{"id":59476,"date":"2019-07-15T17:20:03","date_gmt":"2019-07-15T14:20:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=59476"},"modified":"2023-02-06T08:20:18","modified_gmt":"2023-02-06T06:20:18","slug":"the-death-of-saul-and-his-three-sons","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-death-of-saul-and-his-three-sons\/","title":{"rendered":"The Death Of Saul And His Three Sons"},"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":[383,581,363,491],"acf":{"old_id":"59476","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33877,"related_cahpter":"263","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Did he - did they - deserve such a cruel death?\u00a0","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter tells of the tragic end of Saul and his three sons: After \u201cthe Philistines struck down the sons of Saul\u2026Saul grasped the sword and fell upon it\u2026So, Saul and his three sons\u2026died together on that day\u201d (31:2-6). Why did Saul, the first king of Israel, deserve to die by his own hand, in the same battle with his three sons, resulting also in the end of any immediate dynastic hopes Saul might have entertained during his lifetime?<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The Midrash (Ecclesiastes Rabbah 7:16) provides a surprising answer: \u201cDo not be overly righteous\u2026Why should you destroy yourself\u201d (Ecclesiastes 7:16) &#8212; Do not be more righteous than your Creator, as in the case of Saul of whom it is written: \u201cSaul destroyed Amalek\u2026but Saul and the troops spared Agag and\u2026all else that was of value\u201d (15:7-9). Rabbi Huna\u2019 and Rabbi Benaiah say: Saul began to argue with his Creator, saying, You ordered: \u201cNow go, attack Amalek, and proscribe all that belongs to him. Spare no one, but kill alike men and women, infants and sucklings, oxen and sheep, camels and asses!\u201d (15:3). Saul reasoned: If the men sinned, how have the women and children, the cattle, ox and ass, sinned?! A Divine Voice went out and said: \u201cDo not be overly righteous\u201d (Ecclesiastes 7:16) &#8212; more righteous than your Creator!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Rabbi Simeon ben Laqish said: Whoever becomes merciful where he should be merciless, in the end becomes merciless where he should be merciful. Where do we find that Saul was merciless where he should have been merciful? As it is said: \u201cHe [Saul] put Nob, the town of the priests, to the sword\u201d (22:19). But Nob should not have been treated like the seed of Amalek [for, unlike Amalek, there was no Divine decree to destroy Nob]. Thus, the Rabbis conclude: Whoever becomes merciful [as Saul did by initially sparing Agag, the king of the Amalekites, see I Samuel 15:7-9] where he should have been merciless, in the end the Divine Attribute of Justice will be merciless with him, as it says: \u201cSo, Saul and his three sons\u2026died together on that day\u201d (I Samuel 31:6).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: Ellie Marcuse, \u201cDeath of King Saul&#8221;, 1848 &#8211; Tel Aviv Museum of Art \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":59478,"id":59478,"title":"isam31-saul","filename":"isam31-saul.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/the-death-of-saul-and-his-three-sons\/isam31-saul\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"isam31-saul","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59476,"date":"2019-07-15 14:19:50","modified":"2021-11-15 03:55:17","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":441,"height":599,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul-221x300.jpg","medium-width":221,"medium-height":300,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","medium_large-width":441,"medium_large-height":599,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","large-width":441,"large-height":599,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","1536x1536-width":441,"1536x1536-height":599,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","2048x2048-width":441,"2048x2048-height":599,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul.jpg","post_full_size-width":441,"post_full_size-height":599,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/isam31-saul-309x420.jpg","home_baner-width":309,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"The Death Of Saul And His Three Sons","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"Did he - 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