The Tanakh Podcast

Avner argues with the King, Ish-Boshet, and as he realizes that the northern faction led by Sauls' son, is weakening, he decides to capitalize on the moment and create a coalition with King David. However Yoav, David's general, has a vendetta with Avner (Avner had killed Yoav's brother) and he murders Avner. Now the peace deal is severely jeopardized. Will David manage to salvage the peace and reunite the kingdom under his rule?

David is crowned in Yehuda. But Avner crowns Saul's son, Ish-Boshet, over the Northern Tribes.  For seven years the generals - Yoav and Avner - are engaged in conflict. We witness one particularly bloody day of fighting. 

Our podcast today addresses two questions:  1. Why do we receive two accounts of Saul's death? 2. Was Saul a success? Was he set up for failure?

Saul and his three sons die in battle on Mount Gilboa. But whereas Saul's son's are killed by the enemy, Saul takes his own life. Was Shaul permitted to end his own life? What were the alternatives?

David and his men return to Ziklag. Amalek have attacked. The town has been burnt and the women and children taken captive. David goes on the chase. In this chapter we can understand more deeply what is problematic about Amalek, and we learn some important war ethics.

The Philistines are mobilizing to fight Israel. And David and his men are mobilizing with them! Will David fight his own people? But if he doesn't fight, how will he retain his loyalty to Achish? Or will something else save David from this predicament?

War has broken out. The Philistines are attacking. Saul is terrified. He needs reassurance. God won't answer him! He resorts to a necromancer, a woman who raises spirits from the grave. And Saul chooses to raise Samuel from the dead. What will Samuel say to him? The most simple truth, but the most devastating news that Saul could ever hear. Music. "Ghost Town" The Specials

David leaves the land of Israel and the jurisdiction of King Saul. Now he is safe. But he still needs to play a double game - fighting the enemies of Israel on the one hand, and presenting himself as loyal to Achish, the Philistine king, on the other.

Once again, David has a chance to assassinate Shaul, but he refrains from taking the king's life. But Chapter 26 seems almost a repeat of Chapter 24! What is the need to relate both of these stories?

While an outlaw, David and his men have been patrolling the Southern Border and ensuring the safety of local farms and polulations. When one of the local farmers - a rich sheep farmer called Naval - insults David and his men, refusing to share the bounty of the farm at the sheep-shearing, David decides to attack. It is the quick action of Naval's wife, Avigail, that saves David from performing a massacre. But this story reminds us of the violence that David can wield, and of the restraint that he has employed towards Shaul.