Saul is the first king of Israel. Saul, the first king of the Jews Biblical king Saul

When the people of Israel settled in Canaan, God entrusted them with more freedom, and the Israelis began to organize their own lives. But, like teenagers, they fell from one trouble to another. Then God intervened, calling from among the Israelites “judges” - leaders who helped them get out. But the time has come when the people decided to independently choose their own destiny and found their own state.

Before this happened, the people were under the guardianship of the last judge - Samuel. It is interesting that his power was completely informal: he was neither a king nor a high priest, although from early childhood he grew up at the Tabernacle (before the construction of the Jerusalem Temple it was the center of the Old Testament religion). His entire authority rested on his personal qualities, or more precisely, on the will of God, which he revealed to the people. But when Samuel grew old, it turned out that he had no successor. His sons, as often happens, did not adopt their father’s piety. Who will lead the people after his death?

And then the Israelis wanted stability, a firm hand, continuity of power. “Set a king over us to rule over us!” - they demanded.

Samuel did not like this demand, and God did not like it either. Until now, only He could be called the King of Israel - the people whom He saved from Egypt, literally created from a crowd of slaves, just as He created Adam from the dust of the ground. But He allowed His people to do as they saw fit. “Obey them,” He said to Samuel, “for they have not rejected you, but Me, so that I should not reign over them.”

And Samuel said to the people: “The king who will reign over you will take your sons and put them in his chariots, and they will cultivate his fields, reap his grain, make him weapons of war; and he will take your daughters to cook food and bake bread... and you yourself will be his slaves; and then you will groan because of your king, but the Lord will not answer you then.”

The people were not bothered by this warning. It must be said that in ancient times the monarchy was usually seen as not just another possible form of government. The absoluteness of royal power required some kind of justification, and the easiest way was to say that the gods themselves ordered it to be established. And the king, accordingly, played the role of an intermediary between the world of gods and the world of people. It is no coincidence that in the vast majority of ancient societies, kings were also high priests. Mesopotamian kings often declared themselves to be the chosen ones and even children of various deities, and the Egyptian pharaoh was even considered one of the main gods of Egypt.

Despite all the similarities in details, we do not see anything similar in the history of Israel. The people themselves choose the monarchical form of government; there is no hint of any kind of divinity in it. Moreover, from the very beginning, a boundary is drawn between the king and the clergy: the king should not perform any rituals, he is the same person as everyone else. On the other hand, it is he who represents his people before God, so the Lord personally chooses him, helps him, but also asks him especially strictly. In fact, the earthly king of the chosen people is the vicegerent of the Lord as the true King.

The divine choice fell on a handsome young man named Saul (translated from Hebrew as “begged”) from the tribe of Benjamin. In search of his father’s missing donkeys, he turned to the prophet Samuel, who recognized him as the chosen one of the Lord. In those days, as today, people were interested in prophets and priests, often in order to settle their earthly affairs. But what Saul found in Samuel was not donkeys, but royal dignity. The Prophet gave him a ceremonial dinner, left him to spend the night in his house, and in the morning he took him out of the city and poured a vessel of olive oil on his head - the anointing symbolized initiation into royal or priestly dignity. And only then, at a large solemn meeting of representatives of the entire people, Saul was proclaimed king when the lot pointed to him. Such duality tells us: in fact, the Lord chooses this or that person as ruler, and all public ceremonies only serve as a manifestation of His will.

As we can see, this system is completely different from either modern republican elections or medieval monarchies with the transfer of the country by inheritance, as if it were the private property of the sovereign. In the Bible, God retains supreme authority over Israel and simply appoints an earthly king as His vicegerent, who can be removed if necessary, as was later the case with Saul.

So, Saul ascended the throne and began to wage fairly successful wars with the surrounding nations. It would seem that the Israelites received what they were looking for: a king who led his people from victory to victory. But the dangerous sides of the tsarist power came to light very soon.

Before a campaign or battle, the Israelis turned to God in prayer and made sacrifices to Him. The prophet Samuel led these sacrifices. One day he was delayed, the army was tired of inaction, people began to disperse, so Saul decided to take the initiative into his own hands and performed the ceremony himself. Like the kings of the pagan nations, he behaved not only as a king, but also as a priest. From Samuel he had to listen to a severe reproach: he had arrogated to himself a right that did not belong to him!

The next time Saul attacked the Amalekites, whom the Lord ordered to be completely destroyed, not even leaving behind military spoils. The question of why the Lord gave such harsh commands is very complex, and we will not fully analyze it here; we can only say very briefly: in those days, the wholesale extermination of the civilian population was a completely normal method of military action. Preaching peace and signing the Geneva Convention were completely impossible in that world. And the Lord gradually led the Israelites to an ethics closer to us, limiting their destructive anger only to those groups of people who really threatened Israel with complete destruction, physical or spiritual (that is, the dissolution of faith in the One in primitive and cruel paganism). Mahatma Gandhi, unfortunately, could not be on earth in those days.

But Saul and his army acted differently: the king of the Amalekites was left alive, and only the least valuable spoils were destroyed. The warriors preferred to keep good livestock and expensive things for themselves - let us note that they were not motivated by any humanism, but by elementary greed, the desire to arrange their destiny according to their own whims. And then Samuel said to Saul: “Are burnt offerings and sacrifices as pleasing to the Lord as obedience? Obedience is better than sacrifice, and to obey than the fat of rams; for disobedience is the same sin as magic, and resistance is the same as idolatry; because you have rejected the word of the Lord, and He has rejected you so that you should not be king.”

Saul remained on the throne for a long time. But now it was no longer his son who was destined to ascend the throne after him, and Saul’s very life was deprived of patronage from above. As the Bible describes it, “the Spirit of the Lord departed from Saul, and an evil spirit troubled him.” To appease their ruler, the courtiers found him a skilled musician - a young man named David. His story is a completely separate conversation, and we will return to it, but for now we are talking about Saul.

David became the squire and favorite musician of the king, who already knew that he was rejected by God, but did not yet realize that the handsome young man was his successor. Samuel, secretly from everyone, had already anointed David as king, but neither the will of God, nor even the ritual of anointing meant that David would immediately begin to rule. Often a promised gift from above comes to a person only after considerable effort. So it was with David.

In the meantime, the Israelites went to war with their constant enemies - the Philistines. As often happened in ancient times, they proposed a duel between two heroes and put up their fighter named Goliath. This fighter was about three meters tall, as the Bible describes (perhaps not without exaggeration), and his weapons and armor were unparalleled.

King Saul would have to answer the challenge. This is why the Israelis asked for a king, so that he could lead the people in war. But the king, who turned out to be unworthy of his calling before God, could also not fulfill his obligations to the people. And then young David, the new king of Israel, whom no one knew then, volunteered to fight. He went into battle with the usual weapon of the shepherds - a sling - and hit his opponent with a well-aimed shot before he approached him. So Goliath forever became the image of a powerful, clumsy giant who is defeated by a lightly armed but flexible opponent. Or maybe it’s not only about fighting qualities, but also about what David said before the battle: “You come against me with a sword and a spear and a shield, and I come against you in the name of the Lord of hosts, the God of the armies of Israel.” The shepherd boy, who previously protected his flock from predators, became an instrument of God protecting His flock - the people of Israel.

After the victory, Saul needed to reward the young man, and the king gave him his daughter Michal in marriage. But he realized that from now on David was his rival, because the people, celebrating the victory, sang: “Saul defeated thousands, and David - tens of thousands!” Saul even tried to kill David himself, but his own children did not allow him to do this. First, David was warned about the danger by his wife Michal, and then by his best friend, Saul’s son Jonathan.

Twice more Saul spoke with David, whom he and his army unsuccessfully caught in the mountains and deserts. One day Saul went to relieve himself in the cave where David’s detachment was hiding. He barely restrained his soldiers from immediate reprisals and, sneaking up, cut off a piece of Saul’s clothing. And then from afar he showed Saul this scrap: he could have killed the worthless king, but he did not raise his hand against God’s anointed. The logic of palace coups was alien to him - the Lord raises kings to the throne, let the Lord bring them down.

Saul repented and asked David for forgiveness, but he did not remain in this mood for long. Envy and anger have their own logic, and if a person succumbs to them, it is very difficult for him to later get rid of their power - soon Saul’s detachment was again chasing on the heels of David.

After some time, Saul went to another war with the Philistines. He felt how precarious his position was; Previously, the prophet Samuel gave him advice, but he had long since died by that time. If only it were possible to call him from the grave! But there are always fortunetellers and wizards who do such things...

The Israelis were strictly forbidden to engage in occult practices. To remain faithful to the One God means, first of all, not to resort to the help of all kinds of gods and spirits, just as to remain faithful to a spouse means not to have fleeting affairs on the side. Once Saul expelled all fortunetellers from his kingdom, but now he himself turned to such a woman to evoke the spirit of Samuel. He even had to pretend that it was not him, the formidable King Saul, but an ordinary person. The king finally lost his royal dignity. The witch agreed to “bring out” Samuel. The prophet’s answer to the king’s desperate questions sounded like this: “Why are you asking me, when the Lord retreated from you and became your enemy? The Lord will do what he spoke through me; The Lord will take the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your neighbor David.”

Was it really Samuel? It is unlikely that the spirits of the dead come to us like servants on the first call. This could very well be the same evil spirit that previously came upon Saul. But in any case, the spirit did not deceive him: in the battle that took place the next day, both Saul himself and his sons died. Turning to a fortune teller, Saul got what he was looking for - but it did not help him at all.

And David, the founder of the eternal dynasty of Israeli kings, began to reign - but that’s another story.

In the tradition of the Jewish people there was no royal power. They led a nomadic lifestyle and from time immemorial were ruled by patriarchs, elders, judges... Since the time of Moses, a theocratic system of government has been built in Judea: people - elders - judges - high priest (sometimes a prophet next to him) - God. And it justified itself in those conditions. However, the transition to a settled life, the experience of communicating with neighboring peoples (Canaanites, Philistines...), greed and the inability of the ruling elite to protect the people from the external expansion of the same neighbors led to the fact that the people demanded a king for themselves, turning to the demand for the appointment of a king the highest authority of that time, the prophet Samuel.

Samuel, realizing that the new type of government threatened the future power of his sons, resisted this decision, but in the end he still made a choice in favor of the young man Saul, the son of Kish from a noble family with a good name from the small tribe of Benjamin. At first, Samuel secretly anointed him to the kingdom, and then after some time the lot fell on the anointed one in front of the people. This is how Josephus Flavius ​​recounts the story of the election of Saul.

Saul ruled for about 20 years and for the first time of his reign he acted according to the will of God, showing himself to be a worthy ruler. With many victories over his enemies, he gained the love of the people. At first, he refused honors and in times of peace he plowed his own field (1 Sam. 11:4). Over time, Saul stopped fulfilling the commands of God, becoming arrogant, and the Spirit of God left him. Realizing this, he fell into depression, and nothing made him happy. David, who was close to the king, was secretly anointed king by Samuel, who dispelled the king’s melancholy by skillfully playing the harp.

Three of Saul's sons were killed at the Battle of Gilboa. Surrounded by enemy archers and wounded by their arrows, Saul threw himself on his sword (1 Samuel 31:4).

David plays the harp in front of Saul.
Alexander Andreevich Ivanov. 1831 Paper pasted onto paper and cardboard, oil. 8.5 x 13.5.
Based on a biblical story. Sketch of an unrealized painting.
Received in 1926 from the Rumyantsev Museum (gift of S. A. Ivanov in 1877). Inventory No. 7990.
State Tretyakov Gallery
http://www.tez-rus.net/ViewGood18360.html

The sorceress of Endor summons the shadow of the prophet Samuel.
Dmitry Nikiforovich Martynov (1826-1889). 1857
Ulyanovsk Art Museum

The story of the Witch of Endor is contained in the First Book of Kings (chapter 28). It tells how, after the death of the prophet Samuel, the Philistine troops gathered for war with Israel. King Saul of Israel tried to ask God about the outcome of the battle, “but the Lord did not answer him, either in a dream, or by the Urim, or by the prophets” (1 Sam. 28:6). Then he ordered the servants: “Find me a sorceress woman, and I will go to her and ask her.” The servants found a sorceress in Endor and Saul, changing his royal clothes to simple ones, took two people with him and went to her at night.

“And [Saul] said to her, I pray you, tell me a spell and bring out to me whom I will tell you about. But the woman answered him: you know what Saul did, how he drove the wizards and fortune-tellers out of the country; Why are you laying a net for my soul to destroy me? And Saul swore to her by the Lord, saying, As the Lord lives! There will be no trouble for you for this matter. Then the woman asked: who should you bring out? And he answered: Bring out Samuel to me. And the woman saw Samuel and cried out loudly; and the woman turned to Saul, saying, Why have you deceived me? you are Saul. And the king said to her: Do not be afraid; what do you see? And the woman answered: I see, as it were, a god emerging from the earth. What kind does he look like? - [Saul] asked her. She said: an elderly man comes out of the ground, dressed in long clothes. Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he fell face down to the ground and worshiped. (1 Samuel 28:8-14)“

Saul asked Samuel what he should do in the war with the Philistines, to which he received the answer: “Why do you ask me, when the Lord has departed from you and become your enemy?” The Lord will do what he spoke through me; The Lord will take the kingdom out of your hands and give it to your neighbor David.” (1 Samuel 28:16-17). Samuel further predicted that “tomorrow you and your sons [will be] with me.” Saul was afraid and fell to the ground. The sorceress approached him, offered him bread, after persuasion the king agreed and the woman slaughtered a calf for him and baked unleavened bread. After eating, Saul left.

The next day, in the battle, Saul's sons Jonathan, Aminadab and Malchisua were killed, and the king himself committed suicide (1 Sam. 31:15). The first book of Chronicles reports that “Saul died because of his iniquity, which he committed before the Lord, because he did not keep the word of the Lord and turned to the sorceress with a question” (1 Chronicles 10:13).

The Sorceress of Endor summons the shadow of Samuel (Saul from the Sorceress of Endor).
Nikolai Nikolaevich Ge. 1856 Oil on canvas. 288x341.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow

King David

David is the second king of Israel, the youngest son of Jesse. Reigned for 40 years (c. 1005 - 965 BC, according to traditional Jewish chronology c. 876 - 836 BC: seven years and six months he was king of Judah (with his capital in Hebron), then 33 years - king of the united kingdom of Israel and Judah (with its capital in Jerusalem). The image of David is the image of an ideal ruler, from whose family (through the male line), according to Jewish biblical prophecies, the Messiah will come, which has already come true, according to the Christian New Testament, which describes in detail the origin of the Messiah. - Jesus Christ from King David. The historicity of King David is a subject of debate among historians and archaeologists.

Tree of Jesse.
Marc Chagall. 1975 Oil on canvas. 130×81 cm.
Private collection

David and Goliath.
I. E. Repin. 1915 Paper on cardboard, watercolor, bronze powder. 22x35.
Tver Regional Art Gallery

Called to King Saul, David played the kinnor to drive away the evil spirit that was tormenting the king for his apostasy from God. After David, who came to the Israeli army to visit his brothers, accepted the challenge of the Philistine giant Goliath and killed him with a sling, thereby ensuring victory for the Israelites, Saul finally took him to court (1 Samuel 16:14 - 18:2).

Bathsheba.
Karl Pavlovich Bryullov. 1832 Unfinished painting. Canvas, oil. 173x125.5.
Received in 1925 from the Rumyantsev Museum (collection of K. T. Soldatenkov). Inv. No. 5052.
State Tretyakov Gallery, Moscow
http://www.tanais.info/art/brulloff6more.html

Bathsheba.
K.P. Bryullov. 1830s (?). Canvas, oil. 87.5 x 61.5.
Variant of the painting of the same name 1832 from the Tretyakov Gallery collection
Second Book of Samuel, 11, 2-4
On the left, on the tap, signature: K. P. Brullo.
Received in 1907 from A. A. Kozlova (St. Petersburg). Inv. No. Ж-5083.

http://www.tez-rus.net/ViewGood36729.html

Around 1832, Karl Bryullov created a painting that was a kind of result of his many years of creative quest in mythological and genre painting. Having conceived the painting “Bathsheba,” he selflessly begins to work on it for four years. The author was overwhelmed with the desire to depict a naked human body in the rays of the setting sun. The subtle play of light and shadow that permeates the picture, and the airiness of the environment surrounding the figure, did not prevent the author from giving the silhouette clarity and sculptural volume. In the painting “Bathsheba,” Bryullov skillfully depicts sensual eroticism, openly, like a man, admiring every fold on a slender body and every strand of fluffy thick hair. In order to enhance the impression, the master used a spectacular color contrast. We see how the whiteness of Bathsheba’s matte skin is set off by the dark dark skin of the Ethiopian maid, tenderly clinging to her mistress.

The film is based on a plot from the Old Testament. In the Bible, “Bathsheba” is described as a woman of rare beauty. Walking on the roof of his palace, King David saw below a girl who was naked and was ready to enter the waters of the marble bath. Struck by the unique beauty of Bathsheba, King David experienced passion. Bathsheba's husband was away from home at this time, serving in the army of King David. Without trying to seduce the king, Bathsheba nevertheless appeared on his orders at the palace and after their relationship, Bathsheba became pregnant. King David gave the army commander an order in which he ordered her husband to be sent to the hottest place where he would be killed. In the end, this happened, after which King David married Bathsheba. Once born, their first child lived only a few days. David grieved for a long time and repented of what he had done. Despite her high position and status as David's most beloved wife, Bathsheba behaved very modestly and with dignity. Meanwhile, the Bible says that she had great influence on the king, this is proven by the fact that she convinced the ruler to appoint his eldest son Solomon as king. After a fierce struggle began between his sons for the throne of King David, she in every possible way contributed to the exposure of David’s fourth son Adonijah, who sought to remove his father from the throne. Bathsheba had two sons, Solomon and Nathan. All her life she loved and was devoted to King David, becoming a wonderful wife and a good mother. art-on-web.ru

David and Bathsheba.
Marc Chagall. Paris, 1960. Lithograph, paper. 35.8×26.5

Song of Songs
Marc Chagall
Marc Chagall Museum, Nice

King David.
Marc Chagall. 1962–63 Oil on canvas. 179.8x98.
Private collection

King David.
V.L. Borovikovsky. 1785 Oil on canvas. 63.5 x 49.5.
Below left is the date and signature: 1785, written by Vladimir Borovikovsky.
Received: 1951 from the collection of R.S. Belenkaya. Inv. No. Ж-5864
State Russian Museum
http://www.tez-rus.net:8888/ViewGood34367.html

King Solomon

Solomon is the third Jewish king, the legendary ruler of the united Kingdom of Israel in 965-928 BC. e., during its peak period. Son of King David and Bathsheba (Bat Sheba), his co-ruler in 967-965 BC. e. During the reign of Solomon, the Temple of Jerusalem was built in Jerusalem - the main shrine of Judaism, later destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar. Traditionally considered the author of the Book of Ecclesiastes, the book Song of Solomon, the Book of Proverbs of Solomon, as well as some psalms. During Solomon's lifetime, uprisings of the conquered peoples (Edomites, Arameans) began; immediately after his death, an uprising broke out, as a result of which the single state split into two kingdoms (Israel and Judah). For later periods of Jewish history, the reign of Solomon represented a kind of “golden age.” All the blessings of the world were attributed to the “sun-like” king - wealth, women, remarkable intelligence.

The Court of King Solomon.
N.N. Ge. 1854 Oil on canvas. 147 x 185.
Kyiv State Museum of Russian Art

The student program work “The Judgment of King Solomon” was carried out according to all academic canons, in a somewhat constrained and restrained manner.

Then two harlot women came to the king and stood before him. And one woman said: Oh, my lord! This woman and I live in the same house; and I gave birth in her presence in this house; On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also gave birth; and we were together, and there was no one else in the house with us; only the two of us were in the house; and the woman's son died in the night, because she slept with him; and she arose at night and took my son from me while I, your handmaid, was sleeping, and laid him to her breast, and she laid her dead son to my breast; In the morning I got up to feed my son, and behold, he was dead; and when I looked at him in the morning, it was not my son whom I gave birth to. And the other woman said: No, my son is alive, but your son is dead. And she told her: no, your son is dead, but mine is alive. And they spoke thus before the king.

And the king said: This one says: my son is alive, but your son is dead; and she says: no, your son is dead, but my son is alive. And the king said: Give me a sword. And they brought the sword to the king. And the king said, Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other. And that woman, whose son was alive, answered the king, for her whole inside was agitated with pity for her son: Oh, my lord! give her this child alive and do not kill him. And the other said: let it not be for me or for you, chop it down. And the king answered and said: Give this living child, and do not kill him: she is his mother. 1 Kings 3:16-27

Ecclesiastes or Vanity of Vanities (Vanity of Vanities and all kinds of vanity).
Isaac Lvovich Asknaziy. 1899 or 1900
Research Museum of the Russian Academy of Arts in St. Petersburg

The artist's largest, most serious and last work was painted in 1900 - the painting "Ecclesiastes" or "Vanity of Vanities." It was even exhibited at the Paris Exhibition in 1900.
The painting depicts King Solomon of Jerusalem sitting on the throne, his thoughts are gloomy, his lips whisper: “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity.” The artist depicts the king as lonely, long abandoned by his children. Only two faithful servants - a bodyguard and a secretary - remained with him. The servants watch the movements of his lips with close attention, and the secretary writes down the sayings of the wise king on the board.

A precise composition, beautiful drawing, knowledge of the style of the era depicted - everything indicates that the picture was made by the hand of a master. The oriental luxury of the decoration of the interior of the palace and the clothes of King Solomon sitting on the throne only emphasize the main idea of ​​the work: external splendor is all vanity. The work, to which Asknazi dedicated six years of his life, was included in the exhibition of the Russian department at the World Exhibition in Paris in 1900. The author dreamed that the painting would be acquired by the Academy of Arts for the Russian Museum of Emperor Alexander III. However, the painting, although purchased for five thousand rubles, did not end up in the new museum, remaining in the academic collection. Numerous studies and sketches for her were first shown at the “Posthumous Exhibition of Works by Academician I.L. Asknaziy,” which opened in the academic halls in 1903, which featured 110 paintings and more than 150 sketches and sketches. It was a personal exhibition of works by Isaac Asknazi. Parashutov

King Solomon.
Nesterov Mikhail Vasilievich (1862 - 1942). 1902
Fragment of the painting of the drum of the dome of the church in the name of the blessed prince Alexander Nevsky
http://www.art-catalog.ru/picture.php?id_picture=15191

With the establishment of the Law of Moses, Israel had no kingship for nearly five centuries. The Lord Himself was the King. Prophets, judges and elders were only executors of His will. This type of government is called theocracy(literally - the power of God). Being God and the Heavenly King of all nations, the Lord was in relation to His chosen people at the same time Tsar earthly. From Him came laws and regulations not only of a religious nature, but also of a family, social, and state nature.

When Samuel grew old, the elders of Israel gathered together and began to ask: set a king over us so that he judges us like other nations(1 Kings 8:5). Samuel did not like these words. The great prophet saw in them a threat to theocracy.

However, the Lord allowed Samuel to satisfy the people's desire, finding that the fulfillment of this may not contradict the form of government established among the Jews, since the earthly king of the theocratic state of the Jews could and should have been nothing more than a zealous executor and guide in the people entrusted to him with the laws of the King of Heaven .

The first king anointed by the prophet Samuel was Saul, son of Kis. It happened like this. Kish's best donkeys were missing, and he sent his son Saul and a servant to find them. After a three-day search, they came to the land of Zuph - the fatherland of the great prophet Samuel. The donkeys were not found, the servant advised Saul to ask the famous seer about them. So the Lord brought the future king to the prophet Samuel. God revealed this to Samuel the day before Saul came. The prophet Samuel took a vessel of oil and poured it on Saul’s head, kissed him and said: Behold, the Lord anoints you to be the ruler of His inheritance(1 Kings 10:1). Until now, the Old Testament spoke of anointing only the high priest with holy oil (see: Exodus 30:30).

Royal power places great responsibility on a person. Through myrrh (or holy oil) Divine spiritual gifts were given for the successful completion of this ministry.

As Saul was returning, he met a company of prophets, and the Spirit of God came upon him, and he prophesied among them. To prophesy in biblical language does not always mean to foretell. In this case the word prophesied can be understood in the sense that he glorified God and His miracles in enthusiastic hymns of praise, which implies a special rise in the spiritual powers of man. For everyone who knew Saul before, this was extremely unexpected, so the Jews had a proverb: Is Saul also a prophet?(1 Kings 10, 11).

In the early years, Saul was quite at the height of his rank. He won several victories over the Philistines and Amalekites, who were hostile to the chosen people. But gradually power intoxicated him. He began to act autocratically, disregarding the will of God which the prophet Samuel revealed to him.

Saul's self-will displeased Samuel. Samuel's final break with Saul occurred after the victory over the Amalekites. The Lord demanded that everything gained in battle be cursed, that is, completely destroyed. But Saul and the people spared the best of the sheep, the oxen, the fattened lambs, and everything of value that came to them. When Samuel rebuked him on behalf of the Lord, Saul said that he had kept the spoils to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel replied that obedience to God is better than any sacrifice, and disobedience is as sinful as magic.

Saul

Founder of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah

Saul is the founder of the Kingdom of Israel and Judah (1025-1004 BC). The threat of enslavement by the Philistines and Ammonites confronted the Israelite tribes with the need to unite under one leader. In this situation, the prophet Samuel declared Saul, the son of Kish, from the tribe of the Benjaminites, king. Being by nature an extraordinary and courageous man, Saul coped well with the role of a unifier. Soon, twelve Israeli tribes united into one state entity, called Israel.
Saul began his war of liberation with an attack on the Ammonites who were besieging the city of Jasheb (Jasheb). At the walls of this city, Saul's army defeated the Ammonites. This first success raised Saul's authority among his fellow tribesmen, who finally recognized him as their ruler. Subsequently, Saul gathered a large army from representatives of all Israelite tribes and began a stubborn struggle with the Philistines - Israel's sworn enemies. And this time luck was with Saul. He liberated his hometown of Gibeah from the Philistines and won a number of victories over them in other places. In order to defend the Israeli tribes living in Transjordan, Saul led successful military operations against the king of Moab. Defending the northern reaches of his kingdom, Saul fought with the Aramean kingdom of Soba. In the south he had to face the Amalekites and defeat them in several battles. Saul managed to establish peaceful relations with the Calebites and Kenites tribes. Finally, he increased Israel's territory by annexing several Canaanite cities.
Thus, Saul's energetic activity led to the emergence of a kingdom in Palestine, which its neighbors had to reckon with. However, the state he created still bore traces of tribal relations. So, every month Saul gathered his squad at his home and consulted with it under the sacred tamarisk tree. The king distributed to his soldiers the lands and vineyards captured from the enemy. In Saul's kingdom there was no real capital, no administrative-bureaucratic apparatus, no regular army with experienced military leaders.
Towards the end of his reign, Saul became hot-tempered, prone to superstitions and unnecessary worries, and he often rushed from one extreme to another. He quarreled with the prophet Samuel, who nominated him to the kingdom, which is why the latter broke with him and retired to the city of Rama. After breaking up with Samuel, Saul began to suffer from bouts of severe mental illness. At times his condition reached the point of madness.
In 1004 the Philistines attacked Israel. Saul was forced to defend the country. A decisive battle took place near the Gelbui Mountains. Saul's army was crushed by a superior enemy and put to flight. Saul himself and his three sons died in this battle.

Book materials used: Tikhanovich Yu.N., Kozlenko A.V. 350 great. Brief biography of the rulers and generals of antiquity. The Ancient East; Ancient Greece; Ancient Rome. Minsk, 2005.

Shaul (Saul), king of Israel in 1030-1009. BC
From the historical traditions of the Jewish people it is known that after their settlement in Palestine, the Israelis were ruled for several centuries by judges and high priests. But in the second half of the 11th century. BC, when Samuel was a prophet and judge in Israel, the people demanded that he appoint a king. (The reason for this was the wicked sons of Samuel, who, with their iniquities and mockery of justice, threatened to undermine the foundations of citizenship.) Although reluctantly, Samuel had to fulfill the desire of his fellow citizens and began to ask God for help in this important matter. The Lord pointed him to the brave and quick-witted young man Saul in the tribe of Benjamin. One day, meeting him when Saul was looking for lost donkeys, Samuel sprinkled him with oil and ordained him king. He then gathered the people to Masphapha, presented Saul to the Israelites, and said, “This man has been appointed by the Lord God to be king over you.” Not all Jews took Saul seriously. There were many, writes Josephus, who treated him with contempt, mocked him and did not bring him the proper gifts. However, a month after his election, Saul gained universal respect during the war with the Ammanite king Nahash. This king attacked the Trans-Jordanian Jews with a huge and well-armed army. To deprive them of their ability to perform military service, he ordered everyone who was captured by him to have their right eye gouged out. Having learned about this, Saul was inflamed with anger, ordered the sinews of his bulls to be trimmed and sent them around the country with the threat that he would do the same to the cattle of those disobedient who did not come the next day with weapons to the Jordan. Out of fear of this threat, as well as of an enemy invasion, the Jews gathered in large numbers into the king’s army. Shaul secretly crossed the river, suddenly attacked the enemies and in a fierce battle killed many Ammanites, including Nahash himself. Then he went into their country and completely devastated it.
This feat greatly contributed to the spread of Saul's fame. Since then, his authority in the eyes of the people has become indisputable, and his power over the country has received a solid foundation. In the following years, he further strengthened them with successful wars with the Philistines, Moabites, Edomites and Amalekites. The Jews under his leadership achieved prosperity and happiness, becoming more powerful than all the surrounding nations. But this continued only as long as the Lord favored Saul. One day, the prophet Samuel conveyed God’s command to the king: “Since the Amalekites caused a lot of evil to the Jews during their wanderings in the desert, when they, having left Egypt, were heading to the country that now belongs to them, I command Shaul to take revenge on the Amalekites, declare war on them and, having won victory over them, not to spare any of them, but to slaughter everyone, no matter what age they are, starting with women and ending with infants. At the same time, I forbid you to spare their large and small livestock, not to leave them for your own use, but I command you? dedicate everything to Me, the Lord your God, so that even the very name of the Amalekites may be destroyed." Saul promised to fulfill God's command exactly. And indeed, already in the first battle he destroyed many enemies. Then the Jews attacked the Amalekite cities, began to take them one by one and mercilessly beat all the inhabitants, regardless of age or gender. At first, everyone strictly followed the Lord’s instructions, but later, fed up with killings, the warriors began to spare small and large livestock, keeping the spoils for themselves. Saul himself was the first to set an example of disobedience, saving the life of the Amalekite king Agag. Upon his return to Israel, he learned from Samuel that the Lord was angry with the Jews because of their disobedience. However, more than anyone else, God was indignant with Saul and from that time on took away His favor from him.
Soon Samuel, according to the word of God, secretly anointed Shaul's armor-bearer David to the kingdom. And Shaul then felt himself possessed by some strange illness, which expressed itself in the feeling that he was being strangled by evil demons. At the same time, he began to feel a strong hostility towards David, who became famous throughout Israel for his successful battles with the Philistines. Saul guessed that the Lord intended to transfer the kingdom of Israel to him. Not wanting to allow this, he ordered his son Jonat to secretly kill David. But Ionat was a friend of David and, instead of fulfilling his father’s command, he warned him of danger. David managed to escape, and all attempts by Saul to catch him were unsuccessful. From that time on, military success, which had previously accompanied him in all his endeavors, completely betrayed the king. Around 1009 BC, the Philistines began a large-scale war against Israel. Saul met them with his army at Mount Gilboa. He prayed to the Lord for help, but He gave victory to the enemies. When the battle began, the Philistines immediately began to gain the upper hand and killed many Jews. Among others, all the sons of Saul fell. He himself, having received many wounds, stabbed himself with a sword.

Materials from the book by K. Ryzhov were used. All the monarchs of the world. The Ancient East. M., "Veche". 2001. Electronic text reprinted from the site http://slovari.yandex.ru/

Was not a Jew

The monarchy was founded by their senior priest Samuel, installing a puppet king, behind whose back the priesthood ruled. The king was allowed to rule only for life. So that he could not found a dynasty. As king, Samuel chose Saul, a young peasant from the tribe of Benjamin, who had distinguished himself in military campaigns, and from whom obedience was expected in the future. The fact that Saul was chosen from the tribe of Benjamin shows that the Israelites did not want a Jewish king. The united kingdom of Israel only lasted during the reign of Saul, its first and last king.

In the fate of Saul (at least according to the story of the Holy Scriptures) the true nature of the future of Judaism is already visible. Saul was ordered to begin a holy war with the Amalekites: “Now go and smite Amalek and destroy all that he has; and give him no mercy, but put to death from man to woman, from child to suckling, from ox to sheep, from camel to the donkey." So everyone was destroyed, “from man to wife, from child to suckling,” but “Saul and the people spared King Agag and the best of the sheep and oxen and the fattened lambs...”. (First Book of Kings, 15, 9). For this, Saul was excommunicated by Samuel, who secretly chose David from Judea as his successor. Saul tried to regain the favor of the Levites, zealous in "complete destruction", then tried to kill David and thereby save his throne, but also without success. He eventually committed suicide. It is quite possible that none of this actually happened, and that this is only a story from the book of Samuel, written by the Levites hundreds of years later. Whether it is true or an allegory, what is important is the conclusions from this story: Jehovah demands the “total extermination” of foreigners and expects his order to be carried out literally; pity and condescension are grave crimes and cannot be forgiven. This lesson is repeated many times in the future, no matter whether the events described are fact or fiction.

With the death of Saul 3,000 years ago, the unified state ceased to exist; Israel did not want the Jew David as king. As Kastein writes, “the rest of Israel ignored him” and proclaimed Saul’s son, Ishbosheth, king, resulting in the final division between Israel and Judah. According to the Book of Samuel, Ish-bosheth was killed and his head was sent to David, who restored the nominal unity of the country and made Jerusalem its capital. In reality, however, David failed to unite either the kingdom or the tribes: he only founded a dynasty that lasted one more reign.

Reed Douglas. The Controversy over Zion, Chapter 2. The end of Israel .

Broke the Law

Saul destroyed the conquered population, but spared King Agag and kept the best animals alive. For this failure to comply with the Law, which required total destruction, Saul was rejected, dethroned, and destroyed (or so goes the Levitical version of the story).

Reed Douglas. The Controversy over Zion, Chapter 8.Law and Edomites.

Read further:

Gobineau Arthur de. Experience about the inequality of human races. CHAPTER IV.

Tsar Saul(Hebrew, Shaul (Shaul); lit. “borrowed [from God]”; Greek; in Islam Talut Arabic.; possibly from “high” (2nd half of the 11th century BC) - biblical character , according to the Old Testament (Tanakh), the first king of the people of Israel and the founder of the united kingdom of Israel (about 1029-1005 BC), the creator of the regular Jewish army, in the Old Testament narrative - the incarnation of a ruler placed in the kingdom by the will of God, but who became Disliked by him. Perhaps he is a real historical figure.

The First Book of Kings states that the hometown of Saul of the tribe of Benjamin was Gibeah, which he made his capital. He was chosen and anointed to the kingdom by the prophet Samuel, later did not fulfill his command and came into conflict with him, and the prophet secretly anointed young David to the kingdom. Subsequently, David was with the king, married his daughter and dispersed Saul’s melancholy by singing and playing the harp. Saul then tried to kill him, and David fled. Seriously wounded and losing the battle with the Philistines at Mount Gilboa, Saul committed suicide. In later literature he appears as the owner of a restless, restless soul, obsessed with melancholy and fits of anger, which can be calmed by beautiful music.

Biography according to the First Book of Samuel

The only source from which the story of Saul is known is the Old Testament (Tanakh), mainly 1st and 2nd Books of Kings; as well as various later texts dependent on it. Other sources that usually help to restore the facts of the reign of monarchs (for example, coins, texts of decrees, messages from the chronicles of neighboring states) have not been preserved. Thus, all available information, already legendary, inevitably passed through the evaluation filters of the Jewish compilers of the canonical text, as well as authors who sought to describe the rise of his rival and successor David.

Appearance and character

According to the Bible, Saul was a tall man (among the people he stood a full head taller), “and there was none of the Israelites more beautiful than he” (1 Sam. 9:2). He was an excellent warrior and, having become a king, remained easy to handle. At the same time, his character was quick-tempered and subject to bouts of rage, melancholy, jealousy and suspicion (according to the commentary of the historian P. Johnson, Saul was “an unpredictable eastern bandit ruler who fluctuates between sudden magnanimity and irrepressible rage (possibly with a manic-depressive tinge ), always brave, undoubtedly gifted, but teetering on the edge of insanity and at times passing it”).

Origin

Saul was from Gibeah (modern Tol-el-ful), the only son of a noble man named Kish (Kish) from the tribe of Benjamin, the tribe of Matriev (Mattri). His mother's name is unknown. Abner (Avner ben Ner), his cousin (and, according to the instructions of the midrash, the son of the sorceress of Endor), later became his military leader. Kish, the father of Saul, and Ner, the father of Abner, were the sons of Abiel the son of Zeron, the son of Behorath, the son of Aphi, the son of a certain Benjamite. Being a Beneamite, Saul belonged to the most warlike tribe of the Israelites, but at the same time the “youngest” and smallest of its tribes.

Election of Saul

Before Saul, there was no king over the Jews, but by the year of his election the situation in the country showed that the traditional Judges of Israel were no longer able to withstand the growing pressure from neighboring peoples, primarily the Philistines (1 Sam. 8:20; 9:16). The sons of the priest Eli with their iniquities and mockery of justice compromised themselves, in addition, they lost the Ark of the Covenant during the battle, but what turned out to be most important for the further turning point of history, as priests they could not become military leaders, the benefits of whose existence the Jews saw using the example of neighboring countries.