Is Love the Death of Duty? A Tanakh Take on the Game of Thrones Maxim

(6) Let me be a seal upon your heart, Like the seal upon your hand. For love is fierce as death, Passion is mighty as Sheol; Its darts are darts of fire, A blazing flame. (7) Vast floods cannot quench love, Nor rivers drown it. If a man offered all his wealth for love, He would be laughed to scorn.

(1) Some time afterward, God put Abraham to the test. He said to him, “Abraham,” and he answered, “Here I am.” (2) And He said, “Take your son, your favored one, Isaac, whom you love, and go to the land of Moriah, and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the heights that I will point out to you.” (3) So early next morning, Abraham saddled his ass and took with him two of his servants and his son Isaac. He split the wood for the burnt offering, and he set out for the place of which God had told him. (4) On the third day Abraham looked up and saw the place from afar. (5) Then Abraham said to his servants, “You stay here with the ass. The boy and I will go up there; we will worship and we will return to you.” (6) Abraham took the wood for the burnt offering and put it on his son Isaac. He himself took the firestone and the knife; and the two walked off together. (7) Then Isaac said to his father Abraham, “Father!” And he answered, “Yes, my son.” And he said, “Here are the firestone and the wood; but where is the sheep for the burnt offering?” (8) And Abraham said, “God will see to the sheep for His burnt offering, my son.” And the two of them walked on together. (9) They arrived at the place of which God had told him. Abraham built an altar there; he laid out the wood; he bound his son Isaac; he laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. (10) And Abraham picked up the knife to slay his son. (11) Then an angel of the LORD called to him from heaven: “Abraham! Abraham!” And he answered, “Here I am.” (12) And he said, “Do not raise your hand against the boy, or do anything to him. For now I know that you fear God, since you have not withheld your son, your favored one, from Me.” (13) When Abraham looked up, his eye fell upon a ram, caught in the thicket by its horns. So Abraham went and took the ram and offered it up as a burnt offering in place of his son. (14) And Abraham named that site Adonai-yireh, whence the present saying, “On the mount of the LORD there is vision.” (15) The angel of the LORD called to Abraham a second time from heaven, (16) and said, “By Myself I swear, the LORD declares: Because you have done this and have not withheld your son, your favored one, (17) I will bestow My blessing upon you and make your descendants as numerous as the stars of heaven and the sands on the seashore; and your descendants shall seize the gates of their foes. (18) All the nations of the earth shall bless themselves by your descendants, because you have obeyed My command.”

(10) Satan appeared before him on the road in the guise of an old man and asked: “Whither are you going?” Abraham replied: “To pray.” “And why,” Satan retorted, “does one going to pray carry fire and a knife in his hands, and wood on his shoulders?” “We may tarry there for several days,” said Abraham, “and slaughter an animal and cook it.” The old man (Satan) responded: “That is not so; I was present when the Holy One, blessed be He, ordered you to take your son. Why should an old man, who begets a son at the age of a hundred, destroy him? Have you not heard the parable of the man who destroyed his own possessions and then was forced to beg from others? If you believe that you will have another son, you are listening to the words of a seducer. And furthermore, if you destroy a soul, you will be held legally accountable for it.” Abraham answered: “It was not a seducer, but the Holy One, blessed be He, who told me what I must do, and I shall not listen to you.”

(11) Satan departed from him and appeared at Isaac’s right hand in the guise of a youth. He inquired: “Where are you going?” “To study the law,” Isaac replied. “Alive or dead?” he retorted. “Is it possible for a man to learn the law after he is dead?” Isaac queried. He said to him: “Oh, unfortunate son of an unhappy mother, many days your mother fasted before your birth, and now this demented old man is about to sacrifice you.” Isaac replied: “Even so, I will not disregard the will of my Creator, nor the command of my father.” He turned to his father and said: “Father, do you hear what this man has told me?” He replied: “Pay no heed to him, he has come only to torment us.” Forthwith, And Isaac spoke (ibid., v. 7).

(12) On the third day Abraham lifted up his eyes (ibid., v. 4). Since the distance was extremely short, what delayed them three days? When Satan realized that they would not pay any attention to him, he went ahead and created a river in their path. When Abraham stepped into the river, it reached his knees. He ordered his young men to follow him, and they did so. But in the middle of the river the water reached his neck. Thereupon, Abraham lifted his eyes heavenward and cried out: Master of the Universe, You have chosen me; You have instructed me; You revealed Yourself to me; You have declared: I am one and You are one, and through You shall my name be made known in My world. You have ordered me: Offer, Isaac, thy son, as a sacrifice, and I did not refuse; but now, as I am about to fulfill Thy command, these waters endanger my life. If either I or my son, Isaac, should drown, who will fulfill Your decrees, and who will proclaim the Unity of Your Name? The Holy One, blessed be He, responded: Be assured that through you the Unity of My Name will be made known through the world. Thereupon the Holy One, blessed be He, rebuked the source of the water, and caused the river to dry up. Once again, they stood on dry land.

(13) What did Satan do then? He said to Abraham: “Now a word was secretly brought to me (Job 4:12); that is, I have heard from behind the heavenly curtain that a lamb will be sacrificed as a burnt offering instead of Isaac.” Abraham responded; “It is a liar’s fate that even though he should speak the truth, no one will believe him.”

(1) This happened sometime afterward: Absalom son of David had a beautiful sister named Tamar, and Amnon son of David became infatuated with her. (2) Amnon was so distraught because of his [half-]sister Tamar that he became sick; for she was a virgin, and it seemed impossible to Amnon to do anything to her. (3) Amnon had a friend named Jonadab, the son of David’s brother Shimah; Jonadab was a very clever man. (4) He asked him, “Why are you so dejected, O prince, morning after morning? Tell me!” Amnon replied, “I am in love with Tamar, the sister of my brother Absalom!” (5) Jonadab said to him, “Lie down in your bed and pretend you are sick. When your father comes to see you, say to him, ‘Let my sister Tamar come and give me something to eat. Let her prepare the food in front of me, so that I may look on, and let her serve it to me.’” (6) Amnon lay down and pretended to be sick. The king came to see him, and Amnon said to the king, “Let my sister Tamar come and prepare a couple of cakes in front of me, and let her bring them to me.” (7) David sent a message to Tamar in the palace, “Please go to the house of your brother Amnon and prepare some food for him.” (8) Tamar went to the house of her brother Amnon, who was in bed. She took dough and kneaded it into cakes in front of him, and cooked the cakes. (9) She took the pan and set out [the cakes], but Amnon refused to eat and ordered everyone to withdraw. After everyone had withdrawn, (10) Amnon said to Tamar, “Bring the food inside and feed me.” Tamar took the cakes she had made and brought them to her brother inside. (11) But when she served them to him, he caught hold of her and said to her, “Come lie with me, sister.” (12) But she said to him, “Don’t, brother. Don’t force me. Such things are not done in Israel! Don’t do such a vile thing! (13) Where will I carry my shame? And you, you will be like any of the scoundrels in Israel! Please, speak to the king; he will not refuse me to you.” (14) But he would not listen to her; he overpowered her and lay with her by force. (15) Then Amnon felt a very great loathing for her; indeed, his loathing for her was greater than the passion he had felt for her. And Amnon said to her, “Get out!” (16) She pleaded with him, “Please don’t commit this wrong; to send me away would be even worse than the first wrong you committed against me.” But he would not listen to her. (17) He summoned his young attendant and said, “Get that woman out of my presence, and bar the door behind her.”— (18) She was wearing an ornamented tunic, for maiden princesses were customarily dressed in such garments.—His attendant took her outside and barred the door after her. (19) Tamar put dust on her head and rent the ornamented tunic she was wearing; she put her hands on her head, and walked away, screaming loudly as she went. (20) Her brother Absalom said to her, “Was it your brother Amnon who did this to you? For the present, sister, keep quiet about it; he is your brother. Don’t brood over the matter.” And Tamar remained in her brother Absalom’s house, forlorn. (21) When King David heard about all this, he was greatly upset. (22) Absalom didn’t utter a word to Amnon, good or bad; but Absalom hated Amnon because he had violated his sister Tamar.

And King David was extremely angry but he did not rebuke him (Amnon) on this matter and all of this awakened the hatred of Absalom.

(37) Absalom had fled, and he came to Talmai son of Ammihud, king of Geshur. And [King David] mourned over his son a long time. (38) Absalom, who had fled to Geshur, remained there three years. (39) And King David was pining away for Absalom, for [the king] had gotten over Amnon’s death.

(1) Joab son of Zeruiah could see that the king’s heart was on Absalom; (2) so Joab sent to Tekoa and brought a clever woman from there. He said to her, “Pretend you are in mourning; put on mourning clothes and don’t anoint yourself with oil; and act like a woman who has grieved a long time over a departed one. (3) Go to the king and say to him thus and thus.” And Joab told her what to say. (4) The woman of Tekoa came to the king, flung herself face down to the ground, and prostrated herself. She cried out, “Help, O king!” (5) The king asked her, “What troubles you?” And she answered, “Alas, I am a widow, my husband is dead. (6) Your maidservant had two sons. The two of them came to blows out in the fields where there was no one to stop them, and one of them struck the other and killed him. (7) Then the whole clan confronted your maidservant and said, ‘Hand over the one who killed his brother, that we may put him to death for the slaying of his brother, even though we wipe out the heir.’ Thus they would quench the last ember remaining to me, and leave my husband without name or remnant upon the earth.”

(21) Then the king said to Joab, “I will do this thing. Go and bring back the boy Absalom.” (22) Joab flung himself face down on the ground and prostrated himself. Joab blessed the king and said, “Today your servant knows that he has found favor with you, my lord king, for Your Majesty has granted his servant’s request.” (23) And Joab went at once to Geshur and brought Absalom to Jerusalem. (24) But the king said, “Let him go directly to his house and not present himself to me.” So Absalom went directly to his house and did not present himself to the king.

(28) Absalom lived in Jerusalem two years without appearing before the king. (29) Then Absalom sent for Joab, in order to send him to the king; but Joab would not come to him. He sent for him a second time, but he would not come. (30) So [Absalom] said to his servants, “Look, Joab’s field is next to mine, and he has barley there. Go and set it on fire.” And Absalom’s servants set the field on fire. (31) Joab came at once to Absalom’s house and said to him, “Why did your servants set fire to my field?” (32) Absalom replied to Joab, “I sent for you to come here; I wanted to send you to the king to say [on my behalf]: ‘Why did I leave Geshur? I would be better off if I were still there. Now let me appear before the king; and if I am guilty of anything, let him put me to death!’” (33) Joab went to the king and reported to him; whereupon he summoned Absalom. He came to the king and flung himself face down to the ground before the king. And the king kissed Absalom.

(8) Deal faithfully with your servant, since you have taken your servant into a covenant of the LORD with you. And if I am guilty, kill me yourself, but don’t make me go back to your father.”

(41) When the boy got there, David emerged from his concealment at the Negeb. He flung himself face down on the ground and bowed low three times. They kissed each other and wept together; David wept the longer.

And the king kissed TO Absalom- Also in this he (David) showed him that he (Absalom) would not rule, because the Ibn Ezra in Parshat Toldot has written that a kiss that occurs with a lamed before it is a kiss on the hand or shoulder. Without a lamed is a kiss by the mouth as would be appropriate for the firstborn son who would rule after him. But David only kissed him on his body.

(1) Sometime afterward, Absalom provided himself with a chariot, horses, and fifty outrunners. (2) Absalom used to rise early and stand by the road to the city gates; and whenever a man had a case that was to come before the king for judgment, Absalom would call out to him, “What town are you from?” And when he answered, “Your servant is from such and such a tribe in Israel,” (3) Absalom would say to him, “It is clear that your claim is right and just, but there is no one assigned to hear it from the king.” (4) And Absalom went on, “If only I were appointed judge in the land and everyone with a legal dispute came before me, I would see that he got justice."

(20) Absalom then said to Ahithophel, “What do you advise us to do?” (21) And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Have intercourse with your father’s concubines, whom he left to mind the palace; and when all Israel hears that you have dared the wrath of your father, all who support you will be encouraged.” (22) So they pitched a tent for Absalom on the roof, and Absalom lay with his father’s concubines with the full knowledge of all Israel.— (23) In those days, the advice which Ahithophel gave was accepted like an oracle sought from God; that is how all the advice of Ahithophel was esteemed both by David and by Absalom.

(1) And you will strengthen the hands of all those who are with you. Because at present their hands are feeble in their ability to help you because they are saying [to themselves] in their hearts, "The son will change towards [and reconcile with] his father and we will be hated by the king.¹For having joined a conspiracy against him.

The questions: Why did Achitophel choose this disgusting action to advise, and if it was so that all would know he dared his father's wrath, had he not already rebelled and publicized his kingship and all were aware he would not return to David? And why didn't he ask Chushai if he agreed with this advice, and if Achitophel's advice was indeed so wise, why did he later leave his advice behind afterwards?

And Achitophel said: Achitophel was afraid to give his advice because his initial desire was to kill David since he was afraid that Absalom would make peace with his father and then David would take revenge on him (Achitophel) for his evil advice. But it was unlikely that Absalom would take his advice and kill his father, so therefore he figured before he would give that advice he would have Absalom sleep with his father's concubines so he would prove himself and strengthen the hearts of Israel in the knowledge that David would not want to reconcile with him, because from this kind of sin there would be no way to return. The very fact that David had left his concubines to keep the house shows that the father's heart was still turned towards his son, because if David had thought of Absalom like an enemy and desired to hurt him he would not have left his concubines there lest he kill them or use them. So why would he leave them to keep the house- didn't he know Absalom would take his house and its possessions?But he thought it better that Absalom should have it vs. one of his other enemies and he believed Absalom would guard it until he (David) would return to take. Therefore it was necessary that David should look upon him as an enemy, and therefore it was essential that they should hear that you have dared your father's wrath.

(1) And Ahithophel said to Absalom, “Let me pick twelve thousand men and set out tonight in pursuit of David. (2) I will come upon him when he is weary and disheartened, and I will throw him into a panic; and when all the troops with him flee, I will kill the king alone. (3) And I will bring back all the people to you; when all have come back [except] the man you are after, all the people will be at peace.” (4) The advice was straight(forward) in the eyes of Absalom and all the elders of Israel.

And the advice was straight- It does not say the advice was GOOD because in truth this idea was bad in their eyes, to kill the king; it was only that they saw the advice was straight in terms of coming straight to the point, but the matter itself was not good in their eyes. And Absalom said -This is why he called to Chushai because he knew Chushai would give advice at odds with Achitophel's as a way of achieving the matter in a different way so they would not need to kill the king.

(5) The king gave orders to Joab, Abishai, and Ittai: “Deal gently with the boy Absalom, for my sake.” All the troops heard the king give the order about Absalom to all the officers.

Deal gently with the boy, with Absalom. If you meet him in battle deal gently with him for my sake so I shall not see his evil (end). Because even though he has acted badly to me I am his father who feels mercy towards him. The meaning of לאט means with grace as though to say don't come upon him with anger and harshness to kill him - even though it is what he deserves- guard him for my sake.

(10) One of the men saw it and told Joab, “I have just seen Absalom hanging from a terebinth.” (11) Joab said to the man who told him, “You saw it! Why didn’t you kill him then and there? I would have owed you ten shekels of silver and a belt.” (12) But the man answered Joab, “Even if I had a thousand shekels of silver in my hands, I would not raise a hand against the king’s son. For the king charged you and Abishai and Ittai in our hearing, ‘Watch over my boy Absalom, for my sake.’ (13) If I betrayed myself—and nothing is hidden from the king—you would have stood aloof.” (14) Joab replied, “Then I will not wait for you.” He took three darts in his hand and drove them into Absalom’s chest. [Absalom] was still alive in the thick growth of the terebinth, (15) when ten of Joab’s young arms-bearers closed in and struck at Absalom until he died.

(1) The king was shaken. He went up to the upper chamber of the gateway and wept, moaning these words as he went, “My son Absalom! O my son, my son Absalom! If only I had died instead of you! O Absalom, my son, my son!” (2) Joab was told that the king was weeping and mourning over Absalom. (3) And the victory that day was turned into mourning for all the troops, for that day the troops heard that the king was grieving over his son. (4) The troops stole into town that day like troops ashamed after running away in battle. (5) The king covered his face and the king kept crying aloud, “O my son Absalom! O Absalom, my son, my son!” (6) Joab came to the king in his quarters and said, “Today you have humiliated all your followers, who this day saved your life, and the lives of your sons and daughters, and the lives of your wives and concubines, (7) by showing love for those who hate you and hate for those who love you. For you have made clear today that the officers and men mean nothing to you. I am sure that if Absalom were alive today and the rest of us dead, you would have preferred it. (8) Now arise, come out and placate your followers! For I swear by the LORD that if you do not come out, not a single man will remain with you overnight; and that would be a greater disaster for you than any disaster that has befallen you from your youth until now.”

(1) Solomon allied himself by marriage with Pharaoh king of Egypt. He married Pharaoh’s daughter and brought her to the City of David [to live there] until he had finished building his palace, and the House of the LORD, and the walls around Jerusalem.

(16) Pharaoh king of Egypt had come up and captured Gezer; he destroyed it by fire, killed the Canaanites who dwelt in the town, and gave it as dowry to his daughter, Solomon’s wife.) (17) So Solomon fortified Gezer, lower Beth-horon, (18) Baalith, and Tamar in the wilderness, in the land [of Judah], (19) and all of Solomon’s garrison towns, chariot towns, and cavalry towns—everything that Solomon set his heart on building in Jerusalem and in the Lebanon, and throughout the territory that he ruled.

(24) As soon as Pharaoh’s daughter went up from the City of David to the palace that he had built for her, he built the Millo.

(1) King Solomon loved many foreign women in addition to Pharaoh’s daughter—Moabite, Ammonite, Edomite, Phoenician, and Hittite women, (2) from the nations of which the LORD had said to the Israelites, “None of you shall join them and none of them shall join you, lest they turn your heart away to follow their gods.” Such Solomon clung to and loved. (3) He had seven hundred royal wives and three hundred concubines; and his wives turned his heart away. (4) In his old age, his wives turned away Solomon’s heart after other gods, and he was not as wholeheartedly devoted to the LORD his God as his father David had been. (5) Solomon followed Ashtoreth the goddess of the Phoenicians, and Milcom the abomination of the Ammonites. (6) Solomon did what was displeasing to the LORD and did not remain loyal to the LORD like his father David. (7) At that time, Solomon built a shrine for Chemosh the abomination of Moab on the hill near Jerusalem, and one for Molech the abomination of the Ammonites. (8) And he did the same for all his foreign wives who offered and sacrificed to their gods.

And Rabbi Ḥiyya bar Ami said in the name of Ulla: One should always live in the place where his teacher lives; thereby he will avoid sin. For as long as Shimi ben Gera, who according to tradition was a great Torah scholar and teacher of Solomon (see Gittin 59a), was alive, Solomon did not marry Pharaoh’s daughter. Immediately after the Bible relates the death of Shimi (I Kings, end of ch. 2), Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter is recorded (beginning of ch. 3).

Rabbi Yitzḥak raises a contradiction: It is written in one verse: “Silver was not worth anything in the days of Solomon” (II Chronicles 9:20), and it is written in another verse: “And the king made silver in Jerusalem as stones” (I Kings 10:27), i.e., gems. The Gemara responds: It is not difficult: Here, where silver was worthless, this was before Solomon sinfully married Pharaoh’s daughter. There, where the silver was valuable, this was after Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter. Rabbi Yitzḥak says: When Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter, the angel Gabriel descended from Heaven and implanted a pole in the sea. And it gradually raised up a sandbar [sirton] around it, creating new, dry land, and on it the great city of Rome was built. This shows that the beginning of the Jewish people’s downfall to Rome came with Solomon’s marriage to Pharaoh’s daughter.

(Summary and English paraphrase of this Midrash taken from Louis Ginzberg's Legends of the Jews, Volume 2, pages 947-948)

Solomon's wedding feast in celebration of his marriage with the Egyptian princess came on the same day as the consecration of the Temple. The rejoicing over the king's marriage was greater than over the completion of the Temple. As the proverb has it: "All pay flattery to a king." Then it was that God conceived the plan of destroying Jerusalem. It was as the prophet spoke: "This city hath been to me a provocation of mine anger and of my fury from the day that they built it even unto this day."

In the nuptial night Pharaoh's daughter had her attendants pay upon a thousand different musical instruments, which she had brought with her from her home, and as each was used, the name of the idol to which it was dedicated was mentioned aloud. The better to hold the king under the spell of her chars, she spread above his bed a tapestry cover studded with diamonds and pearls, which gleamed and glittered like constellations in the sky. Whenever Solomon wanted to rise, he saw these stars, and thinking it was night still, he slept on until the fourth hour of the morning. The people were plunged in grief, for the daily sacrifice could not be brought on this very morning of the Temple dedication, because the Temple keys lay under Solomon's pillow, and none dared awaken him.

Word was sent to Bath-sheba, who forthwith aroused her son, and rebuked him for his sloth. "Thy father," she said, "was known to all as a God-fearing man, and now people will say, 'Solomon is the son of Bath-sheba, it is his father's fault if he goes wrong.' Whenever thy father's wives were pregnant, they offered vows and prayed that a son worthy to reign might be born unto them. But my prayer was for a learned son worthy of the gift of prophecy. Take care, 'give not thy strength unto women nor thy ways to them that destroy kings,' for licentiousness confounds the reason of man. Keep well in mind the things that are necessary in the life of a king. Not kings, Lemuel. Have naught in common with kings who say: 'What need have we of a God? It is not meet that thou shouldst do like the kings who drink wine and live in lewdness. Be not like unto them. He to whom the secrets of the world are revealed should not intoxicate himself with wine.'

The sages of Alexandria further asked: One verse states: “For the Lord has chosen Zion; He has desired it for His dwelling place” (Psalms 132:13), and one verse states: “For this city has been to Me a provocation of My anger and of My fury from the day that they built it until this day, so that I should remove it from before My face” (Jeremiah 32:31). Rabbi Yehoshua replied to them: Here, the verse in Psalms is referring to the time before Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter (see I Kings 3:1), whereas there, the verse in Jeremiah is speaking of the time after Solomon married Pharaoh’s daughter.

(1) While Ezra was praying and making confession, weeping and prostrating himself before the House of God, a very great crowd of Israelites gathered about him, men, women, and children; the people were weeping bitterly. (2) Then Shecaniah son of Jehiel of the family of Elam spoke up and said to Ezra, “We have trespassed against our God by bringing into our homes foreign women from the peoples of the land; but there is still hope for Israel despite this. (3) Now then, let us make a covenant with our God to expel all these women and those who have been born to them, in accordance with the bidding of the Lord and of all who are concerned over the commandment of our God, and let the Teaching be obeyed. (4) Take action, for the responsibility is yours and we are with you. Act with resolve!” (5) So Ezra at once put the officers of the priests and the Levites and all Israel under oath to act accordingly, and they took the oath. (6) Then Ezra rose from his place in front of the House of God and went into the chamber of Jehohanan son of Eliashib; there, he ate no bread and drank no water, for he was in mourning over the trespass of those who had returned from exile.