The Reading
The Summary
Shemuel Alef Chapter 11
This chapter depicts the first military campaign led by Shaul whereby he establishes himself as a worthy leader of the nation. For reasons that are unclear in the text, Nahash the Ammonite has laid siege to the Jews living in Yavesh Gilead and refuses to accept any compromise or settlement that would avert war. The elders of Yavesh Gilead promise to respond to the declaration of Nahash within seven days; they hope that their fellow Jews will come to their aid before the deadline arrives.
When Shaul receives word of the crisis, he is greatly troubled. He cuts up oxen and sends their parts throughout Israel, threatening to similarly kill the oxen of anyone who refuses to join him in the effort to defend Yavesh-Gilead. The nation is unified around the mission and 330,000 troops report for battle. Shaul divides them into three companies and handily defeats the men of Nahash.
When he returns home, now a “decorated general”, his supporters seek to punish the naysayers who derided and belittled him when he was first appointed King. Shaul demurs from this course of action, preferring to focus the energy of the people on celebrating their divinely wrought salvation rather than exacting retribution from his detractors.
One of the important points that is prominent in this story is the harmonious partnership between Shaul and Shemuel. They appear to be working together seamlessly and in tandem with one another. Shaul orders the people to follow him AND Shemuel into war, recognizing the battle as a joint effort of king and prophet. Both figures field questions and complaints from and deliver instructions to the nation. There is an emphasis on “joy” – the happiness experienced by the citizens of Yavesh Gilead when they learn that the support of their brethren is behind them as well as the happiness experienced by the Jewish people because of their newfound unity.
The parallels between this story and that of the “Concubine at Giveah” are striking. In both cases, someone (either the husband of the concubine or Shaul) is inspired with passion to act, and is determined to move others to act, in response to a terrible injustice. In both cases, the nation is rallied around a cause by having “cut up flesh” circulated to the various tribes. In both cases, the resultant unity of purpose in Israel is emphasized. And in both cases, Yavesh-Gilead and the tribe of Benjamin (represented by Shaul himself) play a central role in the drama.
However, it is in this final element that there is a bit of irony. In the story of the Concubine, the men of Yavesh Gilead were the only citizens of Israel who opted out of the war effort and chose not to join their brethren in punishing the tribe of Benjamin for its immorality. In fact, the males of Yavesh Gilead were killed and their women taken to provide mates for the survivors of the tribe of Benjamin, because the rest of the tribes had sworn not to allow their daughters to marry a Benjaminite.
One might have expected the tribes of Israel to be reticent about coming to the aid of a group of people that did not join national military campaigns previously; however, they immediately rallied to the defense of Yavesh-Gilead regardless of prior issues that may have existed between them. We might also imagine that the people of Yavesh Gilead are unsure whether they can count on the tribes of Israel to support them when, in the not-too-distant past, they had been declared enemies of the state. The fact that the Jewish people came through for Yavesh Gilead probably served to heal whatever rifts had developed between them in the wake of their complicated history.
Moreover, it is not unreasonable to assume that there is a longstanding rift between Yavesh-Gilead and Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin was indirectly responsible for the massacre of Yavesh-Gilead. The behavior of Binyamin, judged worthy of a severe and devastating response from the other tribes, was what persuaded Israel to take up arms against their brethren and ultimately singled out Yavesh-Gilead as the lone “conscientious objectors” to the conflict. This marginalization of Yavesh-Gilead, in turn, led to the execution of its entire male population.
Yavesh-Gilead may well have harbored significant resentment toward Binyamin for its role in this dark and painful chapter in Jewish history. So the fact that a King descended from Binyamin was boldly emerging as their defender and protector must have conveyed the symbolic message that bygones would now officially be bygones and that a new era of peace and harmony under King Shaul was about to be inaugurated in Israel.
Finally, the very fact that the chosen king is a member of the Tribe of Benjamin – vilified and marginalized at the end of the Book of Shofetim and almost eliminated from the midst of Israel – has tremendous symbolic significance. It indicates that the deep political, emotional and spiritual wounds of the past have completely healed and that the nation of Israel has officially become “one” again.