{"id":59566,"date":"2019-07-16T16:47:44","date_gmt":"2019-07-16T13:47:44","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=59566"},"modified":"2023-02-07T17:50:55","modified_gmt":"2023-02-07T15:50:55","slug":"sauls-last-moments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sauls-last-moments\/","title":{"rendered":"Saul\u2019s Last Moments"},"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":[366,383,885],"acf":{"old_id":"59566","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"264","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Just one chapter ago, at the end of the previous book, <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/www.929.org.il\/lang\/en\/page\/263\/post\/59485\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">we took note <\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">of the fact that Saul\u2019s death is reported in two contradictory fashions. Scripture\u2019s third person narrative, recorded in the closing chapter of 1 Samuel, has Saul falling on his own sword when his armor bearer refused to assist in his suicide. Our chapter presents the report of a survivor of the battle atop Mt. Gilboa (described variously in verses 8, 13, as an Amalekite or the son of an Amalekite convert) who claimed to have found Saul mortally wounded on his own spear and complied with the king\u2019s request to hasten his demise (9-10). Rather than reward him, as he apparently anticipated, David had him executed for the act of <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">lese majeste<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> he had perpetrated (14-16).<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Of considerable philological interest, is the word <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shavatz<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> that Saul was said to have used to describe his condition (9); it is a <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">hapax legomenon<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, a word that appears nowhere else in the biblical canon. (In Modern Hebrew, <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">shavatz<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> means a stroke or apoplexy). Rashi connected it with <\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">tashbetz<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> (checkered), a term used to describe one of the priestly vestments, and associated it with Saul\u2019s murder of the priests of Nob. <\/span><\/p>\n<p>Yosef Kara (12th century) admitted that it can only be understood from its context, and refers us to the Aramaic Targum that translates it as a convulsion. Radak (13th century) also defined it contextually, but considered it an illness suffered by the victim of a stab wound. Most intriguing is the Malbim (19th century) who identified it as death throes, explaining that Saul was anticipating a refusal, so he hastened to explain that he already was, for all intents, dead, and therefore the Amalekite need not fear any repercussions to his actions.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Image: &#8220;The Lion of Lucerne,&#8221; a rock relief in Lucerne, Switzerland, designed by Bertel Thorvaldsen and hewn in 1820\u201321 by Lukas Ahorn.<\/span><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","image":{"ID":59567,"id":59567,"title":"2sam1-lion-monument","filename":"2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sauls-last-moments\/2sam1-lion-monument\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam1-lion-monument","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59566,"date":"2019-07-16 13:47:32","modified":"2021-08-29 15:30:38","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":1920,"height":1440,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-300x225.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":225,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-768x576.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":576,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-1024x768.jpg","large-width":1024,"large-height":768,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","1536x1536-width":1536,"1536x1536-height":1152,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","2048x2048-width":1920,"2048x2048-height":1440,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-1200x900.jpg","post_full_size-width":1200,"post_full_size-height":900,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument-560x420.jpg","home_baner-width":560,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Saul\u2019s Last Moments","main_caption_size":"1","sub_caption":"The death throes of the mighty","preview_embedded":"","preview_image":{"ID":59567,"id":59567,"title":"2sam1-lion-monument","filename":"2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/07\/2sam1-lion-monument.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/sauls-last-moments\/2sam1-lion-monument\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam1-lion-monument","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":59566,"date":"2019-07-16 13:47:32","modified":"2021-08-29 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