Israelite Sheepshearing and David’s Rise to Power 57 shearers (v. 24a) (8). In addition, just as Nabal’s sheepshearing is likened to “the feast of the king”, so Absalom’s sheepshearing is an event worthy of the king and all the male members of the royal house (v. 24b). What’s more, Absalom’s feast, like Nabal’s, involves heavy drinking. In fact, Absalom’s plot to avenge his sister’s rape assumes the drunkenness of its participants (9). As Absalom says to his servants, “See now, when Amnon’s heart is good with wine (ˆyyb ˆwnmaAbl bwfk an war) and I say to you, ‘Strike Amnon’, then you shall put him to death” (v. 28). As a final observation: both sheepshearings in Samuel involve the demise of drunken participants whose deaths aid the protagonists in their ascent to the throne: David gains land and livestok in Hebron, his future capital, and Absalom eliminates the heir to his father’s throne, placing himself next in line. We will consider the significance of these events after evaluating sheepshearing in Genesis. c) Judah and Tamar (Genesis 38) Following the death of his wife, Bathshua, and the requisite period of mourning, Judah departs for Timnah, where, like Nabal and Absalom, he has hired professional shearers (v. 12b) (10). On his way, Judah is attracted to and has a sexual encounter with a woman whom he believes to be a prostitute, but who, in fact, is his daughter-in-law, Tamar. As security for future payment, the disguised Tamar demands Judah’s seal, cord and staff (vv. 17-18) — all symbols of clan authority and, in the case of Judah, royal authority. Tamar becomes pregnant with twins, thereby securing the progeny wrongfully denied her by her father-in-law. As Judah admits: “She is more righteous than I, since I did not give her to Selah” (v. 26). While Judah’s escapade with a harlot might strike the modern reader as peculiar, perhaps an Israelite audience, aware of the licentiousness surrounding sheepshearing, viewed his behavior as more in keeping with the season. If this is so, then the notice that Judah was on his way to shear his sheep is just as important to Tamar’s plan as the direction of his travel (to Timnah). Such a hypothesis makes sense of Tamar’s promiscuous stratagem, as well as Judah’s uninhibited response: ˚yla awba anAhbh (“Come now! Let me enter you”). (8) The hiring of professional shearers by the royal house is understandable in light of the importance of wool to ancient economies. In this regard, “shearers” are found on provision lists from Ugarit (UT, 1084,30; 1099,4.26), and a comparison of their wages indicates they were quite valuable to the royal court. In Mesopotamia, “shearers” are also listed on the royal payroll (GCCI 1 93,3), and mention is even made of a shearing sponsored by the royal house (Babylonian Inscriptions in the Collection of James B. Nies [New Haven 1917] I, 14, 17). Cf. the present-day Royal Command Shearing Performance in Napier. (9) On the similarities between Nabal’s and Absalom’s shearings, see, e.g., CAQUOT – DE ROBERT, Les Livres de Samuel, 500. (10) The information regarding the time interval between Bathshua’s death and Judah’s sheepshearing, besides making Tamar’s ruse possible (Judah is now “available”) assures the reader that Judah’s mourning is complete, allowing him to participate in the festivities of sheepshearing. By contrast, that Nabal would still celebrate sheepshearing (1 Sam 25,2), when the rest of Israel was presumably mourning the death of Samuel (1 Sam 25,1), was viewed by later commentators as further evidence of Nabal’s base character (see, for example, MShem 23,8).