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Kitabı oku: «The History of Antiquity, Vol. 2 (of 6)», sayfa 7

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The heavy misfortunes which the land had experienced for a long time, the severe oppression of the dominion of the Philistines, had at length taught the majority that rescue could only come by a close connection and union of the powers of the tribes, and an established authority supreme over all. To check anarchy from within and oppression from without required a vigorous hand, a ruling will, and a recognised power. What the people could do to put an end to the disorganisation was now done, they had placed a man at the head whom they might expect to be a brave leader and resolute guide. The Israelites had used their sovereignty to give themselves a master, and might hope with confidence that by this step they had laid the foundations of a happier future which they might certainly greet with joy.²¹⁴

Immediately after his election on the Jordan, Saul was firmly resolved to take up arms against the Philistines for the liberation of the land. He turned upon their camp in the district of his own tribe. While he lay opposite the fortifications at Michmash, and thus held the garrison fast, his son Jonathan succeeded in conquering the detachment of the Philistines stationed at Geba. But the princes of the Philistines had no mind to look on at the union of Israel. They assembled, as we are told, an army of 3000 chariots, 6000 cavalry, and foot soldiers beyond number; with these the tribes of Judah and Simeon were compelled to take the field against their brethren.²¹⁵ Whether the numbers are correct or incorrect, the armament of the Philistines was sufficient to cause the courage of the Israelites to sink. Saul summoned the Israelites to the Jordan, to Gilgal, where he had been raised to be their chief. But in vain he caused the trumpets to be blown and the people to be summoned. The Israelites crept into the caves and clefts of the rock, and thorn-bushes, into the towers and the cisterns, and fled beyond Jordan to find refuge in the land of Gilead. Only the king and his brave son Jonathan did not quail before the numbers or gallantry of the enemies, though only a small troop – it is said about 600 men – gathered round Saul. The great army of the Philistines had first marched to the fortified camp at Michmash, and from this point, after leaving a garrison behind, in which were the Israelites of Judah and Simeon, it separated into three divisions, in order to march through Israel in all directions and hold the country in subjection. One column marched to the west in the direction of Beth-horon, the second to the north towards Ophra, the third to the east towards the valley of Zeboim.²¹⁶ This division made it possible for Saul to attack. He turned upon that part of the army which was weakest and most insecure, the garrison at Michmash, and made an unexpected attack on the fortification. Jonathan ascended an eminence in the rear, while Saul attacked in the van. In the tumult of the attack the Hebrews in the camp of the Philistines joined the side of their countrymen, and Saul gained the fortification. The Philistines fled. The king knew what was at stake and strove to push the victory thus gained to the utmost.²¹⁷ Without resting, he urged his men to the pursuit of the fugitives. That none of his troop might halt or stray in order to take food, he said, "Cursed is the man who eats bread till the evening, till I have taken vengeance on mine enemies." Jonathan had not heard the command of his father, and as the pursuers passed through a wood in which wild honey lay scattered he ate a little of the honeycomb. For this he should have been put to death, because he was dedicated to Jehovah (I. 499). But the warriors were milder than their customs. "Shall Jonathan die," cried the soldiers, "who has won this great victory in Israel? that be far from us: as Jehovah liveth, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground, for he has wrought with God this day;" "and the people rescued Jonathan that he died not."²¹⁸

This success encouraged the Israelites to come forth from their hiding-places and gather round their king. But only a part of the hostile army was defeated, and the Philistines were not so easily to be deprived of the sovereignty over Israel. "And the strife was hot against the Philistines so long as Saul lived," and "king Saul was brave and delivered Israel from the hand of the robbers," is the older of the two statements preserved in the Books of Samuel.

Saul had rendered the service which was expected by the Israelites when they elevated him: he had saved his nation from the deepest distress, from the brink of the most certain destruction. Without him the tribes beyond the Jordan would have succumbed to the Ammonites and Moabites, and those on this side of the river would at length have become obedient subjects of the Philistines. He found on his accession a disarmed, discouraged nation. By his own example he knew how to restore to them courage and self-confidence, and educate them into a nation familiar with war and skilled in it. The old military virtues of the tribe of Benjamin (p. 96) found in Saul their full expression and had a most beneficial result for Israel. The close community in which from old time the small tribe of Benjamin had been with the large tribe of Ephraim, by the side of which it had settled, was an advantage to Saul.²¹⁹ The strong position which he gained by the recognition of these two tribes could not but have an effect on the others, and contribute with the importance of his achievements and the splendour of their results to gain firmness and respect for the young monarchy, and win obedience for his commands. In the ceaseless battles which he had to carry on he was mainly supported by his eldest son Jonathan, who stood beside him as a faithful brother in arms, and his cousin Abner, the son of Ner his father's brother, whom he made his chief captain. "And wherever Saul saw a mighty man and a brave he took him to himself."²²⁰ Thus he formed around him a school of brave warriors. He appears to have kept 3000 warriors under arms in the district of Benjamin, and this formed the centre for the levy of the people.²²¹

But the Israelites had not merely to thank the king they had set up for the recovery and vigorous defence of their independence and their territory; he was also a zealous servant of Jehovah. He offered sacrifice to Him, built altars, and inquired of Him by His priests, who accompanied him even on his campaigns.²²² He observed strictly the sacred customs; even after the battle the exhausted soldiers were not allowed to eat meat with blood in it. He was prepared to allow even his dearest son, whose life he had unconsciously devoted, to be put to death. He removed all magicians and wizards out of the land with great severity.²²³ How earnestly he took up the national and religious opposition to the Canaanites is clear from his conduct to the Hivites of Gibeon, Chephirah, Beeroth, and Kirjath-jearim, who had once made a league with Joshua, and in consequence had been allowed to remain among the Israelites (I. 494). "Saul sought to slay them in his zeal for Israel," and the Gibeonites afterwards maintained that Saul had sought to annihilate them, and his purpose was that they should be destroyed and exist no more in all the land of Israel.²²⁴ The ark of the covenant, which had fallen into the hands of the Philistines at the battle of Aphek, was brought back to Israel in his reign. The possession of it, so the Hebrews said, had brought no good to the Philistines. They had set it up as a trophy of victory in the temple of Dagon at Ashdod. But the image of the god had fallen to pieces, and only the fish-tail was left standing (I. 272); the people of Ashdod had been attacked with boils, and their crops destroyed by mice. The same occurred at Gath, when the ark was brought there, and, in consequence, the city of Ekron had refused to accept it. Then the Philistines had placed the ark upon a wagon, and allowed the cows before it to draw it whither they would. They drew it to Beth-shemesh in the tribe of Judah. But when the people of Beth-shemesh looked on the ark a grievous mortality began among them, till the men of Kirjath-jearim (not far from Beth-shemesh) took away the ark, and Abinadab set it up in a house on a hill in his field, and established his own son Eleazar as guardian and priest (about 1045 B.C.²²⁵). The Books of the Chronicles mention the gifts which Saul dedicated to the national sanctuary.²²⁶

As king of Israel, Saul remained true to the simplicity of his earlier life. Of splendour, courts, ceremonial, dignitaries, and harem we hear nothing. If not in the field he remained on his farm at Gibeah, with his wife Ahinoam,²²⁷ his four sons, and his two daughters. Abner and other approved comrades in arms ate at his table. His elder daughter Merab he married to Adriel the son of Barzillai. Michal, the younger, he gave to a youthful warrior, David the son of Jesse, who had distinguished himself in the war against the Philistines, whom he had made his armour-bearer and companion of his table, entrusting him at the same time with the command of 1000 men of the standing army.²²⁸ "What am I, what is the life and the house of my father in Israel, that I should become the son-in-law of the king? I am but a poor and lowly man." So David said, but Saul remained firm in his purpose.

Of Saul's later battles against the Philistines tradition has preserved only a few fragments, from which it is clear that the war was carried on upon the borders by plundering incursions, which were interrupted from time to time by greater campaigns.²²⁹ But the preponderance of the Philistine power was broken. And Saul had not only to fight against these. "He fought on all sides," we are told, "against all the enemies of Israel, against Moab, and against the sons of Ammon, and against Edom, and against the kings of Zobah, and whithersoever he turned he was victorious."²³⁰ When the Amalekites from their deserts on the peninsula of Sinai invaded the south of Israel, and forced their way as far as Hebron, he defeated them there at Maon-Carmel,²³¹ and pursued them over the borders of Israel into their own land as far as the desert of Sur, "which lies before Egypt," and took Agag their king prisoner. It was a severe defeat which he inflicted on them.²³² "Saul's sword came not back empty," and "the daughters of Israel clothed themselves in purple," and "adorned their garments with gold" from the spoil of his victories.²³³ The Israelites felt what they owed to the monarchy and to Saul.²³⁴

CHAPTER VI
DAVID'S STRUGGLE AGAINST SAUL AND ISHBOSHETH

The position which Samuel gained as a priest, seer, and judge after the death of Eli and his sons, and continued to hold under the sway of the Philistines must have undergone a marked change, owing to the establishment of the monarchy in Israel, though in the later text of the Books of Samuel it is maintained that "Samuel judged Israel till his death."²³⁵ We know that Samuel had set up an altar to Jehovah at Ramathaim, his home and dwelling-place (p. 115), but it is not handed down that he had again set up there the sacred tabernacle and the worship at the sacred ark, though this may very well have been the case after the Philistines sent back the ark. Both the older and the later text of the two Books of Samuel represent him as in opposition to the monarchy. According to the later text, written from a prophetic point of view, Samuel had from the first opposed the establishment of the monarchy; and both the older and the more recent account know of a contention between Saul and Samuel. The former tells us: When Saul immediately after his election took up arms against the Philistines, and these marched out with their whole fighting power, and Saul gathered the Israelites at Gilgal, Samuel bade the king wait seven days till he came down to offer burnt-offering and thank-offering. "And Saul waited seven days, but Samuel came not; the people were scattered. Then Saul said: Bring me the burnt-offering and the thank-offering. He offered the burnt-sacrifice, and when he had made an end Samuel came, and Saul went to greet him. And Samuel said, What hast thou done? Saul answered, When I saw that the people were scattered from me, and thou didst not come at the time appointed, and the Philistines were encamped at Michmash, I said, The Philistines will come down upon me to Gilgal, and I have not made supplication to Jehovah, so I forced myself and offered the burnt-sacrifice. Then Samuel said, Thou hast done foolishly; thou hast not observed the command of thy God which he commanded thee. Jehovah would have established thy kingdom over Israel for ever, but now thy kingdom shall not endure."²³⁶ The more recent account puts the contention at a far later date. When Saul marched against the Amalekites Samuel bade him "curse" everything that belonged to Amalek, man and woman, child and suckling, ox and sheep, camel and ass. After the return of the victorious army Samuel came to Gilgal, and said, What meaneth this bleating of sheep and lowing of oxen in my ears? Saul answered, I have obeyed the voice of Jehovah and have gone the way which Jehovah sent me, and I have brought with me Agag the king of Amalek, and have "cursed" Amalek. But from the spoil the people have taken the best of what was "cursed," in order to sacrifice to Jehovah, thy God, at Gilgal. Samuel answered in the tone of Isaiah, Hath Jehovah delight in burnt-offerings and sacrifice? To obey is better than sacrifice. Saul confesses that he has sinned and transgressed the command of Jehovah and the word of Samuel, "for I feared the people, and obeyed their voice. And now forgive me my sin, and turn with me, that I may entreat Jehovah. But Samuel said, I will not turn back with thee; because thou hast rejected the word of Jehovah he will reject thee from being king over Israel. Samuel turned to go, but Saul caught the hem of his garment and said, I have sinned, yet honour me before the elders of my people, and before Israel, and return with me, that I may offer prayer before Jehovah. Then Samuel turned behind Saul, and Saul offered prayer before Jehovah. And Samuel bade them bring Agag the king of Amalek before him, and said, As thy sword has made women childless, so shall thy mother be childless among women; and he hewed Agag in pieces before Jehovah at Gilgal. And Samuel went up to Ramathaim and saw Saul no more."²³⁷ In the narrative of the first text Saul appears to be thoroughly justified by the most urgent necessity; in the narrative of the second text he acknowledges openly and completely that he has sinned. It may have been the case that Saul did not appear to Samuel sufficiently submissive to his utterances, which for him were the utterances of God; that he wished to see the rights and power of a king exercised in a different manner and in a different feeling from that in which Saul discharged his office.

More dangerous for Saul than any reproach or coldness on the part of Samuel was the contention which he had in the latter years of his reign with another man, whom he had himself raised to eminence – a strife which cost Saul the reward of his laborious and brave reign, and his house the throne; while Israel lost the fruits of great efforts, and the fortunes of the people were again put to the hazard.

Of the family of Perez²³⁸ of the tribe of Judah, David was the youngest (eighth) son of a man of some possessions, Jesse of Bethlehem. He was entrusted with the care and keeping of the sheep and goats of his father in the desert pastures on the Dead Sea, and his shepherd life had caused him to grow up in a rough school. It had made him hardy, it had given strength and suppleness to his body; he had gained a delight in adventure and unshaken courage in danger. In defence of the flocks he had withstood bears and ventured into conflict even with a lion. In the loneliness and silence which surrounded him he practised singing and playing; the severe and solemn nature of that region was adapted to impress great thoughts on his mind, to give force and elevation to his spirit. From such a school he came into the ranks of the warriors of Saul; the bold deeds which even in his youth he had performed against the Philistines induced Saul to make David one of "the brave," whom he took into his house (about 1040 B.C.).²³⁹ He also made him one of his captains,²⁴⁰ and frequently sent him out against the Philistines; in these inroads he fought with more success than other chieftains.²⁴¹ Thus David was a favourite in the eyes of the people and the servants of the king, and Jonathan, Saul's eldest son, made a covenant with David, because "he loved him as his own soul."²⁴² In the house of Saul David was trusted and honoured before the other warriors; he was his armour-bearer and the chief of a troop of 1000 men. After Jonathan and Abner, David was nearest the king; he had the complete confidence of Saul, and at length became his son-in-law.²⁴³

Some years afterwards (about 1036 B.C.²⁴⁴), Saul conceived a suspicion of the man whom he had elevated to such a height. He imagined that his son-in-law intended to seize the throne from himself, or contest the succession with his son Jonathan. According to the older account it was jealousy of the military renown of David, which threatened to obscure his own, that roused Saul against David;²⁴⁵ according to the later, Saul feared the partiality which the people displayed towards David. He says to Jonathan, "So long as the son of Jesse lives, thou and thy kingdom will not continue."²⁴⁶ According to the same account an evil spirit came over Saul, he was beside himself in the house and threw a spear at David, who played the harp.²⁴⁷ David avoided the cast: he fled to Samuel at Ramathaim into the dwellings of the seers,²⁴⁸ and from thence escaped to Achish, the prince of the Philistines of Gath.²⁴⁹ In the older account also it is an evil spirit of Jehovah which comes over Saul, and causes him to thrust with his spear at David while he is playing the harp. David escapes into his house. At Saul's command the house is surrounded; and David is to be slain the next morning. But Michal, the daughter of Saul, David's wife, let him down from a window, and in his place she put the teraphim, i. e. the image of the deity, into the bed, covered it with a coverlet, laid the net of goat's hair on the face, and gave out that David was sick. David meanwhile flies to Nob (in the land of Benjamin), where was set up a gilded image of Jehovah, before which a company of priests served, and at their head Ahimelech, a great-grandson of Eli,²⁵⁰ who had previously inquired of Jehovah for David.²⁵¹ Ahimelech gave David the sacred loaves, and a sword which was consecrated there, and from hence, according to this account, David escaped to Achish. Saul reproached his daughter for aiding David, and said, "Why hast thou allowed my enemy to escape?" Then he gave her to wife to Phalti of Gallim.

We are not in a position to decide whether David really pursued ambitious designs; whether, as a matter of fact, he conspired with the priests against Saul and his house, as Saul assumed; whether Saul saw through his designs and plots, or suspected him without reason.²⁵² David was not content with escaping the anger and pursuit of Saul, with placing himself and his family in security. He repaired to the enemies of his land, the Philistines, who would not have accepted at once an opponent who had done them grievous injury, if he had not openly broken with Saul and given them to suppose that henceforth he would support their struggle against Saul and Israel. Yet David did not bring his father and mother, on whom Saul could have taken vengeance, out of the land to Gath, where they might have been a pledge of his fidelity to the Philistines; he put them in the hands of the king of Moab, and also entered into relations with the king of the Ammonites.²⁵³ It was probably with the consent of the Philistines that David returned from Gath into the land of Judah, and there threw himself into the wild regions by the Dead Sea, where he had previously pastured his father's sheep and goats, in order to bring his own tribe of Judah into arms against the king sprung from the small tribe of Benjamin.²⁵⁴ The cave of Adullam was the place of gathering. His brothers, the whole house of his father, came, and a prophet of the name of Gad, "and all oppressed persons, and any one who had a creditor and was of a discontented spirit," and "David was their chief, and had under him 400 men."²⁵⁵

"Saul heard that all men knew about David and the men who were with him, and sent out to bring before him Ahimelech and the house of his father and all the priests of Nob." The king sat on the height near Gibeah under the tamarisk, with his spear in his hand and his servants round him. "Why hast thou conspired against me," he said to Ahimelech, "thou and the son of Jesse, that he has rebelled against me. Thou shalt die, and the house of thy father." And he commanded his body-guard who stood near him: "Come up and slay the priests of Jehovah, their hand is with David." Then 85 men were slain who wore the linen tunic; and Nob, the city of the priests, Saul smote with the edge of the sword; one only, Abiathar, a son of Ahimelech, escaped with the image of Jehovah to David.²⁵⁶

David had no doubt calculated on greater success in the tribe of Judah. So long as his following was confined to four or six hundred men, he could only live a robber life with this troop. But by this course he would have roused against himself those whom he robbed, and strengthened the attachment to Saul. So he attempted to keep a middle path. He sent to Nabal, a rich man at Carmel near Hebron (p. 127), who possessed 3000 sheep and 1000 goats, a descendant of that Caleb who had once founded himself a kingdom here with his sword (I. 505), and bade his messengers say: David has taken nothing of thy flocks, send him therefore food for him and his people. But Nabal answered: "Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are now many servants who run away from their masters." Then David set out in the night to fall upon Nabal's house and flocks. On the way Abigail, Nabal's wife, met him. In fear of the freebooters she had caused some slaughtered sheep, loaves, and pitchers of wine, some figs and cakes of raisins, to be laid on asses in order to bring them secretly into David's camp. Praised be thy wisdom, woman, said David: by the life of Jehovah, if thou hadst not met me there would not have been alive at break of day a single male of Nabal and his house. Nabal died ten days after this incident. David saw that such a wealthy possession in this region could not but be advantageous. Saul's daughter was lost to him; he sent, therefore, some servants to Abigail to Carmel. They said, David has sent us to thee to take thee to him to wife. Abigail stood up, bowed herself with her face to earth, and said: Behold, thy handmaid is ready to wash the feet of the servants of thy master. Then she set out with five of her maids, and followed the servants of David and became his wife.²⁵⁷ As a fact this marriage appears to have furthered the undertaking of David; the places in the south of Judah, Aroer, Hormah, Ramoth, Jattir, Eshtemod, and even Hebron, declared for him.²⁵⁸ From this point David sought to force his way farther to the north, and possessed himself of the fortified town of Kegilah (Keilah).²⁵⁹

When Saul was told that David was in Kegilah, he said: God has delivered him into my hand in that he has shut himself up in a city with gates and bars. He set out against Kegilah. David commanded Abiathar the priest, who had fled to him from Nob with the image of Jehovah, to bring the image, and David inquired of the image: Will the men of Kegilah deliver me and my followers into the hand of Saul? Jehovah, God of Israel, announce this to me. And Jehovah said, They will deliver thee.²⁶⁰ Then David despaired of remaining in the city and fled; he retired again into the desert by the Dead Sea near Ziph and Maon. But Saul pursued and overtook him; nothing but a mountain separated David's troop from the king; David was already surrounded and lost, when the news was brought to Saul, "Hasten and come, for the Philistines are in the land." This was no doubt an incursion made by the Philistines in aid of the hardly-pressed rebels. Saul abandoned the pursuit and went against the Philistines: David called the mountain the rock of escape.²⁶¹ When the king had driven back the Philistines he took 3000 men out of the army to crush the rebellion utterly. David had retired farther to the east, on the shore of the Dead Sea, in the neighbourhood of Engedi, to the "rock of the goat," and there he was so closely shut in by Saul that he had to despair of remaining in Judah. He escaped with his troop to the Philistines: the rebellion was at an end.²⁶²

David's attempt to induce the tribe of Judah to fall away from Saul was entirely wrecked. Driven from the ground on which he had raised the standard of revolt, he no longer scrupled to enter formally into the service of the Philistines, and these must have welcomed the aid of a brave and skilful leader, who, though once their enemy, had already in Judah engaged the arms of Saul, the weight of which they had so often felt, and which had taken from them their dominion over Israel. Achish, king of Gath, to whom David again fled, was of opinion "that David had made himself to stink among his people, Israel, and would be his servant for ever;" and gave the border city Ziklag to be a dwelling for him and his band of freebooters.²⁶³ David now settled as a vassal of Achish at Ziklag. At his command he was compelled to take the field, and also to deliver up a part of the spoil which he obtained.²⁶⁴ Thus from the land of the Philistines, with his band, which here became strengthened by the discontented in Israel²⁶⁵ who fled to him over the border, David carried on a petty war against Saul and his country. In these campaigns David was wise enough to spare his former adherents in Judah, the cities which had once declared for him, and his attacks were only directed against the adherents of Saul; in secret he even maintained his connection with his party in Judah, and to the elders of the cities which clung to him he sent presents out of the booty won in his raids and plundering excursions.²⁶⁶

David had already lived more than a year in Ziklag,²⁶⁷ when the Philistines assembled all their forces against Saul. When the princes of the Philistines marshalled their army, and caused it to march past in troops, David and his men also came among the soldiers of Achish. Then the other princes said to Achish: What need of these Hebrews? Let not David go to the battle; he may become a traitor, and go over to his master, in order to win favour with Saul at the price of our heads. Achish trusted David, and said: He has already dwelt with me for a time, for years; to this day I have found nothing in him. But the other princes insisted on their demand; perhaps they remembered the day of Michmash, when Saul had obtained his first victory over the Philistines with the aid of the Hebrews in their camp. When Achish announced to David that he could not accompany the army, he answered: What have I done, and what hast thou found in thy servant since I came to thee to this day, that I should not fight against the enemies of my king? In spite of his earnest desire, David was sent back.²⁶⁸

The army of the Philistines passed to the north, through the land of Ephraim, into the land of Issachar, and encamped at Shunem in the plain of Jezreel. On Mount Gilboa, over against them, Saul was encamped with the army of the Israelites.²⁶⁹ The battle broke out, and the contest was severe. Saul saw his sons Abinadab and Melchishua, and finally Jonathan himself, fall; the Israelites retired, and the archers of the enemy pressed on the king. Saul refused to fly, and survive the death of his sons and his first defeat. He called to his armour-bearer: Draw thy sword and slay me, that these uncircumcised may not come upon me and maltreat me. But the faithful comrade would not lift his hand against his master. Then Saul threw himself upon his sword, and the armour-bearer followed the example of the king. The army of the Israelites was scattered in every direction. The Philistines rejoiced when they found the corpse of Saul on Mount Gilboa. They took the armour from the dead king, and sent it round their whole land, that every one might be convinced that the dreaded leader of Israel was no longer living. Then the armour was laid up in the temple of Astarte. The Philistines cut off the head of the corpse and hung it up as a trophy in the temple of Dagon; the trunk and the corpses of the three sons of Saul were set up in the market-place of Beth-shan, not far from the field of battle, in order to show the Israelites that they had nothing more to hope from Saul and his race (1033 B.C.).²⁷⁰

Israel was benumbed with terror. The nurse let the young son of Jonathan, Mephibosheth, fall to the ground when she heard the news of Gilboa. Many retired beyond the Jordan before the Philistines; others hastened to Ziklag, to place themselves under David's protection. But from Jabesh in Gilead, which Saul had once rescued from the most grievous distress, valiant men set out over the Jordan to Beth-shan. Here, at night, they took the corpses of Saul and his three sons from the market-place, brought them to Jabesh, and buried them under the tamarisk, and the inhabitants of Jabesh fasted and lamented seven days for Saul's death.²⁷¹ The Israelites had reason enough to sorrow and lament for Saul. From one of the songs of lamentation sung in these days it is convincingly clear what this man had done for them. "The gazelle, O Israel," so it was sung at that time, "is stricken on thy heights! Fallen are thy heroes! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Ascalon, lest the daughter of the Philistine rejoice, lest the daughter of the uncircumcised triumph. Ye mountains of Gilboa, let there be no dew nor rain upon you, nor offerings of first-fruits! For there the shield of the mighty was cast away, the shield of Saul. From the blood of the slain, from the fat of the mighty, the bow of Jonathan turned not back, and the sword of Saul returned not empty. Saul and Jonathan were lovely and pleasant in their lives, and in their death they were not divided. They were swifter than eagles, stronger than lions. Ye daughters of Israel, weep for Saul, who clothed you delicately in purple, and put ornaments of gold on your garments. How are the mighty fallen in battle."²⁷²

214.Owing to the later conceptions that the king needed to be consecrated by the prophets, that Jehovah is himself the King of Israel, an almost inexplicable confusion has come into the narrative of Saul's elevation. Not only have we an older and later account existing side by side in the books of Samuel, not only has there been even a third hand at work, but the attempts to bring the contradictory accounts into harmony have increased the evil. In 1 Sam. viii. we are told: The elders of Israel and the people required from Samuel a king at Ramah, because he was old and his sons walked not in his ways. Jehovah says to Samuel: They have not rejected thee, but me; yet Samuel accedes to the request of the Israelites. Samuel gives the elders a terrifying description of the oppression which the monarchy would exercise upon them, a description which evidently predates the experiences made under David, Solomon, and later kings, whereas at the time spoken of the nation had suffered only too long from wild anarchy. The reasons, moreover, given by the elders, why they desired a king, do not agree with the situation, but rather with the time of Eli, who also had foolish sons. In spite of Samuel's warning the people persist in their wish to have a king. Further we are told in chap. ix. 1-x. 16, how Saul at his father's bidding sets out in quest of lost she-asses, and goes to inquire of Samuel, for the fourth part of a silver shekel, whither they had strayed. At Jehovah's command Samuel anoints the son of Kish to be king, when he comes to him; he tells him where he will find his asses, and imparts to him two other prophecies on the way. Then we are told in chap. x. 17-27 that Samuel summons an assembly of the people to Mizpeh, repeats his warning against the monarchy, but then causes lots to be cast who shall be king over the tribes, and families, and individuals. The lot falls upon Saul, who makes no mention to any one of the anointing, but has hidden himself among the stuff. Finally, in chap. xi. we find the account given in the text, to which, in order to bring it into harmony with what has been already related, these words are prefixed in ver. 14: "And Samuel said to the people, Come, let us go to Gilgal to renew the kingdom;" but in xi. 15 we find: "Then went all the people to Gilgal, and made Saul king before Jehovah in Gilgal." The contradictions are striking. The elders require a king from Samuel, whom they could choose themselves (2 Sam. ii. 4; v. 3; 1 Kings xii. 1, 20; 2 Kings xiv. 21), and whom, according to 1 Sam. xi. 15, the people actually choose. Jehovah will not have a king, but then permits it. Nor is this permission all; he himself points out to Samuel the man whom he is to anoint. Anointed to be king, Saul goes, as if nothing had taken place, to his home. He comes to the assembly at Mizpeh, and again says nothing to any one of his new dignity. Already king by anointment, he is now again made king by the casting of lots. He returns home to till his field, when the messengers from Jabesh were sent not to the king of Israel, but to the people of Israel, to ask for help. In Gibeah also they do not apply to the king; not till he sees the people weeping in Gibeah, does Saul learn the message. Yet he does not summon the people to follow him as king; he requests the following just as in earlier times individuals in extraordinary cases sought to rouse the people to take up arms. It is impossible that a king should be chosen by lot at a time when the bravest warrior was needed at the head, and simple boys, who hid themselves among the stuff, were not suited to lead the army at such a dangerous time. At the time of Saul's very first achievements his son Jonathan stands at his side as a warrior; at his death his youngest son Ishbosheth was 40 years of age (2 Sam. ii. 10). Saul must therefore have been between 40 and 50 years old when he became king. The request of the elders for a king, and Samuel's resistance, belong on the other hand to the prophetic narrator of the books of Samuel, in whose account it was followed by the assembly at Mizpeh and the casting of lots. The same narrator attempts to bring the achievement at Jabesh, and the recognition of Saul as ruler and king which followed it, into harmony with his narrative by the addition of the restoration of the kingdom and some other interpolations. The Philistines would hardly have permitted minute preparations and prescribed assemblies for the election of king. The simple elevation and recognition of Saul as king after his first successful exploit in war corresponds to the situation of affairs (cf. I xii. 12). And I am the more decided in holding this account to be historically correct, because it does not presuppose the other accounts, and because the men of Jabesh, according to the older account, fetched the bodies of Saul and his sons to Jabesh from Beth-shan and burned them there, 1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13. The older account in the books of Samuel knows nothing of the request of the elders for a king. After the defeat which caused Eli's death, it narrates the carrying back of the ark by the Philistines, and the setting up of it at Beth-shemesh and Kirjath-jearim. Then follows Saul's anointing by Samuel (ix. 1-10, 16); then the lost statement about the age of Saul when he became king, and the length of the reign; then the great exploits of Saul against the Philistines (xiii. 1-14, 46); xiii. 8-13 stands in precise relation to x. 8. That the achievement of Jabesh cannot have been wanting in the older account follows from the express reference to it at the death of Saul.

215.1 Sam. xiii. 3-7; xiv. 22.

216.1 Sam. xiii. 16-18.

217.1 Sam. xiv. 1-23.

218.So the older account, 1 Sam. xiv. 24-45.

219.Numbers ii. 18-24; Joshua xviii. 12-20; Judges v. 14. That Ephraim remained true to Saul follows from the recognition of Ishbosheth after Saul's death, 2 Sam. ii. 9, 10.

220.1 Sam. xiv. 52.

221.1 Sam. xiii. 2.

222.1 Sam. xiv. 3, 18, 37; xxviii. 6.

223.1 Sam. xxviii. 3, 9.

224.2 Sam. xxi. 2, 5.

225.The ark was brought by David from Kirjath-jearim to Zion. That could not take place before the year 1025 B.C. Saul's death falls, as was assumed above, in the year 1033 B.C. But the ark is said to have been at Kirjath-jearim 20 years (1 Sam. vii. 2; vi. 21), it must therefore have been carried thither 1045 B.C., or a few years later. The stay among the Philistines must have been more than seven months, as stated in 1 Sam. vi. 61; the stay at Beth-shemesh was apparently only a short one. The battle at Tabor and Eli's death cannot, as shown above, be placed much later than 1070 B.C. According to 1 Sam. xiv. 3; xviii. 19, the ark was in Saul's army at the battle of Michmash, and Ahijah (Ahimelech), the great-grandson of Eli, was its keeper.

226.1 Chron. xxvi. 28.

227.Only one concubine is mentioned, by whom Saul had two sons.

228.1 Sam. xviii. 3, 17-20, 28; xxii. 4.

229.1 Sam. xvii., xviii., xxiii. 28.

230.1 Sam. xiv. 47, 48.

231.1 Sam. xv. 12. The place near Hebron still bears the name Carmel.

232.Nöldeke, "Die Amalekiter," s. 14, 15.

233.2 Sam. i. 21-24.

234.This follows from the fact that the monarchy remains even after Saul's death, from the lamentation of the Israelites for Saul, and their allegiance to his son Ishbosheth.

235.1 Sam. vii. 15.

236.1 Sam. x. 8; xiii. 8-15.

237.1 Sam. xv.

238.Ruth iv. 18-22.

239.In 2 Sam. v. 4, 5 it is stated that David when he was raised at Hebron to be king of Judah was 30 years old. This took place 1033 B.C. (p. 113, note); David must therefore have been born 1063 B.C., and could not have marched out to battle before 1043 B.C.

240.1 Sam. xviii. 5.

241.The tale of the battle of David with the giant Goliath appears to have arisen out of a later conflict of David when king with a mighty Philistine. In 2 Sam. xxi. 18-22 we are told, "And there was again a battle of Philistines at Gob. Then Elhanan, the son of Jair Orgim, a Bethlehemite, slew Goliath of Gath; the shaft of whose spear was as a weaver's beam." Shortly before it is stated: "David and his servants strove with the Philistines, and David was weary, and Ishbi thought to slay David – the weight of his spear was 300 shekels; then Abishai (the brother of Joab) aided the king, and slew the Philistine," 2 Sam. xxi. 15-17. From the conflict with a giant which David had to undergo when king, and the slaughter of Goliath of Gath by Elhanan, a fellow-townsman of David's from Bethlehem, the legend may have arisen that David himself slew a great giant. This legend was then transferred by the theocratic narrative into David's boyhood; in this way he was marked from the beginning as the chosen instrument of Jehovah. The statement in 1 Chron. xxi. 5 cannot be made to tell against this view, which in order to explain the contradiction between the First and Second Books of Samuel explains the giant whom Elhanan slew, the shaft of whose spear was like a weaver's beam, to be a brother of Goliath; the less so inasmuch as the passage from the Book of Samuel is repeated word for word with this addition, while the battle of David with Ishbi is omitted. If David really slew a distinguished warrior of Gath in Saul's time, it is the more difficult to explain how he could afterwards fly to the prince of Gath of all others, and enter into such close relations with him. The often-mentioned national song, "Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands," is scarcely applicable to the slaying of a giant, however great he might be, and probably comes from the time of David's reign when he had really gained more brilliant victories than Saul.

242.1 Sam. xviii. 3.

243.1 Sam. xvi. 22; xviii. 5; xxii. 14.

244.This date may be assumed, if we put the death of Saul in the year 1033 B.C. (p. 113), since David's rebellion in Judah lasted a considerable time, and he afterwards remained at Ziklag at least 16 months, 1 Sam. xxvii. 7; xxix. 3.

245.1 Sam. xviii. 9.

246.1 Sam. xviii. 16; xx. 31.

247.1 Sam. xviii. 11.

248.As Najoth, or rather Newajoth, means dwellings, the habitations of the prophet's disciples must be meant.

249.1 Sam. xix. 18-24; xxi. 11-15.

250.1 Sam. xxii. 9.

251.1 Sam. xiv. 3.

252.The older text, 1, xxvi. 19, represents David as saying to Saul: "If Jehovah hath stirred thee against me, let him accept an offering, but if men, cursed be they before Jehovah." In the Books of Samuel the relations of Saul and David are strangely confused, for reasons which are not far to seek. The older account of the priests and the later one of the prophets, which are mixed together in these books, had equally reason to place in as favourable a light as possible the founder of the power of Israel, of the united worship, the minstrel of the psalms, the progenitor of the kings of Judah, and to put him in the right as against Saul and the house of Saul. To the older narrative belongs the description of David's shepherd life, his battle with the giant, his rise as a warrior, – the intention is to show that Jehovah is strong in the weak. The shepherd-boy comes into the camp in order to bring bread to his brethren and cheese to the captain. His brethren are angry that he has left the sheep, and wish to send him back, but he will fight with the giant who has defied the army of the living God. Saul dissuades him from the contest, but David persists, refuses armour, and goes forth in trust on Jehovah, who gives not the victory by spear and shield. By this victory he is marked as the chosen instrument of Jehovah. In both accounts Saul loses the favour of Jehovah by disobedience to Samuel. According to the later text, Samuel, when he had broken with Saul owing to the incomplete "cursing" of Amalek, took the horn of oil and anointed the youngest son of Jesse, who was fetched from the sheep, king over Israel amid his brethren. When this had been done Saul's servants bring David as a brave hero and warrior, "prudent in speech, a comely person, cunning in playing," 1 Sam. xvi. Yet Samuel had no right to place kings over the Israelites, and if he went so far in his opposition to Saul, he made himself responsible for the rebellion; if he really intended this, he would have set up some other than a shepherd-boy against Saul. If, on the other hand, David was really anointed, Saul was quite justified in pursuing him. Yet it was with this anointment, as with that of Saul; no one knew anything of it, and David himself makes no use of this divine election, not even when he organises the rebellion in Judah, nor after Saul's death at Hebron, nor in the struggle against Ishbosheth, who was not in any case anointed, nor even after the death of Ishbosheth: he is after this chosen by the people in Hebron and anointed king over Israel. It is only the Philistines in Gath who know anything of David's royal dignity, when he comes to them for the first time, 1 Sam. xxi. 11. We see plainly that this anointment is a careless interpolation of the prophetic revision, to which the verses 11-15 of the chapter quoted undoubtedly belong, just as chap. xvi. is intended to legitimise David. The same account represents Saul as thrusting twice with his javelin at David, xviii. 10, 11, on the very day after he has slain the giant. As though nothing had happened, David continues in the house of Saul, and Saul confers on him still greater honours and dignities. In the older as well as in the later account this is turned round so as to seem that Saul gave these to David as a "snare," that David might fall by the hands of the Philistines, xviii. 17, 25; and with this view Saul requires 100 foreskins of the Philistines as the price of Michal. It is obvious that Saul had other means, more certain to accomplish his object, at his command to destroy David, if he really intended it; according to the older account Saul requests Jonathan and his men, though in vain, to slay David, xix. 1. When the attempt at assassination and the open breach has taken place in both narratives, Saul, according to the prophetic account, marvels nevertheless that David does not come to table, xx. 26, 27. To this text also belongs the further statement that when Jonathan excused David, Saul thrust at him also with his spear, xx. 33. In the older account Ahimelech, who had aided David in his flight, makes the excuse that he knew not that David fled before the king. "David was the most honoured among the friends of Saul: " no one therefore knew anything of these plots and attempts of Saul upon David. Every one sees that this is impossible. Jonathan knows David better than Saul, and always defends him against his father; then David himself calls on Jonathan to kill him if there is any wickedness in him, 1, xx. 8. The story of the arrows is very poetical, but the sign is quite unnecessary, since they afterwards converse with each other, 1, xx. 18-43. In the older account also of the occurrence in the desert by the Dead Sea, the prophetic account has inserted a visit of Jonathan to David. Jonathan strengthens David's courage although he is in rebellion against his father. "Fear not," Jonathan says to him, "the hand of my father will not reach thee, thou shalt be king over Israel," xxiii. 15-18. Saul was something different from the madman who betwixt sane intervals and reconciliations is constantly making fresh attacks on David's life, whether innocent or guilty. Even the most complete recognition of all that David established at a later time for Israel, and with an influence extending far beyond Israel, does not make it a duty to overlook the way in which he rose to his eminence.

253.1 Sam. xxii. 3; 2, x. 1.

254.In 1 Sam. xxix. 3, Achish says of David, "He has now been with me for years."

255.So the older account, 1 Sam. xxii. 1-5.

256.So the older story, 1 Sam. xxii. The priestly point of view from which it is written causes it, in order to prove the innocence of the priests, to represent David as saying on his flight to Ahimelech that he had a hasty mission from the king, so that Ahimelech can explain to Saul that he knew nothing about the flight. From the same point of view we must derive the statement that the body-guard hesitated to lay hands on the holy men, and that an Edomite slew them. That the punishment of Nob took place long after David's flight and rebellion, is clear from the fact that the fugitive Abiathar finds David already in possession of Kegilah, 1 Sam. xxii. 20; xxiii. 6, 7.

257.1 Sam. xxv. 2-12, 18-42.

258.1 Sam. xxx. 26-31.

259.That David saved and won Kegilah from the Philistines, and obtained a great victory over them, as we find it in the older account (1 Sam. xxiii. 1-5), is more than improbable. David certainly could not undertake to fight with Saul and the Philistines at one time with 600 men. How could he meet an army of the Philistines in the field, when he does not trust himself to maintain the walls of Kegilah against Saul with his troop. The citizens of Kegilah would hardly have been prepared to give him up, if just before he had done them such a kindness. Finally, this battle contradicts the position in which we find David before and afterwards with regard to the Philistines. Achish at any rate has unbounded confidence in David since his desertion, and will even make him "keeper of his head," 1 Sam. xxviii. 2.

260.1 Sam. xxiii. 9-13.

261.1 Sam. xxiii. 25-28.

262.So the older account, 1 Sam. xxvi. 1, 2; xxvii. 1-3. While Saul has cast his spear at David, and pursues him everywhere with unwearying energy in order to slay him, David gives him his life. According to the older account, Saul sleeps in his encampment in the wilderness of Ziph. David with Abishai secretly enters this, and he distinctly refuses, when urged by Abishai to slay Saul, to listen to him, because Saul is an "anointed of Jehovah," takes the spear and the water-bowl of the king, plants himself on a mountain in the distance, and from this reproaches Abner that he has been so careless in providing for the safety of the king. Saul is again touched, acknowledges his sins and follies, begs David to return, and finally gives him his blessing on his undertaking. David upon this declares that his life will be regarded before Jehovah as he has regarded Saul's life, and escapes to the Philistines. According to the prophetic account, Saul "covers his feet" in a cave in the desert of Engedi, in which are concealed David and his men. These urge David to slay Saul, but he replies, "Far be it from me to lay my hand on the Lord's anointed," and merely cuts off the corner of Saul's upper garment. When Saul awakes and goes out of the cave, David hurries after him, prostrates himself, and proves by the piece in his hand that those did him wrong who said that he sought to do Saul mischief, "but thou art seeking to take my life." Saul weeps, acknowledges that David is more just than he is; may Jehovah reward him (David) for this day. "I know," Saul continues, "that thou wilt be king, and the kingdom of Israel will continue in thy hand." Let David only swear to him not to destroy his seed. This David does, 1 Sam. xxiv. 4-23. If this event, in itself all but impossible, ever took place, it must have had some consequences; yet there is no change in the relations of Saul and David, Saul continues to pursue David. If David took the oath not to destroy the descendants of Saul, he broke it.

263.So the older account, 1 Sam. xxvii. 12.

264.1 Sam. xxvii. 6, 12.

265.Chron. xiii. 1-7, 20.

266.1 Sam. xxx. 26-30; supra, p. 137. In order to wash David clean from the reproach of fighting with the Philistines against his people, it is observed (xxvii. 8-11) that David always marched against the tribes of the desert, that he cut down the prisoners, and then reported to Achish that he "had invaded the south of Judah." The position of Ziklag was ill-suited for attacks on the desert, and Achish had not given him any commands to fight against the children of the desert. At a later time Achish says of David: "Since his desertion I have found nothing in him," xxix. 3, 6; he will make him even the protector of his own life (1, xxviii. 2), and such deceit as is here attributed to David presupposes that Achish and all the rest of the Philistines were blind.

267.1 Sam. xxvii. 7, "one year and four months: " xxix. 3, Achish says, "He has been with me – for years."

268.According to the older account, 1 Sam. xxviii. 2, when Achish requires him to march with him against Saul, David replies, "So shalt thou behold what thy servant will do." The narrative of the sending back of David at the wish of the remaining princes, and David's protest against it, belong also to the older narrative. This is repeated in Chronicles (1, xiii. 19) very emphatically, and without any motive in the context, so that it might be possible to accept the same view which represents David as constantly marching against the desert from Ziklag. For the moral estimate of David it is sufficient that it did not rest with him to join in the battle.

269.The story of the witch of Endor (xxviii. 3 ff.) belongs to the later account. To begin with, this account contradicts itself; we are told in the introduction (verse 3) that Saul had removed the necromancers and "wise men" out of Israel, a statement which is repeated in the course of the story (verse 9). Nevertheless Saul causes a witch to be sought out, because when already encamped before the Philistines "he is in great fear of the enemy." Saul was a brave warrior, who even in a worse position had never trembled. He sends for this woman in order to speak with Samuel's ghost. If Saul had any desire to see ghosts, he would desire to see the ghost of Samuel least of all, for he, according to the same prophetic account, had anointed David to be king against Saul (verse 11). Samuel as a ghost has thus a third opportunity for reproaching Saul, and telling him "that Jehovah had given the kingdom to David, because he had not satisfied his wrath on Amalek" (p. 129).

270.1 Sam. xxxi. 1-11; 1 Chron. x. 10. According to a second account of the death of Saul in 2 Sam. i. ff., an Amalekite came unexpectedly to Mount Gilboa. He finds Saul in flight leaning on his spear, and Saul says to him, "Slay me." The Amalekite does so; takes the crown from the head of the king, and his bracelets, and then flies to Ziklag in the territory of the Philistines in order to bring the crown to David. David causes him to be slain, because "he had lifted up his hand against the anointed of the Lord." The object of this story is too plain – to bring the crown of Saul into the hands of David in order to make him the legitimate king, and at the same time to exhibit David as loyal to Saul even after his death, and avenging his murder – and the impossibilities in it are too great. David afterwards permitted the execution of the remaining descendants of Saul.

271.1 Sam. xxxi. 12, 13; 2, xxi. 12.

272.This lament, which was in the book of Jasher (2 Sam. i. 18), is ascribed to David. His moral participation in the issue of the battle must have been most clear to himself; his rebellion and desertion to the Philistines had weakened Saul's powers of fighting and deprived him of brave warriors; he had been ready to fight in the army of the Philistines against Saul and Jonathan. Least of all could David sing, "Tell it not in Gath," since he himself was in the land of Gath. The last verse, "I am distressed for thee, my brother Jonathan," etc., may certainly have come from David, and may have been added to the lament at a later time. Thus the whole might appear to be the work of David.