I Chronicles · Chapter 10

And the Philistines fought with Israel He relates only Saul’s downfall; when relating the story of David, he does not tell of his disgrace, only of his heroism and greatness, because the Book pertains to him and to the kings of Judah.

Now the Philistines fought against Israel, etc.

The men of Israel (ish Yisrael) - Used like "anshei Yisrael" (the men of Israel, in the plural).

'Now the Philistines' — all this is found in I Samuel 31. 'and fled' — and as a result, "fell down slain," for the beginning of a rout is flight.

'Followed hard after' — in their pursuit they overtook them, staying close on their heels, near to them.

and the archers discovered him Come and see that (Prov. 21:30): “... there is neither wisdom nor understanding, etc. against the Lord,” because man’s ways are before the Lord. Benjamin’s enemies would fall before them [when they used] the bow because they were well trained with the bow, as it is written: “[Ehud the son of Gera, the Benjamite,] a man with a shriveled right hand,” (Judges 3:15). And so it is written, concerning Jonathan (I Samuel 20:20): “And I shall shoot three arrows to the side, as though I shot at a mark.” And it is written below (I Chron. 12:2) concerning Benjamin: “Armed with bows, shooting with the right and left hands, etc.” and concerning Asa in this Book (II 14:7): “... and out of Benjamin, who bore shields and drew bows, etc.” But when the Lord turned away from Saul [who was from the tribe of Benjamin], he fell into the hands of the archers, into something that was his own craft. and he was terrified of the archers וַיָחֶל like (Esther 4:4): “...and the queen was extremely terrified (וַתִּתְחַלְחַל).”

And he was in anguish because of the archers — That is to say, he had already grown afraid, and trembling gripped him from fear of the archers with the bow.

'Against Saul' — because they had already killed his sons, the entire brunt of the battle now fell on him alone. 'The archers' — the men shooting with bows found where he was, and he feared them, lest they seize him and abuse him.

The archers (hamorim) - An expression of shooting arrows, as in "which I shoot" (I Samuel 20). And he was in anguish (vayachel) - From the language of trembling and fear.

'and [the battle] went sore' — after his sons died, the whole weight of the battle bore down upon him. 'and he was in anguish' — from the root chul, understood as a hif'il form — for Saul himself was not an archer, as it says in II Samuel (1:22) that Jonathan was the archer, and he had already fallen in the battle.

'Make a mock of me' — torment me with degrading abuse. 'For he was sore afraid' — he feared Hashem, and so was afraid to lay a hand on His anointed. 'And fell upon it' — to kill himself with it.

Draw (shelof) - An expression of removing the sword from its sheath. And thrust me through (dokreini) - An expression of piercing and stabbing, as in "whoever is found shall be thrust through" (Isaiah 13:15). And make a mock (vehit'allelu) - An expression of mockery and disgrace, as in "for you have mocked me" (Numbers 22:29). But would not (velo avah) - Meaning, and he did not wish to.

'and make a mock of me' — see what I wrote in my commentary on I Samuel (31:4). 'and fell upon it' — and it is not written "and he died," for he became a goses [one in the throes of death], and the Amalekite finished him off, as stated (II Samuel 1).

And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, etc. — It has already been explained in the Book of Samuel that after Saul fell upon his sword, he had not yet died, until he told the Amalekite young man to kill him, and he [the Amalekite] killed him.

'and all his house' — this is the same as what is said in Samuel there, "and all his men," for the rest of his household remained alive.

'Who were in the valley' — this is the Valley of Jezreel, which was near the site of the battle.

'who were in the valley' — [that is, the Valley of] Jezreel, for that is where they had fought, as stated (I Samuel 29). 'that ... fled' — [namely,] the men of Israel; so it reads in Samuel there.

To strip (lefashet) - An expression of removing garments.

And sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to carry the tidings to their idols, and to the people — They did this because Saul had struck down many of them, and therefore they proclaimed his death to the priests of their idol temple, and to the people.

'And took his head' — they severed it from the body and took it. 'Their idols' — meaning, the priests of the idolaters.

'And [fastened] his head' — in I Samuel it states that they fastened his body; what was left unspecified there is made explicit here.

His skull (gulgalto) - His head. Fastened (taku) - They hung it up, as in "and hang them up before Hashem" (Numbers 25). Dagon - The name of an idol made in the form of a fish.

'and his head' — This Ezra added, something we would not have known from the Book of Samuel, for there it is written only that they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan; hence it says [there] that they carried off the body of Saul from the wall of Beth-shan, but the head they were unable to retrieve, because it was kept in the house of Dagon. See what I wrote in my commentary there.

And when all Jabesh-gilead heard, etc. — The inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead were stirred to this more than the rest, because through him [Saul] Hashem, may He be blessed, had wrought a great salvation for them, when Nahash the Ammonite rose up against them and would not make a covenant with them except by gouging out the right eye of every one of them, as is recounted in the Book of Samuel.

and brought them to Jabesh to Jabesh Gilead and they fasted seven days Why did they imperil their lives more than the rest of Israel to remove the bodies of Saul and his sons from Mount Gilboa? Because Saul had done them a favor by saving them when Nahash the Ammonite marched upon them. [They fasted seven days] corresponding to the seven days that they [the Ammonites] gave them [to see] if a savior would come [to save] them, [at which time] they fasted seven days; perhaps a savior would come to them. Since Saul came and saved them, they fasted now too seven days, and also because of the mourning which was customary to observe seven days, because they were also their kinsmen, for when Israel slew the inhabitants of Gibeah in the incident of the concubine in Gibeah (at the end of Judges), the people of Jabesh Gilead gave their daughters to Benjamin, when they grabbed them from the dances.

The terebinth (ha'elah) - The name of a non-fruit-bearing tree.

And Saul died because of the treachery that he had committed He committed two treacherous acts by inquiring of the familiar spirit: one when he inquired after Samuel, and one when he inquired of familiar spirits, and in the Aggadah of Samuel (24:6) we learn that he committed five treacherous acts concerning the word of the Lord that he did not keep that which Samuel had commanded him, as it is written (I Sam. 10:8): “Seven days shall you wait,” and because he dealt treacherously in the war of Amalek [by sparing Agag].

'Because of the word of Hashem, which he did not keep' – meaning: in that he did not wait for Samuel seven days until Samuel came to him, for because of this Samuel told him that his kingdom would not endure; and in that he did not carry out the word of Hashem regarding Amalek, for because of this Samuel told him, “Because you have rejected the word of Hashem, He has rejected you from being king.” 'And also because he asked counsel of a ghost, to inquire by it' – meaning: in that Saul went to a woman who was a medium (ba'alat ov) and told her to divine for him through the ov. Now for all these reasons combined, Hashem, may He be blessed, put him to death, and brought it about that the kingdom would pass to David the son of Jesse. Scripture does not mention the reign of Ish-bosheth the son of Saul, because he was not among the kings of Judah; but it mentions Saul in order to call attention to how the sprouting forth of the kingdom of the house of David came about. For had it not been for Saul's sins, it would not yet have sprouted, even though it was fitting, as is clear from Jacob's blessing, that the kingdom would ultimately belong to the tribe of Judah. This is why Samuel said to Saul, “For now Hashem would have established your kingdom over Israel forever; but now your kingdom shall not endure” (I Samuel 13:13). Now his intent in saying “forever” is “for a long time,” in the sense of the phrase “and he shall serve him forever.” This, then, is what we saw fit to explain in this section, whose exposition we have limited to this point; and for the most part we have explained it only according to the reasoning that seemed most compelling to us regarding its depth, particularly regarding the genealogical linking of sons to their fathers, for sometimes Scripture omits many generations in the genealogies, and sometimes it omits a single generation, omitting as well the lineage that follows from it, relying on us to understand this from its wording; and as for what the actual case was, we cannot verify how it really was unless we have established it from elsewhere – though we have also seen that there is no harm in this, however these genealogies are understood, and this is quite clear. Now, the benefits (to'aloth) to be derived from this narrative are as follows: The first benefit is to establish the belief in the creation of the world, as we mentioned in our commentary to the words of the Torah; and for this reason Scripture records the branching-out of the generations from Adam, the first man, until that time. The second benefit is to make known that Hashem, may He be blessed, punishes the sinner for his sin and rewards the righteous according to his righteousness. For this reason it relates that Er, the firstborn of Judah, was evil in the eyes of Hashem, and He put him to death. For this reason too it mentions, regarding Achan, that he committed a trespass with the banned property (cherem), and that as a result no descendants were established for him – and there is a further benefit in this, in the publicizing of sins, namely that a person will be more careful to guard against sinning, so as not to acquire shame and a bad name for all generations. For this reason too it mentions that Joash and Saraph had dominion over Moab. For this reason too it mentions that Jabez was more honored than his brothers, and that Hashem, may He be blessed, therefore heeded his voice in what he asked of Him. And I think that Jabez was one of the judges, namely Ibzan, for the letters aleph and ayin share the same point of articulation and are interchangeable. Now he was descended from Hur the son of Hezron, who was (above, 4:4) the father of Bethlehem. And so too we find regarding Boaz that it appears from the wording that he was one of the judges, and that he was from Bethlehem; it seems that his true name was Boaz, but his mother called him Jabez, because she bore him in pain. For this reason too it mentions that the birthright belonged to Reuben, but since he defiled his father's bed by lying with Bilhah, his father's concubine, his birthright was given to Joseph. For this reason too it mentions that, because Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh trespassed against the God of their fathers and went astray after the gods of the peoples of the land whom God had destroyed before them, Hashem stirred up the spirit of the kings of Assyria, who exiled them and brought them to Halah, Habor, Hara, and the river Gozan. For this reason too it relates that Judah was exiled to Babylon because of their trespass. For this reason too it mentions that Saul died because of the trespass he committed against Hashem, and that none remained of his line except one son of Jonathan, and that Hashem turned the kingdom over to David, who was after His own heart in all his deeds except in the matter of Uriah the Hittite. For this reason too it relates David's success in the multitude of his sons. The third benefit is to make known that dominion belonged to David from birth, from the womb, from conception, for his ancestors were leaders (nesi'im). That is, Nahshon the son of Amminadab was the leader of the children of Judah in the days of Moses; the second generation after Nahshon was Boaz, one of the judges of Israel; and the fourth generation after Boaz was David. The fourth benefit is to make known that it is fitting for a person to establish a remembrance for his brother when he dies without children. For this reason it relates that although Shelah the son of Judah did not perform levirate marriage with Tamar, the wife of his brother Er, who died without children, he named the first son born to him Er, to leave a remembrance for his brother. This is why it says, “The sons of Shelah the son of Judah: Er,” etc. (4:21). The fifth benefit is to make known how greatly Hashem, may He be blessed, exerted providence over Israel, to bring them back to faith in Him as much as possible. For even though they went to great lengths in sinning, He heard the cry of the sons of Reuben, Gad, and the half-tribe of Manasseh at the time when they cried out to Him in battle, and He delivered a very great host into their hands, until the number of captive human souls was a hundred thousand (5:21); for this ought to have guided them to serve Hashem alone, yet they did not accept correction, and a short time afterward they were exiled from their land. The sixth benefit is to publicize that most of the high priests descended from Phinehas, for which reason Hashem, may He be blessed, gave him the covenant of an everlasting priesthood; and it publicizes along with this that ten generations of his line provided for the entire duration of the First Temple, during which the kings of Judah numbered more than fifteen generations, while the kings of Israel, from the time of Rehoboam until the time of Hezekiah, numbered about eighteen generations. For this reason it mentions that Azariah was the priest in the House that Solomon built, and that Jehozadak, who was the tenth generation after him, went into exile when Hashem exiled Judah and Jerusalem by the hand of Nebuchadnezzar. The seventh benefit is to make known that when three individuals stand together, it is fitting that the greatest be in the middle, the least of them on his left, and the one greater than the least on his right – for the right is more honored than the left, and the middle is the most honored position of all. This is evident from natural phenomena, for the heart is in the middle and is the most honored organ, and there is a further benefit in this: that it is equally close to both sides, so as to bestow its vitality upon them and to guide and direct them, while they are both equally close to it in order to serve it. For this reason it relates that Heman the singer, who was of the sons of Kohath – the most honored of them – stood in the middle; on his right was the singer from the sons of Gershon, who ranked after him in importance; and on his left was the singer from the sons of Merari, who ranked lowest of them all. The eighth benefit is to make known that part of the service of the Levites was to minister in the name of Hashem through song, for this is hinted at in the Torah but not explained there at length. But in this book and in the Book of Ezra this is explained fully, along with the perfection of the trumpet-blowing that the priests would sound. It is explained here that the service of the Levites was to keep watch – serving as gatekeepers to open the doors by day and close them at night, and to keep watch all night at the four directions of the Temple, the watchmen not lying down at night; and they guarded the entrances of the House so that only those fit to enter would enter, and they likewise guarded all the vessels of service, the sacred vessels, and all the holy implements. This is the watch duty alluded to in the portion of Behar Sinai. The ninth benefit is to make known that as reward for their service, the priests and Levites were given their cities. For this reason, right next to the account of the service of the Levites and priests, it juxtaposes a record of the cities that Israel gave to the priests and Levites. The tenth benefit is to make known how Hashem, may He be blessed, exercised providence over the tribe of Benjamin to multiply them after that tribe was nearly wiped out in the days of the concubine at Gibeah, when only six hundred men remained, without wives or children; yet not long after, their number in the days of David was close to sixty thousand. The eleventh benefit is to make known that it is not fitting to oppress people, even when the hand of the oppressors is powerful. For this reason it relates the evil that befell the sons of Ephraim when they went down to seize the cattle of the men of Gath, relying on the great power of Joseph, who had been ruler over the land; and it relates that the men of Gath killed them. The twelfth benefit is to make known that there is a sign and omen at the time of taking a wife, for success or its opposite. This is why our Sages, of blessed memory, said (Chullin 95b), “Regarding a house, a child, and a wife, even though there is no divination, there is a sign.” This resembles somewhat what is said, “I have observed the signs, and Hashem has blessed me for your sake” (Genesis 30:27), and “Hashem blessed the Egyptian's house for Joseph's sake” (Genesis 39:5). For this reason it mentions that Ephraim came to his wife around the time of the killing of his sons, and she bore him a son, and he called his name Beriah, because there was misfortune in his house. The thirteenth benefit is to make known that Hashem, may He be blessed, watches over those who are pursued. For this reason it mentions that some of the sons of Ehud drove their brothers out from Geba and exiled them to Manahath, and that some of the exiles prospered greatly with children (above, ch. 8) and built cities and succeeded in battle in driving out the inhabitants of Gath. The fourteenth benefit is to make known that Hashem, may He be blessed, does not withhold the reward of any creature whatsoever. For this reason it relates that although Saul's sins required the destruction of his sons so that the kingdom might pass to David, Hashem, may He be blessed, was nonetheless mindful of Jonathan for the goodness of his heart toward God and toward people, and He was mindful of Mephibosheth his son, preserving offspring from him, until from his line there came one man, Ulam, who had many sons and grandsons – a hundred and fifty of them. The fifteenth benefit is what we learn from the fact that Scripture juxtaposes the exile to Babylon with the record of the returnees to Jerusalem and their diligence in the service of the House of God once they were within it in peace – that the purpose of their exile was solely to set them straight for the service of Hashem, may He be blessed, for it was largely their abundance and fatness that led them to kick against Him. For this reason you will find that at the beginning of the Second Temple period, the condition of Judah and Benjamin turned to the good in the fullest possible measure, and this is quite evident in the Book of Ezra. The sixteenth benefit is to make known that it is fitting to repay kindness to those who did kindness for us, whether they are living or dead. For this reason it relates that after Saul's death, when the men of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the men of valor arose and carried off the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the terebinth tree, and mourned greatly over his death, to the extent that they went so far as to fast seven days.

'For his transgression' — on account of his transgression, etc.; and [Scripture] goes on to explain: concerning the word of Hashem which he did not keep — namely, to wipe out Amalek entirely — and also that he sinned by consulting a ghost, to inquire of it about the future.

'And did not inquire of Hashem' — for even though he did inquire and was not answered, as stated in I Samuel, he ought nevertheless to have kept inquiring, again and again, and pleaded in prayer — but he did not do so.

'and did not inquire of Hashem' — see what I wrote in my commentary on I Samuel (28:5). 'and turned the kingdom' — the intent of the author of this book, in many places, is to elevate David's stature, and [to show] that Saul lost the kingship through his own sin, and that it came to David from Hashem, since Saul was not worthy of it; and therefore he related this account first, before telling of David's becoming king.