Tanach/Bible "What If's"

As a student of the Bible, who has very little back knowledge and an awful memory, I sometimes find my mind going in strange directions during classes or when thinking about what I've learned. Last week I found myself writing the following note:

The day before my chevruta, study group had gone over the account of King Saul's visit to the witch/fortuneteller, 1 Samuel, Chapter 28. Chazal and midrash have a lot to say about the woman.

Did she really conjure up Samuel The Prophet, or did she just fake it?

Considering that her/Samuel's prediction was on target, totally accurate, that King Saul and his sons would die in battle, gives it all a spooky  legitimacy. Add to this the similarity to Samuel's very first G-d given prediction, when he was told to tell Eli the High Priest that Eli and his sons would all die ending their ruling dynasty. For some strange reason, it popped into my head that the woman was Chana/Hannah, Samuel's mother. No place in the Bible tells of her death.

What do you think?

The Sin of Being Merciful to One's Enemies

Just two days ago was Shabbat Zachor, when we're reminded to remember what Amalek did to us.  All Jews are supposed to listen to the words in the Torah that tell us what happened to the Children of Israel soon after leaving Egypt:

יז זָכוֹר, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה לְךָ עֲמָלֵק, בַּדֶּרֶךְ, בְּצֵאתְכֶם מִמִּצְרָיִם. 17 Remember what Amalek did unto thee by the way as ye came forth out of Egypt;
יח אֲשֶׁר קָרְךָ בַּדֶּרֶךְ, וַיְזַנֵּב בְּךָ כָּל-הַנֶּחֱשָׁלִים אַחֲרֶיךָ--וְאַתָּה, עָיֵף וְיָגֵעַ; וְלֹא יָרֵא, אֱלֹהִים. 18 how he met thee by the way, and smote the hindmost of thee, all that were enfeebled in thy rear, when thou wast faint and weary; and he feared not God.
יט וְהָיָה בְּהָנִיחַ יְהוָה אֱלֹהֶיךָ לְךָ מִכָּל-אֹיְבֶיךָ מִסָּבִיב, בָּאָרֶץ אֲשֶׁר יְהוָה-אֱלֹהֶיךָ נֹתֵן לְךָ נַחֲלָה לְרִשְׁתָּהּ--תִּמְחֶה אֶת-זֵכֶר עֲמָלֵק, מִתַּחַת הַשָּׁמָיִם; לֹא, תִּשְׁכָּח. {פ} 19 Therefore it shall be, when the LORD thy God hath given thee rest from all thine enemies round about, in the land which the LORD thy God giveth thee for an inheritance to possess it, that thou shalt blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven; thou shalt not forget. {P}

The Haftara, additional Bible portion read afterwards, tells how our first king, Saul, was fired by G-d for "tweaking" the very clear orders to destroy all of Amalek's descendants and livestock.  King Saul delayed executing Agag and reserved some of the livestock for a ceremony he "composed."  When confronted by Samuel the Prophet, who was the go-between between him and G-d, Saul blamed "the people" for pressuring him to add these "innovations."  But if you read the Bible, you'll see that it's written "Saul and the people" showing that it was his decision and the people followed their king, not as he claimed.
What's recorded does not support Saul.  And even if his claim was true, he was the king, chosen by G-d, and as a leader, it was his responsibility to control the situation by influencing the nation to follow G-d's orders.

  ב כֹּה אָמַר, יְהוָה צְבָאוֹת, פָּקַדְתִּי, אֵת אֲשֶׁר-עָשָׂה עֲמָלֵק לְיִשְׂרָאֵל--אֲשֶׁר-שָׂם לוֹ בַּדֶּרֶךְ, בַּעֲלֹתוֹ מִמִּצְרָיִם. 2 Thus saith the LORD of hosts: I remember that which Amalek did to Israel, how he set himself against him in the way, when he came up out of Egypt.
ג עַתָּה לֵךְ וְהִכִּיתָה אֶת-עֲמָלֵק, וְהַחֲרַמְתֶּם אֶת-כָּל-אֲשֶׁר-לוֹ, וְלֹא תַחְמֹל, עָלָיו; וְהֵמַתָּה מֵאִישׁ עַד-אִשָּׁה, מֵעֹלֵל וְעַד-יוֹנֵק, מִשּׁוֹר וְעַד-שֶׂה, מִגָּמָל וְעַד-חֲמוֹר. {ס} 3 Now go and smite Amalek, and utterly destroy all that they have, and spare them not; but slay both man and woman, infant and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass.' {S}
ח וַיִּתְפֹּשׂ אֶת-אֲגַג מֶלֶךְ-עֲמָלֵק, חָי; וְאֶת-כָּל-הָעָם, הֶחֱרִים לְפִי-חָרֶב. 8 And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive, and utterly destroyed all the people with the edge of the sword.
ט וַיַּחְמֹל שָׁאוּל וְהָעָם עַל-אֲגָג, וְעַל-מֵיטַב הַצֹּאן וְהַבָּקָר וְהַמִּשְׁנִים וְעַל-הַכָּרִים וְעַל-כָּל-הַטּוֹב, וְלֹא אָבוּ, הַחֲרִימָם; וְכָל-הַמְּלָאכָה נְמִבְזָה וְנָמֵס, אֹתָהּ הֶחֱרִימוּ. {פ} 9 But Saul and the people spared Agag, and the best of the sheep, and of the oxen, even the young of the second birth, and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them; but every thing that was of no account and feeble, that they destroyed utterly. {P}
י וַיְהִי, דְּבַר-יְהוָה, אֶל-שְׁמוּאֵל, לֵאמֹר. 10 Then came the word of the LORD unto Samuel, saying:
יא נִחַמְתִּי, כִּי-הִמְלַכְתִּי אֶת-שָׁאוּל לְמֶלֶךְ--כִּי-שָׁב מֵאַחֲרַי, וְאֶת-דְּבָרַי לֹא הֵקִים; וַיִּחַר, לִשְׁמוּאֵל, וַיִּזְעַק אֶל-יְהוָה, כָּל-הַלָּיְלָה. 11 'It repenteth Me that I have set up Saul to be king; for he is turned back from following Me, and hath not performed My commandments.' And it grieved Samuel; and he cried unto the LORD all night

I also have a problem with Samuel's behavior here.  It is said that Agag used his last night of living to impregnate his wife, and a descendant of that child was Haman.  It's written that "Samuel cried... all night."  If instead of crying he had rushed to the scene couldn't he have executed Agog before that final act?  Samuel was too attached to his protege`which paralysed him when he needed to act quickly.

Because of King Saul's sins, we're still suffering from Amalek.  And our politicians are no better than King Saul.  That's all I can think of when reading the pathetically perverse, misguided apologies by our Israeli government for injuring civilian Arabs and our allowing fuel to be pumped to Gaza despite the closure. 

I Can't Get Away From King Saul Today

Today, two of the four lectures I heard in Matan were about the Biblical King Saul, the first king of the Jewish Nation. But before I write more of my thoughts about him, there was news about a "Shaul/Saul" from the archaeologists working in Jerusalem's Ir David.

A Bone Seal Engraved with the Name Shaul, from the Time of the First Temple, was Found in the IAA Excavations in the Walls Around Jerusalem National Park, in the City of David. (complete article)

King Saul wasn't the only person with that name, so we can't say that the artifact was his.

Back to our first king...
To fully understand who King Saul was and why he failed, it's best to read the Bible. Read it as a narrative, without the commentaries. Start here in Samuel, and read it until Saul's death.

Shmuel Hanavi, Samuel the Prophet, was the leader of the Jewish People, but the people wanted a change. They wanted a king, like the other nations. they didn't ask for a king to observe the Mitzvah, the commandant of establishing a kingship, so Samuel objected. But G-d told him to listen to the people.

And then G-d "arranged things" so that Saul would meet Samuel and Samuel could anoint him king. From the text, it seems that Samuel was in charge, relaying to Saul the word of G-d. Whenever Saul took the initiative, he fouled up.

When things got very bad, G-d told Samuel to find another king. Samuel was told to get one of Yishai's sons, and that was David our second king.

This time Samuel let go and allowed David the chance to handle things on his own, and that included dealing with the then paranoid King Saul who was out to kill him.

David didn't have the impressive looks of Saul, but he had natural charisma and leadership.

We need a leader like King David. We need a leader who isn't constantly asking for advice and approval.

Learning Something New About Samuel and David

Living in Shiloh, one of the most important locations of Jewish History, certainly has had an effect on my life. Over the years here, I've spoken to many people, diplomats, politicans, journalists and sundry visitors, about its history, the Biblical and modern.

The Biblical figures of Chana and Shmuel, (Samuel,) played very crucial roles in the develpment of Jewish History, the transition between the anarchy that existed during the time of the Judges and monarchy, the annointing of the first Kings, Saul and David. Of course, I've studied the subject, but there's always so much left to learn.

Yesterday I was at a fantastic lecture at Matan by Dr. Yael Ziegler. Sometimes Frequently, when I hear talks about King Saul, I find myself strongly and vociferously disagreeing. I consider him to have been a terrible king. He wasn't a true, natural, leader and he disobeyed G-d's orders, which had been conveyed by Samuel. Later on, he further proved his unsuitability by concentrating his energies on attacking David, rather than destryong his nation's enemies.

Not long ago, at a different venue, the speaker and I argued about King Saul. I brought up the fact that after the capture of Amalek, he didn't excecute them all including killing the live stock as G-d had commanded. The lecturer countered that:

"The people told him not to."

But, I reminded her, there is nothing like that in the text of the Bible, only Saul's verbalising it as an "excuse."

"But that's what he said."

"Maybe he lied," was all I could say in response.

It's the only thing that makes sense and is perfectly consistent with the narrative and his character, as proven by King Saul's actions.

Samuel the Prophet, strongly, almost obsessively, mentored King Saul. He did the opposite with King David. David had to establish his leadership on his own, and more crucially, David had his own communications with G-d.

David was a strong, daring and brilliant leader. If Samuel had been at his side, it would have had been a terrible distraction and would have totally crippled his development.

Dr. Ziegler asked us: "How did Samuel assist David?" According to the Biblical text, they had no additional contact after David was annointed king. We all guessed incorrectly, including yours truly. And then Dr. Ziegler gave her excellent answer: "Samuel wrote Megilat Ruth, the story of David's ancestors."

It's nice to learn something new.

T'filat Chana, An Original Dvar Torah

Before writing this, I had to check my Hebrew spelling, because the ambiguous nature of Hebrew writing is the key...

ה שְׂבֵעִים בַּלֶּחֶם נִשְׂכָּרוּ, וּרְעֵבִים חָדֵלּוּ, עַד-עֲקָרָה יָלְדָה שִׁבְעָה, וְרַבַּת בָּנִים אֻמְלָלָה.
5 They that were full have hired out themselves for bread; and they that were hungry have ceased; while the barren hath borne seven, she that had many children hath languished.
Samuel, Chapter 2

Chazal, our sages, say that Chana was barren for almost twenty years. They and the Biblical text also say that she only brought her beloved and much prayed for son Samuel to Eli, the High Priest, at Shiloh when he was weaned. He was probably five years old, since that's also the traditional gil chinuch, age to educate.

At my neighborhood, Women's Shabbat Shiur, Torah Class, we tried to figure out how old she was when she finally has Samuel and how she then managed seven children.

My mind started going in a very different direction. The word "seven" in Hebrew, שבע sheva. I didn't have the actual text in front of me, but now that I've copied it to the post, I realize that I didn't need to ask my neighbor for spelling information.

שבע sheva, un-voweled has a number of meanings, besides 7. It can be an oath, to swear, or if you use the ש shin, as sin, sove'a, it means to be satiated, satisfied. That same meaning for the root, שבע sheva, is actually used in the beginning of the line. You don't need to know Hebrew to recognize the letters.

We can now reinterpret the line to mean that "the barren mother is now satisfied." In other words, she has enough children, she no longer suffers, yearns for children. We now don't know how many siblings Samuel had via his mother. I'm not enough a Biblical expert to know if any maternal siblings are mentioned in other places in the Bible.

Gmar Chatimah Tovah