Verses: 23
Is It Read At Synagogue?: No.
Famous Quotes/Phrases: David cites what he describes as an ancient proverb in Verse 14: “Wickedness comes from the wicked.” Sounds rather straightforward …
Basic Plot: David and his men, still in the southern part of the kingdom, move to the wilderness known as Ein Gedi. Saul, fresh off another conflict with the Philistines, takes 3,000 troops to pursue them there. As his troops search, Saul steps into a cave to relieve himself, not realizing that David is standing right behind him. David’s men encourage him to kill Saul, but he instead cuts off a corner of Saul’s cloak, telling his men that he can’t raise a hand against the one God anointed.
As Saul walks away from the cave, David calls after him, revealing him the part of his cloak he had just cut off as proof that he means Saul no harm. Saul lets his emotions get the best of him, admitting in tears that David is indeed righteous and that he accepts that David will succeed him as king. Saul only asks that David not destroy his descendants or desecrate his memory; David swears that he won’t.
What’s Strange: After waiting for several chapters for David and Saul to see each other eye to eye, we are instead greeted with an unexpectedly comic moment, in which David has the chance to destroy Saul when he is at his most physically vulnerable. “The comic element … indicates a dramatic resolution to, or reprieve from, the immediate tension, an assurance that things will work out between David and Saul in David’s favor,” writes Paul Borgman in David, Saul, and God: Rediscovering an Ancient Story. It’s a strangely anticlimactic moment that seems to come out of nowhere.
What’s Spectacular: David’s behavior, on the surface, seems to be noble — he chooses reason over violence at a time when violence is the norm. But there may be some craftiness to David’s actions as well. Borgman again: “If he, David, is to become Israel’s next king, the Lord’s anointed, then his comportment toward would-be murderer King Saul is significant — however at risk David and his men are. … He practices what he preaches to his men, even after offering a future mandate should he become king.”
In other words, if David makes known that he shouldn’t kill God’s anointed, then the rest of Israel should know that they should treat a future King David — also an anointed of God — with the same deference. He’s preserving his life and the loyalty of his followers both now and into the future. Whether or not David is playing three-dimensional chess in this instance, it’s fair to say that he’s always one step ahead of everyone.
Shabbat Shalom!
Interesting story. Thanks 🙏 Rabbi Rosenbaum and Shabbat Shalom!