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Who’s the winner of the Biblical Beauty
Contest who first comes to mind? It’s
probably Queen Esther who was chosen by Ahasuerus, king of Persia. However, there
was another, lesser-known, biblical hunt for
the most beautiful maiden in the kingdom of
Israel. This was at the end of David’s
40-year reign.
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A lovely young maiden named Abishag was
found in the village of Shunem in the
Jezreel Valley and brought to the king’s
palace in Jerusalem. Abishag served as a
combination nursemaid and electric blanket
to the shivering, dying 70-year-old king. |
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Photo: Gila Yudkin |
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Abishag was from Shunem, located in the
Jezreel Valley shown below the rocks |
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Copyright
2014 by Gila Yudkin |
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Shunem is located at the eastern end of the Jezreel Valley |
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| At this time, David’s sons Adonijah and
Solomon were jockeying to inherit David’s
far-flung kingdom. Adonijah, David’s eldest
surviving son, was full of ambition and had
powerful allies: Joab the Commander-in-Chief
and Abiathar the Priest. |
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| Adonijah’s rival and half-brother Solomon
was supported by his mother Bathsheba and
Nathan the Prophet. With Abishag attending
to David (perhaps she was taking his blood
pressure – just kidding – she was more
likely propping his pillows), Bathsheba
entered David’s sickroom to remind him of
his vow to bestow the kingdom on her son. |
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Photo: Gila Yudkin |
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Abishag lived in David's
Jerusalem palace above this stepped wall |
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| Bathsheba prevailed and David ordered his
servants to mount Solomon on the royal mule
and anoint him at the Gihon spring by Water
Gate. “Zadok the priest took the horn of oil
from the Tent of Meeting and anointed
Solomon. They sounded the shofar and all the
people shouted ‘Long live King Solomon!’ The
people all followed him with flutes playing
and loud rejoicing so that the ground shook
with the sound.” First Kings 1:39-40 |
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| When Adonijah and his faction heard the
sound of rejoicing in the Kidron Valley less
than a mile away, they were sore afraid. Adonijah, terrified, raced to the Tabernacle
to cling to the horns of the altar. Solomon
summoned him to the palace and spared his
half-brother’s life. But Solomon admonished
him to behave wisely. |
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Photo: Gila Yudkin |
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Massive 10th century BC
wall in Jerusalem: is it the wall of
David's palace? |
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| After David died and was buried in the City
of David, Solomon ascended the throne. But Adonijah resumed his cunning attempts to
challenge Solomon’s authority. Adonijah went
humbly to the Queen Mother (that is
Bathsheba) and innocently requested the hand
of Abishag the Shunammite in marriage. |
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| This seemingly modest proposal drove Solomon
berserk. He shouted at his mother, “You
request Abishag of Shunem for Adonijah? You
might as well request the kingdom for him
too!” Solomon proceeded to order that Adonijah be killed that very day. And that
was that. |
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Photo: Gila Yudkin |
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David's palace was
probably located where the tall trees are |
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| I always wonder, though, about Bathsheba. Whether she really could have been so
clueless or in such deep denial about a
known hard fact of Middle Eastern culture:
that taking the wife of a dead or deposed
king gave undisputed title to succession. Or
perhaps she just wanted to move Abishag out
of the king’s palace. |
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| At my first reading, I assigned Abishag a
walk-on role. But as I studied the text and
read Bible commentaries, I realized that Abishag was an important catalyst in the
high drama that swirled around the palace as
David lay dying. Some commentators even
suggest that Abishag the Shunammite is, in
fact, the luscious Shulammite starring in
Solomon’s Song of Songs. Or perhaps
did power get to her head so that after
David was buried, she connived to persuade
Adonijah, Solomon's rival to ask for her
hand? |
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| When we drive by Shunem in the Jezreel
Valley, I like to retell the tale of Abishag.
The village which is now named Sulam was
first identified in the fourth century AD by
Church Father Eusebius. In his Onomasticon
(subtitled “On the Place-Names in the Holy
Scripture”), a kind of gazetteer identifying
biblical sites, he writes that Shunem was
renamed Sulam and was located five miles
south of Mount Tabor. He doesn’t mention,
though, whether the village was still known
for producing exquisite beauties! |
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Copyright 2010, 2014 Gila Yudkin. Permission
needed for any reuse. |
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For 50 shekels of silver, David bought Mount
Moriah, the threshing floor of Araunah.
Tour the Temple Mount with
Gila, in the company of David and
Solomon, Abraham and Isaac, Jesus and the
disciples, Gabriel and Mohammed. Comes
also as a downloadable audiotour or a PDF. |
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Shunem is located in the eastern part of the
Jezreel Valley, also known as
Armageddon. Read more about
this valley where the forces of evil will be
defeated by the forces of good, as
prophesized in Revelation chapter 16. |
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