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We climb the tell to a point
on its north side, near a partial reconstruction of the Egyptian governor's
mansion. From here we have a complete view around.
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To
the southwest are the mountains of Gilboa, stepping down into
the Jezreel Valley. The very lowest step is Tel Jezreel, where Ahab
and Jezebel had their winter capital, near Naboth's kerem (vineyard
or olive grove). The Harod River, flowing below us, has its origin
in a spring at the foot of Gilboa, where Gideon chose his 300 (Judges
7). Sighting up the Jezreel Valley, we are looking toward
the pass at Megiddo, with Mt. Carmel to its right. North of Tel Jezreel,
just across the valley, is the Hill of Moreh, where the Midianites
were camping when Gideon's band sneaked up, and where later the Philistines
camped when Saul stood at Jezreel in fear for his life. To the right
of Moreh, closer in, is a rise of land that prevents us from seeing
Mt. Tabor; just on the other side of it lies Ein Dor, where Saul consulted
with a witch.
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If
we complete our turn, facing east, we see the Jordan, toward which the Midianites
raced in panic on their camels, and Gideon called out the tribes of Israel to
cut them down at the fords. Above are the heights of biblical Gilead, atop which,
about twenty-five miles to the east, ran the King's Highway from Damascus to Arabia. On it, almost due east of us, was
Ramot Gilead, where Omri and his descendants often fought the Arameans, trying
to complete their grasp on the key to wealth
and power.
Turning
ESE, sighting over a gabled tin roof to the other side of the Jordan, we see
a village on the place of ancient Pella, a Decapolis city where the Christians
of Jerusalem took refuge during the First Revolt against Rome. If we now ascend
to the first layer of hills (not the horizon), we are in the area of Jabesh
Gilead, which figures in the story of Saul.
The
choice of Saul as king
Archaeological
surveys indicate a marked decline in settlement through most of the land in
the second half of the second millennium BC, followed by a sudden upsurge in
the 12th century. Most of the new settlers had been semi-nomads, herders
of small livestock, who now took up agriculture. Some of their communities developed
into towns we associate with biblical Israel.
The
"Israel" of these semi-nomadic settlers was at first a not-so-reliable confederacy
of clans and tribes, each intent on keeping its independence. When a crisis
arose, they depended upon the charisma of a leader
to unite them, and the process took time. As long as their enemy was equally
slow to mobilize, they could get by without a standing army, that is, without
a human king.
The
shift to human kingship was spurred by pressure from the Philistines (ca. 1050
BC). By then the Israelite settlers had put roots in the soil: they had something
permanent they did not want to lose. What is more, unlike their earlier enemies,
the Philistines did not need much time to mobilize. Based on the southern coast,
they could strike quickly up through the territory of Benjamin on the southernmost
good link-road between the western trunk and the King's Highway.
The
Israelites no longer had enough warning time to mobilize the tribes
in the old manner. They chose, therefore, a human king who could tax
their produce and maintain a standing army. It made geographical sense
that he came from Benjamin, for this was the tribe on the link road
where the Philistines first put the pressure.
Saul
of Benjamin was a transitional figure. He started like the charismatic
leaders before him: by rescuing people. When the Ammonites besieged
the Israelites of Jabesh Gilead, they demanded that each man surrender
his right eye. The men of Jabesh appealed to Saul, who made a raid
across the Jordan and rescued them (1
Samuel 11).
After
Saul's coronation, however, something goes wrong with him. Perhaps
charisma and permanent kingship do not go easily together. The God
who gives charisma can also take it away. In Saul's case, it was replaced
by spells of madness. As the Bible puts it, he lost his earlier contact
with God. The loss is explained in two ways: he did not wait for Samuel
before performing a sacrifice, and he did not execute the Amalekite
king as God had commanded (1 Samuel 13: 7-14 and
1 Samuel 15). Standing on Tell Jezreel, looking at the Philistines
camped on the Hill of Moreh, the king knew he no longer had that contact.
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The death of Saul
Having
lost his contact with God, Saul sought to take counsel with the human
source of his authority, Samuel. Here there was a catch, however: Samuel was
dead. Undeterred, Saul and some of his officers disguised themselves and sneaked
around the eastern side of Mt. Moreh to Ein Dor, to a witch. Here too was a
catch, for Saul had banned witchcraft. Nevertheless, he persuaded the woman
to "bring up" Samuel:
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1
Samuel 28:9-25
But the woman said to him, "Behold,
you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who are mediums
and spiritists from the land. Why are you then
laying a snare for my life to bring about my death?" Saul vowed to
her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall
come upon you for this thing." Then the woman said, "Whom shall
I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me."
When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice; and the woman
spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul."
The king said to her, "Do not be afraid; but what do you see?"
And the woman said to Saul, "I see a divine being coming up out of
the earth." He said to her, "What is his form?" And she
said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe."
And Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground
and did homage.
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Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why
have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered,
"I am greatly distressed; for the Philistines are waging war
against me, and God has departed from me and no longer answers me,
either through prophets or by dreams; therefore I have called you,
that you may make known to me what I should do." Samuel said,
"Why then do you ask me, since the LORD has departed from you
and has become your adversary? The LORD has done accordingly as He
spoke through me; for the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand
and given it to your neighbor, to David. As you did not obey the LORD
and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek,
so the LORD has done this thing to you this day. Moreover the LORD
will also give over Israel along with you into the hands
of the Philistines, therefore tomorrow you and your sons will be with
me. Indeed the LORD will give over the army of Israel into the hands
of the Philistines!"
Then Saul immediately fell full
length upon the ground and was very afraid because of the words of
Samuel; also there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food
all day and all night. The woman came to Saul and saw that he was
terrified, and said to him, "Behold, your maidservant has obeyed
you, and I have taken my life in my hand and have listened to your
words which you spoke to me. So now also, please listen to the voice
of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you that
you may eat and have strength when you go on your way."
But he refused and said, "I will not eat." However, his
servants together with the woman urged him, and he listened to them.
So he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. The woman had a fattened
calf in the house, and she quickly slaughtered it; and she took flour,
kneaded it and baked unleavened bread from it. She brought it
before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they arose and went
away that night.
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(David, having fled from the jealous Saul
and gathered a band around him, was by this time a Philistine vassal with
his own city, Ziklag. He was therefore duty bound to join the Philistines in
battle -- a sticky wicket, if he ever wanted to rejoin his people. Fortunately
for him, however, the Philistines remembered where he came from and decided
not to trust him. They sent him back to his town.)
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1
Samuel 31:1-13
Now the Philistines were fighting
against Israel, and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines
and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. The Philistines overtook Saul
and his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan and Abinadab and Malchi-shua the sons
of Saul. The battle went heavily against Saul, and the archers hit him;
and he was badly wounded by the archers. Then Saul said to his armor bearer,
"Draw your sword and pierce me through with it, otherwise these uncircumcised
will come and pierce me through and make sport of me." But his armor
bearer would not, for he was greatly afraid. So Saul took his sword and
fell on it. When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell
on his sword and died with him. Thus Saul died with his three sons, his
armor bearer, and all his men on that day together.
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When the men of Israel who were
on the other side of the valley, with those who were beyond the Jordan,
saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were
dead, they abandoned the cities and fled; then the Philistines came
and lived in them.
It came about on the next day
when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul
and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. They cut off his head and
stripped off his weapons, and sent them throughout the land
of the Philistines, to carry the good news to the house of their idols
and to the people. They put his weapons in the temple of Ashtaroth,
and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.
Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead
heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men rose
and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of
his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and
they came to Jabesh and burned them there.
They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree at Jabesh,
and fasted seven days.
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The word is brought to David in Ziklag. He
sings this lament (2 Samuel 1:19-27):
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"Your beauty, O Israel, is slain on your high places!
How have the mighty fallen!
Tell it not in Gath,
Proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
Or the daughters of the Philistines will rejoice,
The daughters of the uncircumcised will exult.
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"O mountains of Gilboa,
Let not dew or rain be on you, nor fields of offerings;
For there the shield of the mighty was defiled,
The shield of Saul, not anointed
with oil.
"From the blood of the
slain, from the fat of the mighty,
The bow of Jonathan did not
turn back,
And the sword of Saul
did not return empty.
Saul and Jonathan, beloved and
pleasant in their life,
And in their death
they were not parted;
They were swifter
than eagles,
They were stronger
than lions.
"O daughters of Israel, weep
over Saul,
Who clothed you luxuriously
in scarlet,
Who put ornaments
of gold on your apparel.
"How have the mighty fallen
in the midst of the battle!
Jonathan is slain
on your high places.
I am distressed for you, my brother Jonathan;
You have been very
pleasant to me.
Your love to me was
more wonderful
Than the love of women.
"How have the mighty fallen,
And the weapons of war perished!"
2
Samuel 2:1
Then it came about afterwards
that David inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go up to one
of the cities of Judah?" And the LORD said to him, "Go up."
So David said, "Where shall I go up?" And He said, "To
Hebron
."
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The
death of Saul left the tribes extremely vulnerable to the Philistines.
David went to Hebron in his home tribe of Judah, whose people submitted
to his kingship.
After
seven years the other tribes approached him and asked that he protect
them as well. Hebron was too far south, though, and too Judah-bound,
to serve as a satisfactory capital for a kingdom including the northern
tribes. Then David's eyes lit upon a city that straddled the border
between Judah and the north, belonging to no tribe: Jerusalem.
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©
2003
Near East Tourist
Agency (NET)
Text
© 2003
Stephen Langfur
Scripture
taken from the NEW AMERICAN
STANDARD BIBLE(r),
(c) Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977,
1995 by
The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission.
(www.Lockman.org)
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