Abigail, wife of David, and other ancient Oriental women - Bodi, Daniel; Bodi, Daniel; Bodi, Daniel (Sheffield : Sheffield Phoenix Press, 2013)
This is the first book devoted to the biblical figure of Abigail, whose encounter with David is narrated in 1 Samuel 25. An interdisciplinary study, its seven papers combine biblical criticism, narratology, history of religions, Assyriology and the study of midrash. One article (by Michaël Guichard) brings to light a major historical analogy from the Mari documents to the triangular relationshiop of Abigail, Nabal and David. The career of the princess Imib-sharri, first married to an old sheikh, and, after his sudden, mysterious death, to a younger princeling, provides a very apt analogy to that of Abigail. Another article 9by Daniel Bodi) compares David's way of seizing power to the pattern of seizing power in the ancient Near East: Zimri-Lim in Mari, Idrimi in Alalakh, and the 'Apiru in the Amarna texts serve as analogies to David. The tale of David as an ambitious warlord taking power through marriage can be paralleled by the mytho of Nergal and Ereshkigal: in its older Amarna version Nergal takes power through violence whereas in its Assyrian version his power is due to Ereshigal's seduction and love. The Abigail story combines both aspects, beginning with violence and ending with marriage (Jean-Jacques Glassner).
Residency of Abigail in 1 Samuel 25 and the connection between David and Abraham / André Lemaire -- Remarriage of a princess and the 'foreign policy' of the King of Mari in the upper Ḫabur region in the eighteenth century BCE / Michaël Guichard -- David as an 'Apiru in 1 Samuel 25 and the pattern of seizing power in the ancient Near East / Daniel Bodi -- Women and hospitality customs in the ancient Near East / Jean-Jacques Glassner -- Story of David, Nabal and Abigail (1 Samuel 25) : a literary study of wordplay and names, analogies, and socially structured opposites / Moshe Garsiel -- Was Abigail a scarlet woman? A point of Rabbinic exegesis in light of comparative material / Daniel Bodi -- Anat and the warriors : gender definition and the ambivalence of the feminine in Ugaritic mythology / Jean-Marie Husser.
Includes bibliographical references (pages 107-120) and indexes.
committed to retain
Keywords: Women in the Bible; Women in rabbinical literature; Middle East -- Civilization; Abigail -- (Biblical figure); Bible. -- Criticism, interpretation, etc; Criticism, interpretation, etc