Abishag
In the Hebrew Bible, Abishag (Template:IPAc-en; Template:Langx) was a beautiful young woman of Shunem chosen to be a helper and servant to King David in his old age.<ref name="Hanks Hardcastle Hodges 2006">Template:Cite book</ref> Among Abishag's duties was to lie next to David and pass along her body heat and vigor because "they put covers on him, but he could not get warm".<ref name="Whedon">Template:Cite web</ref>
Biblical narrative
When brought to David, she was a Template:Lang (Template:Lang), which indicates youth but not specifically a virgin.<ref name="LaCocque">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="StudyLight">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="John Gill">Template:Cite web</ref> However, in the preceding verse (1 Kings 1:2), it specifies that they are looking for a Template:Lang (Template:Lang) 'a virgin' to warm David. 1 Kings 1:4 states that David did not engage in sexual intercourse with her.<ref name="AbishagHB">Template:Cite encyclopediaTemplate:Subscription required</ref> Nonetheless, there are elements of Jewish exegetical tradition which maintain that David engaged in anal sex with Abishag and he was not totally impotent. It is speculated that King David engaged in a multicoital act of intercourse with his wife Bathsheba in his old age precisely to prove his continued virility.<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
After David's death, Adonijah, David's fourth and eldest surviving son, persuaded Bathsheba, King Solomon's mother, to entreat the king to permit him to marry Abishag. Solomon suspected in this request an aspiration to the throne, since Abishag was considered David's concubine,<ref name="BridgeWayBible">Template:Cite web</ref><ref name="AdamClark">Template:Cite web</ref> and so ordered Adonijah's assassination in 1 Kings 2:17–25. In the earlier story of Absalom's rebellion, it is noted that having sexual relations with the former king's concubine is a way of proclaiming oneself to be the new king. Adonijah may have asked to marry her at the suggestion of his mother.<ref name="AbishagHB" />
Some scholars point to the possibility that Abishag is the female protagonist in the Song of Songs.<ref>Christopher W. Mitchell, The Song of Songs (Saint Louis: Concordia, 2003), 130–132.</ref>
Later Jewish midrashic and Christian traditions paid little attention to Abishag's role.<ref name=":0">Template:Cite journal</ref> Rashi refers to her as a meḥomemet, or "warmer". Modern commentaries and translators have variously described her as a "housekeeper", "hot-water bottle", "heating pad", "attendant" or "bedfellow", though she is twice referred to as a soḵeneṯ in the text of Kings. This term, when applied to a man (soḵēn), is often translated "administrator" or "palace steward", as in Isaiah 22:15, leading some to believe she may have had a broader role and responsibilities.<ref>Daniel Bodi, Abishag: Bedwarmer or Bureaucrat?, Biblical Archeology Review, Summer 2024, Vol. 50., No. 2, p. 64</ref> Other commentaries describe her role as being a nurse to the frail King David.<ref>Zondervan NIV Bible Commentary, Kenneth L. Barker & John Kohlenberger, Consulting Editors, Zondervan Publishing House, 1994, p. 490.</ref>
Abishag's experiences have provided inspiration for contemporary writers including Rainer Maria Rilke, Itzik Manger, Louise Gluck and Shirley Kaufman.<ref name=":0" /> The story is referred to allegorically at the end of the first part of the final volume (The Cross or in the original Norwegian, Korset) of Kristin Lavransdatter by Sigrid Undset. Abishag's name, although not her story, is invoked to begin Robert Frost's poem "Provide, Provide."<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>