1536-width":525,"1536x1536-height":675,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","2048x2048-width":525,"2048x2048-height":675,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa.jpg","post_full_size-width":525,"post_full_size-height":675,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-Wise_Woman_of_Tekoa-327x420.jpg","home_baner-width":327,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"372","name":"Wisdom","old_id":"772"},{"term_id":"604","name":"Mothers","old_id":"1004"},{"term_id":"704","name":"Parable","old_id":"1104"}]},{"order":4,"id":"60599","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Powerful, Powerless Joab ","post_title":"Powerful, Powerless Joab","slug":"powerful-powerless-joab","old_id":"60599","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":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"He cannot trust Absalom, but he must yield to stabilize a volatile situation that might threaten the king","post_main_content_content":"

For a few chapters, Joab has been sidelined as interfamilial crimes threaten the continuity of David\u2019s kingship. If David\u2019s passivity in the face of these events telegraphs a sense of helplessness, Joab\u2019s own absence underscores once again how<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab\u2019s power depends on his obedience<\/span><\/a>. If the king does not want to act, Joab can neither make him act, nor act himself.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And yet, Joab\u2019s <\/span>intimate connection to the king<\/span><\/a> does yield its own sort of power. When Absalom reaches out, Joab tries to flex that power. Much as Nathan did, Joab has a fictional legal case presented before the king, and then uses David\u2019s reaction to the third-party scenario to make a point about David\u2019s own situation. Unlike Nathan, however, Joab sends his message by way of a third party, the wise woman of Tekoa.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab\u2019s use of the front-woman highlights not only his limits, but how shrewdly he operates within them. Joab presents his case through a nonthreatening widow whom he has expertly prepared for every turn of the conversation. The accuracy with which the woman\u2019s handler predicted David\u2019s reactions leaves David with no doubt that it was Joab, who knows the king better than anyone, who sent her.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab may leave this episode feeling good about his unique power in the king\u2019s court, but any security is soon shattered.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Joab ignores Absalom\u2019s missives, Absalom has Joab\u2019s field burned. Joab responds to this blackmail by giving in and doing what Absalom wants.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Is Joab prioritizing his own interests over the king\u2019s<\/span> again<\/span><\/a>? A close look at Absalom\u2019s words suggests otherwise.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

When Joab asks Absalom \u201cWhy did your servants set fire to my field?\u201d we might expect Absalom to respond \u201cbecause you did not come when I asked you to.\u201d But Absalom\u2019s response is subtly different: \u201cI sent for you to come here; I wanted to send you to the king to say [on my behalf]: \u2018Why did I leave Geshur? I would be better off if I were still there. Now let me appear before the king; and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death!\u2019\u201d Joab\u2019s action or inaction is never mentioned; what Absalom wants is the only relevant topic.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Absalom\u2019s actions were not personal revenge against Joab, but just another means to achieve his desired ends. If so, Joab could surmise two things: (a) that not only Joab, but anyone who stood in Absalom\u2019s way - perhaps even David, eventually - would be at equal risk, and (b) that appeasing Absalom would not prevent Absalom from engaging in future destructive acts if he deemed them useful.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab is trapped. He senses that he must yield not just to protect himself, but to stabilize a volatile situation that might come to threaten even the king. At the same time, he knows Absalom cannot be trusted in the future.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

If we have correctly read between the lines as to Joab\u2019s premonitions, they prove sadly accurate in the chapters that follow.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: David and Absalom Reconcile, by Rudolf von Ems: Weltchronik, c. 1360 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60600,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-david absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","width":800,"height":493,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-300x185.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":185,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-768x473.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":493,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":493,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":493,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":493,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-682x420.jpg","home_baner-width":682,"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":"Powerful, Powerless Joab","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"He cannot trust Absalom, but he must yield to stabilize a volatile situation that might threaten the king","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60600,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-david absalom","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","width":800,"height":493,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-300x185.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":185,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-768x473.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":473,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":493,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":493,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":493,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":493,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-david-absalom-682x420.jpg","home_baner-width":682,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"900","name":"Joab","old_id":"1300"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":5,"id":"60579","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Joab Hires The Best Woman For The Job- Then Mansplains ","post_title":"Joab Hires The Best Woman For The Job- Then Mansplains","slug":"joab-hires-the-best-woman-for-the-job-then-mansplains","old_id":"60579","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":41525,"post_title":"Sivan Rotholz","slug":"sivan-rotholz","old_id":"41525","first_name":"Sivan ","last_name":"Rotholz","description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. She taught feminist Torah study and creative writing at Brooklyn College, Tel Aviv University, and Temple Israel of the City of New York. She holds a Master of Fine Arts from Brooklyn College and a Juris Doctorate from Golden Gate University School of Law and is the Managing Editor of the Saturday Poetry Series on As It Ought To Be. ","short_description":"Sivan Rotholz is a joint rabbinical and MARE student at Hebrew Union College, where she is a Wexner Graduate Fellow and a New Israel Fund Elissa Froman Fellow. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":41526,"alt":"","title":"sivan rotholz","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","width":320,"height":312,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz-300x293.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":293,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","medium_large-width":320,"medium_large-height":312,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","large-width":320,"large-height":312,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","1536x1536-width":320,"1536x1536-height":312,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","2048x2048-width":320,"2048x2048-height":312,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","post_full_size-width":320,"post_full_size-height":312,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sivan-rotholz.jpg","home_baner-width":320,"home_baner-height":312}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"But despite that, the Wise Woman of Tekoa did her job brilliantly, changing the course of history","post_main_content_content":"

\u201cAnd Joab sent to Tekoa and fetched a wise woman from there and said to her\u2026 \u2018[Y]ou shall come to the king and speak to him in this manner\u2014\u2019 and Joab put the words in her mouth.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

And the Wise Woman of Tekoa goes on to tell a tall tale wherein she reveals to King David his own shortcomings and convinces him that his son Absalom should be allowed to return from exile.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

We know little about the biblical category of \u201cwise women,\u201d though there are several scattered throughout the Tanakh. They appear to be women of repute, status, and ability. It seems reasonable to surmise that a \u201cwise woman\u201d was known for being wise.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

So why would Joab\u2014David\u2019s general\u2014bother fetching a wise woman to speak to the king if he was only going to tell her what to say? How was he utilizing her wisdom by putting words in her mouth?<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Scholars Robert Polzin and Robert Alter posit that perhaps Joab merely gave the Wise Woman of Tekoa an outline of a story, and the woman \u201cis in fact brilliantly improvising\u2014 which in some ways she would have to do, given the fact that she is not reciting an uninterrupted speech but responding to David\u2019s declarations, picking up clues from the way he reacts.\u201d That perhaps this woman was summoned for her rhetorical skills and insight into human behavior.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

But the Torah has something to teach every generation, and as I consider the Wise Woman of Tekoa through a modern lens, I wonder what it has to teach us about how women are utilized\u2014or not\u2014in men\u2019s spaces.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Joab seems to value the Wise Woman of Tekoa. He does not merely hire a local Jerusalemite to relay the story he has concocted. He doesn\u2019t put just any woman up to the job, but a <\/span>wise woman<\/span><\/i>. Yet as soon as he encounters her, he begins telling her what to do. He tells her how to dress, how to act, what to say. In his mind, he has called upon this woman because of what she has to offer\u2014because of her expertise\u2014but practically he feels the need to control her because, naturally, he knows how to do her job better than she does.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Perhaps the Wise Woman of Tekoa was a skilled rhetorician capable of convincing a great king. Or perhaps, as we see all too frequently today, she was an expert in her field who wasn\u2019t given the chance to do her job because a man was sure he knew how to do it better.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To her credit, no matter whose words she used, the Wise Woman of Tekoa did her job brilliantly, changing the course of history.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: <\/span>Voyagerix\/shutterstock.com<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60580,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-marionette","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-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 Hires The Best Woman For The Job- Then Mansplains","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"But despite that, the Wise Woman of Tekoa did her job brilliantly, changing the course of history","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60580,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-marionette","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","width":1024,"height":683,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","1536x1536-width":1024,"1536x1536-height":683,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","2048x2048-width":1024,"2048x2048-height":683,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette.jpg","post_full_size-width":1024,"post_full_size-height":683,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-marionette-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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"372","name":"Wisdom","old_id":"772"},{"term_id":"444","name":"History","old_id":"844"},{"term_id":"600","name":"Women","old_id":"1000"}]},{"order":6,"id":"60589","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"2","name":"Promise and Danger, Creativity and Violation Out In The Field ","post_title":"Promise and Danger, Creativity and Violation Out In The Field","slug":"promise-and-danger-creativity-and-violation-out-in-the-field","old_id":"60589","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. She currently lives in Boston, where she teaches about storytelling in the bible and the subversive depths of Hebrew words.\r\n","short_description":"Rachel Sharansky Danziger is a Jerusalem-born Boston-based writer and speaker about Judaism, parenting, and life in Israel. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34246,"alt":"","title":"RSDanziger","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","width":1171,"height":1769,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-199x300.jpg","medium-width":199,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":678,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-678x1024.jpg","large-width":678,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","1536x1536-width":1017,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger.jpg","2048x2048-width":1171,"2048x2048-height":1769,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-794x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":794,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/RSDanziger-278x420.jpg","home_baner-width":278,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"Will David\u2019s actions heal the royal house \u2013 or break it?","post_main_content_content":"

When the clever woman from Tekoa spoke with King David, she set her fictive story in a field \u2013 a <\/span>sadeh<\/span><\/em>.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Other elements of her story \u2013 the fight between her sons, and then the fratricide \u2013 represent real events within the king\u2019s own family. Her family\u2019s insistence to avenge her murdered son is apropos as well, a representation of David\u2019s unwillingness to forgive Absalom for Amnon\u2019s murder. But the setting of the story has nothing to do with Absalom\u2019s actions or David\u2019s inaction. It draws upon an older tale instead, in fact \u2013one of the oldest tales of all; it brings to mind the very first brothers, and the very first fratricide, which took place when Cain killed Abel \u201cin the field\u201d (Genesis 4:8).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The word for field, \u2018sadeh<\/em>\u2019, plays a peculiar role in the Tanach. At times it denotes an arena for human creativity and Godly blessing. At others it marks a place that lies beyond the normal bounds of social norms. As such, it represents an opportunity for freedom --- and for violation. It can be a place of possibility, and allow an individual to shape his own reality; Isaac, that most restrained of all the patriarchs, can find respite in fields, and meet his future wife. But it can also enable dangerous transgressions, like Cain\u2019s sin, Esau\u2019s pursuits, and the kind of rapes where none can offer aid.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

By setting her story in a field, the clever woman from Tekoa infuses her parable with undertones of both these possibilities. It hints at promise \u2013 and it speaks of danger. By forgiving a murderer, David will go beyond the norms of justice. Such actions can heal the royal house \u2013 or break it. They can prove to be a leap of creativity and blessing \u2013 or a violation that will herald doom. The woman can\u2019t promise David where the tale will lead him. If he hopes to grasp the promise, he must first accept the risk.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In this case, the scales will end up on the side of danger. Absalom will burn a field one day, and use his royal pardon to destroy his father\u2019s house.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60591,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-field","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","width":1280,"height":842,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-300x197.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":197,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-768x505.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":505,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-1024x674.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":674,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":842,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":842,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-1200x789.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":789,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-638x420.jpg","home_baner-width":638,"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":"Promise and Danger, Creativity and Violation Out In The Field","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Will David\u2019s actions heal the royal house \u2013 or break it?","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60591,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-field","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","width":1280,"height":842,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-300x197.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":197,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-768x505.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":505,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-1024x674.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":674,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","1536x1536-width":1280,"1536x1536-height":842,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field.jpg","2048x2048-width":1280,"2048x2048-height":842,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-1200x789.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":789,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-field-638x420.jpg","home_baner-width":638,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"400","name":"Sin","old_id":"800"},{"term_id":"608","name":"Promise","old_id":"1008"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"835","name":"King","old_id":"1235"}]},{"order":7,"id":"60572","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"David Calls For His Son ","post_title":"David Calls For His Son","slug":"david-calls-for-his-son","old_id":"60572","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":34250,"post_title":"Sarah Rudolph","slug":"sarah-rudolph","old_id":"34250","first_name":"Sarah ","last_name":"Rudolph","description":"Sarah Rudolph is a freelance Jewish educator, writer, and editor. She has been sharing her passion for Jewish texts of all kinds for over 15 years, with students of all ages. Sarah\u2019s essays have been published in a variety of internet and print media, including Times of Israel, Kveller, Jewish Action, OU Life, The Lehrhaus, TorahMusings, and more. Sarah lives in Cleveland with her husband and four children, but is privileged to learn online with students all over the world through www.TorahTutors.org and www.WebYeshiva.org. \r\n\r\n","short_description":"Sarah Rudolph is a freelance Jewish educator, writer, and editor.","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":34251,"alt":"","title":"Sarah R","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","width":2824,"height":4246,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-200x300.jpg","medium-width":200,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":681,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-681x1024.jpg","large-width":681,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","1536x1536-width":1022,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R.jpg","2048x2048-width":1362,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-798x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":798,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/07\/Sarah-R-279x420.jpg","home_baner-width":279,"home_baner-height":420}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"King David was pining away for Absalom, for he was comforted about Amnon, because he died\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

After ordering Amnon\u2019s revenge killing, Absalom takes no chances with his father\u2019s reaction and flees to his mother\u2019s family. Though David had been \u201cgreatly upset\u201d (13:21) over Amnon\u2019s rape of his half-sister, Tamar, the king hadn\u2019t taken action against Amnon; naturally, Absalom expected that his own action would not meet the king\u2019s favor and neither would he himself, and so he fled.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The text, however, allows for some ambiguity with regard to the king\u2019s feelings. \u201cAbsalom had fled, and he came to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And [King David] mourned over his son a long time\u201d (13:37). Most assume the son mourned in this verse is Amnon \u2013 and as we are told two verses later that David \u201chad gotten over Amnon\u2019s death,\u201d it is certainly reasonable to assume he was the one David mourned before that comfort.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

However, Amnon is not named; we are instead informed vaguely that David mourned \u201chis son,\u201d alluding perhaps to a bit of internal conflict David had essentially lost two sons; how could he choose just one to mourn? And so perhaps he was really mourning both, uncertain how to handle his conflicted feelings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

A more literal translation of v. 39 might indicate how he was able to move towards a partial reconciliation with his living son: \u201cKing David was pining away for Absalom, for <\/span>he was comforted about Amnon, because he died<\/span><\/em>.\u201d Amnon was gone, and as David himself expressed in the heartwrenching episode of his baby\u2019s illness and death in chapter 12, death cannot be changed. Absalom, however, was still alive, and David\u2019s thoughts turned increasingly towards him.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Still, however, it took the intervention of his general, Joab, and a clever woman hired from Tekoa, to help the king see his way to sending for Absalom to come \u2013 not home, exactly, but near to it. For as we well know, conflicted emotions can be difficult to sort out in one\u2019s own mind and heart. After sleeping with Bathsheba and arranging for her husband\u2019s death, David found clarity about his own conduct only once the prophet told him a story removed from himself: it was easy to rule objectively and decisively on that case, and once the parallel was pointed out to him he was able to see the same truth in his own story. And so Joab has a clever woman present a case to the king that immediately stirs his sympathies for the living parties in the matter; once the parallel is pointed out to him, David can see more clearly through his own conflicted feelings.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Nothing has been fully resolved, nor will it be without more internal and external conflict and heartache. But in that moment, David calls for his son.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: \u201cDavid Pardoning Absalom\u201d by William Blake, 1803<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60573,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-blake","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","width":443,"height":379,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake-300x257.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":257,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","medium_large-width":443,"medium_large-height":379,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","large-width":443,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","1536x1536-width":443,"1536x1536-height":379,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","2048x2048-width":443,"2048x2048-height":379,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","post_full_size-width":443,"post_full_size-height":379,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":379}},"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 Calls For His Son","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"King David was pining away for Absalom, for he was comforted about Amnon, because he died","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60573,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-blake","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","width":443,"height":379,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake-300x257.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":257,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","medium_large-width":443,"medium_large-height":379,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","large-width":443,"large-height":379,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","1536x1536-width":443,"1536x1536-height":379,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","2048x2048-width":443,"2048x2048-height":379,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","post_full_size-width":443,"post_full_size-height":379,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-blake.jpg","home_baner-width":443,"home_baner-height":379}},"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"484","name":"Mourning","old_id":"884"},{"term_id":"529","name":"Children","old_id":"929"},{"term_id":"704","name":"Parable","old_id":"1104"},{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":8,"id":"60582","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Another Jewish Legal Precedent From A Biblical Character ","post_title":"Another Jewish Legal Precedent From A Biblical Character","slug":"another-jewish-legal-precedent-from-a-biblical-character","old_id":"60582","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":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"This time about mourning rites","post_main_content_content":"

In our chapter (14:1-20), Joab, the nephew of King David and commander of his army, brings a \u201cwise woman\u201d from Tekoa to persuade David not to take revenge on Absalom for his having killed his own brother Amnon, after he raped their sister, Tamar (see chapter 13). The woman from Tekoa remains unnamed, like the \u201cwise woman\u201d of Abel Beth Maachah, who saves her city from destruction (see 2 Samuel, chapter 20).\u00a0 \u201cWise women\u201d in general are also mentioned in Proverbs 14:1.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

In order to convince David not to have his son Absalom killed, Joab tells the wise woman from Tekoa to pretend being in mourning. We are told that \u201cshe came to the king, flung herself face down to the ground, and prostrated herself. She cried out, \u2018Help, O king!\u2019\u201d (2 Samuel 14:4). When David asks what is troubling her, she tells him that she is a widow and that one of her sons had killed her other son. To make the situation sound even more heart-rending, the woman tells the king that her family wants to execute her one remaining son for the murder of his brother. David assures her that \u201cAs the Lord lives, not a hair of your son shall fall to the ground\u201d (verses 5-11). The story that the woman of Tekoa makes up to convince King David to desist from spilling still more of his own family\u2019s blood, is similar in approach to the parable of the ewe-lamb used so effectively by the court prophet Nathan to confront David for having possessed Bathsheba and arranging to have her husband killed in battle (chapters 11-12).\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

To finally achieve the goal of reconciling David with his son Absalom, the dialogue between the woman from Tekoa and the king (verses 4-20) is one of the longest and most detailed in Scripture.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The Rabbinic Sages focus on one detail in our chapter from which they derive a halakhic rule that remains part of traditional Jewish practice. From Joab\u2019s instruction to the woman of Tekoa: \u201cput on mourning clothes,\u201d the Talmud Bavli Moed Qatan 15a derives that \u201cA mourner is forbidden to put on freshly washed clothes.\u201d This Talmudic dictum is the basis for the ruling in the Shulkhan Arukh (Even Ha-Ezer 26:1): \u201cIt is forbidden for a mourner to launder his garment during the entire seven days of mourning, even only in water.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: Jewish cemetery, by Jan Stuchl\u00edk from Pixabay<\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60587,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-cemetery","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-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":"Another Jewish Legal Precedent From A Biblical Character","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"This time about mourning rites","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60587,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-cemetery","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","width":1920,"height":1280,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-300x200.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":200,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-768x512.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":512,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-1024x683.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":683,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1024,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1280,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-1200x800.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":800,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-cemetery-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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"484","name":"Mourning","old_id":"884"},{"term_id":"662","name":"Halacha","old_id":"1062"}]},{"order":9,"id":"60575","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"The Benefits of Olive Oil ","post_title":"The Benefits Of Olive Oil","slug":"the-benefits-of-olive-oil","old_id":"60575","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42746,"post_title":"Michal Kohane","slug":"michal-kohane","old_id":"42746","first_name":"Michal ","last_name":"Kohane ","description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. She holds degrees in Israel studies , education and psychology, and has been a leader and educator in Northern California for over 25 years. Her first novel, Hachug (\"Extracurricular\") was published in Israel in 2016 and her weekly blog can be found at http:\/\/www.miko284.com\r\n\r\n\r\n","short_description":"Currently based in Israel, Rabbanit Michal Kohane is a graduate of Yeshivat Maharat, a writer, community leader and teacher of Talmud & Torah. ","credit":"","image_url":"","hide_writer":false,"link_for_pay":false,"image":{"id":42747,"alt":"","title":"michal kohane","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","width":214,"height":226,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium-width":214,"medium-height":226,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","medium_large-width":214,"medium_large-height":226,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","large-width":214,"large-height":226,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","1536x1536-width":214,"1536x1536-height":226,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","2048x2048-width":214,"2048x2048-height":226,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","post_full_size-width":214,"post_full_size-height":226,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/michal-kohane-e1540448078529.jpg","home_baner-width":214,"home_baner-height":226}},"tags":false},"related_cahpter":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"It worked for the wise woman of Tekoa...\u00a0\r\n\r\n","post_main_content_content":"

Joab son of Zeruya, King David\u2019s nephew and the commander of his army, wants to bring about peace between the King and his son, Absalom after the latter escaped (chapter 13). In order to arrange for Absalom\u2019s peaceful return to Jerusalem, Joab sends a wise woman from Tekoa to tell David a story about herself in a false request: Her son, she says, killed his brother, and now the city\u2019s residents want to kill her other son. She tells David that she doesn\u2019t want to lose her second son too and asks for David\u2019s help. As he agrees with her, he realizes that Joab was involved and indeed asks Joab to bring Absalom back. Joab is deeply touched that the King accepted his advice (14:22).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Why did he choose a woman from Tekoa and what makes the people there so wise? The Talmud (Menachot, 85:b) explains that since the residents of Tekoa are accustomed to using olive oil, wisdom is prevalent there. Though unsure if \u201cwisdom\u201d has been proven, olive oil has many uses and benefits: for cooking, cosmetics, pharmaceuticals, soaps, fuel and traditional oil lamps, while in ancient times, it was used for some of the sacrifices.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

The daily 2<\/span>nd<\/span> paragraph of the <\/span>Shma, Ve\u2019haya Im Shamo\u2019a<\/span><\/em>, talks about a perfect annual cycle: \u201cI will grant rain for your Land in its season\u2026 you shall gather in your new grain, wine and oil\u201d\u2026 The new grain refers to wheat, associated with Shavuot; when the wheat harvest is over, it\u2019s time for grape harvest in the fall and wine production, associated with Sukkot, the joyful holiday, and then, the olive oil harvest which begins as soon as grape harvest is over and coincides with Hanukkah (this cycle is also mentioned in the Tosefta, Shvu\u2019ot<\/em> 4:20).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Olive oil has spiritual allegories and is used in metaphors as well. We learn that the Jewish people were likened to an olive tree \u201cto tell you \u201cthat just as the leaves of an olive tree never fall off, neither in the summer nor in the rainy season, so too, the Jewish people will never be nullified\u2026 and to tell you that just as an olive tree brings forth its oil only by means of crushing and breaking, so too, the Jewish people return to doing good only by means of suffering\u201d (Menachot 53:b). In addition, if an olive tree is cut down, it does not die, but regrows again and again.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Image: courtesy of the author<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":60577,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-olives2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"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 Benefits Of Olive Oil","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"It worked for the wise woman of Tekoa...\u00a0","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60577,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-olives2","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","width":4032,"height":3024,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2.jpg","2048x2048-width":2048,"2048x2048-height":1536,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-olives2-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"627","name":"Talmud","old_id":"1027"},{"term_id":"916","name":"Olive oil","old_id":"1316"}]},{"order":10,"id":"112996","color":"#f6edf6","size":"1","name":"The Tanakh Podcast-IISam14","post_title":"The Tanakh Podcast-IISam14","slug":"the-tanakh-podcast-iisam14","old_id":"112996","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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General Joab, concerned on account of David\u2019s pining away for Absalom, sought to reconcile them. Somehow skeptical of his own powers of persuasion, he hired a stand-in, \u201ca wise woman\u201d of Tekoa (2), a place in Judea between Jerusalem and Hebron, and scripted her role. She was to appear as a woman in protracted mourning and seek David\u2019s intervention to spare the life of her sole surviving son who had murdered his brother and was now the object of the family\u2019s blood vengeance. Speaking quite poetically (her words or Joab\u2019s?) she said, \u201cThus they would quench the last ember remaining to me\u201d leaving her totally bereft (7).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David swore to her that \u201cnary a hair [on his head] will fall to the ground\u201d (11) but the woman requested\u2014and received\u2014his permission to continue, and after uttering yet another particularly poignant phrase (\u201cFor we must all die, and we are as water spilt on the ground, which cannot be gathered up again\u201d, 14), David\u2019s suspicions were raised and she admitted to him that \u201cyour servant Joab instructed me and put all these words in my mouth\u201d (19).<\/span><\/p>\r\n

David then ordered Joab to retrieve Absalom from Geshur to Jerusalem, but with the proviso that he remain at home and never see the king (24), to which he consented. After the passage of some two years, however, Absalom grew impatient and he forced Joab into interceding on his behalf once again. Joab acceded, and the chapter ends with Absalom prostrating himself before David and David kissing his wayward son.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Rather than this marking the conclusion of the previous episode, it actually set the next one in motion, incorporating yet another literary foreshadowing: The reference to Absalom\u2019s luxuriant hair (26) will reprise itself in an unanticipated fashion (see 2 Samuel 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Plot To Achieve Reconciliation","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The end of one saga, the beginning of another","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":60597,"alt":"","title":"2sam14-the-beginning-note","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/jpeg","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","width":354,"height":373,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note-285x300.jpg","medium-width":285,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","medium_large-width":354,"medium_large-height":373,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","large-width":354,"large-height":373,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","1536x1536-width":354,"1536x1536-height":373,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","2048x2048-width":354,"2048x2048-height":373,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","post_full_size-width":354,"post_full_size-height":373,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam14-the-beginning-note.jpg","home_baner-width":354,"home_baner-height":373}},"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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":[{"term_id":"834","name":"David","old_id":"1234"},{"term_id":"914","name":"Absalom","old_id":"1314"}]},{"order":12,"id":"60568","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Absalom\u2019s Return: Oedipal Struggle and Dynastic Succession\u00a0 ","post_title":"Absalom\u2019s Return: Oedipal Struggle and Dynastic Succession\u00a0","slug":"absaloms-return-oedipal-struggle-and-dynastic-succession","old_id":"60568","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":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The author critically examines the deep conflict between the logic of power and the logic of love","post_main_content_content":"

Absalom\u2019s rebellion constitutes the longest narrative unit in the Book of Samuel. Through its detailed and complex structure, manifold characters and subplots, the author critically examines the deep conflict between the logic of power and the logic of love. In the dramatic events recounted in 2 Samuel 14-19, the price of sovereignty -- of striving to seize and keep it -- reached its most calamitous heights. In Absalom\u2019s rebellion against David, the family as a unit responsible for smoothly transferring sovereign power on the incumbent ruler\u2019s death ended up plunging Israel back into civil war. Within a relatively long stretch of six chapters, the author of the Book of Samuel meticulously lays out the relationship between this arguable oedipal struggle and the inner logic of dynastic succession. The first step in this devastating sequence was Absalom\u2019s return to Jerusalem from Geshur, where he has fled in forced exile after he had killed Amnon.<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Absalom\u2019s return was initiated by Joab, who had been David\u2019s unswervingly loyal general all along. Within David\u2019s circle, Joab represents the voice of clearheaded and farseeing realpolitik. He therefore must have calculated that allowing Absalom to stay away from the court too long could become a source of trouble for David. Absalom should be brought back not only to appease him but also to keep him under surveillance. Otherwise, unmonitored in his banishment, the angry and ambitious prince, whose assassination of David\u2019s firstborn son could easily be interpreted as an attack on the king\u2019s own authority, might well begin to plot subversion while slowly developing a power base to help him carry it out. Joab also knew that despite David\u2019s wistful longing for Absalom, the king could not simply invite back to Jerusalem and rehabilitate the murderer of an heir to the throne. An indirect approach thus had to be fashioned to persuade David to allow Absalom\u2019s return. For this purpose, the savvy Joab enlisted a very wise woman from the village Tekoa, a few miles south of Jerusalem.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\r\n

She was sent by Joab to soften up the king and to elicit from him an authoritative verdict that could then be shrewdly recycled as an argument against the banishing of Absalom. It was a clever ploy and a masterful performance of personal persuasion by a gifted tragedienne, following Joab\u2019s script and extracting an explicit ruling sealed by an oath from a powerful yet initially hesitant sovereign. The ruling was elicited by her bold and iconic presentation of the unbearable price of relentlessly adhering to the revenge ethos within the family. The verdict might have been very different if presented in the abstract or by a less talented emissary.<\/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, pp. 118-119.<\/span><\/p>","post_main_content_image":{"id":56668,"alt":"","title":"halbertal-book 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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":"277","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content_description":"The wise woman of Tekoa struggles verbally, knowing she is treading on dangerous ground\u00a0","post_main_content_content":"

14:13 \u201cAnd the woman said, \u2018Why did you devise in this fashion against God\u2019s people? And in speaking this thing, the king is as though guilty for the king\u2019s not having brought back his own banished one.\u2019\u201d<\/span><\/p>\r\n

Commentary: The Hebrew of this whole sentence is rather crabbed, an effect reproduced in the translation. Rather than reflecting difficulties in textual transmission, her language probably expresses her sense of awkwardness in virtually indicting the king: he is \u201cas thought guilty,\u201d for \u201cin speaking this thing,\u201d in declaring his resolution to protect the fratricidal son, he has condemned his own antithetical behavior in the case of Absalom. But the woman is careful not to mention Absalom explicitly by name -- she struggles verbally in the crossover from fiction to life, knowing she is treading on dangerous ground.<\/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":"Another Lesson For King David","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"The wise woman of Tekoa struggles verbally, knowing she is treading on dangerous ground\u00a0","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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":15,"id":"59832","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"Sefaria Source Sheets - II Samuel 14 ","post_title":"Sefaria Source Sheets - II Samuel 14","slug":"sefaria-source-sheets-ii-samuel-14","old_id":"59832","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":42228,"post_title":"Sefaria","slug":"sefaria","old_id":"42228","first_name":"","last_name":"Sefaria","description":"Sefaria is a non-profit organization dedicated to building the future of Jewish learning in an open and participatory way. 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\u201cWere the Rabbis Reading Greek and Roman Mythology? Narcissus and the Nazir\u201d<\/a><\/u> by Tzvi Sinensky: Explore possible parallels.<\/p>\r\n

\u201cBeauty, Inside and Out\u201d<\/a><\/u> by Olivia Friedman: Biblical perspectives on physical appearances.<\/p>","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":"Go deeper into the chapter....","tile_main_caption":"Source Sheets - II Samuel 14","tile_main_caption_size":"1","tile_sub_caption":"Links to learning resources","tile_preview_embedded":"","tile_preview_image":{"id":42232,"alt":"","title":"sefaria-words-sunburst","caption":"","description":"","mime_type":"image\/png","url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","width":608,"height":395,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-150x150.png","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst-300x195.png","medium-width":300,"medium-height":195,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","medium_large-width":608,"medium_large-height":395,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","large-width":608,"large-height":395,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","1536x1536-width":608,"1536x1536-height":395,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","2048x2048-width":608,"2048x2048-height":395,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","post_full_size-width":608,"post_full_size-height":395,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/sefaria-words-sunburst.png","home_baner-width":608,"home_baner-height":395}},"tile_preview_video":"","tile_external_link":"","tile_tile_gallery_items":"","tile_credits":"Sefaria word sunburst visualization","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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"link_for_pay":false,"tags":false},{"order":16,"id":"60489","color":"#e2f4fa","size":"1","name":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- II Samuel 14 ","post_title":"A Lesson on the Daily Chapter- II Samuel 14","slug":"a-lesson-on-the-daily-chapter-ii-samuel-14","old_id":"60489","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":{"id":40936,"post_title":"David Silber","slug":"david-silber-2","old_id":"40936","first_name":"David ","last_name":"Silber ","description":"Rabbi David Silber is the Founder and Dean of Drisha Institute for Jewish Education. 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    \r\n\t
  1. The King<\/em>. 40 times (!) David is referred to as the king in this chapter, and never once by his name, David. Is that because his stature and functioning as king is more meaningful here than his emotions? More than his fatherhood? Is it about his holding onto the crown, moments before the rebellion and the fraying of the kingship?<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  2. Anonymity<\/em>. 19 verses are devoted to the wise woman of Tekoa, to her words and how she so convincingly presents her fabricated case to David. But her name is never mentioned.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  3. A paragon of masculine beauty<\/em>. Absalom is the Biblical ideal of perfect male beauty. \u201cNo 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\u201d (verses 25-26). Remember the hair: it has a central place in the story to follow...<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  4. Absalom and Joab<\/em>. When does Joab help Absalom, and when does he refrain from doing so - and why? Not that much is told about the relationship between these two strong male figures, but the little that is raises some question marks, and leaves much room for imagination and interpretation.\u00a0<\/span><\/li>\r\n\t
  5. Violence pays.<\/em> That\u2019s how Absalom succeeds in getting through to Joab, and meet his father the king. This isn\u2019t the first violent act that he performs, with the help of his servants; that\u2019s how he murdered Amnon in the previous chapter. But Absalom has other tricks up his sleeve as well. Stay tuned for the next chapter\u2026.<\/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 14","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":"14","chapter_main_number":"277","date":"20260921","wall_id":"277"},"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\/60473"}],"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=60473"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}