When Love and Politics Mix: David and His Relationships with Saul, Jonathan, and Michal
2012; Volume: 40; Issue: 1 Linguagem: Inglês
ISSN
0792-3910
Autores Tópico(s)Biblical Studies and Interpretation
ResumoINTRODUCTION Few biblical narratives are so richly intricate as those in the book of Samuel. Throughout these episodes, love and politics mix. While David and Saul and his family were human beings with personal feelings, they also were involved in a complex and oftentimes painful saga of royal succession and competition. They also had to maintain public images. The prophetic narrator regularly reveals the feelings of Saul and his children toward David. At the same time, David's feelings toward Saul and his children are concealed. (1) For that matter, the passionate David is never explicitly said to have loved anyone in the book of Samuel! A number of contemporary scholars have exploited this and related textual evidence to describe the emotional imbalance in these relationships. However, Susan Ackerman has observed that in most biblical relationships involving the term ahavah (love), only one of the parties is explicitly said to love (the Song of Songs is a notable exception). Generally, husbands are said to love their wives without explicit mention that the wives love the husbands. Parents are said to love their children without explicit mention that their children love them. For example, Isaac is said to have loved Rebecca (Gen. 24:67), Jacob loved Rachel (Gen. 29:18), Samson loved Delilah (Jud. 16:4), and Elkanah loved Hannah (I Sam. 1:5). Rebecca is said to have loved Jacob while Isaac loved Esau (Gen. 25:28), and Jacob loved Joseph (Gen. 37:3-4) and Benjamin (Gen. 44:20). Ackerman maintains that generally the more dominant party is said to love, even though of course the loving relationship may well be reciprocal. (2) Therefore, the omission of references to David's loving Saul, Jonathan, or Michal does not necessarily indicate any lack of love from David toward these characters. In fact, it would have been surprising had there been explicit reference to David's love! These ambiguities become more pronounced when considering that the verb a-h-v (love) is used biblically both for affectionate interpersonal love and also for political alliances such as that between David and Hiram of Tyre (I Kgs. 5:15). (3) To some degree, then, the ambiguity is due to the limited lexicon of Biblical Hebrew, where one word may serve multiple functions. The Sages of the Talmud and medieval rabbinic commentators such as Ralbag and Abarbanel also were fully conscious of the public political roles of the protagonists. Contemporary scholars often have followed suit, ascertaining textual clues or simply speculating that the text may not depict the full range of the characters' emotions toward one another. In this essay, we will consider the relationships between Saul's family and David and how their different motivations are presented in the book of Samuel. In most instances, it is exceptionally difficult to draw the line between where love stops and politics starts. DAVID AND SAUL After Samuel anointed David as a replacement for Saul, Saul became afflicted by an evil spirit (I Sam. 16:14). One of the king's officials recommended David as one who could play the lyre and thereby soothe the troubled monarch. David was an instant hit: So David came to Saul and entered his service; [Saul] took a strong liking to him (va-ye 'ehavehu me 'od) and made him one of his arms-bearers (I Sam. 16:21). The imbalance of the depiction of the respective feelings of Saul and David toward one another harks back to this, their first encounter. (4) However, this does not mean that David had no positive feelings toward Saul. Perhaps the closest manifestation of David's feelings can be found in I Samuel 24, when David had the opportunity to kill Saul but instead cut off the corner of his robe to indicate that he had the ability to assassinate the monarch: And David said to Saul, Why do you listen to the people who say, 'David is out to do you harm?' You can see for yourself now that the Lord delivered you into my hands in the cave today. …
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