Texts in Conversation
1 Samuel 25 closes with David marrying Abigail after her husband Nabal suddenly dies. 2 Samuel 11 echoes the closing pattern when David marries Bathsheba, but here David himself arranges the husband’s death.
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2500 BCE
1000+ CE
1 Samuel 25:39
Hebrew Bible
38 After about 10 days the Lord struck Nabal down and he died. 39 When David heard that Nabal had died, he said, “Praised be the Lord who has vindicated me and avenged the insult that I suffered from Nabal! The Lord has kept his servant from doing evil, and he has repaid Nabal for his evil deeds.” Then David sent word to Abigail and asked her to become his wife. 40 So the servants of David went to Abigail at Carmel and said to her, “David has sent us to you to bring you back to be his wife.” 41 She arose, bowed her face toward the ground, and said, “Your female servant, like a lowly servant, will wash the feet of the servants of my lord.”
2 Samuel 11:27
Hebrew Bible
26 When Uriah’s wife heard that her husband Uriah was dead, she mourned for him. 27 When the time of mourning passed, David had her brought to his palace. She became his wife and she bore him a son. But what David had done upset the Lord.
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Notes and References
... Both stories open with David dispatching a delegation: ten young men to Nabal in the first, and Joab and his men to fight the Ammonites in the second. Both of the women are said to be beautiful: about Abigail, "the woman was intelligent and shapely" (1 Samuel 25:3), and about Bathsheba, "the woman was very beautiful" (2 Samuel 11:2). Each woman returns to her home after her first meeting with David. In each story, David takes the woman as his wife after the death of her husband. The phrasing used to describe this is similar: "David sent messengers to speak for Abigail and to take her as his wife" (1 Samuel 25:39); "David sent and had Bathsheba brought to his house and she became his wife" (2 Samuel 11:27). In both stories, the drinking of wine until drunkenness is mentioned in connection with the woman’s husband: Nabal gets drunk before David is told of him, while David gets Uriah drunk so that he will return home and sleep with his wife. ...
Shinan, Avigdor and Yair Zakovitch
From Gods to God: How the Bible Debunked, Suppressed, or Changed Ancient Myths and Legends
(pp. 251-252) The Jewish Publication Society, 2012
* The use of references are not endorsements of their contents. Please read the entirety of the provided reference(s) to understand the author's full intentions regarding the use of these texts.
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