Samuel I: Chapters 27 to 31

Last time, the Saul continued trying to kill David.  Now for the last installment of the First Book of Samuel:

CHAPTER 27

The story of David and Saul takes a rather unexpected twist, and David hands himself over to the enemy.  No, not Saul.  Israel’s enemy: the Philistines.  They’ve been the bad guy for quite some time now, but David tells his 600 men: Guys, look – if we stay here Saul will kill us at some point.  So let’s move to Philistine land where Saul will quit hunting us.  So they do.

As a refuge in Philistine lands, David is expected to raid the Israelis.  David tells his benefactors that’s just what he’s doing, when in reality he’s raiding others in the area, who are traditional enemies of the Israelis.  Oh, that’s nice. He covers his tracks well to make sure his Philistine benefactors won’t find out the real score by killing every person in the towns he raids – male and female both.  Oh, that’s quite a bit south of nice. 

Question: is this real or just a cover story?  Did David really keep this ruse going, and if so are the Philistines dense?  But if David really did raid the Israelis, how could they ever accept them as his king?  I really don’t know the answer to that.  I also don’t know which is worse – David raiding his own people or David engaging in small-scale genocide to cover his tracks.

The Bible says David stayed with the Philistines for 16 months.  This is a rather disturbing interlude.  It does fit in with the interpretation of Chapter 25 as David as shakedown artist.  This may not be the situation he wanted for himself, but he’s on the run from Saul and he’s got to do what he’s got to do to survive somehow.

CHAPTER 28

Now the Philistines are going to attack Israel in full force.  David’s told he is expected to join up.  David’s reply, “Good!”  Really, that’s his reply.  The Bible even includes the exclamation point.  Maybe he’s faking it, but the Bible doesn’t give us a little explanation saying, “David is faking his enthusiasm.  This is one of those items that are so open to interpretation that there’s no way to make more than just a guess.  It’s a Biblical Rorschach test – how you respond tells us more about you than the material itself. 

David is just a minor player in this chapter, though.  The main action is Saul.  He’s horrified to hear that the Philistines are going to strike.  Saul, once a mighty king, has totally lost heart.  Saul consults God, but of course God doesn’t answer Saul calls. 

Saul has a plan – find a medium.  Now necromancy is a no-no.  There are laws against it in the Torah and Saul himself has passed laws against it.  Seeing a sorcerer is a sign you are consulting with foreign gods – for God himself won’t answer these things.  (In other words, the existence – and especially the success of – a sorcerer is a sign that there are other gods.  That tells us something about Hebrew religion in these early days. 

But Saul goes to see one.  Desperate times and all.  He wants to consult with the ghost of Samuel.  He gets a medium to conjure Samuel, and the late prophet is none to happy to see Saul.  Why did you disturb me are – those are Samuel’s first words.  Once again, Samuel berates Saul for not killing everyone when he fought the Amalek, and says God has rejected Saul for that.  Then Samuel gets a memorable parting shot, telling Saul that Saul and all of Saul’s sons will be with Samuel son.  Yeah, that can’t be the news Saul wanted to hear.

CHAPTER 29

But before Saul and his family get wiped out, it’s back to David.  He is marching into battle with the Philistines without complaint against his own people.  Well, David isn’t complaining but then the other Philistine leaders see him and complain.   How can we trust this guy?  Isn’t he “Saul has slain his thousands and David his tens of thousands” David?  Get him gone! 

So the Philistine leader breaks the “bad” news to David – sorry, you can’t play these reindeer games with us.  Go back home.  David’s initial reaction isn’t to accept happily and be relieved.  Instead he complains!  “What have I don’t?  What fault have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until today that I cannot go to fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 

Wow.  There are a couple ways to interpret that.  First, he’s faking it to keep the affections of this king. Second, that’s he’s probing.  Asking what have I done wrong – maybe David’s worried that his benefactor no longer trusts him (in which case he’s really screwed).  Or how about a third option.  His loyalty isn’t to his people but to his Lord.  That was often the case once upon a time.  It all hinges on how clear and solid an identity the Hebrew had at this stage in history.  Going by the Bible, they had a very clear identity and always did.  But in reality they grew out of the context of Canaan.  They had their God, but the Hebrew still seem polytheistic – just believing there was Their God, not one God.    Heck, even David had a house god he used for his escape when Saul tried to first have him killed.  My hunch is that David is just lying and probing, but there is the other option here.

Regardless, he goes back with his 600 men.

CHAPTER 30

And when David returns to the town of Ziklag, where he and his 600 men live, he finds it in ruins.  While David went off with the Philistine army, some Amalekite raiders took advantage of the Philistine countryside lacking warriors to launch a raid.  Not as bloodthirsty as David is in his raids, they took the women and children back instead of killing them.  They also took the possessions and livestock.  Nice haul.

And boy is David’s 600 men pissed.  They actually start talking about stoning their boss.  Yipes.  David gets ahead of things and consults with God – should we go after the raiders? Yup, God replies, possibly saving David’s life.  So off they go.  Short version: they find them and get all their stuff back. 

But there’s an odd little coda.  During the trip, 200 of David’s 600 men were too exhausted, and had to stay with the baggage during the battle.  Some of the others then say those 200 don’t deserve any of the spoils. Oh sure, give them their wives and kids back, but nothing else.  David comes down hard on this and says no, we won because of God not because of us.  So give back to every man what was once his.  And then we’re told, “And from that day forward [David] made this a law and a custom in Israel, as it is still today.” 

That last line is interesting to me.  Is this story really the beginning of the custom, or was the story created to justify the custom? 

CHAPTER 31

Back to Saul – for one last time.  Last we saw of Saul, Samuel’s ghost told him to buzz off one last time and then told Saul that he and all of his kids will die in battle the next day against the Philistines.

So it’s not really a surprise that it’s come to pass.  Wounded, Saul asks his armor bearer (as always, the armor bearer’s name isn’t given) to kill him.  No way, says the armor bearer.  So Saul falls on his own sword, as does the latest nameless armor bearer. 

The Philistines cut off his head and put his impaled body on one of their walls.  Some Israeli warriors manage to sneak in and take his body and get back. 

The First Book of Samuel ends on a dark note.  It’s like Empire Strikes Back – the hero is still out there, but the situation looks bleak.

CONCLUDING THOUGHTS

Well, it sure is a memorable book.  It’s called Samuel, but it’s really about Saul.  This book is his rise and fall, and for quite a while I can really feel for him.  I side with him massively over Samuel.  Saul was a good king who achieved many impressive things, but Samuel harped on some details.  Then Saul lost his mind and lost his way. He was a bad man - at least he wasn't born bad.  But he lost his way and turned into a disaster.

The new hero emerges in David, but the second half of the book is about the David-Saul dynamic.  Saul is impossible to root for here.  He’s trying to settle a petty score in his own mind that actually hurts Israel.  Then he dies.

One oddity in this book is there is some clear evidence that it was assembled from multiple sources.  I don’t just mean the double stories – twice Saul meets David, twice David escapes, twice David lets Saul live – but the clear ways it messes up the narrative.  We’re told that Samuel never sees Saul again, and then he sees Saul again.  David escapes from Saul’s attempt to kill him, and then it’s forgotten right away. 

Still, it’s a fascinating story, and it’s easy to see why it’s so famous.  

Click here for the beginning of Samuel II: Chapters 1 to 6