This is the text of the Encyclopedia Judaica article on
ABSALOM
ABSALOM, third son of
David, born during his reign in Hebron, probably about 1007/06 B.C.E.
In the BibIe
Absalom was the son of Maacah, the daughter of
King Talmai of Geshur. When his half brother Amnon dishonored his full sister
Tamar (II
Sam. 13:1–20), he considered himself the avenger of her honor and ordered Amnon killed at a shearing feast on his estate, to which he invited all the king's sons (ibid., 13:23–29). Fearing
David's wrath, he took refuge at the court of his grandfather, probably a vassal-king of
David by that time (c. 987 B.C.E.). Meanwhile,
Joab took up his cause with the king and obtained
David's permission for
Absalom to return to Jerusalem without fear of punishment; later a full reconciliation was effected between the two (ibid., 14:33; c. 983 B.C.E.).
Probably
David's second son, Chileab (II
Sam. 3:3) or
Daniel (I Chron. 3:1), either died young or was mentally or physically handicapped, because it was
Absalom, the next oldest son of
David, who was the most obvious candidate for the succession. He was a handsome man of prepossessing appearance, a glib tongue, and winning manners (II
Sam. 14:25; 15:2–6), and seems to have gained a great deal of popularity among the common people as well. Though strongheaded and willful, he knew how to bide his time in order to achieve his desires (cf. ibid., 13:20) and how to work for that end (cf. ibid., 14:28–30).
Considering these qualities, it is difficult to understand what induced him to plot a revolt against his father (c. 979 B.C.E.); but since there was no strict law that
David's successor must be his oldest living son, perhaps
Absalom was worried by the influence of
David's favorite wife Bath-Sheba and the possibility that
David might, as he eventually did, proclaim his oldest son by her his successor.
Be that as it may, the plot was carefully planned at Hebron (cf. II
Sam. 15:7). The revolt seems to have enjoyed wide support in
Judah, which was perhaps offended by the old king's refusal to show any palpable preference for his own tribesmen, as well as among other Israelite tribes, who were dissatisfied with the gradual bureaucratization of the kingdom and the curtailment of tribal rights.
David retreated with his immediate entourage—bodyguard (the gibborim), foreign mercenaries (the Cherethites and Pelethites), 600 Gittites, and some of the people who remained loyal to him—to Transjordan. At the same time, he took care to leave a “fifth columnist” in Jerusalem in the person of Hushai the Archite, and with him two intelligence messengers, Ahimaaz and
Jonathan, the sons of the two high priests. Hushai succeeded in persuading
Absalom to reject his adviser Ahithophel's sensible proposal to pursue the old king and defeat him before he could find further support. In the subsequent battle in Transjordan (in the forest of
Ephraim)
Absalom's tribal levees proved no match for
David's veteran mercenaries under Ittai the Gittite, who was supported by the loyal Israelites under
Joab and
Abishai.
Absalom was caught by his head in a thick tree and killed on
Joab's orders, which contravened the express command of
David to spare his life (II
Sam. 18:9). The king's mourning for his son almost cost him the support of his loyal troops (ibid., 19:1–9).
Absalom had no son, which prompted him to erect a memorial monument for himself (ibid., 18:18; cf. however ibid., 14:27); he apparently had a daughter, Maacah, who was named for his mother and who later married her cousin Rehoboam and became the latter's favorite queen and mother of the heir-apparent Abijam.
[Encyclopaedia Hebraica]
In the Aggadah
Although the Bible stated that it was by his head and not specifically by his hair that
Absalom was caught, the rabbis assume that it was by his hair and make of his death a homily on false ambition, unfilial conduct, and poetic justice. Of the perfect physical qualities ascribed to
Adam,
Absalom is regarded as having inherited his hair (Pirkei Rabbenu ha-Kadosh, in L. Grueenhut, Likkutim, 3 (1899), 72). It grew so luxuriantly that although he had taken the Nazirite vow prohibiting the cutting of the hair, he was permitted to trim it from time to time (Nazir 5a). It was his hair, in which he gloried, which brought about his death (Sotah 1:8). He was caught “in the heart of a tree” (II
Sam. 18:14). “But did one ever hear of a tree having a heart. This turn of phrase teaches that when a man becomes so heartless as to make war on his own father, nature takes on a heart to avenge the deed” (Mekh. Shirata 6). So unforgivable was his conduct that he is enumerated among those who have no share in the world to come (Sanh. 103b). In Exodus Rabbah 1:1 he is cited as one of the exemplars of “spare the rod and spoil the child.” His abode is in hell where he is in charge of ten heathen nations (A. Jellinek, Beit ha-Midrash, 2 (1938), 50) but
David's lament saved him from the extreme penalties of hell (Sot. 10b).
[Rabinowitz,
Louis Isaac]
In Folklore
In Jewish folk sayings and in Palestinian legends clustered around the Pillar of
Absalom (Yad Avshalom) in the Kidron Valley of Jerusalem, rebellious
Absalom serves as an example of punishments inflicted upon sons transgressing the Fifth Commandment. According to the report from Jerusalem (1666) of a French
Christian pilgrim (Bernardin Surius), the inhabitants of Jerusalem used to bring their children to the tomb of
Absalom to shout and throw stones at it, stressing the end of wicked children who did not revere their parents.
[Noy,
Dov]
In the Arts
In Western literature
Absalom has been regarded as a symbol of manly beauty. The subject inspired a medieval mystery play and several Elizabethan dramas.
George Peele's The
Love of
King David and Fair Bethsabe (1599) deals at length with
Absalom's rebellion, which is blamed on
David's illicit love affair with Bath-Sheba, and in tune with the bloodthirsty taste of the era shows the unfortunate prince, suspended by his hair from a tree, being done to death by
Joab.
John Dryden's
Absalom and Achithophel (1681), a political satire in verse, presents
Charles II as
David,
Charles' illegitimate son the
Duke of Monmouth as
Absalom, and Lord Shaftesbury as the false counselor Achithophel. Some 20th-century works based on this theme are
Absalom (1920), a translation of a Japanese play by Torahiko
Kori;
Howard Spring's novel O
Absalom (1938; later reissued in the U.S.A. as My Son, My Son); and
William Faulkner's novel
Absalom,
Absalom (1936).
Some artists in the late. Middle Ages interpreted
Absalom's death as a prefiguration of the Crucifixion. Parts of the story occasionally appear in illuminated manuscripts, such as the Winchester Bible, a French Bible moralisMe (1250) now in Toledo, and the 14th-century Anglo-Norman
Queen Mary's Psalter (British Museum), which illustrates most of the biblical narrative.
Absalom's end also appears in an Italian 15th-century pavement mosaic in
Siena Cathedral. The Reconciliation of
David and
Absalom (1642) was painted by
Rembrandt. The Pillar of
Absalom (Yad Avshalom), which stands on the traditional site of
Absalom's burial place, is one of several sepulchral monuments in the Kidron Valley, Jerusalem, that date from the Second
Temple and
Roman periods. The monument is executed in the late Hellenistic style, however, and its link with
Absalom does not predate the 16th century.
David's lament for
Absalom has inspired a number of composers, notably
Heinrich Schuetz, whose motet for bass solo and trombone quartet Fili mi Absalon (in Symphoniae Sacrae vol. 1 (1629), no. 13) is a masterly work. No less poignant is Lugebat
David Absalon: Absalon fili mi, a four-voice motet by Josquin des PrMs, written a century earlier. In the 16th century
Jacob Hand (
Gallus) arranged a notable setting of the lament. A number of oratorios, mainly of the 18th century, describe
Absalom's rebellion and death. A recent composition is
David Weeps for
Absalom (1947), a work for voice and piano by
David Diamond. The Judeo-Spanish song Triste estaba el Rey
David (arranged for choir by JoaquEn
Rodrigo, 1950), tells the story of
Absalom's rebellion in romantic form.
[Editorial Staff Encyclopaedia Judaica]