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The rise and fall of Saul
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The man selected to become the first monarchical ruler of Israel was Saul, son of Kish, a wealthy Benjamite landowner. Because Kish had lost some donkeys, Saul was sent in search of them. Unsuccessful in his search, he went to the seer-prophet Samuel at Ramah. In the early source, from which this narrative comes, he did not know Samuel’s name. The day before Saul went to Ramah, Samuel the seer (ro’e), who was depicted by the Deuteronomic historian as a prophet (navi’ ), received notice from Yahweh that Saul was the man chosen to reign over Israel. At the sacrificial meal, Saul, a tall young man, was given the seat of honor, and the next day Samuel anointed him prince (nagid ) of Israel in a secret ceremony. Before returning home, Saul joined a band of roving ecstatic prophets and prophesied under the influence of the spirit of Yahweh. In chapter 10, verses 17–27, generally accepted as part of the later source, the Deuteronomic historian’s views are depicted—Saul was chosen by lot at Mizpah. The early source picks up the story of Saul in chapter 11, which illustrates Saul’s military leadership abilities and describes his acclamation as king at Gilgal. Samuel’s farewell address, a Deuteronomic reworking of the later source, recapitulates the history of the Israelite tribes from the time of the patriarch Jacob through the period of the judges and forcefully presents the conservative view that the request for a monarchy will bring about adversity to Israel.
The early reign of Saul and his confrontations with Samuel until the last judge’s death is the subject of chapters 13–15. Saul’s early acts as king centered about battles with the Philistines. Because his son Jonathan had defeated one of their garrisons at Geba, the Philistines mustered an army to counterattack near Beth-aven (probably another name for Bethel). Saul issued a request for volunteers, who gathered together for battle but awaited the performance of the sacrifice before the battle by Samuel. Because Samuel did not come for seven days, Saul, acting on his own, presided at the sacrifice. Immediately after the burnt offering had been completed, Samuel appeared (perhaps waiting for such an opportunity to reassert his leading position) and castigated Saul for overstepping the boundaries of his princely prerogatives—even though Saul had been more than patient. Samuel warned him that this type of act (which Saul, in the early source, and later David and Solomon also often performed) would cost Saul his kingdom. In spite of Samuel’s apparent animosity, Saul continued to defend the interests of the newly formed kingdom.
The tragedy of Saul was that he was a transitional figure who had to bear the burden of being the man who was of an old order and at the same time of a new way of life among a people composed of disparate elements and leading figures. Both Samuel, the last judge of Israel, and David, the future builder of the small Israelite empire, opposed him. Saul was more a judge—a charismatic leader—than a monarch. Unlike most kings of his time and area, he levied no taxes, depended on a volunteer army, and had no harem. He did not construct a court bureaucracy but relied rather on the trust of the people in his charismatic leadership and thus did not alter the political boundaries or structure of the tribal confederacy.
The issue between Saul and Samuel came to a head in the events described in chapter 15 (a section from the later source). Samuel requested Saul to avenge the attacks by the Amalekites on the Israelite tribes during their wanderings in the wilderness after the Exodus from Egypt about 200 years earlier. Saul defeated the Amalekites in a holy war but did not devote everything to destruction as was required by the ban (ḥerem). Because Saul had not killed Agag, the Amalekite king, and had saved sheep and cattle for a sacrifice, Samuel informed Saul that he had disobeyed Yahweh and was thus rejected by God, for “to obey is better than to sacrifice.” Samuel then asked that Agag be brought to him, and he hacked the Amalekite king to pieces. After that, Saul and Samuel saw each other no more.
Samuel: the rise and significance of David
The next section contains the account of Saul’s fall from power and David’s rise to the position of king over all Israel. Samuel, still a charismatic and political power of great consequence, received from Yahweh the message that he was to go to Bethlehem to anoint a new ruler. Because he feared reprisal from Saul, Samuel went to Bethlehem (whose elders had the same fears) under the pretense of presiding at a sacrifice. There he anointed David, son of Jesse, to be future king. David then went to the court of Saul to be the king’s armor bearer and court singer.
In I Samuel 17 David is reported to have killed the 10-foot-tall (3-meter-tall) Philistine champion Goliath of Gath in a battle. However, II Samuel 21:19 states that Goliath is killed in a later period by one of David’s warriors, Elhanan. Some have claimed that the II Samuel passage may contain a copyist or translator error and that the original Hebrew, properly interpreted, implies that the person killed had kinship with Goliath and was not Goliath himself. This position is supported by the fact that I Chronicles 20:5 states that Elhanan killed Goliath’s brother. Other biblical scholars have argued that the name of Goliath may have been inserted for an unnamed Philistine warrior killed by David apparently while he was armor bearer to Saul and was unrecognized by Saul, thus indicating the reworking of more than one source by the Deuteronomic historian.
Chapters 18 through 26 depict the rise of David in the court of Saul, his friendship with Jonathan, the beginning of Saul’s jealousy of David, the young David’s winning of Saul’s daughter Michal in marriage for killing a large number of Philistines, Saul’s attempt on David’s life, David’s escape and formation of an outlaw band in the Judaean hills, his acceptance by the priests of the house of Eli at Nob (all of whom were killed by Saul except Abiathar, who became David’s priest), Samuel’s death, and other incidents.
Because he feared for his life, David, along with 600 of his men, fled to the Philistine city of Gath, where he became a supposed leader of one of their military contingents against the Israelites. The last four chapters of I Samuel depict the final futile effort of Saul to retain control of his throne and thwart the Philistines: Saul attempted to receive advice from the spirit of the dead Samuel through the necromancer (sometimes called the witch or medium) of Endor, even though he had earlier banned such practices in his realm. Through her mediumship, Samuel foretold the death of Saul and his sons by the Philistines. The armies of the Philistines poured into the Valley of Jezreel. Some of the Philistine leaders distrusted David, who was sent back to his garrison town of Ziklag, which the Amalekites had overrun and in which they had taken many prisoners. Thus, David did not witness the defeat of the Israelites under Saul, who was mortally wounded by the Philistines and whose sons were killed. In an act of heroism so that he, the king of Israel, would not be captured, Saul committed suicide by falling on his own sword. Thus ended the career of the tragic hero who tried to serve Yahweh and Israel but was caught between the old, conservative ways (led by Samuel) and the new, liberal views (championed by David).
Early reign of David
The Second Book of Samuel, as noted earlier, relates the exploits of David and the events of his monarchy. After mourning the death of Saul and executing an Amalekite who claimed to have killed the former king, David began to consolidate his position as the successor to Saul. He was anointed king of Judah at Hebron while Ishbosheth (“man of shame,” originally Ishbaal, or “man of Baal”), Saul’s son, reigned in the rest of Israel under the guidance of Abner, Saul’s general. After seven years, the army of Israel, under Abner, and the army of Judah, under Joab, David’s general and nephew, met at Gibeon—each chose 12 champions to fight each other, and all were killed. After the minor battle, a major engagement ensued, with the forces of Judah emerging victorious. A long war of attrition developed between the house of Saul and the house of David. Abner attempted to deliver Israel to David but was killed by Joab to avenge his brother Asahel’s death at Abner’s hand in the first engagement between the two reigning houses. With Abner dead, Ishbosheth’s position became exceedingly insecure, and he was beheaded by two of his own captains, whom David, in turn, executed for murdering the last ruler of the house of Saul.
Because of the course of events, the Israelites asked David to become king over all of Israel, and David made a covenant with the elders of northern Israel. He next engaged in a war with the Jebusite (Canaanite) stronghold of Jerusalem, which he captured. He selected this city as his new capital because it was a neutral site and neither the northerners nor the southerners would be adverse to the selection. From the very beginning of his reign, David showed the political astuteness and acumen that made for him a reputation that has continued for 3,000 years. He built at his new capital a palace, fortified the defenses, and established a harem. The Philistines, concerned about the man whom they had considered a former vassal, decided to move against David, which proved to be their undoing. David effectively contained them in a small area of the Mediterranean coast.
The expansion of the Davidic Empire
The third section of Samuel (II Samuel, chapter 6 through chapter 20, verse 22) contains the account of the reign of David from Jerusalem, ruling over a minor empire that stretched from Egypt in the south to Lebanon in the north and from the Mediterranean Sea in the west to the Arabian Desert in the east. He thus controlled the crossroads of the great empires of the ancient Near East. His second act of political astuteness was to bring theark of the Covenant to Jerusalem; but because of pressures from conservative elements who wanted to retain the tent that housed the ark (which had symbolic value from the days of the Exodus), David was not able to build a temple. Because the ark was now in Jerusalem, however, the city became both the political and the religious cult center of his kingdom. In chapter 8 is a summary account of David’s extension of his kingdom by military means and of the military, administrative, and priestly leaders of Israel.
II Samuel, chapters 9 through 20, verse 22—together with I Kings, chapters 1 and 2, the so-called Succession History, or the Family History of David, which, according to many scholars, forms the oldest section of historiography in Scripture—contains accounts of the domestic problems of David’s reign. Though he showed generosity to Mephibosheth, the sole surviving son of the house of Saul, he showed his weakness for the charms of Bathsheba, the wife of Uriah, one of his generals. After ensuring Uriah’s death by sending him into the front lines in a battle with the Ammonites, David married Bathsheba, who had become pregnant by the King. When the prophet Nathan came to David and told him of a rich man’s unjust actions toward a poor man, David’s response was one of anger and a demand for justice, whereupon Nathan said, “You are the man,” and that Yahweh would exact retribution by not allowing the child to live. David then repented. He later went to Bathsheba and she conceived and bore another child, Solomon, who was to be the future king of Israel.
Though David was viewed as a master in the art of governing a nation, he was depicted as an unsuccessful father of his family. One son, Amnon (half-brother to Absalom and his sister Tamar), raped Tamar, for which act Absalom later exacted revenge by having Amnon assassinated at a feast. Absalom then fled to Geshur, stayed there three years, was taken back to Jerusalem by Joab, and two years later was reconciled to his father. Absalom’s ambition to succeed his father as king caused him to initiate a revolt so that David had to flee from Jerusalem. Absalom was crowned king at Hebron, went to the concubines of David’s harem in the palace, and decided to raise a massive army to defeat David. If he had then heeded the advice of Ahithophel, one of David’s former counsellors, and attacked David’s forces while they were disorganized, he probably would have been successful in retaining the throne. The forces of David under Joab, however, defeated Absalom’s army “in the forest of Ephraim.” While in flight on a mule, Absalom caught his head in an oak tree, and when Joab heard of his predicament he killed the hanging son of David. When David heard of the death of his rebellious son, he uttered one of the most poignant laments in literature: “O my son Absalom, my son, my son Absalom! Would I had died instead of you, O Absalom, my son, my son!” David then returned to Jerusalem and settled some of the quarrels that had erupted in his absence. A revolt led by the conservative Benjaminite Sheba, under the old rallying cry “every man to his tents, O Israel,” was thwarted by Joab, who had to kill David’s newly appointed commander Amasa to accomplish this end.
The appendix (chapter 20, verse 23, through chapter 24) has been noted earlier in this section.