Conflicting information

מאת: אבנר רמו

אל: avnerramu @ aol.com

In the Book of Samuel we are told repeatedly about David’s two wives (1 Sam 25:42, 43; 27:3; 30:18; 2 Sam 2:2). One of them was: אביגיל, אשת נבל הכרמלי - “Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite” (1 Sam 27:3; 2 Sam 2:2; 3:3) and the other:
אחינעם, היזרעלית - “Ahinoam the Jezreelitess” (1 Sam 25:43; 27:3; 2 Sam 2:2; 3:2). However, as David had a peculiar habit of marrying other’s people wives, it could be that אחינעם, היזרעלית - “Ahinoam the Jezreelitess” was the same אחינעם - “Ahinoam” that was previously the wife of King Saul (1 Sam 14:50). Soon after, we read that the third son that was born to David in the town of Hebron was:
אבשלום בן-מעכה, בת-תלמי מלך גשור - “Absalom the son of Maacah the daughter of Talmai king of Geshur” (2 Sam 3:3; 1 Ch 3:2). Marrying the daughter of a foreign king must have been a major political event, and it appears unlikely that the writer of the Book of Samuel would skip mentioning such a major event. Furthermore, few chapters earlier we read that David and his men were actually raiding the Geshurites (1 Sam 27:8).

We read about King David:
בן-שלשים שנה דוד במלכו; ארבעים שנה מלך.
בחברון מלך על-יהודה שבע שנים וששה חדשים; ובירושלם מלך שלשים ושלש שנה, על כל-ישראל ויהודה.
“David was thirty years old when he began to reign, and he reigned forty years.
In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty and three years over all Israel and Judah” (2 Sam 5:4-5).

At an unknown date but at least several years before King David death, Absalom tried to overthrow his father but was defeated by the army headed by Joab and his brothers, and was killed by the “young men that bore Joab's armor” (2 Sam 18:15). We may therefore conclude that Absalom died in his thirties. Yet before this revolt began we find the odd statement:
ויהי מקץ ארבעים שנה; ויאמר אבשלום אל-המלך, אלכה נא ואשלם את-נדרי אשר-נדרתי ליהוה בחברון.
“And it came to pass at the end of forty years that Absalom said to the king: I pray you, let me go and pay my vow, which I have vowed to YHWH, in Hebron” (2 Sam 15:7).

We also read in the Book of Samuel:
ואבשלם לקח ויצב-לו בחיו את-מצבת אשר בעמק-המלך--כי אמר אין-לי בן בעבור הזכיר שמי; ויקרא למצבת על-שמו, ויקרא לה יד אבשלום, עד היום הזה.
“Now Absalom in his life-time had taken and reared up for himself the pillar, which is in the king's dale; for he said: I have no son to keep my name in remembrance; and he called the pillar after his own name; and it is called Absalom's monument to this day” (2 Sam 18:18).

Yet four chapters earlier we find: ויולדו לאבשלום שלושה בנים, ובת אחת ושמה תמר - “And to Absalom there were born three sons, and one daughter, whose name was Tamar” (2 Sam 14:27).