פרק 3: המלוכה

When Samuel grew old, he appointed his sons judges over Israel. The name of his first-born son was Joel, and his second son’s name was Abijah; they sat as judges in Beer-sheba. But his sons did not follow in his ways; they were bent on gain, they accepted bribes, and they subverted justice.

All the elders of Israel assembled and came to Samuel at Ramah, and they said to him, “You have grown old, and your sons have not followed your ways. Therefore appoint a king for us, to govern us like all other nations.” Samuel was displeased that they said “Give us a king to govern us.” Samuel prayed to the LORD, and the LORD replied to Samuel, “Heed the demand of the people in everything they say to you. For it is not you that they have rejected; it is Me they have rejected as their king. Like everything else they have done ever since I brought them out of Egypt to this day—forsaking Me and worshiping other gods—so they are doing to you.

But the people would not listen to Samuel’s warning. “No,” they said. “We must have a king over us,

But the people would not listen to Samuel’s warning. “No,” they said. “We must have a king over us, that we may be like all the other nations: Let our king rule over us and go out at our head and fight our battles.”

Formerly in Israel, when a man went to inquire of God, he would say, “Come, let us go to the seer,” for the prophet of today was formerly called a seer.—

As they were climbing the ascent to the town, they met some girls coming out to draw water, and they asked them, “Is the seer in town?” “Yes,” they replied. “He is up there ahead of you. Hurry, for he has just come to the town because the people have a sacrifice at the shrine today.

Samuel summoned the people to the LORD at Mizpah and said to them, “Thus said the LORD, the God of Israel: ‘I brought Israel out of Egypt, and I delivered you from the hands of the Egyptians and of all the kingdoms that oppressed you.’ But today you have rejected your God who delivered you from all your troubles and calamities. For you said, ‘No, set up a king over us!’ Now station yourselves before the LORD, by your tribes and clans.” Samuel brought forward each of the tribes of Israel, and the lot indicated the tribe of Benjamin. Then Samuel brought forward the tribe of Benjamin by its clans, and the clan of the Matrites was indicated; and then Saul son of Kish was indicated. But when they looked for him, he was not to be found. They inquired of the LORD again, “Has anyone else come here?” And the LORD replied, “Yes; he is hiding among the baggage.” So they ran over and brought him from there; and when he took his place among the people, he stood a head taller than all the people.

But some scoundrels said, “How can this fellow save us?” So they scorned him and brought him no gift. But he pretended not to mind.

Nahash the Ammonite marched up and besieged Jabesh-gilead. All the men of Jabesh-gilead said to Nahash, “Make a pact with us, and we will serve you.” But Nahash the Ammonite answered them, “I will make a pact with you on this condition, that everyone’s right eye be gouged out; I will make this a humiliation for all Israel.” The elders of Jabesh said to him, “Give us seven days’ respite, so that we may send messengers throughout the territory of Israel; if no one comes to our aid, we will surrender to you.”

He took a yoke of oxen and cut them into pieces, which he sent by messengers throughout the territory of Israel, with the warning, “Thus shall be done to the cattle of anyone who does not follow Saul and Samuel into battle!” Terror from the LORD fell upon the people, and they came out as one man.

The people then said to Samuel, “Who was it said, ‘Shall Saul be king over us?’ Hand the men over and we will put them to death!” But Saul replied, “No man shall be put to death this day! For this day the LORD has brought victory to Israel.” Samuel said to the people, “Come, let us go to Gilgal and there inaugurate the monarchy.”

Then Samuel said to all Israel, “I have yielded to you in all you have asked of me and have set a king over you. Henceforth the king will be your leader. “As for me, I have grown old and gray—but my sons are still with you—and I have been your leader from my youth to this day. Here I am! Testify against me, in the presence of the LORD and in the presence of His anointed one: Whose ox have I taken, or whose ass have I taken? Whom have I defrauded or whom have I robbed? From whom have I taken a bribe to look the other way? I will return it to you.” They responded, “You have not defrauded us, and you have not robbed us, and you have taken nothing from anyone.” He said to them, “The LORD then is witness, and His anointed is witness, to your admission this day that you have found nothing in my possession.” They responded, “He is!” Samuel said to the people, “The LORD [is witness], He who appointed Moses and Aaron and who brought your fathers out of the land of Egypt. Come, stand before the LORD while I cite against you all the kindnesses that the LORD has done to you and your fathers. “When Jacob came to Egypt,…your fathers cried out to the LORD, and the LORD sent Moses and Aaron, who brought your fathers out of Egypt and settled them in this place. But they forgot the LORD their God; so He delivered them into the hands of Sisera the military commander of Hazor, into the hands of the Philistines, and into the hands of the king of Moab; and these made war upon them. They cried to the LORD, ‘We are guilty, for we have forsaken the LORD and worshiped the Baalim and Ashtaroth. Oh, deliver us from our enemies and we will serve You.’ And the LORD sent Jerubbaal and Bedan and Jephthah and Samuel, and delivered you from the enemies around you; and you dwelt in security. But when you saw that Nahash king of the Ammonites was advancing against you, you said to me, ‘No, we must have a king reigning over us’—though the LORD your God is your King. “Well, the LORD has set a king over you! Here is the king that you have chosen, that you have asked for. “If you will revere the LORD, worship Him, and obey Him, and will not flout the LORD’s command, if both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the LORD your God, [well and good]. But if you do not obey the LORD and you flout the LORD’s command, the hand of the LORD will strike you as it did your fathers. “Now stand by and see the marvelous thing that the LORD will do before your eyes.

Thus Saul set up an altar to the LORD; it was the first altar he erected to the LORD. Saul said, “Let us go down after the Philistines by night and plunder among them until the light of morning; and let us not leave a single survivor among them.” “Do whatever you please,” they replied. But the priest said, “Let us approach God here.”

So Saul inquired of God, “Shall I go down after the Philistines? Will You deliver them into the hands of Israel?” But this time He did not respond to him.

And Saul said, “Cast the lots between my son and me”; and Jonathan was indicated. Saul said to Jonathan, “Tell me, what have you done?” And Jonathan told him, “I only tasted a bit of honey with the tip of the stick in my hand. I am ready to die.” Saul said, “Thus and more may God do: You shall be put to death, Jonathan!” But the troops said to Saul, “Shall Jonathan die, after bringing this great victory to Israel? Never! As the LORD lives, not a hair of his head shall fall to the ground! For he brought this day to pass with the help of God.” Thus the troops saved Jonathan and he did not die.

When [David] finished speaking with Saul, Jonathan’s soul became bound up with the soul of David; Jonathan loved David as himself. Saul took him [into his service] that day and would not let him return to his father’s house.— Jonathan and David made a pact, because [Jonathan] loved him as himself. Jonathan took off the cloak and tunic he was wearing and gave them to David, together with his sword, bow, and belt. 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.

So Saul removed him from his presence and appointed him chief of a thousand, to march at the head of the troops. David was successful in all his undertakings, for the LORD was with him; and when Saul saw that he was successful, he dreaded him. All Israel and Judah loved David, for he marched at their head.

Saul thought: “I will give her to him, and she can serve as a snare for him, so that the Philistines may kill him.” So Saul said to David, “You can become my son-in-law even now through the second one.”

Saul sent messengers to David’s home to keep watch on him and to kill him in the morning. But David’s wife Michal told him, “Unless you run for your life tonight, you will be killed tomorrow.” Michal let David down from the window and he escaped and fled. Michal then took the household idol, laid it on the bed, and covered it with a cloth; and at its head she put a net of goat’s hair.

David hid in the field. The new moon came, and the king sat down to partake of the meal. When the king took his usual place on the seat by the wall, Jonathan rose and Abner sat down at Saul’s side; but David’s place remained vacant.

David went to the priest Ahimelech at Nob. Ahimelech came out in alarm to meet David, and he said to him, “Why are you alone, and no one with you?” David answered the priest Ahimelech, “The king has ordered me on a mission, and he said to me, ‘No one must know anything about the mission on which I am sending you and for which I have given you orders.’ So I have directed [my] young men to such and such a place. Now then, what have you got on hand? Any loaves of bread? Let me have them—or whatever is available.” The priest answered David, “I have no ordinary bread on hand; there is only consecrated bread—provided the young men have kept away from women.”

David said to Ahimelech, “Haven’t you got a spear or sword on hand? I didn’t take my sword or any of my weapons with me, because the king’s mission was urgent.” The priest said, “There is the sword of Goliath the Philistine whom you slew in the valley of Elah; it is over there, wrapped in a cloth, behind the ephod. If you want to take that one, take it, for there is none here but that one.” David replied, “There is none like it; give it to me.” That day David continued on his flight from Saul and he came to King Achish of Gath. The courtiers of Achish said to him, “Why, that’s David, king of the land! That’s the one of whom they sing as they dance: Saul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands.” These words worried David and he became very much afraid of King Achish of Gath. So he concealed his good sense from them; he feigned madness for their benefit. He scratched marks on the doors of the gate and let his saliva run down his beard. And Achish said to his courtiers, “You see the man is raving; why bring him to me? Do I lack madmen that you have brought this fellow to rave for me? Should this fellow enter my house?”

David departed from there and escaped to the cave of Adullam; and when his brothers and all his father’s house heard, they joined him down there. Everyone who was in straits and everyone who was in debt and everyone who was desperate joined him, and he became their leader; there were about four hundred men with him. David went from there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Let my father and mother come [and stay] with you, until I know what God will do for me.” So he led them to the king of Moab, and they stayed with him as long as David remained in the stronghold.

When Saul heard that David and the men with him had been located—Saul was then in Gibeah, sitting under the tamarisk tree on the height, spear in hand, with all his courtiers in attendance upon him— Saul said to the courtiers standing about him, “Listen, men of Benjamin! Will the son of Jesse give fields and vineyards to every one of you? And will he make all of you captains of thousands or captains of hundreds? Is that why all of you have conspired against me? For no one informs me when my own son makes a pact with the son of Jesse; no one is concerned for me and no one informs me when my own son has set my servant in ambush against me, as is now the case.”

David and his men went to Keilah and fought against the Philistines; he drove off their cattle and inflicted a severe defeat on them. Thus David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. When Abiathar son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, he brought down an ephod with him. Saul was told that David had come to Keilah, and Saul thought, “God has delivered him into my hands, for he has shut himself in by entering a town with gates and bars.” Saul summoned all the troops for war, to go down to Keilah and besiege David and his men.

So David and his men, about six hundred in number, left Keilah at once and moved about wherever they could. And when Saul was told that David had got away from Keilah, he did not set out. David was staying in the strongholds of the wilderness [of Judah]; he stayed in the hill country, in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul searched for him constantly, but God did not deliver him into his hands. David was once at Horesh in the wilderness of Ziph, when David learned that Saul had come out to seek his life. And Saul’s son Jonathan came to David at Horesh and encouraged him in [the name of] God. He said to him, “Do not be afraid: the hand of my father Saul will never touch you. You are going to be king over Israel and I shall be second to you; and even my father Saul knows this is so.”

There was a man in Maon whose possessions were in Carmel. The man was very wealthy; he owned three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. At the time, he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. The man’s name was Nabal, and his wife’s name was Abigail. The woman was intelligent and beautiful, but the man, a Calebite, was a hard man and an evildoer. David was in the wilderness when he heard that Nabal was shearing his sheep. David dispatched ten young men, and David instructed the young men, “Go up to Carmel. When you come to Nabal, greet him in my name. Say as follows: ‘To life! Greetings to you and to your household and to all that is yours! I hear that you are now doing your shearing. As you know, your shepherds have been with us; we did not harm them, and nothing of theirs was missing all the time they were in Carmel. Ask your young men and they will tell you. So receive these young men graciously, for we have come on a festive occasion. Please give your servants and your son David whatever you can.’” David’s young men went and delivered this message to Nabal in the name of David. When they stopped speaking, Nabal answered David’s servants, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many slaves nowadays who run away from their masters. Should I then take my bread and my water, and the meat that I slaughtered for my own shearers, and give them to men who come from I don’t know where?” Thereupon David’s young men retraced their steps; and when they got back, they told him all this. And David said to his men, “Gird on your swords.” Each girded on his sword; David too girded on his sword. About four hundred men went up after David, while two hundred remained with the baggage. One of [Nabal’s] young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, that David had sent messengers from the wilderness to greet their master, and that he had spurned them. “But the men had been very friendly to us; we were not harmed, nor did we miss anything all the time that we went about with them while we were in the open. They were a wall about us both by night and by day all the time that we were with them tending the flocks.

When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Praised be the LORD who championed my cause against the insults of Nabal and held back His servant from wrongdoing; the LORD has brought Nabal’s wrongdoing down on his own head.” David sent messengers to propose marriage to Abigail, to take her as his wife. When David’s servants came to Abigail at Carmel and told her that David had sent them to her to make her his wife, she immediately bowed low with her face to the ground and said, “Your handmaid is ready to be your maidservant, to wash the feet of my lord’s servants.”

So David and Abishai approached the troops by night, and found Saul fast asleep inside the barricade, his spear stuck in the ground at his head, and Abner and the troops sleeping around him. And Abishai said to David, “God has delivered your enemy into your hands today. Let me pin him to the ground with a single thrust of the spear. I will not have to strike him twice.” But David said to Abishai, “Don’t do him violence! No one can lay hands on the LORD’s anointed with impunity.”

But the LORD forbid that I should lay a hand on the LORD’s anointed! Just take the spear and the water jar at his head and let’s be off.”

David crossed over to the other side and stood afar on top of a hill; there was considerable distance between them. And David shouted to the troops and to Abner son of Ner, “Abner, aren’t you going to answer?” And Abner shouted back, “Who are you to shout at the king?” And David answered Abner, “You are a man, aren’t you? And there is no one like you in Israel! So why didn’t you keep watch over your lord the king? For one of [our] troops came to do violence to your lord the king.

Saul answered David, “May you be blessed, my son David. You shall achieve, and you shall prevail.” David then went his way, and Saul returned home.

David said to himself, “Some day I shall certainly perish at the hands of Saul. The best thing for me is to flee to the land of the Philistines; Saul will then give up hunting me throughout the territory of Israel, and I will escape him.”

David said to himself, “Some day I shall certainly perish at the hands of Saul. The best thing for me is to flee to the land of the Philistines; Saul will then give up hunting me throughout the territory of Israel, and I will escape him.” So David and the six hundred men with him went and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath. David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath, each man with his family, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Gizrites, and the Amalekites—who were the inhabitants of the region of Olam, all the way to Shur and to the land of Egypt.— When David attacked a region, he would leave no man or woman alive; he would take flocks, herds, asses, camels, and clothing. When he returned and came to Achish, Achish would ask, “Where did you raid today?” and David would reply, “The Negeb of Judah,” or “the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or “the Negeb of the Kenites.” David would leave no man or woman alive to be brought to Gath; for he thought, “They might tell about us: David did this.” Such was his practice as long as he stayed in the territory of the Philistines. Achish trusted David. He thought: “He has aroused the wrath of his own people Israel, and so he will be my vassal forever.”

At that time the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to take the field against Israel. Achish said to David, “You know, of course, that you and your men must march out with my forces.” David answered Achish, “You surely know what your servant will do.” “In that case,” Achish replied to David, “I will appoint you my bodyguard for life.”

And Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by prophets.

The woman had a stall-fed calf in the house; she hastily slaughtered it, and took flour and kneaded it, and baked some unleavened cakes.

The Philistine lords came marching, each with his units of hundreds and of thousands; and David and his men came marching last, with Achish. The Philistine officers asked, “Who are those Hebrews?” “Why, that’s David, the servant of King Saul of Israel,” Achish answered the Philistine officers. “He has been with me for a year or more, and I have found no fault in him from the day he defected until now.” But the Philistine officers were angry with him; and the Philistine officers said to him, “Send the man back; let him go back to the place you assigned him. He shall not march down with us to the battle, or else he may become our adversary in battle. For with what could that fellow appease his master if not with the heads of these men? Remember, he is the David of whom they sang as they danced: Saul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands.” Achish summoned David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you are an honest man, and I would like to have you serve in my forces; for I have found no fault with you from the day you joined me until now. But you are not acceptable to the other lords. So go back in peace, and do nothing to displease the Philistine lords.” David, however, said to Achish, “But what have I done, what fault have you found in your servant from the day I appeared before you to this day, that I should not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” Achish replied to David, “I know; you are as acceptable to me as an angel of God. But the Philistine officers have decided that you must not march out with us to the battle.

David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring the ephod up to me.” When Abiathar brought up the ephod to David, David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I pursue those raiders? Will I overtake them?” And He answered him, “Pursue, for you shall overtake and you shall rescue.”

But all the mean and churlish fellows among the men who had accompanied David spoke up, “Since they did not accompany us, we will not give them any of the spoil that we seized—except that each may take his wife and children and go.” David, however, spoke up, “You must not do that, my brothers, in view of what the LORD has granted us, guarding us and delivering into our hands the band that attacked us. How could anyone agree with you in this matter? The share of those who remain with the baggage shall be the same as the share of those who go down to battle; they shall share alike.” So from that day on it was made a fixed rule for Israel, continuing to the present day.

The young man who brought him the news answered, “I happened to be at Mount Gilboa, and I saw Saul leaning on his spear, and the chariots and horsemen closing in on him. He looked around and saw me, and he called to me. When I responded, ‘At your service,’ he asked me, ‘Who are you?’ And I told him that I was an Amalekite. Then he said to me, ‘Stand over me, and finish me off, for I am in agony and am barely alive.’ So I stood over him and finished him off, for I knew that he would never rise from where he was lying. Then I took the crown from his head and the armlet from his arm, and I have brought them here to my lord.” David took hold of his clothes and rent them, and so did all the men with him. They lamented and wept, and they fasted until evening for Saul and his son Jonathan, and for the soldiers of the LORD and the House of Israel who had fallen by the sword. David said to the young man who had brought him the news, “Where are you from?” He replied, “I am the son of a resident alien, an Amalekite.” “How did you dare,” David said to him, “to lift your hand and kill the LORD’s anointed?” Thereupon David called one of the attendants and said to him, “Come over and strike him!” He struck him down and he died. And David said to him, “Your blood be on your own head! Your own mouth testified against you when you said, ‘I put the LORD’s anointed to death.’”

Sometime afterward, David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go up to one of the towns of Judah?” The LORD answered, “Yes.” David further asked, “Which one shall I go up to?” And the LORD replied, “To Hebron.” So David went up there, along with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail wife of Nabal the Carmelite. David also took the men who were with him, each with his family, and they settled in the towns about Hebron. The men of Judah came and there they anointed David king over the House of Judah. David was told about the men of Jabesh-gilead who buried Saul.

So David sent messengers to the men of Jabesh-gilead and said to them, “May you be blessed of the LORD because you performed this act of faithfulness to your lord Saul and buried him. May the LORD in turn show you true faithfulness; and I too will reward you generously because you performed this act. Now take courage and be brave men; for your lord Saul is dead and the House of Judah have already anointed me king over them.” But Abner son of Ner, Saul’s army commander, had taken Ish-bosheth son of Saul and brought him across to Mahanaim and made him king over Gilead, the Ashurites, Jezreel, Ephraim, and Benjamin—over all Israel. Ishbosheth son of Saul was forty years old when he became king of Israel, and he reigned two years. But the House of Judah supported David.

A fierce battle ensued that day, and Abner and the men of Israel were routed by David’s soldiers. The three sons of Zeruiah were there—Joab, Abishai, and Asahel. Asahel was swift of foot, like a gazelle in the open field.

The war between the House of Saul and the House of David was long-drawn-out; but David kept growing stronger, while the House of Saul grew weaker.

When Abner came to David in Hebron, accompanied by twenty men, David made a feast for Abner and the men with him. Abner said to David, “Now I will go and rally all Israel to Your Majesty. They will make a pact with you, and you can reign over all that your heart desires.” And David dismissed Abner, who went away unharmed.

Joab left David and sent messengers after Abner, and they brought him back from the cistern of Sirah; but David knew nothing about it. When Abner returned to Hebron, Joab took him aside within the gate to talk to him privately; there he struck him in the belly. Thus [Abner] died for shedding the blood of Asahel, Joab’s brother. Afterward, when David heard of it, he said, “Both I and my kingdom are forever innocent before the LORD of shedding the blood of Abner son of Ner.

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. So they went inside the house, as though fetching wheat, and struck him in the belly. Rechab and his brother Baanah slipped by, 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. 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.” 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: 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. 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.” 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.

All the tribes of Israel came to David at Hebron and said, “We are your own flesh and blood. 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.” 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. David was thirty years old when he became king, and he reigned forty years.