Regular readers and neighbors who attend Torah/Bible classes with me are well aware of how little regard I have for King Saul, the first king of the Jewish Nation. Numerous times I've written about his great sin of allowing Agag, the Amalek king to live and making an uncalled for ceremony to G-d with his livestock, instead of following G-d's instructions to execute Agag and kill the livestock. For this sin, he was severely punished; his right to rule was taken from him. Simply put, G-d fired him; he was no longer allowed to be king.
Yesterday, Shabbat, as I read the Parshat Shavua, Torah Portion of the week, Ki Tisa, I was hit by the parallels in the story of Aaron, the "Golden Calf" and King Saul and his illegal religious ceremony.
In this week's Bible Portion, the people began to panic because they had expected Moses to return from his meeting with G-d. They pressured Aaron to assist them in constructing a "golden calf" to worship. Aaron's delaying tactics were ineffective, and G-d was furious with the people, as was Moses when he was greeted by the sight of the subsequent ceremony. Moses mediated between G-d and the people, defending them, and no real immediate punishment was meted to Aaron. It's very possible that the death of his sons, Nadav and Avihu for the "strange fire" while worshipping G-d was his punishment.
When Samuel the Prophet confronted King Saul over his disobeying G-d by leaving Agag and the livestock alive and uncalled for ceremony, Saul's excuse was that "the people pressured him." Nothing of that sort is recorded in the Bible. Of course, the Bible isn't a minute by minute record. Could it have been that King Saul thought that he'd be excused, just like Aaron the Priest was?
Now this is all my opinion, my guess-work. When I mentioned it at our שיעור נשים women's Study Class yesterday, the Bible teacher who was giving it had never heard these parallels mentioned before.
A simple reading of the Bible makes it very obvious that G-d doesn't accept Saul's excuse, whether true or fabricated. Considering that there is no textual back-up for it and G-d's anger and subsequent punishment of Saul, the chances are that King Saul lied.
Saul was supposed to be a leader, to propagate G-d's commandments to the Jewish People. Aaron's role was spokesperson and assistant to Moses. G-d expected, demanded more of Saul; therefore this sin lost him his position.
It could also be said that a more expanded comparison of the two Biblical stories would make Samuel, the Prophet the parallel of Moses, because Samuel brought G-d's instructions to Saul. King Saul was never the true leader of the Jewish People, but that's for another post.
24 comments:
whoa. you really need to have more derech eretz for king saul, the most tragic figure in all the bible, perhaps all of western literature. do not forget -- he merited the gift of prophecy, and was gods first anointed. he may have failed in his mission, but do not undersell the man.
Apples and oranges. Saul independently made a forbidden decision to spare Agag.
Aharon shouted "Chag" La'Hashem Machar" - "a festival for G-d tomorrow", hoping to completely prevent the people from sinning by delaying their anticipations until Moshe's return. In fact, it almost worked.
all of us who live in shilo (or at least find this to be of some significance) are on shmuel hanavi's side, of course. but i think shy guy is right about this.
The Mashiach H' helped bring peace to the kingdom (by winning wars)
Saul was certainly a tragic figure, even b4 the war with Amalek he was told the kingdom would be taken away
Aharon does blame the people, they Saul/ Aharon are both not punished right away (for Aharon it is less clear what his punishment was)
Do we have some things that are the same here? Yes, but we also have many contrasts.
In the story of the egel the leviim earn their role.
It is important to remember Saul was head above shoulders than everyone else not just in height.
Lastly , the idea Ahaon and Saul kept their eyes on the people too much is a strong similarity. Ex 32,5
yc, a, Saul was a dangerous man; he wasted energy persecuting David rather than fighting the nation's enemies... does it sound familiar?
The drash says he was great, but pshat makes him look pathetic and worse. Read the text. His servant had to lead him around to meet Shmuel. And from there it went downhill.
yoni, shmuel thought that he could mentor Saul into leadership, but it didn't work. He came out pretty pathetic from this, too. He retired and let David rule; smart move.
shy, yes, and that's why G-d kept Aaron on.
Batya said...
Shmuel thought that he could mentor Saul into leadership, but it didn't work. He came out pretty pathetic from this, too. He retired and let David rule
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Taking responsibility and resigning ones position is honorable - not pathetic. Being honorable is a trait we rarely see in our failing public representatives in Israel these days.
He never admitted what the problem was, but at least he knew that there was no need to guide King David.
I wish Moetzet YESHA would at least slink away. When Adi Mintz was running for head of Moetzet Binyamin I asked him how could Moetzet YESHA continue considering their failure. He refused to admit that they should take responsibility or had failed.
batya, playing devil's advocate here: i too have no love for moetzet yesha. but if they had "failed" as you imply, we probably wouldn't be here.
Yoni, their "settlement" activity isn't recent. One can't live forever on past success.
Their "anti" Disengagement campaign was so bad it...
Can't you guess?
Saul was a great general. Of at least hired great ppl (his son, his uncle). Bottom line -with him in charge they won wars. He paved the way for David and peace he ushered in. That is no medrash.
Was he tragic, dangerous, focused on the ppl's perceptions of him and not God -all true.
But God and Shmuel were not idiots in picking him.
He as king did have accomplishments which are recorded in Tanach.
King Saul excelled at ceremony, but he didn't "pave the way for David."
David played to his own drummer, got his inspiration straight from G-d.
Saul was jealous of David's military success from the beginning and was angry with his son Jonathan for recognizing that David was more suited to kingship. Jonathan pledged his loyalty to David over his father's dream that he inherit the throne.
Sam I 14:47-48
1 Samuel Chapter 18 verses 9, 10 and further.
Saul squandered his kingship on hatred of David.
I never said Saul was perfect.
But there is evidence that he was not perfectly bad.
From the peanut gallery so don't blast me--Hashem didn't want to appoint a king, neither did Samuel as I recall. In fact, there is that very sad and moving verse in which Hashem laments along with Samuel that the people didn't listen to Him either.
Hashem is the only 'king' we need.
I just find that conversation between Hashem and Samuel the most sad in all of the bible; next of course was Penina's cruelty to Chana.
In any event, Hashem forgave Manassah even after saying he never would so I am sure King Saul was forgiven, too.
BTW: Shy Guy is always right. He should run for office. I've yet to disagree with him:)
Shavua tov, everyone.
Just aside: I've recently started thinking about people disliking and discussing people from the Torah.
Could that ever be a form of lashon hara?
keli, we have no idea if King Saul repented, and there's no way of knowing. Some of his sins are being done by others today and have been done in recent history. We must learn from it. That's not loshen haraa.
YC, If G-d had been pleased with King Saul, Saul would have lived out his days as king. G-d sent Samuel to fire him. There's no need to defend him.
Is a King mandatory or optional: for review of main sources http://www.vbm-torah.org/parsha.60/47shoft.htm
Batya, Oy, who is defending Saul? I just dont see him 100% bad.
YC, establishing a Jewish-Torah "kingdom" is actually a mitzvah. Samuel knew it but wasn't happy when the people asked him to find a king, because their reason was wrong. They wanted a king "like other nations." That's why they got the "hunk," the tall handsome, impressive, photogenic Saul who needed all the guidance. When he veered from the script, he kept getting himself into trouble until he had to be canned.
re establishing a Jewish-Torah "kingdom" is actually a mitzvah. Samuel knew it
I have no idea what Samuel "knew". I know of a few possibilities. In fact Tannaim, Geonim and Rishonim debate the nature of this mitzvah and obviously one main source is Samuel.
re Saul who needed all the guidance.
David and Saul both needed guidance from God. The big difference here is that David sought guidance from Navi or the Urim VTumim. Saul would look to people (as you correctly pointed out) over the word of God(did not wait for Samuel and Agag). Even when Saul was doing "Teshuva" at the end of his life and seeking word of God he still did not "get it" (understand) as he sought it via a witch (if that episode happened or was a dream- lessons are the same)
YC, David the psalm writer had a direct connection to G-d. Saul went to witches, not for tshuva, though.
Whatever the level of the nevuah / ruach hakodesh David had. In Sefer Shemuel- he used a Navi or Urim VTumim for direct communication.
Saul was seeking the word of God at end of his life prior to what would be his final battle. He went to one witch no witches.(He killed the rest, an act he did upon the death of Shemuel. He took advantage of that moment to cleanse Israel).
PS According to those who deny efficacy of witches like Rambam- say that scene was a dream
yc, going to the witches was forbidden, no a sign that Saul was repenting, the opposite.
Batya
Yes, I said already in this episode Saul did not get it, he did not understand. BUT he did try for the word of God first 1 Sam 28:6
I will not reduce the Tanach to Artscroll children's book: void of all nuance, tension, conflict; Filled with monochrome characters, any book like that would be a waste of paper
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