{"id":58444,"date":"2019-06-27T22:45:45","date_gmt":"2019-06-27T19:45:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=58444"},"modified":"2023-01-22T11:49:50","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T09:49:50","slug":"davids-flight-from-saul","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/davids-flight-from-saul\/","title":{"rendered":"David\u2019s Flight From Saul"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Our chapter details the repeated attempts of Saul to kill David. In I Samuel 19:9-10, David makes good his escape, after Saul tries to pin him to the wall with his spear. In the continuation we are told that \u201cSaul sent men to David\u2019s house to watch it and to kill him in the morning. But Michal, David\u2019s wife, warned him, \u2018If you don\u2019t run for your life tonight, tomorrow you\u2019ll be killed\u2019. So, Michal let David down through a window, and he fled and escaped. Then Michal took an idol and laid it on the bed, covering it with a garment and putting some goats\u2019 hair at the head\u201d to make it look like David was sick in bed (verses 11-13). The extensive narrative of how David avoided being killed by Saul continues: \u201cWhen David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah\u2026\u201d (verse 18).<\/span><\/p>\n

The Midrash (Tanhuma Buber, Mas\u2019e 1 and parallels) relates this to a Halakhic question: \u201cLet our Master teach us– May one pursued by foreign soldiers or by robbers flee in violation of some Halakhic prohibition? The answer to this question is cited from Mishnah Rosh HaShannah 2:5. Our Rabbis taught: One pursued by foreign soldiers or by robbers may even violate the Shabbat by fleeing. Our Midrash continues that this is what David did when Saul was trying to kill him. David fled from before Saul and escaped (verse 18).<\/span><\/p>\n

This Midrashic tradition is in line with the general principle of Piquah Nefesh \u2013 That one may violate most commandments to save human life, for the commandments were given, not to die by them, but \u201cto live by them\u201d (Leviticus 18:5).<\/span><\/p>\n

To illustrate this Halakhic principle, the Midrash continues with a story from Rabbinic times. Our Rabbis said: It once happened that evil decrees [to kill all the Jews] from the Roman government were brought to the leaders of the Jewish community of Zepphoris. They went and informed Rabbi Eleazar ben Perata, saying: Master, evil decrees have been brought to us from the government. What do you advise? Shall we flee?\u2019 He answered them by citing Scriptural example. He said to them: Why ask me? Go and ask Jacob and Moses and David! Of Jacob it is written: \u201cJacob fled to the country of Aram\u201d (Hosea 12:13, see Genesis 27:41-28:7). And similarly of Moses we are told that after he killed an Egyptian that was beating an Israelite, he realized he needed to flee: \u201cWhen Pharaoh heard of this, he tried to kill Moses, but Moses fled from Pharaoh and went to live in Midian\u201d (Exodus 2:15). And indeed, the same is said of David: \u201cAnd when David had fled and made his escape, he went to Samuel at Ramah\u2026\u201d (verse 18).<\/span><\/p>\n

And so, we see that David, like Jacob and Moses before him, had no hesitation to flee when his life was clearly in danger.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

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