Simple Meaning: King Saul Failed to Wipe out Amalek vs. King David Adulterer and Murderer
The Simple Meaning: King Saul Failed to Wipe out Amalek vs. King David Adulterer and Murderer?
In this blog post, I will expose an example teaching the Simple Meaning, a method that I learned from my rabbis. The methodology is called the deep Simple Meaning. The Sages attribute it to Rabbi Akiva. Here we will learn the meaning of a particular, {S} as translated by the JPS 1917. For such work, the rivals of Rabbi Akiva teased him by saying that he learned from the crowns on the letters. Yet, we will learn together today from the spacing between letters in a verse.
Simple Meaning: King Saul vs. King David — Rabbi Akiva can interpret {S}
The first lesson in deep meaning is what we call in English to read between the lines. It is the art of knowing what is said nowhere and everywhere. It is the search for the common assumptions that underlie the characters in each story. In our last blog post, we exposed that the common practice in the ancient world was for Kings to murder the husband and then take his beautiful wife. However, when Pharoah or Avimelech received divine warning — that was unusual. King David accepting that his violation of the law made him justly subject to punishment. That was news. It’s not written in the story there. It doesn’t need to be. That’s him being righteous.
Simple Meaning: King Saul Unwilling to Repent
The Prophet Samuel confronts King Saul and notifies Saul that Saul’s kingship will not continue. It will be given to his neighbor who is better than him. That is a traumatic situation. King Saul immediately repents and begs for forgiveness from the Prophet Samuel. When he leaves, he grabs a corner of his cloak. It rips. The Prophet Samuel says that the LORD has ripped the kingdom away from Saul.
Simple Meaning: King David Willing to Repent
The Prophet Nathan confronts King David and tells King David the parable of the sheep belonging to the poor person. He makes it clear to King David so that King David understands the severity of the transgression. King David immediately repents and asks for forgiveness. Yet, the question remains why can King David retain the Kingship and not die, but King Saul will never be forgiven.
Simple Meaning: How Rabbi Akiva would learn meaning of a void
To understand the answer, we must learn what was said in the {S}.
King Saul reacts on the surface as though he accepts the decree of the Prophet Samuel. Yet, he attempts to kill his son-in-law and the proxy battle hero of his army. Consider counting the number of times that the Bible tells of an attempt by Saul to murder David. Arguably it becomes the focus of his kingdom after the decree.
In contrast, King David makes no attempt to challenge the validity of Nathan’s analogy. He accepts his own failing and pays with the death of his four sons, older than his son Solomon. Because King David did order Yoav to kill for the King. He loses two top generals at the hand of Yoav ben Tsuria, as this one and that one the sword will devour. What can he say to Yoav, when Yoav puts his own personal interest above that of the nation. All he can say is that King David did not order that killing.
Simple Meaning: Rabbi Akiva Learns ‘Crowns of Letters’ by Using Rich Context from Hebrew Bible
We don’t need to compare the text of what Saul says against what David says. Or where they pause, or whether David recited a chapter of Psalms. The deep simple meaning takes the context that Saul spent his life paranoid of the divine decree. The decree stated that his son-in-law, David husband of Michal daughter of Saul, would inherit the Kingdom rather than his son, crown prince Jonathan. Had Saul simply accepted the judgment, we would still be praying for the return of the descendent of the house of Saul (though the line of David).
Rabbi Akiva Learns Simple Meaning by How People Live… Not Just What they Say Right Here
The deep simple meaning is that King David accepted that he had made a grievous mistake and that he would not repeat it. That message comes through clearly as he listens to Nathan the prophet and how he lives the rest of his life. It’s not what was said in {S}, but his attitude of humility elsewhere in the Hebrew Bible.
This is how we learn the deep simple meaning. Look for these patterns in almost all of my other blog posts.