Brian Somers This topic was briefly touched upon in my commentary to Noach.
I feel it needs more exposition especially because it showed how King David applied applicable commandments, statutes and judgments written in the Torah to his situation.
To set the table, as it were, David was in the later years of his reign, becoming what we would call a “senior citizen.” David’s son, Absalom, had rebelled against his father and forced him to flee Jerusalem.
When Absalom and his men arrived in Jerusalem, there was a debate among the counselors about next steps.
20 Then Absalom said to Ahithophel, “Give us your counsel; what shall we do?” 21 Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Go in to your father’s concubines, the ones he has left to look after the house; and all Israel will hear that you have made yourself odious to your father, and the hands of all who are with you will be strengthened.” 22 So they pitched a tent for Absalom upon the roof; and Absalom went in to his father’s concubines in the sight of all Israel.
II Samuel 16:20-22
Absalom’s death ended his revolt and his father David returned to Jerusalem. All Israel knew what Absalom had done to his ten concubines. David had to decide what to do about them. We’ll read what his decision was, and then work backwards to see what the King might have considered as he decided what to do.
3 David came to his house at Jerusalem; and the king took the ten concubines whom he had left to look after the house, and put them in a house under guard, and provided for them, but did not go in to them. So they were shut up until the day of their death, living as if in widowhood.
II Samuel 20:3
First, we need to establish what status a concubine or maidservant possessed in the Torah. The covenant made at Mount Sinai addressed this issue and all Israel agreed to it as well as the rest of the terms of the Covenant.
7 When a man sells his daughter as a slave, she shall not go out as the male slaves do. 8 If she does not please her master, who designated her for himself, then he shall let her be redeemed; he shall have no right to sell her to a foreign people, since he has dealt unfairly with her. 9 If he designates her for his son, he shall deal with her as with a daughter. 10 If he takes another wife to himself, he shall not diminish the food, clothing, or marital rights of the first wife. 11 And if he does not do these three things for her, she shall go out without debt, without payment of money.
Exodus 21:7-11
A daughter could be sold as a slave wife or maidservant or concubine. Yet she would be recognized as a wife with the basic rights of food, clothing, and marital rights.
The descriptions of Keturah in Genesis 25 and I Chronicles 1 support asserting that a maidservant or concubine was still considered as a wife, though not possessing the status of a full wife.
Abraham took another wife, whose name was Keturah.
Genesis 25:1
32 The sons of Keturah, Abraham’s concubine: she bore Zimran, Jokshan, Medan, Midian, Ishbak, and Shuah. The sons of Jokshan: Sheba and Dedan. 33 The sons of Midian: Ephah, Epher, Hanoch, Abida, and Eldaah. All these were the descendants of Keturah.
I Chronicles 1:32-33
Now that we know that a concubine can be considered as a “slave wife”, we can identify several possible passages that may have factored into David’s decision.
8 You shall not uncover the nakedness of your father’s wife; it is the nakedness of your father.
Leviticus 18:8
11 The man who lies with his father’s wife has uncovered his father’s nakedness; both of them shall be put to death; their blood is upon them.
Leviticus 20:11
These two Leviticus passages prohibit what Absalom did in going into the concubines while his father David, their husband, was still alive. The death penalty is prescribed.
22 If a man is caught lying with the wife of another man, both of them shall die, the man who lay with the woman as well as the woman. So you shall purge the evil from Israel.
23 If there is a young woman, a virgin already engaged to be married, and a man meets her in the town and lies with her, 24 you shall bring both of them to the gate of that town and stone them to death, the young woman because she did not cry for help in the town and the man because he violated his neighbor’s wife. So you shall purge the evil from your midst.
25 But if the man meets the engaged woman in the open country, and the man seizes her and lies with her, then only the man who lay with her shall die. 26 You shall do nothing to the young woman; the young woman has not committed an offense punishable by death, because this case is like that of someone who attacks and murders a neighbor. 27 Since he found her in the open country, the engaged woman may have cried for help, but there was no one to rescue her.
28 If a man meets a virgin who is not engaged, and seizes her and lies with her, and they are caught in the act, 29 the man who lay with her shall give fifty shekels of silver to the young woman’s father, and she shall become his wife. Because he violated her he shall not be permitted to divorce her as long as he lives.
30 A man shall not marry his father’s wife, thereby violating his father’s rights.
Deuteronomy 22:22-30
This lengthy passage from Deuteronomy has several factors that may shed light on David’s decision. Deuteronomy 22:30 repeats what Leviticus 18:8 and 20:11 say. Deuteronomy 22:22 is the legal description of adultery and seems straightforward enough in application to Absalom and the ten concubines: all of them should be executed. Yet, Deuteromony 22:27 has an escape clause wherein the woman could have cried for help but there was no one to rescue her. II Samuel 16:22 shows that Absalom went into the tent on the roof in the view of all Israel and no one helped the women. So the “escape clause” could very well apply here. Since Absalom took the women against their consent, he essentially raped them in public.
Suppose a man enters into marriage with a woman, but she does not please him because he finds something objectionable about her, and so he writes her a certificate of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house; she then leaves his house 2 and goes off to become another man’s wife. 3 Then suppose the second man dislikes her, writes her a bill of divorce, puts it in her hand, and sends her out of his house (or the second man who married her dies); 4 her first husband, who sent her away, is not permitted to take her again to be his wife after she has been defiled; for that would be abhorrent to the Lord, and you shall not bring guilt on the land that the Lord your God is giving you as a possession.
Deuteronomy 24:1-4
This passage shows that if a man puts away his wife and gives her a bill of divorce, she could go to another man and be his wife. However if her second husband dies, she can’t go back to her first husband. Jeremiah 3:1 restates this:
If a man divorces his wife
Jeremiah 3:1
and she goes from him
and becomes another man’s wife,
will he return to her?
Would not such a land be greatly polluted?
Therefore, since Absalom had polluted the concubines and made them odious to King David, he could not take them back.
Putting this all together, King David decided that Absalom had wronged the women by sexual congress with them and no one came to their aid. Indeed, the decision to defile them was made at the highest level. Therefore, David applied the escape clause to the concubines and they lived. In contrast, Absalom had been killed before David’s return to Jerusalem.
Having decided that the concubines didn’t merit execution and had been violated, David had to decide what to do with them. They were still his women, and he wasn’t putting them away. From Exodus 21:10, David knew that he was still obligated to provide food and clothing for them, even though he, nor anyone else, could no longer meet their marital needs. Therefore, they were shut up in a guarded house and began living as widows until they died.
David and his concubines were put in a very bad situation by Absalom’s actions. By considering what his options were in the law, David chose the most merciful option available to him. We can learn from him that we should be tenderhearted and merciful to our women as much as possible.