II Samuel 3:31 Related Passages

Some Tannaïm state¹²⁵Gen. rabba 17(13).: Women go first¹²⁶In a funeral procession, they precede the bier., after them men. But some Tannaïm state: Men first, women after them. He who says women first, since they caused death to the world. He who says men first, for the honor of the daughter of Israel, lest people¹²⁷The onlookers. look at women. But was it not written: King David followed the bier^121,2S.3:31.¹²⁸In v. 32 it says that David cried at Abner’s grave, and so did the entire people; entire includes women. But it still is undecided who went first. In the Babli, 20a, the verse is quoted as proof that the women must have preceded the bier since the king immediately followed it.. They said, this was only to quiet. Whoever was calming the women was calming the men, and whoever was calming the men was calming the women.