David’s Inner Court: Dynasties and Their Discontents

Join the Program in Judaic Studies and the Department of Religion on Tuesday, November 19, for this talk delivered by Ilana Pardes. Lunch will be available before the event’s start, between 11:30am–12:00pm only.

The account of the rise of Israelite kingship in the Book of Samuel is one of the greatest narratives of antiquity that has been passed down to us. Far from being a dry chronicle, it offers both an unblinking perspective on political realities and a daring representation of the humanness, the nakedness, of royal figures. The talk will revolve around the encounter of King David and the wise woman of Tekoa (2 Samuel 14). Special attention will be given to the dramas behind the scenes, to the hidden links between the parabolic tale of the wise woman and the story of the House of David.

All are welcome to attend, but space is limited – please RSVP to judaic@princeton.edu and note any dietary needs.

More about Ilana Pardes

Ilana Pardes is the Katharine Cornell Professor of Comparative Literature at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem. She is currently a Visiting Professor in the Program in Judaic Studies Program at Princeton University. Her work has focused on the nexus of Bible, literature, and culture as well as on questions of gender, aesthetics, and hermeneutics. She is the author of Countertraditions in the Bible: A Feminist Approach (Harvard University Press, 1992), The Biography of Ancient Israel: National Narratives in the Bible (University of California Press, 2000), Melville’s Bibles (University of California, 2008), Agnon’s Moonstruck Lovers: The Song of Songs in Israeli Culture (The Samuel and Althea Stroum Lectures in Jewish Studies, University of Washington Press, 2013), The Song of Songs: A Biography (Princeton University Press, Lives of Great Religious Books, 2019), and Ruth: A Migrant’s Tale (Yale University Press, Jewish Lives, 2022).