ASKING TOO MUCH ISN’T A GOOD IDEA

While last week we saw that Shaul had made an oath of the people that Yonatan had violated and then mocked as too extreme, in verse 32 we see how the oath actually worked out to the people’s detriment. As they defeat and chase the Plishtim, the people capture various animals, which they begin to slaughter and eat without taking the blood appropriately from them.

Shaul will stop them when he realizes what is happening, but it is nonetheless in his lap that we must place at least some of the blame for the people’s failing. Without his oath, I think we are left to assume, the people might not have gotten so hungry that it got the best of them. Shaul (as Yonatan knew, to some extent) provides us with a cautionary tale of demanding too much of the congregation one leads—they may be cowed into a certain kind of obedience, but that may lead to further problems down the road.

THE ROLE OF A KING

When Shaul witnesses the people’s sin, he immediately puts a stop to it, takes a rock to perform shehitah on, and spreads the word that people should bring their animals to him for shehitah. Here we see a positive aspect of Shaul’s influence on the people (and, in that sense, a model of Jewish leadership), seeing their wrongs, and providing them with a permissible alternative for their valid desires.

It is perhaps not coincidental, then, that Shaul then takes this stone and turns it into a mizbeah, an altar. Verse 35 notes that oto hehel livnot mizbeah laShem, this was the first mizbeah built to Hashem. Rashi takes the verse at its simplest meaning, that this was the first of the altars that Shaul built to Hashem. By calling it the first (a word that implies others), the verse assumes that Shaul would build altars as part of his role in life.

Kings build altars as part of their responsibilities towards the people, since their job extends to guiding the people towards God. Shaul’s efforts with the shehitah, a way of guaranteeing that the people would not violate the Torah in their hunger, exactly matched this element of his responsibilities. In that way, his using that stone as the first of the altars he builds (places where people can deepen their relationship with God) takes one positive incident of his kingship and gives it a permanence it otherwise might not have attained.

Radak records a similar interpretation of the word, but then mentions a Midrash that explains the words "oto hehel, that began" as referring to kings’ building of altars. That reading suggests that kings’ building an altar was both an important function of kings as well as different from when others, such as Shmuel, had engaged in the same practice.

What does building altars symbolize? Rambam, in Hilkhot Avodah Zarah, envisions Avraham as having regularly gathered people and tried to convince them of the truth of monotheism, which he sees as being the meaning of the phrase "vayikra be-shem Hashem, and he called in the Name of God." For Rambam, then, the act of calling in the Name was the act of trying to spread the realization of God’s power throughout the world. In at least one verse with Avraham (12:8), the act of calling out is connected to the building of a mizbeah.

Applying what seems to have been true of Avraham to Shaul, we can suggest that the building of a mizbeah was the establishing of a location where God’s existence and presence would be expounded to the nearby people. Seeing the verse refer to this as the first of Shaul’s altars (or kings in general) means that the navi expects/hopes for more such in the future. Kings of the Jewish people were expected to lead the people in their search for God; at that time, altars was the way of doing so, and it was therefore expected that kings would build altars. This act of Shaul’s shows him fulfilling his monarchial duties admirably.

DISCOVERING THE SIN

Shaul then moves on to completing his victory, expressing his opinion that they should pursue the Plishtim and deepen their dominance over them. The people are now willing to follow his every suggestion—proof that he has succeeded at one of the central tasks of leadership, developing such confidence among one’s followers that they will follow the leader’s ideas and vision—but the kohen suggests that they consult with God. (Note that here Shaul does not think of that on his own, whereas earlier in the chapter he had been afraid to follow Yonatan into battle without consulting. Malbim suggests that Shaul thought the outcome of all facets of this battle had already been determined, but I see this as proof that Shaul’s commitment to consultation was weak at best).

When Shaul agrees, God does not answer, an indication of His displeasure. Shaul’s reaction bears study, since he says immediately that whoever has sinned, even if it is Yonatan, will be put to death. Malbim assumes that he uses Yonatan as an extreme example, since he was the vehicle of their salvation that day, so it might be seen as reasonable to excuse whatever sin he may have committed. Here again, Malbim’s idea does not seem to stand up to scrutiny, since Shaul, when doing the lot, decides to have him and Yonatan to one side, and the rest of the people to the other. (The people, as before, tell him to do what he wants—a passive people seems to be important in most occasions of kingship, although later in the chapter we will see a case of proper activism on their part).

To defend Malbim’s view, we might say that Shaul had an inkling that Yonatan or himself should be the cause of God’s displeasure, since they have been the only significant actors in that day’s events. The rest of the people fade into a mass, but Shaul and Yonatan have differentiated themselves. If God is "angry" with the people, there are therefore three reasonable candidates, the two outstanding individuals and the people as a whole.

SAVING YONATAN

When the lot shows that Yonatan indeed was the source of the problem, Shaul announces that he must die. Malbim notes that Yonatan does not defend himself as he had earlier (that the oath Shaul had issued was poorly stated and conceived), he simply asserts his readiness to die for his sin. The people, however, step in and say that Yonatan, the source of their victory, cannot be put to death, and insist on redeeming him rather than putting him to death.

In watching this interaction, we should wonder about issues of right and wrong. Was Shaul right in sentencing Yonatan to death? If so, we need to be troubled by how he and God could allow the people to redeem him without comment or objection. If, on the other hand, the people were right to redeem him, we might wonder at Shaul’s originally pronouncing such an extreme sentence, as well as at why God made such a fuss about the sin in the first place. We could understand that God refuses to answer Shaul about chasing Plishtim because one among them has committed a capital crime; it becomes less so if God is willing to accept money to make up for that crime.

Two other issues that are intertwined in this incident perhaps explain why God gave it such significance. First, Shaul may have originally assumed that the law has to be rigid about the punishment for those who violate it; his sentence on Yonatan reflected his conception of Jewish law. Seeing that it was possible to satisfy an obligation to God in other than such extreme ways might have been an important lesson for the king. In addition, Shaul’s acceding to the people’s wishes foreshadows an issue he will have in his life in general, the question of when to follow the people and when to lead them (thru coercion or otherweise). Here, even if he was right to let them have their way, he begins the struggle with how to handle leadership, a struggle that will eventually lead to his downfall.

SUMMARIZING A REIGN

The last seven verses of the chapter sort of summarize Shaul’s kingship; they describe his continuing battles with enemies all around, including Amalek, and his rescuing the Jews from those who would plunder them. We hear of his children, wife, and general (who’s a cousin), as if Shaul’s reign has ended, which of course it has. In the coming chapters, we will see Shaul’s failure to eradicate Amalek as ordered, leading to his loss of the kingship, chasing David, and so on.

The summary verses here, then, signal that Shaul’s productive reign has ended, and can notice that which the verse indicates about Shaul’s accomplishments. First, he leads the people in battle against their enemies, as the people had mentioned in their original request. Among those enemies, the Plishtim stand out as the consistent problem of rhis time of rule.

Second, he seems to establish the Royal Family as an entity. We don’t know the names of the family members of various important figures in Tanakh. The verse telling us this information about Shaul suggests that it had become significant, I suspect by virtue of Shaul’s making it so. As another example of Shaul’s contribution in terms of setting up a working monarchy, the verse’s mention that he would gather any able man into his army; setting up a proper standing army is yet another of his administrative accomplishments.

Much of the remainder of Shaul’s life is presented in less than flattering episodes, so it seems generous of the navi to pause and mention Shaul’s contributions in being the first king before going on to detail his failures as well. We, too, will pause, and pick up next week. Shabbat Shalom and Happy Hannukah.