Verses: 13
Is It Read At Synagogue?: No.
Famous Quotes/Phrases: I can’t think of a mention in any prior books of the Hebrew Bible of a person falling on one’s sword (Verses 4 & 5), so I believe this chapter has the first example.
Basic Plot: The Philistines attack Israel at Mount Gilboa, killing, among others, Jonathan as well as Saul’s two other sons. Saul is wounded by arrows and asks his arms-bearer to kill him so that the Philistines wouldn’t; when the arms-bearer declines, Saul falls on his sword and dies.
The Israelites in the towns nearby flee, enabling the Philistines to conquer them. They find Saul’s body, decapitate him, distribute his head and armor around their territory to publicize his death, and then impale his body. Later, the Israelites of Jabeth-gilead remove the body, burns it, and mourns the deaths of Saul and his family for seven days.
What’s Strange: This is where the first book of Samuel ends. Like the book of Judges before it, it concludes on a devastating and heartbreaking note. But unlike Judges, I Samuel ends with the sense that a new king is well-positioned to take power. Even the tragic end of Saul’s life is somewhat muted.
What’s Spectacular: Jerome Charyn comments on the awkward place Saul has within the history of biblical Israel. He writes in Congregation: Contemporary Writers Read the Hebrew Bible (David Rosenberg, ed.), “Israel’s first king haunts us like no other character in the Bible. He’s as bewitched as our own century. Eaten with guilt, isolated, utterly without the Lord, he could have come out of Kafka’s parables or Borges’ bookish tales. … He is a king without issue, a kind of walking shadow, a ghost boy who hides in the baggage. Saul is constantly with the night.”
Like Charyn, I feel haunted by Saul’s character arc, and as I’ve revisited these chapters over the last few months, I’ve tried to pinpoint what specifically bothers me about his character. I believe it comes down to this: Saul is a pawn. He is caught in a power struggle between God and Samuel, who have different ideas about the role of monarchy. He is given responsibility he never asks for, and then is quickly cast aside, positioned as an annoying impediment delaying the ascension of David. I wonder what kind of life Saul might have led had he not been dragged in the middle of a political quagmire that leads to the stabilization of the Israelite monarchy.
In other words, I wish Saul had been left alone to be a shepherd in the tribe of Benjamin. Yes, Saul is a very flawed character, but those flaws might not have been so damaging had he been allowed to lead a quiet life. It will be up to David — and everyone who follows him, even up to our time — to try to see others as more than just pawns in the games we play.
Shabbat Shalom!
What a tragedy. Shabbat Shalom and thank you 🙏 Rabbi Rosenbaum!