The Secret Chord

Natan interviews Nizevet, David’s mother, who lives at the house of David’s brother Shammah. Shammah greets Natan rudely but reveals that the king has ordered them to tell Natan everything. Shammah’s anger is provoked in part by concern that the king is making their mother relive past trauma. Nizevet herself is more accepting of the command but admits that these memories “are not easy things” (35).

Nizevet begins to tell her version of David’s life story. When David is a boy, his father Yishai and his older brothers hate him. He grows up practically in exile in the sheep pastures. There, in the silence, he turns to music and learns to listen to the voice of God.

His father and brothers hate David because they believe he is another man’s child. Before David’s conception, Yishai tired of his wife and began to lust after their young serving maid. By twisting religious law, he temporarily separated from Nizevet and started making advances on the servant. The unwilling young woman sought Nizevet’s counsel. Together they concocted an elaborate plan to trick Yishai by having Nizevet take the girl’s place in the dark. Nizevet is clear that this was no lovemaking.