Shabbat Parashat Bo 5783

Parashat Hashavua: Interactions between Yehuda and Yosef over the Generations

Part III

David asked Shaul: “Why does my master chase after his servant, for what have I done, and what evil is with me?!” (Shmuel I, 26:18). He continued: “… that they banish me today from having my lot with Hashem saying, ‘Go serve other gods’” (ibid. 19).

We will try to explain what stands behind this loaded and harsh pronouncement. David was pursued by three very significant factors.

A. The Plishtim, who remembered David’s killing of their hero, Goliat, who made all around him quake. The Plishtim hated David greatly.

B. Shaul, King of Israel, who constantly pursued him and tried to have him killed many times and with many means, as it says: “Shaul sought him all of the days” (ibid. 23:14).

C. The descendants of Kalev ben Yefuneh, who lived in the southern part of the mountains of Chevron, who tried to get rid of him by aiding Shaul in catching him. This applied to the people of Zif, who sent word about David to Shaul (ibid. 19-20, and ibid. 26:1). Even the people of Ke’ila, whom David saved from the Plishtim, wanted to hand him over to Shaul. Hashem, through the urim and tumim, confirmed that indeed the people of Ke’ila were plotting to hand him over. Before seeing how David handled the situation, let us see what the claims of these apparent traitors were.

The pasuk about banishing David can be read in two ways: 1. The question is whether he would be allowed to marry a normal Jewish woman and thereby enable the Divine Presence to dwell upon him. 2. Whether he would be able to stay in Eretz Yisrael, where the Divine Presence dwells on a regular basis. David’s detractors argued that he was not fit to marry into the Jewish people because he came from Moavites (see Yevamot 76b). Because of the efforts of Shaul and the descendants of Kalev to seize David, David decided to leave Eretz Yisrael and ostensibly join the forces of the Plishtim under Achish the King of Gat. The latter received him because they viewed him as the enemy of their enemy, Shaul, and hoped in that way to split the Israelite nation.

What caused David to take the bold step? There are a few possibilities: 1. It was a way to avoid a civil war between his forces and Shaul’s. 2. It was a way to sabotage the Plishti enemies of his nation, even those compatriots who were cruel to him. 3. To help Shaul if his forces would start losing to the Plishti army. Either way, David raised a high bar for a leader acting to put the welfare of the nation before his own, as his joining up with the enemy army put him in grave danger. Only with Divine Help did he succeed in his mission.

Next week we will see why the claims of the descendants of Kalev were not accepted. In the meantime, we will continue to pray for leaders who will increase love between different parts of the nation and will put the welfare of the nation before their own and those of their political allies.

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