{"id":61167,"date":"2019-08-15T15:18:09","date_gmt":"2019-08-15T12:18:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=61167"},"modified":"2023-03-13T11:41:01","modified_gmt":"2023-03-13T09:41:01","slug":"davids-other-valedictory-a-close-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/davids-other-valedictory-a-close-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"David\u2019s Other Valedictory: A Close Reading"},"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":[395,834,390],"acf":{"old_id":"61167","type":"no","iframe":"","writer":34243,"related_cahpter":"286","type_929":"2","show_author_image":false,"old_create_date":"","old_url":"","post_main_content":{"description":"Highly lyrical, and highly cryptic\u2026","content":"<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Our chapter opens with a highly lyrical, and highly cryptic, valedictory. We will try\u2014as we did in the previous chapter\u2014to extract its significance by focusing on the language. Here is the text (1-7) according to the 1917 Jewish Publication Society translation:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Now these are the last words of David\u2026 the anointed (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mashiach<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) of the God of Jacob, And the sweet singer of Israel.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Note that the title <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">mashiach<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> means anointed and neither savior nor deliverer. Recalling that David\u2019s first public appearance was as Saul\u2019s harpist, we are not surprised that he called a sweet singer. That is also consistent with his prominence throughout the Book of Psalms.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The spirit of the LORD spoke by me, and His word was upon my tongue.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Taken strictly literally, this would indicate that David was a prophet, a position adopted, for example, by Saadiah Gaon (10<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">th<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\"> century) in the context of assigning him the exclusive authorship of Psalms.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">Ruler over men shall be the righteous, even he that rules in the fear of God.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">David acknowledged that while he ruled by \u201cdivine right,\u201d that imposed on him obligations of justice and morality rather than freeing him to act arbitrarily.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">And as the light of the morning, when the sun rises, A morning without clouds; When through clear shining after rain, The tender grass springs out of the earth.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The imagery here appears to be standard poetic; i.e., there is nothing about it either overtly theological in general, or even Jewish in particular.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">For an everlasting covenant (<\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">b\u2019rit olam<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">) He hath made with me\u2026<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The phrase <\/span><em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">b\u2019rit olam<\/span><\/em><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">, which appears 12 times in Tanakh, translated here as \u201ceverlasting covenant\u201d can also mean \u201ccovenant of yore.\u201d In that latter sense, it may allude to the belief that the Davidic dynasty was destined to rule over Israel and that Saul\u2019s ascent to the throne was inevitably temporary.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">But the ungodly, they are as thorns thrust away, all of them, for they cannot be taken with the hand.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The \u201cungodly\u201d (or, as we prefer, worthless\u2014see chapter 20) are compared to thorns (cf. Jer. 17:6) on account of their prickly nature.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400;\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">\u2026 and they shall be utterly burned with fire in their place.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">The combination of evildoers and burning thornbushes recalls Psalm 118:12: \u201cThey compass me about like bees; they are quenched as the fire of thorns; verily, in the name of the Lord I will cut them off.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400;\">In sum, it will take great strength to eradicate evil, but God will empower a righteous leader to accomplish 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