“One day David went falcon-hunting”: The Demilitarized, Rabbinized, and Enchanted Story of Avishai Saving David From Yishbi-benov (II Samuel 21:15-17; Sanhedrin 95a)
“One day David went falcon-hunting”: The Demilitarized, Rabbinized, and Enchanted Story of Avishai Saving David From Yishbi-benov (II Samuel 21:15-17; Sanhedrin 95a)
With cameos from Satan and Orpah
See my previous piece on the downplaying of militarism in the Talmud, where I discuss the theoretical underpinnings more broadly: “Talmudic Rabbis’ Quietism, Downplaying Militarism, As Opposed to Torah Study” (December 20, 2023). And see treatment of this story in the Hebrew article by Gilad Sasson, in JSIJ 9 (2010), pp. 19-44:
Sasson’s analysis is excellent overall, and I quote and cite him where relevant. However, his analysis of leitmotifs [pp. 39-40] is not convincing. See my general critique of such literary readings in my previous piece, citing Kugel: “Rome and the Final Judgment: The Messianic-Era Judgement Day in the Talmud and Rome's Role in Avodah Zarah 2a-2b” [July 10, 2023].)
Illustration by DALL-E. Description: “A scene from a biblical tale: David and Avishai, both Middle-Eastern men, are depicted in ancient Hebrew attire with white head coverings, symbolizing purity and tradition. They are in a serene, open landscape, engaged in falcon-hunting. The tranquil and wild landscape reflects a mix of peace and peril. David has a falcon perched gracefully on his arm, highlighting the theme of the hunt and spiritual undertones. In the background, the subtle threat of Yishbi-benov adds a sense of impending danger to the scene.”
This Talmudic story is relatively long, and tightly structured. It is written in Aramaic, and is retold anonymously. It greatly expands on and explains a terse story in the Bible. It is split into four sections: A preamble, which begins with a verse, and then a story in three sections, each of which concludes with “That is the meaning of that which is written [in the Bible: ...] ” (היינו דכתיב), adducing verses from the life of David in the Book of Shmuel, or a verse from Psalms (traditionally ascribed to David). (See Sasson, p. 38, who analyzes the structure differently.)
Many supernatural elements are added to the story, such as Yishbi-benov being helped by Satan, Avishai experiencing kefitzat haderech (קפצה ליה ארעא - meaning, miraculous travel to a distant place in a brief time, see Sasson, p. 28-30), and the earth miraculously opening beneath David, preventing the beam set by Yishbi-benov from crushing him (this is explicitly described as a miracle - it’avid lei nissa - אתעביד ליה ניסא).
Avishai is rabbinized: Avishai is washing his hair on late Friday, erev Shabbat, presumably in preparation for Shabbat. He cites a Mishnah, and asks for advice in the study hall (beit midrash). Rav Yehuda, citing Rav interprets Avishai’s “aid” in the Biblical verse, which in context is clearly military aid, as “aid in prayer”. The entire story is said to be due to God confronting David about his sins, mentioned in other places. To prevent David from falling on Yishbi-benov’s spear (the spear is an element explicitly mentioned in the Biblical passage), Avishai uses a Name of God ( שם - shem) to supernaturally hold him in the air. He then again uses a Name to bring him down.
Sasson writes (p. 35, my translation):
Avishai is described here primarily as a figure with spiritual abilities (יכולות רוחניות), and his military capabilities are secondary, not as implied by the simple reading of the scriptures. In another place in the Babylonian Talmud (Berakhot 62b), he is even described as 'weighing as much as most of the Sanhedrin' (ששקול כרובה של סנהדרין). There is a noticeable change and transition from physical bravery to spiritual bravery. All these prooftexts about Avishai show that God is with him and desires his success, namely: the salvation of David. The distress in which David is placed is a divine punishment that can only be relieved by Avishai's spiritual power.
And in f. 50, he cites a Mechilta that does a similar “demilitarization” of a Biblical verse where Yosef mentions his military exploits to his father Yaakov (Genesis 48:22).
An emotional element is added as well: At the end, Avishai doesn’t kill Yishbi-benov with brute force alone, but by first breaking his morale, by making him aware that his mother is now dead (recently having been killed by Avishai!).
Biblical verses - II Samuel (21:15-17)
The Talmudic story is an expansion of these Biblical verses, II Samuel (21:15-17):
ותהי־עוד מלחמה לפלשתים את־ישראל, וירד דוד ועבדיו עמו, וילחמו את־פלשתים, ויעף דוד
(וישבו) [וישבי]
בנב אשר בילידי הרפה, ומשקל קינו שלש מאות משקל נחשת, והוא חגור חדשה, ויאמר להכות את־דוד
ויעזר־לו אבישי בן־צרויה, ויך את־הפלשתי, וימתהו, אז נשבעו אנשי־דוד לו לאמר, לא־תצא עוד אתנו למלחמה, ולא תכבה את־נר ישראל
Again war broke out between the Philistines and Israel, and David and the men with him went down and fought the Philistines; David grew weary,
and Ishbi-benob-a tried to kill David.—He was a descendant of the Raphah; his bronze spear weighed three hundred shekels and he wore new armor.—
But Abishai son of Zeruiah came to his aid; he attacked the Philistine and killed him. It was then that David’s men declared to him on oath, “You shall not go with us into battle any more, lest you extinguish the lamp of Israel!”
I summarize each section in italics before each part.
These are the sections:
Preamble
David goes falcon-hunting and is captured by Yishbi-benov
Avishai Saves David
David and Avishai Flee
The Story
Sanhedrin 95a (sections # 6-16):
Preamble
The Talmud states that the name of Yishbi-benov (an otherwise unknown figure) indicates a punishment for David's past actions, particularly his role in the massacre at Nov, a city of priests. This massacre, along with other actions of David, had grave consequences, including the banishment of Doeg the Edomite from the afterlife and the deaths of Saul and his sons.
God confronts David about these sins and offers him a choice of punishments: the end of his lineage or surrendering to his enemies. David chooses to be handed over to his enemies, preferring this over the extinction of his descendants.
(Sasson ibid. p. 25 f. 22 points out: “The pattern of Rav’s homily describing a dialogue between God and David, and the development of stories following it, is also found In other expanded biblical stories about David, see Sanhedrin 107a; and there, 107b.” Sasson discusses the instance of ibid. subsequently, on p. 26, where he notes the intriguing parallel ibid. (section #5) of Batsheva “washing her hair” (קא חיפא רישה), similar to Avishai here.
In general, it is likely that Rav isn’t claiming for this to have been an actual dialogue between God and David, but an idealized dialogue, describing the dynamics involved. This is an idea that’s explicitly stated a number of times by medieval commentators regarding supposed dialogues in halachic sugyot, that are clearly idealized reconstructions.)
(שמואל ב כא, טז) "וישבי בנוב אשר בילידי הרפה ומשקל קינו שלש מאות משקל נחשת והוא חגור חדשה ויאמר להכות את דוד"
מאי וישבי בנוב?
אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: איש שבא על עסקי נוב.
א"ל הקב"ה לדוד: עד מתי יהיה עון זה טמון בידך? על ידך נהרגה נוב עיר הכהנים, ועל ידך נטרד דואג האדומי, ועל ידך נהרגו שאול ושלשת בניו. רצונך יכלו זרעך, או תמסר ביד אויב?
אמר לפניו: רבונו של עולם, מוטב אמסר ביד אויב, ולא יכלה זרעי.
Apropos the massacre of Nov, the Gemara relates: “And Yishbi-benov, who was of the sons of the giant, the weight of whose spear was three hundred shekels of brass; and he was girded with new armor and planned to slay David” (II Samuel 21:16).
The Gemara asks: What is the meaning of Yishbi-benov?
Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: This is a man [ish] who came to punish David over matters of Nov.
The Holy One, Blessed be He, said to David: Until when will this sin be concealed in your hand without punishment? Through your actions the inhabitants of Nov, the city of priests, were massacred, and through your actions, Doeg the Edomite was banished from the World-to-Come, and through your actions Saul and his three sons were killed.
God said to David: Your arrival in Nov and your misleading Ahimelech the priest generated the chain of events, and therefore you must be punished. You may choose the punishment. Is it your desire that your descendants will cease to exist or that you will be handed to the enemy?
David said before Him: Master of the Universe, it is preferable that I will be handed to the enemy and my descendants will not cease to exist.
David goes falcon-hunting and is captured by Yishbi-benov
David goes falcon-hunting. Satan, disguised as a deer, lures David into chasing him and shooting an arrow (פתק ביה גירא) at him.
(Compare the Talmudic expansion of the story of Batsheva, mentioned earlier, ibid. (section #5), where a similar thing happens to start the plot: 1) Satan appears as an animal, in that case a bird, and 2) David shoots an arrow at him. This knocks down a beehive, thus revealing Batsheva bathing on her rooftop. The trope of shooting an arrow at Satan [there, in his ‘eye’] in a sexual context is also found in the taunt in Kiddushin 30a.1 and Kiddushin 81a.15, again using the Aramaic word for arrow - gira [גירא]. In the story in Kiddushin ibid., Satan ends up actually appearing. See Rubenstein, Land, at length. For also my previous piece where I mention two Aramaic stories in the Talmud, again in a sexual context, where Satan and Eliyahu appear [idmi - אדמי] as alluring women. Cf. also Sukkah 38a.1, where ‘arrow in the eye of Satan’ is used in a non-sexual context.)
This chase leads David into the land of the Philistines (see the Biblical verses quoted earlier that Yishbi-benov was a Philistine warrior). There, Yishbi-benov recognizes David as the killer of Goliath, his brother (based on the Talmud’s understanding that they are both sons of Orphah, see also later, and see Sasson, pp. 32-3), and captures him. Yishbi-benov then attempts to crush David under the beam of an olive press. However, a miraculous event occurs, saving David, as the earth opens beneath him, preventing the beam from crushing him.
יומא חד נפק לשכור בזאי
אתא שטן ואדמי ליה כטביא, פתק ביה גירא ולא מטייה
משכיה עד דאמטייה לארץ פלשתים
כדחזייה ישבי בנוב, אמר: היינו האי דקטליה לגלית אחי
כפתיה, קמטיה, אותביה, ושדייה תותי בי בדייא
אתעביד ליה ניסא, מכא ליה ארעא מתותיה
היינו דכתיב (תהלים יח, לז) "תרחיב צעדי תחתי, ולא מעדו קרסולי"
One day David went to hunt with a falcon [liskor bazzai].
Satan came and appeared to him as a deer. He shot an arrow at the deer, and the arrow did not reach it.
Satan led David to follow the deer until he reached the land of the Philistines.
When Ishbibenob saw David he said: This is that person who killed Goliath, my brother.
He bound him, doubled him over, and placed him on the ground, and then he cast him under the beam of an olive press to crush him.
A miracle was performed for him, and the earth opened beneath him so he was not crushed by the beam.
That is the meaning of that which is written: “You have enlarged my steps beneath me, that my feet did not slip” (Psalms 18:37).
Avishai Saves David
Avishai is washing his hair on Shabbat eve (with copious amounts of water, presumably because he had a lot of hair. See Sasson, p. 28, who explains the reason why Friday late eve - apania d’ma’alei - אפניא דמעלי - is mentioned is to add an element of time pressure. There may also be an element of liminality, see Jeffery Rubenstein, Land of Truth, on the story of Pelimo happening on Yom Kippur eve - ma’alei - מעלי - in Kiddushin 81a.15)).
He notices four bloodstains, or a dove's appearance, which leads him to deduce that King David is in distress. Unable to find David at his house, Avishai recalls a teaching about the restrictions on using the king's possessions but wonders if these rules apply in times of danger. Seeking guidance, he consults the study hall (bei midrasha - בי מדרשא), where he learns that in dangerous situations, such rules can be disregarded.
Armed with this knowledge, Avishai mounts the king's mule and heads to the land of the Philistines. The land miraculously contracts, allowing him to reach quickly. There, he encounters Orpah, Yishbi-benov’s mother, spinning (on the significance of Orpah spinning, see Sasson, p. 33-4, who connects it with the Talmud’s idea of Orpah as promiscuous, in Sotah 42b). Orpah attacks him with a spindle from her spinning. She brazenly asks for the spindle back, and Avishai throws that same spindle at her, killing her. (Presumably, Avishai wouldn’t have killed Orpah, if she hadn’t tried killing him first.)
Upon finding David, who is in a perilous situation with Yishbi-benov, Avishai uses the sacred Name of God to suspend David between heaven and earth, saving him from certain death. The narrative questions why David couldn't save himself, to which the Talmud explains that one in danger often cannot self-rescue.
When Avishai questions David's presence in such a dangerous situation, David reveals that it's divinely-ordained for him to die by his enemy (as stated in the Preamble). Avishai advises David to switch his response to God, and instead pray for the discontinuation of his lineage rather than face his enemies (see on this Sasson, pp. 36-8). David agrees and asks for Avishai’s help. The Talmud qualifies, citing Rav Yehuda citing Rav, that this means “that he came to his aid in prayer”.
ההוא יומא אפניא דמעלי שבתא הוה,
אבישי בן צרויה הוה קא חייף רישיה בד' גרבי דמיא
חזינהו כתמי דמא. איכא דאמרי: אתא יונה איטריף קמיה
אמר כנסת ישראל ליונה אימתילא, שנאמר (תהלים סח, יד) "כנפי יונה נחפה בכסף", שמע מינה דוד מלכא דישראל בצערא שרי
אתא לביתיה, ולא אשכחיה
אמר תנן "אין רוכבין על סוסו ואין יושבין על כסאו ואין משתמשין בשרביטו", בשעת הסכנה מאי?
אתא שאיל בי מדרשא
אמרו ליה: בשעת הסכנה שפיר דמי
רכביה לפרדיה, וקם ואזל
קפצה ליה ארעא בהדי דקא מסגי
חזייה לערפה אמיה דהוות נוולא
כי חזיתיה, פסקתה לפילכה, שדתיה עילויה, סברא למקטליה
אמרה ליה: עלם, אייתי לי פלך
פתקיה בריש מוחה וקטלה
כד חזייה ישבי בנוב, אמר: השתא הוו בי תרין וקטלין לי
פתקיה לדוד לעילא, ודץ ליה לרומחיה
אמר: ניפול עלה ונקטל
אמר אבישי שם, אוקמיה לדוד בין שמיא לארעא
ונימא ליה איהו ?
אין חבוש מוציא עצמו מבית האסורין
א"ל: מאי בעית הכא
א"ל: הכי אמר לי קודשא בריך הוא, והכי אהדרי ליה
א"ל: אפיך צלותיך, בר ברך קירא ליזבון, ואת לא תצטער
א"ל: אי הכי, סייע בהדן
היינו דכתיב (שמואל ב כא, יז) "ויעזור לו אבישי בן צרויה" - אמר רב יהודה אמר רב: שעזרו בתפלה
It was dusk on Shabbat eve,
And Abishai ben Zeruiah was washing his head with four jugs of water in preparation for Shabbat.
He saw four bloodstains. There are those who say: A dove came and fluttered its wings before him.
Abishai said: The congregation of Israel is likened to a dove, as it is stated: “You shall shine as the wings of a dove covered with silver and her pinions with yellow gold” (Psalms 68:14); conclude from it that David, king of Israel, is in a state of distress.
He came to David’s house and did not find him.
Abishai said that we learned in a mishna (22a): One may not ride on the king’s horse, and one may not sit on his throne, and one may not use his scepter. In a period of danger, what is the halakha?
He came and asked in the study hall what the ruling is in that situation.
They said to him: In a period of danger one may well do so.
He mounted the king’s mule and arose and went to the land of the Philistines.
The land miraculously contracted for him and he arrived quickly.
As he was progressing he saw Orpah, Ishbibenob’s mother, who was spinning thread with a spindle.
When she saw him, she removed her spindle and threw it at him, intending to kill him.
After failing to do so, she said to Abishai: Young man, bring me my spindle.
He threw the spindle and struck her at the top of her brain and killed her.
When Ishbibenob saw him, he said: Now they are two, David and Abishai, and they will kill me.
He threw David up in the air, and stuck his spear into the ground.
He said: Let David fall upon it and die.
Abishai recited a sacred name of God and suspended David between heaven and earth so that he would not fall.
The Gemara asks: And let David himself recite the name of God and save himself. Why did he need Abishai?
The Gemara answers: A prisoner does not release himself from a prison but requires someone else to release him. Similarly, one in danger is incapable of rescuing himself.
Abishai said to David: What do you seek here and why did you fall into Ishbibenob’s hands?
David said to him: This is what the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to me, and this is what I responded to Him; the time to submit to my enemy has arrived.
Abishai said to him: Reverse your prayer and pray that your descendants will cease to exist rather than that you will be handed to the enemy, in accordance with the adage that people say: Let your son’s son be a poor peddler and sell wax, and you will not suffer. Do not limit your expenses to leave an inheritance for your descendants.
David said to him: If so, help me.
That is the meaning of that which is written: “And Abishai, son of Zeruiah, came to his aid, and smote the Philistine and killed him” (II Samuel 21:17). Rav Yehuda says that Rav says: This means that he came to his aid in prayer.
David and Avishai Flee
After Avishai again uses a sacred name, this time to safely lower David from being suspended between heaven and earth, they both flee. Yishbi-benov chases them with the intent to kill.
During their escape, there are instances of word play, based on place names: They reach a place called Kuvi, where they interpret the name as a sign to stand and fight ("kum beih"). Next, they arrive at Bei Terei (literally, “House/Place of Two”), taking the name as an omen of success, likening themselves to two cubs defeating a lion. (This the second instance of the homiletic interpretation of proper names in this story, see earlier for the homiletic interpretation of ‘Yishbi-benov’. On homiletic interpretations of proper names in general in the Talmud, my previous piece here.)
Confronting Yishbi-benov, David and Avishai taunt him about his mother Orpah's death, significantly weakening his resolve. This emotional blow diminishes Yishbi-benov’s strength, allowing David and Abishai to kill him.
אמר אבישי שם ואחתיה
הוה קא רדיף בתרייהו
כי מטא קובי, אמרי: "קום ביה"
כי מטא בי תרי, אמרי: "בתרי גוריין קטלוה לאריא"
אמרי ליה: זיל אשתכח לערפה אימיך בקיברא
כי אדכרו ליה שמא דאימיה, כחש חיליה וקטליה
היינו דכתיב (שמואל ב כא, יז) "אז נשבעו אנשי דוד לו לאמר לא תצא עוד אתנו למלחמה ולא תכבה את נר ישראל"
Abishai recited another sacred name of God and caused David to land safely after being suspended between heaven and earth, and they fled.
Ishbibenob pursued them, intending to kill them.
When they reached the place named Kuvi they said: The name of the place is an abbreviation for the phrase meaning: Stand and battle against him [kum beih].
When they reached a place called Bei Terei, David and Abishai said: With two [bitrei] cubs they killed the lion, meaning they expected to be successful.
They said to Ishbibenob: Go find Orpah, your mother, in the grave.
When they mentioned his mother’s name to him and told him she died, his strength diminished, and they killed him.
The Gemara notes: It is after this that it is written: “Then David’s men took an oath to him saying: You shall not go with us to war anymore and you will not douse the lamp of Israel” (II Samuel 21:17).