Hashem comes to Shmuel, questioning how long he plans on mourning Shaul when He (Hashem) had decided he should not be king in the long-term. He then orders him to take his horn of oil, and to go to Yishai of Bet Lehem, one of whose sons Hashem had chosen to be king. Shmuel resists, saying that if Shaul hears of his trip, he will kill him. Hashem tells him to take animals, so that he can say he is going there to make an offering; he can then invite Yishai to the offering, after which Hashem will tell him what to do.

When Shmuel arrives at Beit Lehem, the elders of the town come out anxiously to greet him, to see if he comes "in peace." He says he has, tells them to prepare themselves for the sacrifice, and specifically prepares Yishai and his sons, inviting them to the feast. When they come, Shmuel is immediately impressed with Eliav, and moves to anoint him.

Hashem, however, has other ideas. He points out to Shmuel that people look at the outer appearance, but He looks at the internal, and that Eliav was not the future king. Shmuel then goes through Yishai’s other sons, correctly noting that Hashem had not chosen any of them. When the last had been passed before him, Shmuel has to ask for another until Yishai mentions that the youngest was shepherding. When he comes, at Shmuel’s insistence, he is described as ruddy, with nice eyes and a good appearance, and Hashem orders Shmuel to anoint him. Shmuel does, and the spirit of God moves David, from that day forth; Shmuel then goes home to Ramah.

In a superficially unrelated story, Shaul begins to have spells of madness, identified by the navi as a ruah ra`ah from Hashem. His servants suggest that he find a musician to soothe him during these spells; when Shaul agrees and asks as to whether any of his servants know such a person, they suggest David, who is described as an accomplished musician, a courageous fighter, a military man, insightful, and well proportioned, with Hashem with him.

Yishai sends David with various gifts. David comes to Shaul, who likes him immediately and makes him his weapons-carrier. From then on, whenever a fit befell Shaul, David would play his harp and heal Shaul.

AT ODDS WITH GOD

In the first few verses of the chapter, Shmuel seems to be in a tense stage of his relationship with God. First, God seems to reprimand Shmuel for the length of his mourning over Shaul. When he, God, had decided that Shaul was not fit to be king, he, Shmuel, should simply move on and anoint the next king.

The rebuke raises the issue of how we are supposed to react to Divine decrees that run counter to our natural inclinations. While an ideal might be to always celebrate the Divine, Shmuel is clearly unable here to do so. Not only that, Hashem does not seem to object to his having mourned Shaul, but only to the length of that mourning. The avelut is not the problem, only the ad matai, how long are you going to maintain this. God’s words thus suggest that humans have the right to their feelings around events that occur in the world, but that those must be balanced against an acceptance of God’s plan. Here, Shmuel was about to (or had just) stepped over that line, leading Hashem to call him back to his role in life.

Yet Shmuel resists God’s order, for another reason. He claims that Shaul will kill him if he hears of his mission. Hashem offers a trick—officiating at a sacrifice—that will avert suspicion. The question, of course, is how Shmuel could have worried—if Hashem was sending him, should that not have meant that he need not be afraid?

Radak raises the issue, and offers two almost opposing answers. First, he points out that Tanakh often gives us examples of people who had been promised Divine protection and yet sought natural ways to insure their success. (Yaakov, for example, tried to appease Esav on the way back from Aram, even though God had promised to protect him). In this view, Shmuel had the right to ask God for a way to naturally avoid Shaul’s wrath. While he has to be aware of the possibility of the miraculous, he need not rely upon it.

The other view Radak cites blames Shmuel for his reaction. Radak notes that Hashem did not say that Shmuel had to go in a way that people would hear about, and indeed meant that he only go in private (so Shaul would not hear). When Shmuel speaks of Shaul hearing and killing him, Hashem then insists that he go in public fashion (to prove to Shmuel that Shaul could not in fact kill him). This fits in with another type of incident we have in Tanakh, where people think they (or others) can contravene Hashem’s Will; in those cases, Hashem will often command a person to perform the disputed act as publicly as possible, to show the powerlessness of others to resist. (I actually do not think that second view works here, since Shaul is, later in this perek, completely unaware of David’s future, suggesting that he had not heard of his having been anointed.)

ANOINTING A KING

When Shmuel arrives at Bet Lehem, the elders of the town greet him with trepidation, wanting to know, hashalom boekha, do you come in peace. Obviously, he would not come in war, but he could be coming to inform them of some sin or punishment they had committed or incurred. On other occasions we have stressed the positive value of having prophets in our midst; here, we see the worry that same prophet's sudden presence could arouse. Shmuel calms their fears, then calls Yishai and his sons to the sacrifice.

Yishai’s first son, Eliav, was apparently tall and good-looking, qualities that the sefer had noted regarding Shaul. Shmuel is still attached to these qualities for a king, which is what seems to lead him to assume that this is God’s intended. Hashem, however, stops him, pointing out that people can only see the outward qualities. Rashi, in Devarim 1:17, offers this incident as Shmuel’s comeuppance for his previously telling Shaul that he is the roeh, the seer. Hashem here shows Shmuel the limits of even his vision.

A PRETTY-BOY KING?

When David finally comes on the scene, the description of him seems calculated to stress his youth and insignificance. He is, first, not even there at the beginning, since he is with the sheep (like a kid who is not invited to grownup’s affairs). Second, he is described in terms that almost make him sound pretty (in an effeminate way). Shaul’s beauty was in his stature, as was Eliav’s; David’s seems to be more delicate a beauty, also a suggestion of his inability to be a significant leader.

This description is particularly interesting when contrasted to the description of David offered by Shaul’s servants later in this chapter. When Shaul is seeking a musician to soothe his fits, they refer to David not only as an accomplished musician, but also as an accomplished warrior. Rather than being a callow, unproven kid, David seems to already have built a reputation of his own as a warrior and leader (and that in a context where it was unimportant, since Shaul cared only about his musical abilities).

The force of the description here, I would suggest, is similar to what we saw earlier in the case of Shaul, where the early experiences showed him subordinate to his family. A person who naturally attains power might be dangerous as a king, since he will ascribe his rise to his own capabilities. Someone who was willing to live under the leadership of others, even when his own powers were already maturing, has a certain level of modesty that might be highly desirable for a monarch. If power corrupts, it will corrupt the naturally modest (and willingly subordinate) less than it will those who gather power as a part of their personality.

For all that David has been anointed, and the spirit of God has rested upon him, his life (as had Shaul's in his time) goes on pretty much as before. He returns to shepherding, at least until Shaul calls for him. Even then, Shaul feels it necessary to ask (or politely inform) Yishai for David's continued presence. When we see the confrontation with Goliat, we will again see David's brother treat him as a little kid, remarkable in light of the events of today's perek

NO CHEMISTRY WITH SHMUEL

Shmuel's reaction to David differs from that with Shaul so sharply that it is worth considering. Shmuel sees David, anoints him, and goes home to Ramah. Other than one incident later in the book, this is Shmuel's only known interaction with David. With Shaul, let us recall, Shmuel was so upset about his losing the monarchy that Hashem did him the favor of having him age early (so as not to have to live through Shaul's death), and Shmuel mourned so greatly that he could not speak to Shaul after that.

None of that depth of emotion shows itself regarding David. To some extent, it might be a function of Shmuel's age; he is already old (by his own standards) and therefore perhaps somewhat unconcerned with events in the world. He will certainly obey God, but he has no personal emotional stake in David's accession to the throne. Too, his experience with Shaul may have made him leery of developing an attachment to any other king either (once burned…).

Finally, though, I suspect there just wasn't a great deal of chemistry between them. Especially if Shmuel thought that kings should be tall and impressive (the better to lead the people), David's selection would rankle somewhat (instead of imposing monarchs, the Jews would apparently have more diminutive ones). I don't think Shmuel was resisting God's Will, but he was not, it seems, particularly enthused by it either.

THE MADNESS OF KING SHAUL

The text refers to Shaul's bouts of melancholia or madness as a ruah ra`ah, an evil spirit descended from God. Ascribing it to God is obviously a religious approach to the experience, but its real provenance is somewhat important to understand. Are we to believe that these fits were beyond Shaul's control, meaning that he cannot be blamed (or judged by God) for any of his actions from now on? Or do we think that the evil spirit came from God, but could have been handled in another way? (This is obviously a broader question that applies to all varieties and forms of mental illness-- while all those with mental problems are struggling with impediments to their productive living, at what point do we absolve them of the responsibility for how they handle their problems?)

In Shaul's case, he and his servants take a technical approach, simply treating the symptoms as they arise. I wonder if there was anything Shaul could have done aside from that that would have achieved a cure, or at least alleviated the occurrences. Can you think, in the context of the sefer, of what he might have done along those lines? Shabbat Shalom.