ט ויהי שם שלש שנים וכתיב (שמואל ב יד, כח) וישב אבשלום בירושלים שנתים ימים ופני המלך לא ראה וכתיב (שמואל ב טו, ז) ויהי מקץ ארבעים שנה ויאמר אבשלום אל המלך אלכה נא (ואשלמה) את נדרי אשר נדרתי לה' בחברון וכתיב (שמואל ב יז, כג) ואחיתופל ראה כי לא נעשתה עצתו ויחבש את החמור ויקם וילך אל ביתו (ו)אל עירו ויצו אל ביתו ויחנק
9 and it is written, [ix] Bloody and deceitful men shall not live out half their days.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' Ps. LV, 24. This is quoted in support of the next statement that Ahitopel did not reach thirty-five, half the normal span. ');"><sup>15</sup></span> And it has been taught: Doeg lived but thirty-four years, and Ahitophel thirty-three. Hence deduct seven years, Solomon's age when [Ahitophel] committed suicide,<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' This is arrived at by comparing verses iv, v and vi: Absalom slew Amnon two years after Solomon's birth (iv); he was exiled for three years (v); he then lived two years in Jerusalem before his rebellion (vi), in consequence of which Ahitophel hanged himself soon after (viii). Hence, Solomon was seven years old at the time. ');"><sup>16</sup></span> which leaves [Ahitophel] twenty-six years old at his birth. Now deduct two years for the three pregnancies, leaving each eight years old when he begot a child.<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' For Ahitopel begat Eliam (ii), Eliam begat Bath Sheba (i), and Bath Sheba begat Jedidiah, i.e., Solomon (iii). Now even allowing only seven months for each pregnancy, these three must have taken nearly two years (Rashi tries to prove that it would take exactly two years, by allowing an additional month in each case for pre-conception menstruation and purification; but this is difficult, and it is preferable to assume with Tosaf. that the two years are approximate). Thus twenty four years are left for the three generations, giving eight years for each: Ahitopel must have been eight years at the conception of Eliam; Eliam eight years at the conception of Bath Sheba; Bath Sheba eight years at the conception of Solomon. ');"><sup>17</sup></span> But why so? Perhaps both [Ahitophel and Eliam] were nine years old [at conception], Bath Sheba being only six years when she conceived, because a woman has more [generative] vitality; the proof being that she bore a child before Solomon?<span class="x" onmousemove="('comment',' So that in any ease we are bound to assume a lower age for her conception. ');"><sup>18</sup></span>