The Lion’s Roar

And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice and spoke to Saul, saying, why have you deceived me? For you are Saul. And the king said to her, be not afraid: what did you see? And the woman said, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

1 Sam. 28:12-13

The Book of Kings tells us of a time when people got fed up with their elders’ habit to pass on clout and influence only to club members.

“It came to pass, when Samuel was old, that he made his sons judges over Israel. And his sons walked not in his ways, but turned aside after lucre, and took bribes, and perverted the law. So all the elders of Israel gathered and came to Samuel unto Ramah, and said to him, behold, you are old, and your sons walk not in your ways: now make us a king to judge us like all the nations. But the thing displeased Samuel, when they said, give us a king to judge us” (1 Sam. 8:1-6).

Samuel reluctantly yielded and anointed Saul as the people’s prince, but the puppet began developing a mind of his own. Saul was no pushover.

The historic King Saul can perhaps be identified with the Habiru chief Labayu in the Amarna tablets, if we follow David M. Rohl's controversial redating. Labayu, too, not unlike King Saul in the story, found himself caught in the middle of antagonisms from his own camp and in a dispatch to the Pharaoh Akhenaten implored his overlord for assistance.

The Bible speaks of Saul as a charismatic leader who was a bit of a shaman himself (1 Sam. 19:24). He is the anointed, the Messiah.

But the old establishment, the council of the elders, had a dim view of all of this. So Samuel, their spokesman, resorted to using the oracle of his shrine at Shiloh to scare the wits out of the brave but superstitious prince (1. Sam. 9:9; 14:35-46, 15:11, 23). Then he approached in secret (1 Sam. 16:2-4) what seemed an inexperienced but willing young man, carefully chosen for his looks (1 Sam. 16:12).

But this David had ideas of his own.

The conniving Samuel must have been a particularly poor judge of character. Under his approving eye the young man was introduced to Saul as a harp player (1 Sam. 16:23) and David soon rose to the office of the king's armor bearer.

The king's oldest son Jonathan immediately fell under the spell of David's handsome looks and stripped himself naked the very first time he laid eyes on David (1 Sam. 18:4). Thus the infatuated prince became the unwitting accessory to Samuel and David's conspiracy against King Saul.

David was a shrewd propagandist of his own fame (1 Sam. 17, 18:7) and his courageous exploits began to command a following in Saul’s army. Yet the plot was discovered and David had to run for dear life. He survived leading a band of malcontents and mercenaries (1 Sam. 25:10 27:5) and appears even on the Philistines' - the archenemy’s - payroll (1 Sam. 27:1-7). In his later years David himself will rule from the shoulders of mercenaries of whom some held the highest ranks in his army (2 Sam. 11:3 etc.). So, betrayed by their allies and in the throes of deep personal distress, King Saul and his son are destined to encounter an overwhelming force against hopeless odds.

It is at this critical juncture that the narrator suddenly feels the urge to mention that David took no part in the final showdown. Not a likely scenario if indeed the Philistines had their suspicions (1 Sam. 29:3-7). With their main forces engaged, they should rather keep an eye on this treacherous ally (1 Sam. 27:11). Meanwhile King Saul, who in his heydays is depicted as prosecuting sorcery and witchcraft, is himself seeking help from a sorceress.

Her prophesy confirms his doom, she has no comfort to offer; only a meal. So King Saul, sore in his soul but unflinching, rises from her couch and goes into the long night (1 Sam. 28), a true aristocrat all the way. The Good Book doesn’t approve of aristocrats and tragedy. Throughout the book, David not excluded, the various kings are censored according to their observances of Yahweh’s cult, even those who never worshipped, or came from an era when this cult still didn’t exist (1 Sam. 8:7, 11-18). What seems to annoy the rabbinical editor is the fact that an aristocrat lives by his own honor and chooses his own destiny. Saul is the only truly tragic character in the Bible.

The story goes on with the accession of David, and we see this serial philanderer and assassin consolidate his power with ruthless efficiency. David “brought forth the people and put them under saws and harrows of iron, and under axes, and made them pass through the brick-kiln: and thus did he unto all the cities of the children of Ammon” (2 Sam. 12:31). Even when "the days of David drew nigh that he should die,” the old mobster issued instructions to take care of unfinished business (1 Kings 2). The prophet Nathan plotted against the legitimate contender for David’s throne and instead of Prince Adonijah the son of a concubine, Solomon, became David’s successor.

And the dying David “charged Solomon, saying, you know what Joab did to me, do therefore according to your wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to the grave in peace. And, you have with you Shimei the son of Gera, which cursed me with a grievous curse: hold him not guiltless: bring his hoar head down to the grave with blood. So David slept with his fathers, and the kingdom was established in the hand of Solomon."