Abishag
Abishag was a woman in the Old Testament whom King David nursed in Jerusalem in the last weeks of his life.
etymology
The meaning of the Hebrew personal name אֲבִישַׁג 'ǎvîšag “Abishag” is unclear. It is probably a sentence name, consisting of subject and predicate. The subject (and at the same time theophoric element) isאָב 'āv , German ' father ' , the predicate is unclear. The name means "Father is ..." The Septuagint gives the name with Αβισακ Abisak , the Vulgate with Abisag .
Mention in the Bible
Abishag was a girl who came from the small town of Shunem, north of Jerusalem . When David's courtiers looked everywhere for a girl to look after, they found Abishag. This, according to the 1st Book of Kings, a "beautiful" girl, served for the aging ruler until David's death, but had no sexual relationship with him ( 1 Kings 1,4 EU ). The term “ Sunamitism ” used for this form of care or “ therapy ” is derived from Abischag von Sunem. According to the Talmud (Synhedrin, fol 22a), the king's spiritual advisers allowed a “get-together” with Abishag, but not a divorce from one of his other wives in order to marry her.
After his death, David's son sought Adonija Abischag and asked to be his wife. But Solomon , the rightful ruler of Israel, had the competitor for the throne - his own half-brother - murdered by Benaja ( 1 Kings 2 : 17-25 EU ).
According to this, Abishag is not mentioned in the Bible. Catholic commentators praise David's abstinence, which, like a pro forma marriage with his nurse, was a prerequisite for his son Solomon Abishag to marry.
Film adaptations
In The Bible - Solomon from 1997 Abischag was represented by the Italian Maria Grazia Cucinotta , in Salomon and the Queen of Sheba from 1959 by Marisa Pavan, also from Italy .
Literary reception
Gerdt von Bassewitz wrote a drama in a prelude and three acts on this topic with the title Die Sunamitin . It was published in book form in Leipzig in 1912 by Ernst Rowohlt Verlag and was the first of three David dramas by the author. Bassewitz received the prize for the play with Arno Holz and Frank Wedekind , which the Cologne Literary Society for "serious authors" had given for the first time in that year. The world premiere took place in Cologne this winter .
Rainer Maria Rilke wrote a poem with the title Abisag (1905/06 in the New Poems ). In contrast to the biblical representation, this one clearly has sexual connotations, in the theme of unfulfilled desire.
literature
- Uta Schmidt: Abischag. In: Michaela Bauks, Klaus Koenen, Stefan Alkier (Eds.): The Scientific Biblical Lexicon on the Internet (WiBiLex), Stuttgart 2006 ff.
Web links
- The poem Abisag by Rilke on rainer-maria-rilke.de
Individual evidence
- ↑ taken from the estate of Franz Brümmer .
- ↑ Dietrich Bode (Ed.): Rainer Maria Rilke. Poems . Supplemented and updated edition. Reclam, Stuttgart 2012, p. 95-96 (first edition: 1997).