The Tragedy of Saul: An Overview
I Samuel marks a great transition point in the history of Israel. It begins with and is named after the man who was the last and perhaps the greatest of the judges and who is considered by the Talmud (Berachot 31b) to be one of the greatest of the prophets. This, in turn, reflects the Bible itself, which equates Samuel with the greatest of all time: “Moses and Aaron among his priests and Samuel among those who call on His name” (Psalms 99:6).
The comparison by the Psalms with Moses is apt—both Samuel and Moses were the leaders of the people as well as preeminent prophets. It was both as a leader and as a prophet that Samuel was able to see Israel through its becoming a kingdom.
It was not that he felt that anything was lacking in the mode in which he led the people. He was in fact so confident that he had done that right that he laid it on the line before the whole people, inviting anyone who had any complaint to present it—and there were no takers (I Samuel, ch. 12).
But, however reluctantly, he recognized that his sons, whom he had groomed to succeed him, were not fit for leadership. More importantly, the people themselves were aroused and united in a desire to adopt the way of governance of all their neighbors and, his sons having failed his hopes, there was no one there to carry on the old model. The people wanted to have a king.
The Torah itself speaks of a king.
When you come to the land that the L-rd, your G-d, is giving you, and you possess it and live therein, and you will say, “I will set a king over myself, like all the nations around me.” You shall set a king over you, one whom the L-rd, your G-d, chooses; from among your brothers, you shall set a king over yourself. (Deuteronomy 17:14–15)
The language of Scripture seems to indicate that the establishment of a monarchy is dependent on a demand made by the people. Though the rabbis strongly affirm that crowning a king is an actual mitzvah, one of the 613 commandments, commentators also indicate that its status as a mitzvah may be like that of writing a bill of divorce—something to be done only if the circumstances require it. The eighteenth-century commentary Or Hachaim writes: “If Israel is worthy and they do not ask for a king, then G-d Himself would rule them; and G-d too wants to rule Israel by Himself.”
Samuel counters the peoples’ demand for a king with a vivid description of just what problems kings typically inflict on their subjects. Jefferson could not have put it better. Nonetheless, reflecting the complex message that the Or Hachaim and others see in the biblical command, Samuel assents to the demand of the people and, engaging his prophetic powers, recognizes in Saul, a young member of the tribe of Benjamin, the man whom G-d had chosen to be Israel’s first king.
Saul was a man of great powers and little confidence. He did not seek the kingship, but had it thrust upon him by Samuel, who saw in Saul someone head and shoulders over everyone else, both literally in being a very tall man, and in his inner being. Saul did not see himself as kingly but found he could not be kingly enough to refuse or duck Samuel’s determined, full-court press to set him on the throne.
Saul was right to be apprehensive. Under the Torah, a king is not simply an autocrat; he is under the sovereignty of G-d, and must obey G-d the same way that everyone else does—he is both sovereign and subject. Even more difficult, Saul had to deal with a prophet who was accustomed to being the political leader as well, and, as a prophet, who spoke with G-d’s authority. While Samuel had allowed Saul to become the civil leader, he remained himself G-d’s authoritative spokesman.
It did not take long for Samuel to revoke the authority he had been key in granting. When, after the victory over Amalek, Saul had followed the clamoring of the people and failed to follow the instruction of G-d through Samuel, Samuel announced G-d’s revocation of Saul’s title. Doubly devastating was the analysis of Saul’s fault of character that accompanied the revocation: “You may look small to yourself, but you are the head of the tribes of Israel.” Saul’s own self-doubt had become a self-fulfilling prophecy. He had never seen himself as head and shoulders above everyone else, and had therefore not acted with the responsibility that in G-d’s plan accompanies true stature. In the context of history, this was not just inappropriate and false modesty; it was a rejection of G-d, and it resulted in the rejection by G-d of Saul as king.
Though the rejection was announced immediately, the disintegration of Saul’s kingship in the eyes of the world took a long time. But we can see immediately in the narrative in the Book of I Samuel how the disintegration was already invisibly in place and slowly beginning to manifest. Directly after Samuel’s announcement of G‑d’s rejection of Saul, the text tells us of Samuel’s secret mission to anoint a successor to the throne, who to Samuel’s own surprise, turns out to be David, the youngest of Jesse’s eight sons. Anointment is usually the coronation, marking the official beginning of a king’s rule, but David was still a lad and not yet ready for the throne. All remained in secret; the true king was hidden, whereas in Saul, still the apparent king, a terrible inward change began its insidious work: “An evil spirit from G-d began to terrify him” (I Samuel 16:14).
The two kings were brought together, for only David and the beautiful music he was already known for had the power to soothe Saul when the terror came upon him. Attached to Saul’s camp, David soon proved himself a warrior blessed by G-d by challenging and slaying the mighty Philistine Goliath who had terrorized the army of Israel. David soon gained Saul’s confidence, and became a famously successful leader in battle. But when the people acclaimed David as a greater warrior than Saul, Saul’s evil spirit awoke and focused itself increasingly on David. On the outside, he honored David, giving him his daughter in marriage and sending him out on many missions against the Philistine enemy; but within, he was consumed with jealousy, and his real plan was that David would be conveniently killed by the enemy in battle. But David won all his battles and at last Saul broke: one day as David was playing music for him, Saul lunged at David with his spear. David escaped and fled, eventually gathering to him a loyal band of Jews who followed him even to the camp of the Philistines as David continued to successfully evade Saul. The book describes several attempts David made to convince Saul that he meant him no harm and that he wanted to be reconciled, but though Saul would listen for a while, the evil spirit would return and the reconciliation never happened.
The evil spirit would dominate. The Philistine enemy, assembling for battle near Mt. Gilboa, now terrified Saul. In his terror, Saul went back to the agent of his predicament. He sought out a woman who, against G-d’s law, spoke with the dead and asked her to raise the spirit of the recently deceased Samuel. Instead of reassurance, Samuel’s spirit reconfirmed the terrible decree he had issued against him after the battle with Amalek, and announced Saul’s impending doom along with that of his sons. A haggard Saul then goes to meet his doom and the last chapter of the book describes how he and his sons were killed, how their bodies were desecrated, and how at last, brave men of Jabesh Gilead mounted a raid, retrieved the bodies, and eventually buried them. The throne was now open for the hidden king to come into his own, which will be the story of the next book, II Samuel.
