Shmuel I 11:14-12:22

People Never Cease to Amaze Me
Two vital realizations fuel our understanding of this week’s haftarah. First, almost everyone, if not everyone, can and do justify their actions to themselves, a fact that bears no relevance to the question of whether or not they are evil. It is not true that evil people—substitute your favorites, Hitler, Stalin, Saddam Hussein being my usual candidates, but there are plenty of competitors (Pol Pot, Kim Jong Il, anyone?)—wake up in the morning and say, oh, wow, what evil can I commit today?

No, they wake up wondering how they can make the world a better place, as do you and I. The difference between us (I hope) is how we define the words, who is part of the world we care about, what “better” means, and the acceptable methods of getting there.

The second key to understanding this week’s parsha and haftarah is that many people are in such thorough denial they do not have a clue as to how self-contradictory and self-destructive their behavior is. Recognizing those two truths, we can understand what was happening in our haftarah.

Shaul is Now Accepted As King
Having defeated Nahash, Shmuel opens by calling for a celebratory renewal of the coronation. This was needed because when Shaul originally was chosen, “bene beliya`al,” worthless people, questioned his fitness for the job.

Step One in oxymoronic behavior: You have a prophet you believe in, you go to him for a king, he draws lots through the Urim and Tumim, you find the answer, that guy is hiding, the Urim tell you where to find him, and there’s still a sizable minority of people who do not believe he’s right for the task. (I say sizable minority because Shmuel wouldn’t call for a whole nother ceremony to convince a few crazies).

Last year, I suggested that Shmuel was happy to celebrate Shaul’s success and re-coronation despite his negativity towards the whole process that led to his being made king. That may be true, and the choice of Gilgal—as opposed to Mitspah—suggests that he is sincere. Radak points out that Gilgal was where the Aron and Ohel Moed resided there when the Jews first entered the Land, indicating, I think, that it was the first spot of the people’s residence in the Land (like Plymouth Rock). This would mean that Shmuel was telling them that the choice of a king should join their national narrative of their roots and formative events, going all the way back to their first entry into the Land.

But the people’s easy acceptance of Shmuel’s positive attitude jumps out at you. They follow Shmuel to the ceremony and revel in the celebration, suggesting that they did not remember his original reaction to their asking for a king. Did they not remember that he was unhappy with them? Did they not know?

Suspicion of Shmuel, Part of the Package
Another example of odd behavior by the people (and, perhaps, evil) is indicated by Shmuel’s feeling he had to fully verify that he had never used his office to personal advantage. Unless we see him as paranoid, he seems to understand that the people are not fully behind him, would not easily accept the words of admonishment he is about to give them. He may have been their prophet for a lot of years, consistently spread God’s Word, but he can never be sure they will accept what he has to say.

To the Meat of the Matter
Having verified that they have renounced any suspicions of him, Shmuel can get to his real point, emphasizing the evil of their actions. Readers of the sefer up until this point would not have known what the people of the time did, that it was not the flaws in Shmuel’s sons, primarily, that stimulated the call for a king, it was the threat of Nahash. (This also clarifies why Shmuel waited until Nahash had been defeated to renew the kingship—Shaul has now fulfilled the prime directive underlying his rule).

The call for a king also broke a pattern which was itself distressing, but at least brought the people back to Hashem. As Shmuel documents, the story of Jewish history up until his time was the Jews’ forgetting Hashem, getting into trouble, returning to beseech Hashem for salvation, getting a leader who does so, and then forgetting Him again, starting a whole new cycle.

Even though the cycle was still in force in Shmuel’s time, with the arrival of Nahash, they insisted on a king, hoping, apparently, not to need to turn to Hashem each time, to already have a leader in place to protect them.

As the saying goes, you can’t get outta the game. Shmuel is here to tell them that their success in this world, at least as a nation (deep breath, because few accept this today, especially Modern Orthodox Jews) depends on whether they follow Hashem, king or no. To back up his point, he brings a rainstorm in the middle of summer (no big miracle this year, but it was back then).

I find it endlessly fascinating that Shmuel haNavi—thought by Hazal to have approached Moshe and Aharon in his level of prophecy—still could not count on his audience believing or accepting what he had to say, needing miracles to back up his claims. As a non-prophet who sometimes tries to convince people of truths they may not yet recognize, I take comfort in that.

The people get some of his point, admit they’ve sinned, and ask him to pray for them. Of course, the job of a leader is to accept whatever signs of penitence the people exhibit, and to encourage more, which Shmuel does, so the haftarah ends on a relatively happy note.

Read this way, though, the haftarah highlights for us the recurring truths of the Jewish people’s behavior throughout history, especially in the parsha. Remember that a day after the earth swallowed up Korah and his gang, presumably proving that Moshe did not act on his own, the people complain that Moshe and Aharon had killed too many people. And Hashem decides to have one more test to prove to everyone that Aharon was Divinely chosen to be Kohen Gadol. We are, apparently, a people who take a long time to learn our lessons. Shabbat Shalom.

I SAMUEL 11
[14] Then said Samuel to the people, Come, and let us go to Gilgal, and renew the kingdom there.
[15] And all the people went to Gilgal; and there they made Saul king before the LORD in Gilgal; and there they sacrificed sacrifices of peace offerings before the LORD; and there Saul and all the men of Israel rejoiced greatly.
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1Sam.12
[1] And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.
[2] And now, behold, the king walketh before you: and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my childhood unto this day.
[3] Behold, here I am: witness against me before the LORD, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I received any bribe to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
[4] And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken ought of any man’s hand.
[5] And he said unto them, The LORD is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found ought in my hand. And they answered, He is witness.
[6] And Samuel said unto the people, It is the LORD that advanced Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
[7] Now therefore stand still, that I may reason with you before the LORD of all the righteous acts of the LORD, which he did to you and to your fathers.
[8] When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto the LORD, then the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, which brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them dwell in this place.
[9] And when they forgat the LORD their God, he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab, and they fought against them.
[10] And they cried unto the LORD, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken the LORD, and have served Baalim and Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
[11] And the LORD sent Jerubbaal, and Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side, and ye dwelled safe.
[12] And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay; but a king shall reign over us: when the LORD your God was your king.
[13] Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have desired! and, behold, the LORD hath set a king over you.
[14] If ye will fear the LORD, and serve him, and obey his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall both ye and also the king that reigneth over you continue following the LORD your God:
[15] But if ye will not obey the voice of the LORD, but rebel against the commandment of the LORD, then shall the hand of the LORD be against you, as it was against your fathers.
[16] Now therefore stand and see this great thing, which the LORD will do before your eyes.
[17] Is it not wheat harvest to day? I will call unto the LORD, and he shall send thunder and rain; that ye may perceive and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of the LORD, in asking you a king.
[18] So Samuel called unto the LORD; and the LORD sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared the LORD and Samuel.
[19] And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto the LORD thy God, that we die not: for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.
[20] And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not: ye have done all this wickedness: yet turn not aside from following the LORD, but serve the LORD with all your heart;
[21] And turn ye not aside: for then should ye go after vain things, which cannot profit nor deliver; for they are vain.
[22] For the LORD will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake: because it hath pleased the LORD to make you his people.