{"id":60875,"date":"2019-08-09T14:36:48","date_gmt":"2019-08-09T11:36:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=60875"},"modified":"2023-03-05T09:12:38","modified_gmt":"2023-03-05T07:12:38","slug":"leadership-of-spirit-leadership-of-action","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leadership-of-spirit-leadership-of-action\/","title":{"rendered":"Leadership of Spirit; Leadership of Action"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/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":[834,402],"acf":{"old_id":"60875","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":33992,"related_cahpter":"281","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"What did the Israelites want David to be doing to advance the battle from within the city?","content":"

David\u2019s civil war with his own son, Absalom, is about to overflow into all out war. The aging king (and tormented father) feels called to stand at the head of his troops, just as he did during his youth, just as the kings of the region do in each of their wars. Boldly asserting his royal leadership, David tells the people gathered for combat, \u201cI shall also go forth with you.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Surprisingly, in an age in which being king meant fomenting annual wars and riding in at the front of the army, David\u2019s people come up with a better idea. Despite the example of Pharaoh\u2019s leading the charge, of Assyrian kings riding their chariots against their enemies, the tribes of Israel offer David a better way. They highlight that his value is such that he will actually endanger the troops he escorts into battle \u2013 the enemy will seek to capture him, putting everyone around him at risk. And he is too important to the cause of Israel to fall into the hands of the rebels. \u201cIt is better that you help us from the city,\u201d they tell their king. And King David responds, \u201cWhatever is best in your eyes, I shall do.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Where did the Israelites get the insight, unparalleled in their age, that their king can serve the cause best by not being in battle? And what, precisely, did they want David to be doing to advance the battle from within the city? Rashi and the Targum suggest that what David can do is offer prayers, and that the prayers of their poet king would do more to benefit the soldiers than any swordsmanship he might offer. Radak, on the other hand, suggests that what David can offer is his military advice.<\/span><\/p>\n

Two different understandings of what leadership can offer.<\/span><\/p>\n

On the one hand, a sense of spiritual clarity, passion, and a consciousness of the divine. David, the author of Psalms, can provide uplift, courage and inspiration that is no less crucial for victory than the grueling physical exertion that accompanies war.<\/span><\/p>\n

Or, armed by his many years of front line experience, David can literally harvest the broader perspective of the balcony, getting a view of all possibilities and offering strategies that can\u2019t be seen from the thick of the battle, the heat of the particular moment.<\/span><\/p>\n

Maybe we don\u2019t have to pick between these possibilities. Leadership, it turns out, involves more than one path. We do need inspiration and passion to motivate the work of victory. We also need strategy and perspective to translate that passion into a pathway to triumph. David can offer both, but only by staying away from the front line.<\/span><\/p>\n

They also serve who stand behind the fray, offering uplift, strategy, hope, and tactics.<\/span><\/p>\n

Image: Frederick Leighton – David, 1865 \/ wikimedia<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":60876,"id":60876,"title":"2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David","filename":"2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/leadership-of-spirit-leadership-of-action\/2sam18-frederick_leighton_-_david\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"2sam18-frederick_leighton_-_david","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":60875,"date":"2019-08-09 11:36:35","modified":"2021-12-01 15:03:25","menu_order":0,"mime_type":"image\/jpeg","type":"image","subtype":"jpeg","icon":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-includes\/images\/media\/default.png","width":800,"height":704,"sizes":{"thumbnail":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-150x150.jpg","thumbnail-width":150,"thumbnail-height":150,"medium":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-300x264.jpg","medium-width":300,"medium-height":264,"medium_large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-768x676.jpg","medium_large-width":768,"medium_large-height":676,"large":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","large-width":800,"large-height":704,"1536x1536":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","1536x1536-width":800,"1536x1536-height":704,"2048x2048":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","2048x2048-width":800,"2048x2048-height":704,"post_full_size":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David.jpg","post_full_size-width":800,"post_full_size-height":704,"home_baner":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/08\/2sam18-Frederick_Leighton_-_David-477x420.jpg","home_baner-width":477,"home_baner-height":420}},"embedded_video":"","video_duration":"","show_fb_comments":true,"credit_media":""},"tile":{"top_caption":"","main_caption":"Leadership of Spirit; 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