Spiritual and
Ethical Issues in the Historical Books of Tanach;
JOSHUA, JUDGES, SAMUEL, KINGS (Nevi’im Rishonim) These four
books ostensibly are merely the history of Israel from the entry into the
Promised Land until the destruction of the Temple and the temporary loss
of independent statehood. In fact they are actually, in a specifically
Jewish sense, the most deeply religious and spiritual books of the Bible.
One does not have to be specifically Jewish to see or feel the religion
and spirituality in the revelations of the prophetic writings or in the
words of the Tehillim. They speak to all people, as evidenced by the fact
that the Bible is still the world's bestseller and there are millions of
non-Jews who regularly recite the Psalms. However, it is specifically and
intrinsically Jewish to understand that G-d is revealed in the prosaic
material, in the political, social and military events in the lives of
ordinary men and women, kings and leaders that are described in the Nevim
Rishonim. Here are described the ideology and religious thoughts in
Judaism, while in Chronicles we have the purely historical. The Romans, after destroying Jewish political independence and forcing us into Galut, changed the name of the country, for the first time, to Philistia (Palestine), in an attempt to sever the connection between Israel and its Land. We know little about these Philistines with whom Israel is about to do battle, only that they had come into the land about the time of the Avot. At first, with many cultural and political similarities to the early Greeks, who it is thought had driven out of their homelands, they had settled in the southern coastal plain. There they were in those years, marginal to the 7 Canaanite nations and dwelt in peace with Israel. Like the Greeks, they had independent city states - Ashdod, Gaza, Ashkelon, Gat, and Ekron, as well as similar methods of warfare. After the conquest and allocation by the tribes of Israel, they had begun in the late period of the Shoftim (Samson) to encroach on the Southern tribes of Dan, Shimon and Yehuda. Now they threatened the whole of Israel and their army. The battle, like that of Troy, was to be single combat by champions and they sent their champion Goliath, to do single combat with whoever would dare to meet him. His "height was 6 cubits and a span [over 9 foot]… a helmet of copper [bronze?]… body armor [that] weighed 5000 shekel of copper… greaves of copper on his legs... a javelin of copper… and his shield bearer went before him" (Shmuel Alef 17:4-7). Every day this giant faced the camp of Israel and repeated his challenge; the victor's side would enslave the people of the defeated champion. There were no takers from the Israeli army that huddled in fear and cowardice, encamped on the hillside, across the valley from that of the Philistines. Then David, who had come from Beit Lechem, to bring food to his older brothers, accepted. Both his brother Eliav and King Saul saw this battle in terms of tactics, weaponry and strength. Eliav attributed David's acceptance to his peevishness and insolence, since he had only come to see the battle in a spirit of adventure and out of foolhardiness. Saul dressed him in his royal armor as a normal prerequisite of warfare; armor that not only fitted David but revealed him as a king. So the rabbis dated Saul's all-consuming enmity of David to that moment, seeing in him the man who G-d had chosen to replace him; as Samuel had foretold, "To give your kingdom to your friend who is better than you" (15:28). However, David understood that there is more to history than considerations of relative strength and preparedness, and that military victories were also a reflection of a spiritual dimension. Goliath had said that he was mocking and insulting the armies of Israel. But Goliath was the descendant of Orpa who had turned her back on Naomi and the G-d of Israel, while David was the descendant of her sister Ruth who did cleave to Him. So to Eliav, David answered, "Who is this uncircumcised Philistine that he should mock the armies of the living G-d" (17:26). Not only was the honor of G-d at stake here but there was David's trust in the Divine Providence. Therefore, he answered Saul, "The Lord who saved me from the bear and from the lion, [when he was watching the sheep of his father] will surely save me from this Philistine" (I7:36). Important as the honor of G-d and the granting of Divine assistance were, David was able to stress an even greater truth. When Chananiah, Mishael and Azaria were cast into the furnace, the Angel of Water said that he would go and deliver them. "No," answered the Angel of Fire, "that will only show that G-d is more powerful than them, since Water always extinguishes fire. I will go down and when fire extinguishes fire, this will show that none of the elements have any power, only to do what HaShem wants; then even fire puts out fire". This is what David's battle with Goliath really teaches us. Not that He is a powerful G-d nor that He saves us; idolaters too believe that their gods are powerful and can save them. David says to Goliath, "The battle is the Lord's"; there is no other force, power or factor involved, only Him. The English minted a coin to celebrate the defeat of the Spanish Armada. They had learnt the lesson from David so they did not mint of the maneuverability of their small ships nor the righteousness of their cause nor their superior seamanship; the coin said only, "He caused His winds to blow and they were scattered" - Mashiv Haruach. The Prophet Jeremiah followed David when he wrote, "Let a wise man not glory in his wisdom, let the strong not glory in his strength and let not the rich man glory in his wealth. Only in this may one glorify oneself; in discerning and knowing Me, for I perform kindness, judgment and righteousness in the world" (Jeremiah 9:1). Indeed, the battle is the Lord's. This is the sixteenth installment in Dr. Tamari’s series on “Tanach and its messages for our times” [The
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