Frederick Goodall
Many of the bible’s stories about King David place a woman at key stages of his career. He enters the royal family by marrying Michal, Saul’s daughter (1 Samuel 18:27). He becomes king of Judah in the city of Hebron, where he reigned for seven years, after marrying Abigail, the rich widow of the landowner Nabal (1 Samuel 25). In Jerusalem, at the height of his power, David almost loses everything by sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his elite officers whom David had assassinated by proxy (2 Samuel 11–12). Finally, at the end of David’s life, there appears a young woman, Abishag the Shunammite, who attends the king during his final days (1 Kings 1–2).
Abishag’s position at David’s court is mentioned twice in the Kings account where she is described as a sokenet (1 Kings 1:2, 4). For such a short passage, the twice-used term calls the reader’s attention to the particular role she occupied. A few verses later, her presence is highlighted in David’s chamber when Bathsheba and then Nathan request an audience with the king to discuss the royal succession and their desire to see Bathsheba’s son Solomon on the throne (1 Kings 1:15–17). As such, Abishag, in her role as sokenet, is a key witness with judicial authority, able to confirm that David pronounced a solemn oath instituting Solomon as his officially designated heir.
Despite her position and status at a critical moment in David’s reign, Abishag has been systematically demoted in rabbinic writings and most scholarly literature. From medieval to modern times, she has been cast in a variety of demeaning roles. Thus, the famed Jewish commentator Rashi (1040–1105 CE) refers to her as a meḥomemet (a “warmer”), while modern studies and translators have suggested “housekeeper,” “hot-water bottle,” “heating pad,” or “bedfellow.” Characterizations of Abishag as a mere object smack of gender bias and hardly do her justice. Indeed, there is a marked inconsistency in the way scholars and Bibles translate the term soken. In Isaiah 22:15, where the term is applied to a man, it is translated as “palace steward” or “administrator,” but when the feminine sokenet is used to describe Abishag, even standard translations (like the NRSV and the JPS) routinely render the word simply as “attendant.”
PHOTO: CLARA AMIT / COURTESY OF THE ISRAEL ANTIQUITIES AUTHORITY
But such a simplistic understanding of Abishag’s role is not borne out by ancient textual and archaeological evidence. Ancient Semitic languages and Near Eastern texts reveal numerous cognates of the Hebrew term, all meaning “administrator.” Perhaps the most direct parallel comes from the Bronze Age city of Nuzi in Upper Mesopotamia, where the term šakin biti is used to describe a “household administrator.” Similarly, Akkadian šakintu, the feminine form of šakinu, corresponding to Hebrew sokenet, appears in Neo-Assyrian documents designating a woman administrator in the queen’s household. Dating from the tenth to seventh centuries BCE, these documents name nearly two dozen households where šakintus were working.
At the Late Bronze Age (c. 1550–1200 BCE) city of Ugarit some 250 miles north of biblical Israel, the sakinu served as a witness in important royal transactions and judicial matters. This role is attested in both the king’s and queen’s households. Some examples even suggest the sakinu was called upon when the king was unable to perform his duties, echoing the story of Abishag and the ailing David.1 Moreover, the feminine form sakintu appears in at least one text in a fiscal role akin to that held by (male) sakinus in similar contexts.
Seals and seal impressions that bear women’s names further corroborate their status and authority in ancient Israel. Seal impressions found on storage jar handles are quite common, and usually bear impressions of men’s seals or the emblems of the state, such as the famous lmlk stamps that identified a jar’s contents as “belonging to the king.” In addition, however, almost 40 seal impressions bearing women’s names have come to light, including five found in Jerusalem. One seal, found in the Givati Parking Lot excavations in Jerusalem, reads, “belonging to Elihana, daughter of Gael” (l‘lyhnh bt g’l), thus demonstrating her active administration of the production and trade of agricultural products. Such archaeological finds can be interpreted as signs of the high social and economic positions some women held in Jerusalem and elsewhere.2
To conclude, Abishag’s role at David’s court is best understood within the broader Near Eastern context of women who served as royal and household administrators. She is much more than a servant or housekeeper; she is a key witness and protagonist in resolving an acute political crisis at the crucial moment of David’s succession. Similarly, evidence from seals and seal impressions shows that already in pre-Exilic times, Israelite women had the legal authority to sign official documents, participate in commercial transactions, and hold managerial power. Without Abishag as the administrator of the king’s quarters, the pro-Solomon party would not have had easy access to the dying king. In the final political transaction between David, Bathsheba, and Nathan, the presence of Abishag as legal witness and “household administrator”—which is how sokenet should be translated in this case—facilitates Solomon’s accession to the throne as David’s official and legal heir.
Many of the bible’s stories about King David place a woman at key stages of his career. He enters the royal family by marrying Michal, Saul’s daughter (1 Samuel 18:27). He becomes king of Judah in the city of Hebron, where he reigned for seven years, after marrying Abigail, the rich widow of the landowner Nabal (1 Samuel 25). In Jerusalem, at the height of his power, David almost loses everything by sleeping with Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah the Hittite, one of his elite officers whom David had assassinated by proxy (2 Samuel 11–12). Finally, at the end of […]
