1 Samuel, Chapter 10 - Chosen...But Hiding | Prophets of Israel Daily

[music] >> Hello and welcome to the Prophets of Israel daily and today we are diving [music] into Samuel 1 chapter 10. I'm Ari Brown with here with my best friend and rebbe Jeremy Gimpel Shalom. Jeremy. >> Hey Ari, how are you? >> Um I'm doing well. Um you know, here we are Saul becomes king. Uh you spoke about it yesterday, but it didn't really happen in the way you'd expect for a king to be coronated. It wasn't in a palace with trumpets and crowds. The first king of Israel, you'd want to make a big deal about it, but it really wasn't. It was a private moment on the side of the road. Right? Samuel pulls out a flask of oil and pours it on the head of this young man whose biggest worry that morning was fi- finding his father's lost donkeys. Right? This is how the kingdom of Israel, the kingdom of Israel, this is how it begins. Uh verse 1, and Samuel took the flask of oil and poured it on his head and kissed him. And he said, "Has not Hashem anointed you to be a ruler over his inheritance?" Pach shemen. That's actually the word, a flask of oil. Many of our sages uh you know, caught something that I'd missed for years. I don't know if you spotted this, Jeremy, but now I can't unsee it. Right? When David is anointed in chapter 16, what's the vessel? Keren shemen, a horn of oil. Right? A horn doesn't break. A horn doesn't crack. A horn lasts. But a flask, that shatters. And uh and I think that that's an allusion to what is to come. Right? Saul's anointing comes in a vessel that won't survive the story. David's anointing comes in a vessel that's built to endure. And this seemingly small detail in the very first verse is a prophetic hint to how the rest of this epic story is going to unfold and and play out. >> Well, yeah, it's true and I really want to point out two things that I want to contrast specifically with David. And the first thing is, like you said, Saul is anointed with a pach, a jug, a flask of oil, and Samuel is told explicitly to take oil in a horn and anoint David. And in Hebrew, keren means horn, but it also means glory. Like when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, it says that his face glowed, karnu or panav, and it was filled with the glory of God that he had shined. When we pray the Amidah prayer, we pray for Mashiach. We pray for the Messiah to come, vekarno tarum bishuatecha, which means may Hashem lift up the glory of Mashiach with your salvation. Keren is the same word that we use that we actually pray for. And that it's David's anointing represents the glory of Hashem in the world. But I also want to point out that Samuel kisses Saul. And there are only a a handful of places in all of Tanakh where there is people kissing each other. And Shmuel just has a deep love for Shaul. And the judge, he's making the king, the prophet is coronating the king, and he is, in a way, a kissing him goodbye. Samuel knows the leadership of the nation is about to be taken from him and gives it freely and lovingly to Shaul with a kiss. And after he anoints David, he just leaves. No hug, no kiss. He pours the oil and is like, "See ya." And it's like Shmuel makes space for David to have his own journey with Hashem alone. And maybe it's to amplify the glory of David and the glory of God, but those are two real differences that happened between Shaul and David. >> Uh okay, Jeremy, hold on. We will get there. Don't spoil the ending, but yes, that kiss uh does say a lot, you know? And so Samuel anoints Saul, kisses him, and then gives him three signs that will all happen on the road home. Sign number one, two men by the tomb of Rachel will tell him that his donkeys are found. Sign number two, three men uh going up to Beit El, to Bethel, one with three goats, one with three loaves of bread, one with wine, and they'll give Saul two loaves of bread. Okay, and sign number three, a band of prophets coming down from the high place with harp and tambourine and flute instruments, and the spirit of Hashem will rush upon Saul, and he will prophesy with them. So, I used to read these signs simply as Samuel confirming the divine orchestration of what was happening. It was like a sign for Saul to know that this was a real thing. But but I think there's something deeper here. Each sign is strips away one more layer of who Saul was. Right, sign one, the donkey. Saul came out looking for property. The donkeys are found. Chapter closed. That's the last time he's ever just the son of Kish out doing errands. Sign number two, the bread. Strangers hand him bread on the road. Right, the king now eats from the hand of his people. He doesn't carry his own responsibility for his own food anymore. And that's a big one there. You know, in sign three, prophecy, the hardest one. Shaul will be infused by the spirit of Hashem, as we see in verses verse six. transformed into another man. Right, v'nehephach, you'll be hafoch, you'll be flipped, inverted, turned over. Not a slightly modified Shaul, a different Shaul altogether. >> You know, in the three verses later, the text says it again in different words. Hashem turned over for him and verse nine, look at it. So, it was when he had turned his back to go from Samuel, that God turned over for him another heart. And it's the same root, hafoch, flipped. And that shoresh, that root, appears in the Torah at moments of just total upheaval. Sdom is overturned. Ninveh is warned by Jonah that Ninveh will be ne'epachet, will be overturned. And now Shaul, and the Sfas Emmet has a beautiful read on this that every Jewish leader every Jewish soul really has to undergo a hafacha has to go undergo a transformation just an internal upheaval before they can really serve and there has to be a moment where what you used to be is no longer who you are and for Saul well he had it that fateful day on his road home after being anointed and while I'm not fully sure about this Ari I'm starting to believe that if you're on a true path of serving God it's inevitable that he will send you moments like that to you as well where you will absolutely be flipped upside down I'm feeling it right now and I see there's so many people in Israel are just being turned upside down and inside out and I just take comfort in seeing that all of this everything that Israel is going through it's all a part of the process >> Yeah totally that's so true Israel means to struggle with God right that that hafacha is the whole game and then the signs happen right just as Shmuel said the donkeys the bread the prophets all of it Shaul he he prophesizes he's surrounded by the chevel nevi'im right the company of prophets and people who knew him before were they're stunned right yesterday he's looking for donkeys and today he's prophesizing right out of that astonishment actually comes one of the most famous proverbs in Tanakh verse 11 "Hagam Shaul benevi'im?" Is Shaul also among the prophets? It's become like a proverb even today the kind of thing you say and today in Israel like modern language you say when you someone you didn't expect rises to the occasion you know and it's often said humorously like the disbelief moment where everyone says him too like when the guy who never exercises posts a picture running a marathon right it's when the person you dismissed turns out to be capable of more than you imagined. And that's what's happening here, but I think there's also a darker reading. Shaul's vulnerability to what people think of him is going to be his ultimate undoing. When he hears people ask, "Is this guy really going to be one of them? Saul?" Right, those words pierce his heart. The seeds of the doubt that will ultimately destroy him are being planted in the moment of his greatest spiritual height. >> You know, I also want to point something else out that's really striking. You know, we start off the book and we said that prophecy was really a car. It was really rare in those days preceding Samuel. And now we see there's a traveling band of musical prophets and that spiritual revival that there's now prophecy throughout the land of Israel and prophets walking among them, that's entirely in the merit of Samuel. He brought a revival to the people of Israel. And what I think is noteworthy is that what elevates Shaul to the level of prophecy is music. And that's also a shadow for his future because that's the only thing that's going to bring him out of his darkness is when the sweet music that David plays for him lifts his spirits. So, we see it already happening now. >> Yeah, it's such a good point. You know, music elevates him here and music will be the only thing that saves him later on some level. But uh then comes the strangest part of the chapter. Shaul gets home. His uncle asks him where he's been. Shaul tells him about the donkeys, but what doesn't he tell him? Right, verse 16. But about the matter of the kingdom, he did not tell him. About the kingdom, Samuel revealed to him about being anointed by the lead prophet of Israel, about the oil and the kiss and the spirit of Hashem rushing over him, not a word. Not a word. >> know, it's really curious, like why doesn't he tell him? And Shaul has just been transformed. He's just prophesied. He has just been told that he's the one that's going to be the ruler over Hashem's inheritance, all of Israel. And he goes home and tells his uncle about the livestock. It's just bizarre. And so a lot of people, they read it as Saul's humility. But the Abarbanel, who himself navigated politics of kingships in his own life, reads it a little bit more troubled. He thinks Saul's just not really being sure. You know, he's not really fully ready yet. And it makes Saul so much more human. It's a lot more to absorb. And he's just not ready to present himself as the chosen one of Israel yet. It's just a process he needs to go through. >> Right. Right. And the Abarbanel reading I I like that reading because it makes him human, right? Not heroic. Our heroes aren't these perfect specimens. They're so human, especially Saul. Right? And already on day one, something is held back. Saul hides in language, in baggage, in self-doubt until the moment he no longer can. Right? Hester, concealment is the word that hovers over Saul's entire journey. And it starts here. With him not telling his uncle. At this point, Samuel calls all of Israel to Mizpah, the place from chapter seven, right? Where Israel returned in true teshuvah and real repentance, and Hashem fought for them. And so now finally, a king is going to be chosen there publicly. Not by Samuel pointing, but by by lots. Tribe by tribe, family by family, man by man, and the lot falls on Benjamin, the tribe of Benjamin. Then on the family of Matri. Then on Saul ben Kish, Saul the son of Kish. And they look for him and he's not there. Verse 22. Vinehu nichba el hakelim. And behold, he was hiding among the baggage. Right? Among I just picture that there's like bags, suitcases. The first king of Israel hiding in the luggage. Right? Kelim means I guess baggage or or vessels. You could You could read this as as humility, right? Saul is so unworthy in his own eyes that he hides. There's a whole tradition that this is part of why Hashem chose him. Anav mikol Adam, right? The most humble of all men. That's what God spoke to Moses, that humility is a beautiful trait. But there's another reading, and this one also really speaks to me. He's hiding because he's not sure. He already knows somewhere deep that he won't be able to bear what's being placed on him. The baggage feels safer than the burden of his destiny. >> You know, I just want to add another dimension to Saul's hiding from the people. I think he hiding also showed from the very beginning that he really cared what people thought. I mean, he was ultimately hiding from them. And maybe it was humility, maybe he wasn't ready, maybe he was uncomfortable, shy, you know, maybe he was embarrassed. But either way, caring too much about what people think is ultimately what brought his downfall. And it's interesting that we can see that inclination already now from the very beginning. >> That's so true. You know, caring what people think right from verse one of his kingship, and the people pull him out. He stands up. Verse 23, he was taller than all the people from his shoulders and up. He looks He looks the part. Right? Exactly what the people in chapter 8 asked for. Like you said, kehol hagoyim, like all the nations. Tall, handsome, impressive king who'd who'd look good standing next to Pharaoh or a Philistine general or a some foreign king. And the people shout, verse 24, "Yechai hamelech!" Long live the king. Long live the king. But the very next verse, and uh this is where I want us to really like think about this for a moment. Samuel does something that's easy to miss. Right? Verse 25. Vayedaber Shmuel el ha'am, and Samuel told the people the law of the kingship and wrote it in a book and laid it before Hashem. Samuel writes a book. And he lays it before Hashem. This is Samuel's answer to chapter 8. The people wanted a king like the nations. Samuel says, "Fine, you'll get a king. But this king is going to be bound by a safer, by a book laid before Hashem. And Maimonides says that this book is the laws of kings from Deuteronomy chapter 17 from the Torah itself. This king of Israel is not going to be Pharaoh. The king is not absolute. The king sits under the Torah, not above it. And this is the constitutional moment of Jewish kingship. The constitutional moment. Hashem spelled out the laws of kings in Deuteronomy chapter 17 generations before there was a king. The legal architecture written and waiting. Right, in Etzmih Spa, Samuel applies laws that already existed to a moment that's finally arrived. And he doesn't just say it, he writes it, and he places it before Hashem. Right, a king who forgets the book becomes Pharaoh. A king who reads it every day, the way Deuteronomy says he should, becomes David. Saul is going to lose this book very quickly. One way or another, he's going to lose that book. He's not going to stay cleaving to it. But the book gets written, and the book lasts longer than the king. And and then the chapter closes with one final detail that we can't overlook. Saul goes home to Givat Shaul. Uh brave men whose hearts Hashem touched and strengthened, they go with Saul. Uh but verse 27, Uvnei Beliyaal Amru, and the worthless men said, "How can this one save us?" And they despised him. Right, Bnei Beliyaal, those words again. Worthless men, that's what it means. The exact same words used about the sons of Eli back in chapter two. The corruption inside Israel didn't disappear when Shiloh fell. It's still there, hiding in plain sight, despising the king before he's even taken his first action. And what does Saul do? The last words of the chapter. Vayehi Kemahrish, and he was as one who keeps silent. He doesn't fight back. He doesn't punish them. He doesn't even respond. He keeps silent as one Oh, like as one that doesn't care, but in his heart he cares. Right? Maybe there's Maybe there's leadership in that silence. Maybe there's self-control. And maybe there's a good amount of raw fear. You know, and so both readings are in the verse and both will play out of the chapters to come. And you know, I I just looking Jeremy, looking where we are in Jewish history right now, after October 7th, after the failures, in the middle in the middle of these wars, this question of Jewish leadership is being asked again. Who are our real leaders? Who is hiding in the baggage when they should be standing? And who are we in this story? Right? Saul stands up. He's anointed. He's chosen by lot. He's tall and impressive and the people shout "Yehi haMelech." It should be the beginning of glory, but the cracks are already in the verse. The the fragile flask, right? Not the enduring horn. The hiding. Right? Not Not the standing. The silence. Not the Not necessarily the answer. And so so tomorrow, Jeremy, you're going to be up and we're going to see what kind of king this man can be when the moment arrives and his people are actually in danger. So, we'll see that tomorrow. Now, friends, if today's learning landed, if something in this portion grabbed you and you're not quite ready to close it and move on, I want you to know that this community goes deeper. Thousands of people from 35 countries around the world are learning and praying and we're standing with this land together and there's there's a place for you in that. So, whatever level is right for you, your membership really strengthens us and carries us. Um and so I wanted to invite you to that. So, come see where you fit at the land of Israel.com. Chazak u'baruch my friends, from the hills of Judea, from Eretz Yisrael. I'm Israel Chai. Chazak u'baruch the people of Israel live and we will see you tomorrow. >> [music] >> Oh.