Today's Card from The Sacred Muse Deck

A woman, her story, and so much wisdom and inspiration - for you!

Today’s card: The Wise Woman of Tekoa

Her story: Hers is a story that is rarely told—which is not that rare, at all. Barely mentioned and unnamed, she is no less worthy of our knowing and honoring.

Absalom, one of King David’s sons, was banished for murdering his half-brother. Joab, the king’s advisor, wanted David to reconcile with his son and so contrived a plot in order to make that happen. He sent for a wise woman from Tekoa, told her to dress in mourning clothes, and act like someone who has spent days grieving the dead. He gave her a story to tell that would elicit David’s sympathy and a favorable judgment on her behalf.

(Before I go any further, we have to ask ourselves: who WAS this woman? how was it that SHE was the one chosen for this dangerous task? what can we imagine and understand about her given not only what she was asked, but what she then did? Amazing!)

She agreed to Joab’s proposal, went before the king, and told him that her son killed his brother, and now the rest of the family wants to kill him.

David listened to her and then decreed that her son should be spared. But instead of then quietly slipping from the room, she decides to speak to the king in her own voice instead of behind the veil of Joab’s.