Last Friday, we discussed Chapters 18-24 in Geraldine Brooks’s The Secret Chord. These chapters continue to document King David’s decline (physically and emotionally). The decline demonstrates the fulfillment of a four-fold curse, a consequence of the king’s adultery with Bathsheva and his arranging for the death of Bathsheva’s husband, Uriah. We opened our discussion with the question of whether the focus of Brooks’s narrative was intended to somehow correct certain male-oriented perspectives as they appeared in biblical text and subsequent commentary on that text. It is true that Brooks interpolated certain events that are not part of the biblical narrative (i.e., she fills in gaps). Nonetheless, Brooks is not guilty of inventing material based on her subjective agenda. Whatever events/dialogue uses in her midrashic take on the Books of Samuel and Kings can be traced back to passages in the Books of Chronicles or in extra-biblical texts such as the Talmud or other Midrashim.
In Chapter 18, which describes in excruciating detail the rape by Amnon of his half-sister Tamar, Brooks suggests that Amnon was driven by lust. The biblical text, however, indicates that Amnon “fell desperately in love with Tamar and that Amnon’s friend Jonadab orchestrated the rape. While some ancient commentators attempt to whitewash the episode (Tamar wasn’t legitimately his half-sister, wasn’t even Jewish; the sex was consenual since Tamar didn’t call out for help), other commentators make the case that Amnon was a lustful profligate–that David, whom the Talmud suggests was himself lustful, played a role in making him so. The detail with which Brooks records the rape (including more physical violence than the bible indicates) may have been a narrative strategy on Brooks’s part to evoke empathy by traumatizing her readers.
The chapter immediately following the rape of Tamar are tense. They offer insight into David’s parenting, which is presented in a negative light. The king is “wroth,” when he learns of the rape, but he does not punish Amnon, who soon thereafter sits by David’s side. David refuses to see Tamar before she fled to her brother Absalom’s home. Despite requests from Tamar’s mother, Maacah, David refuses to follow Torah law and have Amnon executed. David leaves the parenting of his youngest son, Solomon, up to Nathan and other mentors. Chapters 21 and 22 focus on Absalom’s shrewd efforts to avenge his sister’s rape. He deceives Amnon into thinking that his brother has forgiven him, and then arranges for Amnon’s assasination. Brooks then shows the young Solomon to be responsible for caring for Amnon’s body (an event not recorded in the bible, but one that idealizes Solomon as the person most eligible to assume the throne). We witness David’s further physical decline–Joav says he looks like “a cur with mange”–and his grief over Amnon’s death. Assuming that Absalom will somehow ascend to the throne, Joav convinces David to end Absalom’s exile. Absalom then returns to Jerusalem and begins to win the hearts and minds of the people, usurping David’s place in the Israelites’ affections. Rather than being angry at Absalom for his role in Amnon’s death, David is pleased with how his son works his charms. Such favoritism–and blindness to the faults of his children–makes David a poor role model for parenting.
This week our group will conclude its study of The Secret Chord with a look at chapters 25-28 (pp. 296-331). These chapters cover (spoiler alerts!) the continuing consequences of David’s dalliance with Bathsheba: Absalom’s tragic fate; David’s physical decline ultimately requiring a female bedwarmer; Adonijah’s efforts to usurp the throne and its consequences; and the declaration of Solomon as king through the devoted efforts of Bathsheba and Nathan.
The Noon Study Group will NOT meet on Fridays August 14 or 21
When we resume on Friday, August 28, we will begin discussion of Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg’s On Repentance and Repair: Making Amends in an Unapologetic World. Consult the CBI website and our weekly newsletter for further details.
