Abishag: Midrash and Aggadah

"Batsheba Bringing Abishag to David," by Richard Earlom, 1779. From the Yale Center for British Art, via Wikimedia Commons.

In Brief

Abishag’s story in the Bible shows her strength and independence, as she insists David marry her and rebukes his answer when he refuses. Some midrashim use her story to show the tenacity of David in his old age, but she is not explicitly interpreted as wicked or deceitful. Beyond her story with David, Abishag is described as having beauty is comparable to the Matriarchs.

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Bibliography

Curzon, David. Modern Poems on the Bible: An Anthology. Jewish Publication Society, 1994, 209-214.

Koplowitz-Breier, Anat. "Biblical/Modern Intergenerational Conflict: Four Modern German Poets on “Abishag the Shunammite”." Neohelicon 42, no. 2 (2015): 585-602.

Koplowitz-Breier, Anat. "The Power of Words: The Biblical Abishag in Contemporary American Jewish Women’s Poetry." Studies in American Jewish Literature (1981-) 37, no. 1 (2018): 21-36.

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