1 Samuel: Anointment

(This week’s Torah portion is Va-etchanan, Deuteronomy 3:23-7:11. If you want to read one of my earlier posts on this portion, you might try: Va-etchanan: Fire, Not Idols. Below is the first in a new series of posts on why David is God’s favorite king, which I am offering in place of the rest of Deuteronomy.)

---

When a prophet anoints a man as king, it is only the first step on the road to rulership. The prophet Samuel anoints the first two kings of Israel, Saul and David. But they both have to wait for popular acceptance before they can begin to govern.

The anointing of Saul

Samuel is not only a prophet, but also a circuit judge for four towns in the hills between Shiloh and Jerusalem: Bethel, Gilgal, Mitzpah, and Ramah.¹ When Samuel grows old, the elders of the area ask him to appoint a king to govern them. (See my post: Haftarat Korach—1 Samuel: No Kings?) He warns them that a king would seize their property and their children, and treat them like slaves. But the people are undeterred, and God tells Samuel:

“About this time tomorrow I will send to you a man from the land of Benjamin, and you will anoint him as a ruler over my people Israel. He will deliver my people from the hand of the Philistines. For I have seen my people, since their cry of distress has come to me.” (1 Samuel 9:16)

The next day, Samuel arrives at the next town on his circuit at the same time as Saul², a young man who is a head taller than anyone else. After he has been searching for three days for his father’s lost donkeys, his servant suggests that he ask the seer in the nearby town. When Saul says he has nothing to pay the seer, his servant gives him a piece of silver. Compared to his servant, Saul seems be clueless and not to be trusted with money.

At the town gate, God tells Samuel:

“Hey! It’s the man about whom I said to you: This one will restrain my people!” (1 Samuel 9:17)

Saul asks Samuel how to get to the seer’s house, and Samuel replies that he is the seer. Then before Saul can ask about his father’s donkeys, the prophet tells him they have been found, and invites him to a feast at the local sanctuary. At dawn, Samuel accompanies Saul back to the town gate and tells Saul’s servant to go on ahead.

Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head, and he kissed him, and he said: “Is it not so that God meshachakha as a ruler over [God’s] inheritance?” (1 Samuel 10:1)

meshachakha (מְשָׁכהֲךָ) = has anointed you. (From the same root as moshiach, מָשִׁיחַ = annointed one. In the Hebrew Bible, a moshiach is a king or a priest. This word was translated into English as “messiah”.)

The “inheritance” Samuel refers to is the Israelites.

Saul says nothing—either because he is dumbfounded, or because Samuel keeps on talking. He tells Saul what will happen to him the rest of the day—including an encounter with a band of ecstatic prophets playing lyres, timbrels, flutes, and harps.

“Then the spirit of God will rush over you, and you will speak in ecstasy with them, and you will be changed into another man.” (1 Samuel 10:6)

Somehow this experience of an altered state will change Saul so he will become capable of assuming command. Samuel concludes by ordering Saul to meet him in seven days at Gilgal.

A note on anointments

The first anointment in the Hebrew Bible is of a stone. Jacob wakes up from his dream of the ladder or stairway between heaven and earth. He takes the stone he was using as head-rest, sets it upright as a pillar, and pours oil on top of it, thus dedicating it as a sacred spot.³

The book of Exodus calls for the anointment of the first five priests of the new centralized religion, as well as all the sanctuary furnishings, and the matzah wafers used in the consecration. God gives Moses the recipe for the anointing oil: three spices and olive oil.⁴ A public ritual of consecration by anointment finally occurs in Leviticus 8:10-12.

The first anointment of a human being who is not a priest is Samuel’s anointment of Saul. After that, five more men are anointed as kings of Israelites: David, Solomon, Jehu (in Samaria), Joash (in Judah), and Jehoahaz (in Judah).⁵ All of these kings are anointed with olive oil poured on their heads, but no spices are mentioned.

Maimonides explained: “A son who succeeds his father as king is not anointed unless he assumes his position amid a dispute over the inheritance or during a civil war. Under these circumstances, he should be anointed in order to remove all disagreement. Therefore, they anointed Solomon because of the claim of Adoniyahu; Joash, because of the usurpation of Atalyah; and Jehoahaz, because of the claim of his brother, Jehoyakim.” (Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars)⁶

Saul, David, and Jehu are anointed by prophets. But Solomon and Joash are anointed by priests,⁷ and Jehoahaz is anointed by “the people of the land”.⁷

After Saul’s anointment

The secret anointment of Saul is only the first step toward making him the king of the Israelites. The prophet Samuel assembles the people seven days later at Ha-Mitzpah, “the watchtower”, perhaps a landmark near Gilgal. He addresses them and casts lots to determine who will be their king. The lot falls on Saul, but nobody can find him. Then God tells Samuel that Saul is hiding in the baggage.⁸ When the young man is fetched and brought in front of the people, everyone sees that he stands a head taller than anyone else.

And all the people shouted and said: “May the king live!” And Samuel spoke to the people the rules of kingship, and he wrote them in a scroll, and he set it in front of God. Then Samuel sent away the people, each to his own house, and Saul also went to his house in Give-ah. And with him went the able people whose hearts God had touched. (1 Samuel 10:24-26)

Others are skeptical. But when the king of Ammon threatens a town in Gilead, God inspires Saul to unite the tribes and defeat the Ammonite army. After the victory, Samuel assembles the Israelites again for a ceremony confirming Saul’s kingship. (See my post: Haftarat Korach—1 Samuel: No Kings?) Now all the Israelites are enthusiastic about King Saul—except for Samuel.

Saul recruits an army to fight the Philistines, and waits seven days for Samuel to arrive and make the offerings to God. Then, seeing his troops begin to scatter, Saul makes the offerings himself—just before the prophet shows up and scolds him for not waiting.⁹

The last straw for Samuel is when Saul follows his order to conquer the main town of the Amalekites, but then fails to carry out the rest of his directions: to renounce the spoils and devote all its people and livestock to destruction in God’s name.

And Saul and the troops spared Agag [king of Amalek] and the best of the flocks and cattle, the fat ones, the lambs, and all the good ones … And the word of God happened to Samuel, saying: “I have had a change of heart that I kinged Saul as king, because he has turned away from [following] after me, and my word has not been established!” (1 Samuel 15:9-11)

Samuel does not accept King Saul’s explanations and apologies. After Samuel kills King Agag himself and goes home to Ramah, God speaks to him again: “How long will you keep lamenting for Saul, when I have rejected him from reigning over Israel? Fill your horn with oil and go. I send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite,¹⁰ because I have seen among his sons a king for me.” (1 Samuel 16:1)

The anointing of David

Once again Samuel performs a secret anointment. He travels to Bethlehem, sacrifices a calf, and invites Jesse and his sons to eat the approved portions.

And it was when they came and [Samuel] saw Eliav, then he said [to himself]: Indeed, facing God is meshicho! But God said to Samuel: “Don’t pay attention to his appearance, or to the height of his stature, because I have rejected him. For it is not what the human sees. For the human sees [what is] for the eyes, but God sees the heart.” (1 Samuel 16:6-7)

meshicho (מְשִׁיחוֹ) = his anointed one. (A form of moshiach.)  

Jesse brings seven sons to Samuel, and God rejects each one. Then Samuel asks Jesse if he has any more sons, and Jesse replies that his youngest is still out shepherding the flock.

And he sent and had him brought in. And he was ruddy, with beautiful eyes, and good to see. And God said: “Arise, meshacheihu, because this is he!” And Samuel took a horn of oil vayimeshach him in the midst of his brothers. And the spirit of God rushed through David from that day and onward. Then Samuel got up and went [back] to Ramah. (1 Samuel 16:12-13)

meshacheihu (מְשָׁחֵהוּ) =anoint him!

vayimeshach (ואיִּמְשַׁח) = and he anointed.

David (דָּוִד) = beloved. (An alternative form of dod, דוֹד or דֺּד = beloved; uncle.)

Saul is acclaimed as king the same year that Samuel anointed him. But David has to wait for decades after his anointment, until King Saul dies in battle, before he becomes the king—first of Judah, then of all Israel.

When he is acclaimed king of all Israel, he is anointed again!

All the tribal leaders of Israel came to the king at Hebron,¹¹ and the king, David, cut a covenant with them at Hebron in front of God, vayimshechu David as king over Israel. (2 Samuel 5:3-4)

 vayimshechu (וַיִּמְשְׁחוּ) =and they anointed him. At least during his long wait between anointments, David has the comfort of knowing that he is God’s chosen king. In fact, he is already God’s beloved.

---

How would you feel if you were secretly anointed to a high position? If you were like Saul, you might doubt that you could rise to the challenge. After all, a single ecstatic experience of the divine is not enough to change someone’s personality. And when the position came open, you might even hide in the baggage.

But if you were like David, you might take your anointment in stride, and immediately make your own plans to be in the right place at the right time. Maybe that quality is what God sees in David’s heart.

Next week we will start looking at look at David’s plans, why he is God’s beloved.

---

1. For the convenience of readers unfamiliar with Hebrew, I am giving all the commonly-known proper names in their usual English formulation—with footnotes on their Hebrew pronunciations and meanings. Samuel is Shmuel, שְׁמוּאֵל = “his name/reputation is God”. Bethel is Beit-Eil, בֵּית-אֵל = “House of God”.
2. Saul is Sha-ul, שָׁאוּל = “asked for”.
3. Genesis 28:17-18.
4. Exodus 30:24
5. In 1 Kings 19:15, God commands the prophet Elijah to anoint Chazaeil as king of Aram, Jehu as king of the northern kingdom of Israel, and Elisha as Elijah’s successor. Only one of these anointments is described in the bible, when Elisha has one of his student prophets anoint Jehu in 2 Kings 9:1-10. Jehu takes the throne from King Ahab. Jehu is Yeihu, (יֵהוּא), “God is he”. Joash is Yeho-ash (יְהוֹאָשׁ), “God is fire”, and Jehoahaz is Yeho-achaz (יְהוֹאָחָז), “God grasped”. (I use a transliteration system in which “ch” is a soft gutteral, as in the Scottish “loch” or German “ich”.
6. Moses ben Maimon, a.k.a. Ramban or Maimonides (12^th century), Mishneh Torah, Kings and Wars, 1:12, translated by Eliyahu Touger, Moznaim Publishing.
7. 1 Kings 1:39, 2 Kings 11:12.
8. 2 Kings 23:30.
9. 1 Samuel 10:19-22.
10. Jesse is Yishai (יִשַׁי), “my man”. Bethlehem is Beit-Lechem (בֵּית-לֶחֶם), “House of Bread”.
11. Hebron is Chevron (חֶברוֹן), “alliance”.