CHAPTER 12
This is a pretty slight chapter, which does little but
rehash points previously made. The main
thrust is to make the reader think Samuel is awesome. It begins with a recounting of Samuel’s integrity. Despite all
his many years as a judge, no one could recall any time he’d ever taken a bribe
or engaged in any corruption, or wronged anyone. He’s a good judge, got it?
Now we go from praise of the last judge to all the arguments
for why having a king is bad. We
already heard them, but now we hear them again. Short version: Israel choosing a king means Israel is rejecting
God. I’m not buying it, though. This is what the priests think, in part
because it puffs up their position. And
these words are coming from Samuel, who is a priest and judge. Samuel says that if they don’t listen to the
voice of the Lord, he’ll turn against them and their king and they will
“understand how great an evil it is in the eyes of the Lord that you have asked
for a king.”
Hold in, the above statement by Samuel makes it sound like
going away from the Lord while you have a king is a sign that having kings is a
bad thing. OK, but if that’s true then
wouldn’t it also be true that going away from the ways of the Lord under judges
is a sign that judges are a bad thing? Well guess what – we just saw tons of
examples of that in the Book of Judges.
We saw some extreme examples of that in the time of Moses even. So what makes having a king any
different?
This reads purely like a power play by Samuel. He’s the one being pushed aside, and he’s
responding like an angry old crank.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m sure in
his mind this isn’t just a power play but upholding the will of the Lord. But his mind has melded the two together –
his position and will of the Lord.
After all, he’s been making decisions in the name of the Lord for quite
a long time.
Something is mentioned at the end of this chapter that I
think highlights a fundamental paradox of the religion of the ancient
Hebrew. We’re told that God will not
abandon his people since “the Lord has decided to make you his people.” Yeah, the notion of being the Lord’s people
strikes me as a paradox. The Lord is
supposed to be almighty; the creator of all.
Well, if he’s the creator of all, why is he just have on people he looks
after? The relationship between God and
the Hebrew makes more sense if he’s just one God of many – even if he’s the
most powerful of the one God among many.
That’s probably how this religion began, and then it took new turns and
forms. Christianity really does strike
me as an outgrowth of the ancient Hebrew religion.
CHAPTER 13
The chapter has a weird start. The first line is designed to tell us how old Saul was when he
became king and how long he reigned.
Only, apparently the text left his age blank and then claims he ruled
for two years, which can’t possibly be true.
(My Bible lists at as “-two years” indicating that they think its 22 or
32 or 42. A footnote says in the New
Testament, St. Paul says Saul ruled for 40 years, so I guess its 42). At any rate, it’s a paperwork error, right
there in the Bible.
Moving on, the chapter discusses a fight between Saul’s
forces and the Philistines. They’re
meeting for battle, but they’ve got to wait for Samuel. He’s supposed to wait
on Day X to issue a burnt offering, and only then can they fight. Only Samuel is late. Saul, worried that his forces will slip away
(they are already trembling, the Bible reports, and remember this is the guy
who had some Israelis refuse to support him when he first became king). So Saul figures we can’t wait forever for
Samuel, and he does the burnt offering himself.
Naturally, once he does that Samuel shows up. Naturally, Samuel hits the roof. You should’ve waited! You’re out of line! It’s the priest’s job! How dare you violate the Lord’s
commandments! All that.
Me? I’m totally on
Team Saul for this one. Samuel comes
off like the classic short-minded boss, one who knows what his role is and
wants everything to revolve around it.
He has a completely parochial point of view. What’s best for Israel is following the Lord’s ways and that
means going through the priest. The
priest is the only one who matters here.
Saul points this out – look, I waited, but you were late. And the troops were melting away, and the
Philistines were right there. What was
I supposed to do? The Bible’s slant is
fully on Team Samuel (it is, after all, called the Book of Samuel), but Samuel
is being completely impractical here.
If it meant that much to him he shoulda, I dunno, showed up on
time! He’s a small minded man, bitter
over the loss of power to the king (we’ve already seen repeatedly his view that
Israel picking a king equals Israel turning away from God). Now he’s doing whatever little power play he
can. Anything that doesn’t go his way
is an excuse for mass histrionics.
Actually, you know what Samuel reminds me of? I suck on the terminology here, but during
the days of Christ, there were a few main sects of Israeli. (looks it up). Sadducees – that’s it. I think. Well, for purposes of this paragraph that's the right group. They were the group during the time of
Christ that who claimed power based on their status as priests and the roles
that obligated them to do. And they’d
use this position against others. They
knew the laws, but not the feeling. It
was all just following procedure, and without much element of grace or human
feelings. I think that’s their
reputation anyway. Yeah, that’s
Samuel. Oh, he doesn’t say that the
religion should be all about Samuel. He
can say it’s all about judges or priests or God’s law, and since he’s a prophet
he can say he’s got God’s ear – but his slant on the religion happens to,
wouldn’t you know it, put a primacy on Samuel and mean that those possible
rivals to him are terrible.
At any rate, the Philistine invasion goes well, which is as
Samuel foretold. In Samuel’s mind, it’s
because Saul didn’t wait for him. In my
mind, when your judge/priest/prophet so completely upbraids the king on the eve
of a big battle over ticky-tack stuff – that can’t be good. Hell, I get the feeling that deep down
Samuel feels glad the Philistine opening thrust went well. It vindicates
him. And Samuel seems to care more
about himself than anything else.
You know who else Samuel reminds me of? Bobby Knight. Bobby Knight was a great coach who followed the rules. His kids went to class, they graduated, there were no NCAA scandals. But he was a self-centered jackass. That’s the prophet Samuel.
CHAPTER 14
Now the big battle chapter.
Jonathan goes off with his armor bearer – and on the great list of Bible
characters who don’t get named, the armor bearer deserves special mention. He’s up with Abraham’s servant who arranged
Isaac’s marriage, the daughter of Jephthah who was sacrificed by her father,
and the nameless man who warned Eli earlier in Judges.
Well, Jonathan and the armor bearer turn a bad situation
into a victorious one. Jonathan attacks
a group of Philistines and kills 20 (he
takes them down and the armor bearer finishes them off). And then the Bible takes a turn for the
unbelievable. We’re told that killing
these 20 guys causes confusion and panic to break out in the Philistine
camp. They freak out and before you
know it, they’re stabbing each other with swords in their camp.
Oh come on. A Hollywood
studio would reject that script. Can
you imagine: now in scene one, Rambo kills 20 guys, and in the rest of the film
the opposing army falls apart. If the Philistine army were really worth half a
damn, it wouldn’t fall apart that easily.
At any rate, Saul has everyone take an oath not to eat
anything until they’ve finished the battle.
Everyone hears it and upholds it – except Jonathan. He’d slunk off with the armor bearer without
telling anyone, and so was out of contact when the oath happens. So Jonathan breaks the oath by eating a bit
of honey. (We’re also told some
soldiers ate animals with blood still in it – not kosher – but Saul atoned for
that ASAP). Saul finds out who did it
and promises to kill whoever is responsible, even if it’s his firstborn son
Jonathan. He means that just to
dramatize his point, not because he thinks Jonathan did the eating.
He finds out to his horror that it was Jonathan. Well, an
oath is an oath. Saul is resolved that
his son must die. He’s saved, though,
because the soldiers protest so much.
He gave us victory this day! How
can he be killed? They got a point, and
so Saul relents. Man, Saul can’t win.
When he goes to enforce a ticky-tack point (as here), he’s wrong. When
he overlooks a minor point (as with Samuel last chapter), he’s wrong. The Bible really runs down Saul.
We’re then told that Saul had plenty of success against
Israel’s enemies. (Hey Samuel – don’t
look now but this whole getting a king thing that you claim equals a rejection
of God is actually working out pretty well, thank you very much. A more
coherent political unit leads to a more effective military, and we’re seeing
that going on).
CHAPTER 15
Samuel gives Saul a new assignment. Back in the days of Moses the Amalek people
treated us poorly. Now it’s payback
time. Samuel wants some real vengeance
– all to be put under the ban. “Do not
spare [the king], kill men, and women, children and infants, oxen and sheep,
camels and donkeys.” They are to be
entirely slaughtered. Lovely stuff, Samuel.
You’re making it really easy for me to dislike you.
Quick point – why now?
It’s been over 400 years since Exodus. Why just now go after them? My theory – because it’s only now that the
Hebrew army is good enough. Only now
that they have a king. But I’m sure the
practical advantages of having a king will be forever lost on Samuel. After all, priests and judges (like him) are
sidelined, so having a king must be a rejection of God. Case closed, screw any other practical
matters.
Well, Saul does defeat them and slaughter them – but not
enough. He puts the people to the sword
but captures the king and takes the good cattle. Saul wants to offer it to God.
You can imagine Samuel’s reactions.
Good intentions are meaningless!
Just obey the letter of the law!
Saul tries to defend himself, but Samuel just comes down like a ton of
bricks on the king.
In fact, while I don’t think much of Samuel, the speech he
gives is a doozy. “Does the Lord
delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices as much as in obedience to the Lord’s
command? Obedience is better than
sacrifice, to listen, better than the fat of rams. For a sin of divination is rebellion, and arrogance, the crime of
idolatry. Because you have rejected the
word of the Lord, the Lord in turn has rejected you as king.” That’s some powerful fire and brimstone talk
there. I imagine Samuel poking his
elderly, accusing finger at Saul as he says it. I imagine a special emphasis on “you” in that last bit – “the
Lord in turn has rejected you as king.”
It’s one big fuck you to Saul.
I don’t know what Samuel’s intent is when he gives this
little tirade, but the effect is simple – he breaks Saul. After this, Saul is a mentally fragile and
often downright mentally ill king. Up
until now he’s been very successful.
His problems have been fairly minor ticky-tack stuff, but he’s hounded
by the prophet (the same one who has always steadfastly opposed the principle
of there being a king), but things will soon get worse for Saul.
In fact, when Samuel goes to leave after his thunderous
tirade, Saul grabs his cloak and it rips.
Samuel uses that as another angle on Saul. The ripped cloak represents
that God has torn from Saul. Oh, and
then Samuel gets to the king Saul has let live and slices and dices, killing
him personally.
Samuel never saw Saul again after that, we’re told. We’re also told Samuel grieves over Saul,
but I wish Samuel would recognize his own role in hurting Saul. Folks – so far Saul has been pretty
effective in achieving his main goals.
Just a few procedural points could’ve gone been. The Bible often complains about how the
Israelis are a stiff-necked people – well Samuel is a stiff-necked prophet. If Saul had the good fortune to become king
when a more reasonable man had been judge, he’d have a much better time of
things.
CHAPTER 16
Well, Samuel says God has broken from Saul, so now it’s time
to fine a new king. God tells Samuel to
look with the family of Jesse of Bethlehem.
He has a cover story – he’s coming to offer a sacrifice. One moment I found a bit intriguing – when
Samuel comes to Bethlehem, the village elders come to Samuel trembling asking
“Is your visit peaceful, O seer?” This
is just after Samuel chopped up a king and complained that Saul hadn’t been
bloodthirsty enough. Even Israelis are
afraid of what a visit from Samuel might mean.
He comes in peace and goes to Jesse’s house. He sees seven sons, but none are the right
one. Do you have any more? Why yes – and here enters the most important
figure since Moses: David. He’s out
tending sheep, he’s the youngest in the family. But he’s called for and brought before Jesse – “He was ruddy, a
youth with beautiful eyes and good looking” and Samuel figures this is the one.
He anoints him, but in private. Saul is
still alive and any other anointed can be dangerous. My take? This anointing story was later manufactured
to increase David’s claim on the throne.
There would be contention from survivors from the House of Saul - and that eventually leads to the divided
kingdoms – but saying that David was first anointed by the prophet/judge/priest
Samuel himself gives David a stronger claim to the throne.
We’re told that Saul is distraught. He suffers from
depression apparently – “an evil spirit” the Bible says. An evil spirit named Samuel. All his complaining and denouncing of Saul
finally broke him. Samuel’s moral
authority has convinced Saul that God – God himself – has abandoned him. How can he now rule? And again, let’s look over Saul’s crimes: he
made an offering when Samuel was late, and didn’t kill every living thing –
just 90% of the living things – with the Amalek. Oh, and his vow with killing
Jonathan, but Samuel doesn’t seem to mind that. Meanwhile, Saul has been the most successful military commander
they’ve had since Joshua. Like Samuel
cares. He’s always looked for an excuse
to blast Saul, and he’s blasted Saul right out of his self-confidence, senses,
and sanity. Way to go, Samuel. Way to
go.
Click here to go to Chapters 17 to 22 of Samuel I.
Click here to go to Chapters 17 to 22 of Samuel I.
No comments:
Post a Comment