וּכְאַבְשָׁל֗וֹם לֹא־הָיָ֧ה אִישׁ־יָפֶ֛ה בְּכָל־יִשְׂרָאֵ֖ל לְהַלֵּ֣ל מְאֹ֑ד מִכַּ֤ף רַגְלוֹ֙ וְעַ֣ד קָדְקֳד֔וֹ לֹא־הָ֥יָה ב֖וֹ מֽוּם׃
Nie było zaś męża w całym Izraelu równie pięknego jak Absalom, tak żeby go równie wysoko można chwalić: od stopy nogi aż do ciemienia nie było na nim zmazy.
Tosefta Sotah
Samson transgressed with his eyes (Sot. 1:8), as it is said (Jud. 14:3), "And Samson said to his father, 'Take her (i.e., the Philistine woman of Timnah) for me because she is pleasing to my eyes,'" and thus he was punished with his eyes, as it is said (Jud. 16:21), "And the Philistines seized him and gouged out his eyes, etc." Rebbi says, he started going astray in Gaza, and thus his punishment happened nowhere but Gaza itself. Absalom transgressed with his hair, as it is said (2 Sam. 14:25), "And there was no man so beautiful as Absalom [in all of Israel; from the sole of his foot to the crown of his head, he had no defect]." Therefore, he was punished with his hair (2 Sam. 18:9). Rabbi Yehuda HaNasi says, Absalom was an "eternal nazirite," and once every twelve months he would shave his head. [From where is it derived that an "eternal nazirite" cuts his hair every twelve months?] As it is said (2 Sam. 15:7-8): "After forty years had passed, Absalom said to the king, 'Let me go [and I will fulfill my vow, which I vowed to the Lord in Hebron]. For your servant made a vow [when I lived in Geshur of Aram, saying, 'If the Lord ever returns me to Jerusalem, I will worship the Lord.']."*The implication is that the "vow" Absalom referred to was a nazirite vow. Rabbi Nehorai says, he would shave his head once ever thirty days, as it is said (2 Sam. 14:26), "And it was at the end of each period of days (יָמִ֤ים לַיָּמִים֙), etc., and the weight of [Absalom's] hair of his head was two hundred shekels by the king's weight."*Rebbi and Rabbi Nehorai interpret the ambiguous phrase "each period of days" differently; Rebbi as denoting a year, and Rabbi Nehorai as a month. Note that the following passage, from "Rabbi Yosei says" to "Sabbath Eve," does not appear in the present text but appears in printed editions, supported by Lieberman. Rabbi Yosei says, he would shave every Sabbath Eve, for it is the custom of the sons of kings to shave from Sabbath Eve to Sabbath Eve. [Rabbi Shimon says*Per GR"A,] like it says about kohanim (Ez. 44:20), "Their heads they shall not shave, and their locks they shall not grow out; [rather,] they shall trim their heads." [On the subject of shaving from Sabbath Eve to Sabbath Eve (see Lieberman),] it is not the custom of the people of Tiberius and the people of Tzipporin to shave in this way. [Returning to the discussion of Absalom,] he engaged in relations with ten concubines of his father, and therefore ten spears were thrust into him, as it is said (2 Sam. 18:15), "And ten young men [who carried Joab's armor circled around and struck Absalom, and killed him]." And because he engaged in three acts of theft -- [stealing] the heart of his father, and the heart of the Beit Din, and the heart of all of Israel -- therefore three spears were driven into his heart, as it is said (2 Sam. 18:14), "And [Joab] took three spears in his hand [and drove them into the heart of Absalom]."