{"id":81803,"date":"2020-10-20T16:03:59","date_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:03:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/?p=81803"},"modified":"2020-10-20T16:03:59","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T13:03:59","slug":"davids-sense-of-abandonment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/davids-sense-of-abandonment\/","title":{"rendered":"David\u2019s Sense Of Abandonment"},"content":{"rendered":"
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In the midst of this familiar (from the Jewish High Holiday season) psalm, dealing with fears and aspirations, war and faith, comes this mystifying verse (10):<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cFor though my father and my mother have abandoned me, the Lord will take me up.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

This verse does not correspond with any known incident from David\u2019s past. According to Jewish tradition, David\u2019s parents were murdered by the king of Moab after David had deposited them there for safekeeping during David\u2019s flight from the forces of Saul.<\/span><\/p>\n

If David\u2019s parents were murdered, then David was a survivor. Perhaps he felt abandoned by his parents, guilt for leaving them unattended and betrayed by the world of men. Perhaps\u2014as some survivors do\u2014he felt that he could trust only God (though it was God who had abandoned his parents!).<\/span><\/p>\n

Or perhaps David was just expressing the commonplace that biological parents are mortal, destined to die and abandon their children, and only the Divine Parent endures.<\/span><\/p>\n

What was David\u2019s relationship with his parents? We know precious little from the text, but one vignette poses a puzzling question: it is the scene where Samuel comes to anoint one of Jesse\u2019s sons as the next King of Israel (I Samuel, 16).<\/span><\/p>\n

We know that David possessed overflowing charisma: women fall in love with him, men fall in love with him (e.g., Jonathan), God falls in love with him. And, as is often the case with the charismatic, he is hated beyond reason by his enemies (Saul, Absalom) who feel passed over. No one could be indifferent about David.<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet when Samuel examines the roster of Jesse\u2019s sons, it doesn\u2019t even occur to Jesse to present David as one of the candidates. After going through the seven elder sons, Samuel has to prod Jesse: \u201cAre these all the boys?\u201d And only then does Jesse remember: \u201cThe youngest one is still left; he is tending the sheep.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

How could Jesse be so blind to the leadership qualities of his youngest son? We know from Jacob in Genesis (35:18) that fathers of large families feel a special kinship with their youngest sons. Jacob calls his, \u201cBenjamin\u201d (\u201cson of my strength\u201d). Yet Jesse overlooked David! Was this the abandonment referred to in our verse?<\/span><\/p>\n

Rashi comes and gives the above verse about parental abandonment an altogether different and astonishing interpretation, transferring the verse from the individual biographical to the universal biological. He says that it refers to the moment after intercourse, undertaken for the pleasure of the parents. When the parents have satisfied their lust, they turn aside, and go to sleep. It is up to God to shepherd the chosen sperm to the egg, and then to form and guard the embryo. This is abandonment!<\/span><\/p>\n

One pictures an embryonic David, moving through a darkened birth canal, moving beyond mortality, towards the one and only true love of his life:<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cThe Lord is my light and my salvation!\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","image":{"ID":81804,"id":81804,"title":"ps27-abandoned","filename":"ps27-abandoned.jpg","filesize":0,"url":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/10\/ps27-abandoned.jpg","link":"https:\/\/wp.929.org.il\/en\/davids-sense-of-abandonment\/ps27-abandoned\/","alt":"","author":"7","description":"","caption":"","name":"ps27-abandoned","status":"inherit","uploaded_to":81803,"date":"2020-10-20 13:03:30","modified":"2020-11-04 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