The Hyperlinked Bible
Intertextuality Pair
Allusion
Later text
Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez? Why did you get so close to the wall?' If so, then you are to say, 'Your servant Uriah the Hittite is dead as well.'"
Earlier text
But a woman dropped an upper millstone on Abimelech's head, crushing his skull. He quickly called his armor-bearer, saying, "Draw your sword and kill me, lest they say of me, 'A woman killed him.'" So Abimelech's armor-bearer ran his sword through him, and he died.
In 2 Samuel 11:21, Joab anticipates that David will ask about Uriah's death near the wall by referencing the historical precedent: "Who was the one to strike Abimelech son of Jerubbesheth? Was it not a woman who dropped an upper millstone (פֶּלַח רֶכֶב, pelach rekhev) on him from the wall, so that he died in Thebez?" This is a direct narrative allusion to Judges 9:53, where a woman indeed cast a millstone on Abimelech's head during the siege of Thebez. Joab's citation of this well-known military disaster reveals that Israel's collective memory preserved these events as cautionary exemplars. The allusion also serves Joab's cunning: by preemptively comparing Uriah's death to Abimelech's, he deflects David's potential anger about fighting too close to the wall, knowing David himself ordered Uriah's death. Judges itself frames Abimelech's death as divine retribution for his fratricide (Judges 9:56-57), and his shame at "a woman killed him" (אִשָּׁה הֲרָגָתְהוּ, ishah haragathu) becomes the very ignominy Joab now leverages to manage David's reaction to Uriah's death.