265 SELF-ABASEMENT EXPRESSION THANKS AS AN OF shown in a practical fashion in David’s giving spoils of war to the leaders of Judah in 1 Sam 30,26-31 and their subsequent accept- ance of him as king of Judah in 2 Sam 2,4 28. The contexts of Joab and Ziba’s use of conventional master- slave language and deference as self-abasement show that self- abasement, even when used to express thanks, may be designed to convey more than just thanks. Joab uses it to increase David’s “ face ” after manipulating him through the Tekoite woman to have Absalom recalled to Jerusalem. Ziba uses it in the context of the dynamics of gift giving to get his master’s assets. In both cases, identity construction has taken place: Joab portrays himself as a loyal official, and Ziba portrays himself as a loyal subject. But both have manipulated David, and therefore need to “give the ad- dressee [here, David] an ‘out’, a face-saving line of escape, per- mitting him to feel that his response is not coerced” 29. Probably the most extreme use of self-abasement to express thanks is Abigail’s statement in 1 Sam 25,41 when she responds to David’s proposal to marry her: “ See ! Your (female) servant [Ètma] is a female slave [hjpç] to wash the feet of the servants [μydb[] of my lord [ynda].” (my translation) In this statement, Ètma and ynda represent conventional defer- ence, used prominently in vv. 23-31, and hjpç is the term of self- abasement. Abigail puts herself in the position of a slave-servant, clearly counterfactual to her status as a wealthy woman with five female attendants (v. 42) 30. Her statement can be considered as an expression of thanks because earlier in the narrative, when she pleads with David to spare her husband’s life, she closes her Note that Ziba is not narrated as doing obeisance to David, only saying 28 so. This is unusual in 1-2 Samuel, in which characters are narrated as normally prostrating themselves to the ruler (e.g. 1 Sam 25,23-24; 2 Sam 1,2: 9,6.8; 14,4.22 ; 18,28). Ziba’s statement is characteristic of a message rather than the face-to-face interaction portrayed in the narrative (cf. the formula, “I fall on my face/at your feet ... ”, in Amarna and Ugaritic letters). BROWN – LEVINSON, Politeness, 70. 29 “ Counterfactual ” comes from the notion, “counterfactual scenario”. A 30 “ counterfactual scenario” occurs when two terms or concepts which are cate- gorically different are used for effect by the communicator; or a term or state- ment is used opposite to what is expected — L.D. RITCHIE, Context and Connection in Metaphor (Basingstoke, NY 2006) 159.