Jewish Royalty: A Game of Thrones

(13) Samuel answered Saul, “You acted foolishly in not keeping the commandments that the LORD your God laid upon you! Otherwise the LORD would have established your dynasty over Israel forever. (14) But now your dynasty will not endure. The LORD will seek out a man after His own heart, and the LORD will appoint him ruler over His people, because you did not abide by what the LORD had commanded you.”

(70) He chose David, His servant, and took him from the sheepfolds. (71) He brought him from minding the nursing ewes to tend His people Jacob, Israel, His very own. (72) He tended them with blameless heart; with skillful hands he led them.

(14) If, after you have entered the land that the LORD your God has assigned to you, and taken possession of it and settled in it, you decide, “I will set a king over me, as do all the nations about me,” (15) you shall be free to set a king over yourself, one chosen by the LORD your God. Be sure to set as king over yourself one of your own people; you must not set a foreigner over you, one who is not your kinsman. (16) Moreover, he shall not keep many horses or send people back to Egypt to add to his horses, since the LORD has warned you, “You must not go back that way again.” (17) And he shall not have many wives, lest his heart go astray; nor shall he amass silver and gold to excess. (18) When he is seated on his royal throne, he shall have a copy of this Teaching written for him on a scroll by the levitical priests. (19) Let it remain with him and let him read in it all his life, so that he may learn to revere the LORD his God, to observe faithfully every word of this Teaching as well as these laws. (20) Thus he will not act haughtily toward his fellows or deviate from the Instruction to the right or to the left, to the end that he and his descendants may reign long in the midst of Israel.

(4) "and you say: I shall place over myself a king, as all the nations that are around me": R. Nehorai says: This verse speaks in denigration of Israel, as in (I Samuel 8:7) "For it is not you (Samuel) that they have rejected (in asking for a king), but it is Me whom they have rejected from reigning over them."

(5) R. Yehudah said: Is it not a mitzvah of the Torah to ask for a king? viz. (Ibid. 15) "Place shall you place over yourself a king, whom the L-rd your G-d shall choose"? Why, then, was Israel punished for this in the days of Samuel? — Because they (the "ignoramuses" of that generation) preempted them (the elders) by placing "like all the nations that are around us" (before "to judge us").

(1) Israel was enjoined with three Commandments upon entering the Land: to appoint a king, as it says, “you shall set a king over yourselves” (Deut. 17:15); to destroy the descendents of Amalek, as it says “erase the memory of Amalek” (Deut. 25:19); and build the Temple, as it says, “you shall seek His habitation, and there you will come” (Deut. 12:5).

(35) Samuel never saw Saul again to the day of his death. But Samuel grieved over Saul, because the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.

(1) And the LORD said to Samuel, “How long will you grieve over Saul, since I have rejected him as king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and set out; I am sending you to Jesse the Bethlehemite, for I have decided on one of his sons to be king.” (2) Samuel replied, “How can I go? If Saul hears of it, he will kill me.” The LORD answered, “Take a heifer with you, and say, ‘I have come to sacrifice to the LORD.’ (3) Invite Jesse to the sacrificial feast, and then I will make known to you what you shall do; you shall anoint for Me the one I point out to you.” (4) Samuel did what the LORD commanded. When he came to Bethlehem, the elders of the city went out in alarm to meet him and said, “Do you come on a peaceful errand?” (5) “Yes,” he replied, “I have come to sacrifice to the LORD. Purify yourselves and join me in the sacrificial feast.” He also instructed Jesse and his sons to purify themselves and invited them to the sacrificial feast.

(6) And it came to pass, when they were come, that he beheld Eliab, and said: ‘Surely the LORD’S anointed is before Him.’ (7) But the LORD said unto Samuel: ‘Look not on his countenance, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him; for it is not as man seeth: for man looketh on the outward appearance, but the LORD looketh on the heart.’ (8) Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. And he said: ‘Neither hath the LORD chosen this.’ (9) Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. And he said: ‘Neither hath the LORD chosen this.’ (10) And Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. And Samuel said unto Jesse: ‘The LORD hath not chosen these.’ (11) And Samuel said unto Jesse: ‘Are here all thy children?’ And he said: ‘There remaineth yet the youngest, and, behold, he keepeth the sheep.’ And Samuel said unto Jesse: ‘Send and fetch him; for we will not sit down till he come hither.’

(12) And he sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of beautiful eyes, and goodly to look upon. And the LORD said: ‘Arise, anoint him; for this is he.’ (13) Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brethren; and the spirit of the LORD came mightily upon David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

(8) He stopped and called out to the ranks of Israel and he said to them, “Why should you come out to engage in battle? I am the Philistine [champion], and you are Saul’s servants. Choose one of your men and let him come down against me. (9) If he bests me in combat and kills me, we will become your slaves; but if I best him and kill him, you shall be our slaves and serve us.” (10) And the Philistine ended, “I herewith defy the ranks of Israel. Get me a man and let’s fight it out!” (11) When Saul and all Israel heard these words of the Philistine, they were dismayed and terror-stricken. (12) David was the son of a certain Ephrathite of Bethlehem in Judah whose name was Jesse. He had eight sons, and in the days of Saul the man was already old, advanced in years. (13) The three oldest sons of Jesse had left and gone with Saul to the war. The names of his three sons who had gone to the war were Eliab the first-born, the next Abinadab, and the third Shammah; (14) and David was the youngest. The three oldest had followed Saul, (15) and David would go back and forth from attending on Saul to shepherd his father’s flock at Bethlehem. (16) The Philistine stepped forward morning and evening and took his stand for forty days.

(17) Jesse said to his son David, “Take an ephah of this parched corn and these ten loaves of bread for your brothers, and carry them quickly to your brothers in camp. (18) Take these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand. Find out how your brothers are and bring some token from them.” (19) Saul and the brothers and all the men of Israel were in the valley of Elah, in the war against the Philistines. (20) Early next morning, David left someone in charge of the flock, took [the provisions], and set out, as his father Jesse had instructed him. He reached the barricade as the army was going out to the battle lines shouting the war cry. (21) Israel and the Philistines drew up their battle lines opposite each other. (22) David left his baggage with the man in charge of the baggage and ran toward the battle line and went to greet his brothers. (23) While he was talking to them, the champion, whose name was Goliath, the Philistine of Gath, stepped forward from the Philistine ranks and spoke the same words as before; and David heard him. (24) When the men of Israel saw the man, they fled in terror. (25) And the men of Israel were saying [among themselves], “Do you see that man coming out? He comes out to defy Israel! The man who kills him will be rewarded by the king with great riches; he will also give him his daughter in marriage and grant exemption to his father’s house in Israel.” (26) David asked the men standing near him, “What will be done for the man who kills that Philistine and removes the disgrace from Israel? Who is that uncircumcised Philistine that he dares defy the ranks of the living God?” (27) The troops told him in the same words what would be done for the man who killed him.

(28) When Eliab, his oldest brother, heard him speaking to the men, Eliab became angry with David and said, “Why did you come down here, and with whom did you leave those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your impudence and your impertinence: you came down to watch the fighting!” (29) But David replied, “What have I done now? I was only asking!” (30) And he turned away from him toward someone else; he asked the same question, and the troops gave him the same answer as before. (31) The things David said were overheard and were reported to Saul, who had him brought over. (32) David said to Saul, “Let no man’s courage fail him. Your servant will go and fight that Philistine!” (33) But Saul said to David, “You cannot go to that Philistine and fight him; you are only a boy, and he has been a warrior from his youth!” (34) David replied to Saul, “Your servant has been tending his father’s sheep, and if a lion or a bear came and carried off an animal from the flock, (35) I would go after it and fight it and rescue it from its mouth. And if it attacked me, I would seize it by the beard and strike it down and kill it. (36) Your servant has killed both lion and bear; and that uncircumcised Philistine shall end up like one of them, for he has defied the ranks of the living God. (37) The LORD,” David went on, “who saved me from lion and bear will also save me from that Philistine.” “Then go,” Saul said to David, “and may the LORD be with you!”

(38) Saul clothed David in his own garment; he placed a bronze helmet on his head and fastened a breastplate on him. (39) David girded his sword over his garment. Then he tried to walk; but he was not used to it. And David said to Saul, “I cannot walk in these, for I am not used to them.” So David took them off. (40) He took his stick, picked a few smooth stones from the wadi, put them in the pocket of his shepherd’s bag and, sling in hand, he went toward the Philistine. (41) The Philistine, meanwhile, was coming closer to David, preceded by his shield-bearer. (42) When the Philistine caught sight of David, he scorned him, for he was but a boy, ruddy and handsome. (43) And the Philistine called out to David, “Am I a dog that you come against me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods; (44) and the Philistine said to David, “Come here, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the field.” (45) David replied to the Philistine, “You come against me with sword and spear and javelin; but I come against you in the name of the LORD of Hosts, the God of the ranks of Israel, whom you have defied. (46) This very day the LORD will deliver you into my hands. I will kill you and cut off your head; and I will give the carcasses of the Philistine camp to the birds of the sky and the beasts of the earth. All the earth shall know that there is a God in Israel. (47) And this whole assembly shall know that the LORD can give victory without sword or spear. For the battle is the LORD’s, and He will deliver you into our hands.” (48) When the Philistine began to advance toward him again, David quickly ran up to the battle line to face the Philistine. (49) David put his hand into the bag; he took out a stone and slung it. It struck the Philistine in the forehead; the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell face down on the ground. (50) Thus David bested the Philistine with sling and stone; he struck him down and killed him. David had no sword; (51) so David ran up and stood over the Philistine, grasped his sword and pulled it from its sheath; and with it he dispatched him and cut off his head. When the Philistines saw that their warrior was dead, they ran.

(54) David took the head of the Philistine and brought it to Jerusalem; and he put his weapons in his own tent. (55) When Saul saw David going out to assault the Philistine, he asked his army commander Abner, “Whose son is that boy, Abner?” And Abner replied, “By your life, Your Majesty, I do not know.” (56) “Then find out whose son that young fellow is,” the king ordered. (57) So when David returned after killing the Philistine, Abner took him and brought him to Saul, with the head of the Philistine still in his hand. (58) Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, my boy?” And David answered, “The son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.” (1) When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. (2) Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.— (3) Jonathan and David made a pact, because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. (4) Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt. (5) David went out [with the troops], and he was successful in every mission on which Saul sent him, and Saul put him in command of all the soldiers; this pleased all the troops and Saul’s courtiers as well. (6) When the [troops] came home [and] David returned from killing the Philistine, the women of all the towns of Israel came out singing and dancing to greet King Saul with timbrels, shouting, and sistrums. (7) The women sang as they danced, and they chanted: Saul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands! (8) Saul was much distressed and greatly vexed about the matter. For he said, “To David they have given tens of thousands, and to me they have given thousands. All that he lacks is the kingship!” (9) From that day on Saul kept a jealous eye on David. (10) The next day an evil spirit of God gripped Saul and he began to rave in the house, while David was playing [the lyre], as he did daily. Saul had a spear in his hand, (11) and Saul threw the spear, thinking to pin David to the wall. But David eluded him twice. (12) Saul was afraid of David, for the LORD was with him and had turned away from Saul. (13) So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him chief of a thousand, to march at the head of the troops. (14) David was successful in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him; (15) and when Saul saw that he was successful, he dreaded him. (16) All Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched at their head.

(1) When [Ish-bosheth] son of Saul heard that Abner had died in Hebron, he lost heart and all Israel was alarmed. (2) The son of Saul [had] two company commanders, one named Baanah and the other Rechab, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite—Benjaminites, since Beeroth too was considered part of Benjamin. (3) The Beerothites had fled to Gittaim, where they have sojourned to this day. ( (4) Jonathan son of Saul had a son whose feet were crippled. He was five years old when the news about Saul and Jonathan came from Jezreel, and his nurse picked him up and fled; but as she was fleeing in haste, he fell and was lamed. His name was Mephibosheth.) (5) Rechab and Baanah, sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, started out, and they reached the home of Ish-bosheth at the heat of the day, when he was taking his midday rest. (6) So they went inside the house, as though fetching wheat, and struck him in the belly. Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped by, (7) and entered the house while he was asleep on his bed in his bedchamber; and they stabbed him to death. They cut off his head and took his head and made their way all night through the Arabah. (8) They brought the head of Ish-bosheth to David in Hebron. “Here,” they said to the king, “is the head of your enemy, Ish-bosheth son of Saul, who sought your life. This day the LORD has avenged my lord the king upon Saul and his offspring.” (9) But David answered Rechab and his brother Baanah, the sons of Rimmon the Beerothite, and said to them, “As the LORD lives, who has rescued me from every trouble: (10) The man who told me in Ziklag that Saul was dead thought he was bringing good news. But instead of rewarding him for the news, I seized and killed him. (11) How much more, then, when wicked men have killed a blameless man in bed in his own house! I will certainly avenge his blood on you, and I will rid the earth of you.” (12) David gave orders to the young men, who killed them; they cut off their hands and feet and hung them up by the pool in Hebron. And they took the head of Ish-bosheth and buried it in the grave of Abner at Hebron. (1) All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. (2) Long before now, when Saul was king over us, it was you who led Israel in war; and the LORD said to you: You shall shepherd My people Israel; you shall be ruler of Israel.” (3) All the elders of Israel came to the king at Hebron, and King David made a pact with them in Hebron before the LORD. And they anointed David king over Israel. (4) David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.

(1) At the turn of the year, the season when kings go out [to battle], David sent Joab with his officers and all Israel with him, and they devastated Ammon and besieged Rabbah; David remained in Jerusalem. (2) Late one afternoon, David rose from his couch and strolled on the roof of the royal palace; and from the roof he saw a woman bathing. The woman was very beautiful, (3) and the king sent someone to make inquiries about the woman. He reported, “She is Bathsheba daughter of Eliam [and] wife of Uriah the Hittite.” (4) David sent messengers to fetch her; she came to him and he lay with her—she had just purified herself after her period—and she went back home. (5) The woman conceived, and she sent word to David, “I am pregnant.” (6) Thereupon David sent a message to Joab, “Send Uriah the Hittite to me”; and Joab sent Uriah to David. (7) When Uriah came to him, David asked him how Joab and the troops were faring and how the war was going. (8) Then David said to Uriah, “Go down to your house and bathe your feet.” When Uriah left the royal palace, a present from the king followed him. (9) But Uriah slept at the entrance of the royal palace, along with the other officers of his lord, and did not go down to his house. (10) When David was told that Uriah had not gone down to his house, he said to Uriah, “You just came from a journey; why didn’t you go down to your house?” (11) Uriah answered David, “The Ark and Israel and Judah are located at Succoth, and my master Joab and Your Majesty’s men are camped in the open; how can I go home and eat and drink and sleep with my wife? As you live, by your very life, I will not do this!” (12) David said to Uriah, “Stay here today also, and tomorrow I will send you off.” So Uriah remained in Jerusalem that day. The next day, (13) David summoned him, and he ate and drank with him until he got him drunk; but in the evening, [Uriah] went out to sleep in the same place, with his lord’s officers; he did not go down to his home. (14) In the morning, David wrote a letter to Joab, which he sent with Uriah. (15) He wrote in the letter as follows: “Place Uriah in the front line where the fighting is fiercest; then fall back so that he may be killed.” (16) So when Joab was besieging the city, he stationed Uriah at the point where he knew that there were able warriors. (17) The men of the city sallied out and attacked Joab, and some of David’s officers among the troops fell; Uriah the Hittite was among those who died. (18) Joab sent a full report of the battle to David.

The verse states: “And he walked upon the roof of the king’s house; from the roof he saw a woman bathing, and the woman was very fair to look upon” (II Samuel 11:2). Bathsheba was shampooing her head behind a beehive, which concealed her from sight. Satan came and appeared to David as a bird. David shot an arrow at the bird, the arrow severed the beehive, Bathsheba was exposed, and David saw her. Immediately, it is written: “And David sent and inquired after the woman. And one said: Is not this Bathsheba, daughter of Eliam, the wife of Uriah the Hittite? And David sent messengers, and took her, and she came to him, and he lay with her, for she was purified from her impurity, and then she returned to her house” (II Samuel 11:3–4). And that is the meaning of that which is written: “You have proved my heart; You have visited me in the night: You have tried me, but You find nothing; let no presumptuous thought pass my lips” (Psalms 17:3). David said: Oh, that a muzzle would have fallen upon the mouth of the one who hates me, a euphemism for his own mouth, and I would not have said anything like that and I would have withstood the ordeal. Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “To the leader, of David. In the Lord I put my trust; how can you say to my soul: Flee like a bird to your mountain” (Psalms 11:1)? David said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: Master of the Universe, pardon me for that sin with Bathsheba so that the wicked people will not say: The mountain that is among you, i.e., the luminary of the generation, David, was driven from the world due to a bird that led to his transgression. Rava taught: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Against You, only You, have I sinned, and done what is evil in Your eyes; that You are justified when You speak, and right when You judge” (Psalms 51:6)? David said before the Holy One, Blessed be He: It is revealed and known before You that if I sought to suppress my evil inclination, I would have suppressed it; but I said: I will sin, so that they will not say a servant overcame his master and withstood the ordeal even though God said that he would not.

(1) King David was now old, advanced in years; and though they covered him with bedclothes, he never felt warm. (2) His courtiers said to him, “Let a young virgin be sought for my lord the king, to wait upon Your Majesty and be his attendant; and let her lie in your bosom, and my lord the king will be warm.” (3) So they looked for a beautiful girl throughout the territory of Israel. They found Abishag the Shunammite and brought her to the king. (4) The girl was exceedingly beautiful. She became the king’s attendant and waited upon him; but the king was not intimate with her.