פרשת תצוה תשכ"ו - הפטרה לשבת זכור

And Sha᾽ul said to the Qeni, Go, depart, go down from among the ῾Amaleqi, lest I destroy thee with them: for thou hast shown kindness to all the children of Yisra᾽el, when they came up out of Miżrayim. So the Qeni departed from among ῾Amaleq.

And Sha᾽ul came to a city of ῾Amaleq, and laid wait in the valley.

§ Having mentioned the verse about Saul, the Gemara proceeds to interpret more of that passage: “And Saul came to the city of Amalek and he strove in the valley” (I Samuel 15:5). Rabbi Mani said: This means that Saul strove with God, as it were, concerning the matter of the valley. At the time when the Holy One, Blessed be He, said to Saul: “Now go and attack Amalek and proscribe all that belongs to him; do not pity him, but kill men and women alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and sheep alike, camel and donkey alike” (I Samuel 15:3), Saul countered and said: Now, if on account of one life that is taken, in a case where a slain person’s body is found and the murderer is unknown, the Torah said to bring a heifer whose neck is broken to a barren valley, in the atonement ritual described in Deuteronomy 6:1–9, all the more so must I have pity and not take all these Amalekite lives. And he further reasoned: If the men have sinned, in what way have the animals sinned? Why, then, should the Amalekites’ livestock be destroyed? And if the adults have sinned, in what way have the children sinned? A Divine Voice then came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly righteous” (Ecclesiastes 7:16). That is to say: Do not be more merciful than the Creator Himself, Who has commanded you to do this, for to do so would not be an indication of righteousness but of weakness. At a later time, when Saul said to Doeg: “Turn around and strike down the priests, and Doeg the Edomite turned around and struck down the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five men who wore the linen ephod, and he struck Nob the city of priests by the sword, man and woman alike, infants and sucklings alike, oxen and donkeys and sheep, by the sword” (I Samuel 22:18–19), a Divine Voice came forth and said to him: “Do not be overly wicked” (Ecclesiastes 7:17).

I regret that I have set up Sha᾽ul to be king: for he is turned back from following me, and he has not performed my commandments. And it grieved Shemu᾽el; and he cried to the Lord all night.

And also the Eternal One of Yisra᾽el will not lie nor change his mind: for he is not a man, that he should change his mind.

And as Shemu᾽el turned about to go away, he laid hold of the corner of his robe, and it tore.

And he grabbed the corner of his robe. According to the simple meaning, it seems that when Shmuel turned to leave Shaul, Shaul grabbed the corner of Shmuel's [robe], since Shaul was asking him to return until he would prostate himself in Gilgol, where the Tent of Meeting was. In Midrash Aggadah, however, Amora'im differ; some say that Shaul tore Shmuel's robe, and some say that Shmuel tore Shaul's robe,²⁸As a symbol of his loss of kingship. Another version is that Shmuel tore his own robe as a gesture of dismay. giving over to him this sign, that whoever will tear a corner of his robe, would reign in his place. And that is what Shaul said to Dovid on the day he tore [Shaul's] robe, 'I know that you will surely reign.'²⁹ Below 24:21. See Rashi’s commentary there.