oa De wijze vrouwen in 2 Samuel 14 en 20

*Ik wil mevrouw drs M.J. Wijntjes (Leiden) vriendelijk danken voor een aantal nuttige opmerkingen over een eerdere versie van dit artikel.

The words of the ‘wise women’ in 2 Samuel 14 and 20 represent a stereotype discourse which stresses additional values and, through this merit, is capable of reprimanding even the powerful and mighty with impunity. In 2 Samuel 14 the woman’s intervention serves to resolve King David’s dilemma between his duties as a monarch and his fear of loosing his children (and perhaps his fatherly affections for Absalom as well). The woman’s intervention enables the king, through an analogy with a fictious case she presented to him, to let Absalom return to Jerusalem safely without David suffering further damage to his pride and reputation.