{"id":57992,"date":"2019-06-21T08:08:44","date_gmt":"2019-06-21T05:08:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=57992"},"modified":"2023-01-15T09:48:34","modified_gmt":"2023-01-15T07:48:34","slug":"the-enigma-of-sauls-reign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-enigma-of-sauls-reign\/","title":{"rendered":"The Enigma Of Saul\u2019s Reign"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"entry-content\"><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[281],"tags":[771,885,627],"acf":{"old_id":"57992","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"247","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"All he was missing was a basket of reptiles...","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter continues the narrative of the reign of Saul, the first king of Israel. Because he does not carry out the divine command to totally eradicate the Amalekites, Samuel informs him that God has rejected him as king (15:1-23). Saul immediately admits his guilt and attempts to explain his transgression: \u201cThen Saul said to Samuel, I have sinned. I violated the Lord\u2019s command and your instructions. I was afraid of the men and so I gave in to them\u201d (verses 24). Nevertheless, our Chapter ends on a discouraging note:<\/span><\/p>\n<p style=\"padding-left: 30px;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u201c\u2026 And the Lord regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel\u201d (verse 35, compare verse 29).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Rabbinic Sages seemed to have found the biblical narrative of Saul\u2019s reign puzzling, which only served to stimulate their interpretive ingenuity. Talmud Bavli Yoma 22b-23a preserves the following surprising discussion: Saul was only one year old when he began to reign (I Samuel 13:1 &#8212; on this problematic verse, see Rashi and other biblical commentators, ancient and modern). Rav Huna\u2019 said that this means Saul was like a one-year old infant who had not yet tasted the taste of sin. Rav Nahman bar Yitzhaq strenuously disagreed, suggesting rather that Saul was like a one-year old infant who dirties himself (physically, and perhaps already also morally). Subsequently, Rav Nahman had a series of nightmares. When he first awoke, he apologized and begged forgiveness from \u201cthe bones of Saul, son of Kish\u201d. Nevertheless, he had a second, similar nightmare. His bad dreams ended only when he added to his plea for pardon, readdressing it to \u201cthe bones of Saul, son of Kish, King of Israel\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">This story leads to the question: Why did the kingdom of Saul not endure (only two years, according to I Samuel 13:1)? The answer to this question seems counter-intuitive \u2013 Saul\u2019s reign was so brief because he had no defect (<em>dofi<\/em>) [in his ancestry according to Rashi]. This is explained by a surprising recommendation: One should not appoint a person to be the administrator (parnas) of a community, unless he \u201cbears a basket of reptiles on his back\u201d [i.e. he has some problematic family background according to Rashi and other Talmudic commentators]. So that if he should become arrogant, one could tell him: Turn around [and remember from whom you are descended]!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In the continuation of this extended Talmudic discussion, Saul is criticized for not defending his own honor as the newly anointed first king of Israel (see chapter 10). This leads to a controversy about what might be called \u201crabbinic deportment\u201d: One view states that any scholar (<em>talmid hakham<\/em>) who does not seek revenge and does not bear a grudge like a serpent is not a real scholar. An objection to this statement is raised from Scripture: \u201cDo not seek revenge or bear a grudge\u2026\u201d (Leviticus 19:18). This then leads to the conclusion of our Talmudic issue on a positive note: He who overlooks criticism of his character, his transgressions are overlooked.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>image:\u00a0Reptiles, illustration by Adolphe Millot from Nouveau Larousse Illustr\u00e9 [1897-1904], vol. 7<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":57993,"id":57993,"title":"isam15-reptiles","filename":"isam15-reptiles.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-enigma-of-sauls-reign\/isam15-reptiles\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam15-reptiles","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57992,"date":"2019-06-21 05:05:25","modified":"2019-06-21 05:06:19","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":9604,"height":13600,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-212x300.jpg","medium-width":212,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-723x1024.jpg","medium_large-width":723,"medium_large-height":1024,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-723x1024.jpg","large-width":723,"large-height":1024,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles.jpg","1536x1536-width":1085,"1536x1536-height":1536,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles.jpg","2048x2048-width":1446,"2048x2048-height":2048,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-847x1200.jpg","post_full_size-width":847,"post_full_size-height":1200,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles-297x420.jpg","home_baner-width":297,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Enigma Of Saul\u2019s Reign","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"All he was missing was a basket of reptiles...","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":57993,"id":57993,"title":"isam15-reptiles","filename":"isam15-reptiles.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/06\/isam15-reptiles.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-enigma-of-sauls-reign\/isam15-reptiles\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam15-reptiles","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":57992,"date":"2019-06-21 05:05:25","modified":"2019-06-21 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