Summary

The opening of this last section finds David wasting away with grief. As Natan recounts, he mourned the loss of Amnon, his first born and heir and at the same time deeply missed his other son, Avshalom. He lamented that he had not taken care to honorably raise his sons. Yoav was concerned about some political unrest in Hevron and he very much wanted Avshalom back, ready to take over as king if something happened to David. He asked Natan to convince David to bend the law and bring his son home. When Natan refused, Yoav set about his own plan. He hired a woman to come to court and plead a trumped up case, one between her sons. She delivered a parable of sorts, such that the story was similar to that of David's sons. She then questioned why he had not...