Tanach In Depth isaacson

Whither Malchut

Welcome to our twenty-sixth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.

Episode 26: The Tables have Turned

This is the first of 3 chapters where David’s enemies fall into his hands and he refrains from killing them. Chapter 24 finds David conflicted on how to deal with Shaul, whom he finds in a precarious position. David must both act in accordance with what he believes is the will of God, but also in a way that will spare him and his men continued suffering. We discuss whether or not David has a halachic obligation to kill Shaul and the poignancy of Shaul’s temporary reprieve from his divine madness is powerfully felt.

All this and more.

Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.


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Whither Malchut

Welcome to our twenty-fifth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.

Episode 25 The King in Waiting



The information provided by the Urim v'Tummim is unusual. In this chapter we find multiple queries and uncertainties in just how people know what they know. If David is told by the urim v'tummim that Saul will come down, and therefore David flees and Saul doesn't end up coming down, what does that mean for the veracity of the urim v'tummim? Is the urim v'tummim providing a sci-fi potential alternate reality? We discuss, spoiler alert, the fact that an angel potentially saves David from Saul's attack and see an echo of the Akeida story. We also contrast David and Doeg wondering why a frum Esav is contrasted with a krum Yaakov. 



All this and more.



Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.


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Whither Malchut

Welcome to our twenty-fourth in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.

Episode 24 Wherever I May Roam

In chapters 21 & 22 David goes on the lam. We follow the “refuge who would be king” to Nov and then the Plishti city of Gath wondering why David would choose this, the
worst possible location for which to flee. Luckily the king of the Plishtim has a good sense of humor about the situation. However, when Doeg, here in the role of Haman, informs Shaul of David’s access to a divine message, something which plays upon the king’s paranoid insecurities, a Churban of Nov ensues.



All this and more.



Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.

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Map of David’s movements (courtesy of R’ Weinberg) https://www.thelivingtree.org/?downloadMedia=true&requestUrl=http://media.thelivingtree.org/audio/nach/03-shemuel_i/21-david%27smovements.pdf


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Episode 23 Fomenting Rebellion?

Welcome to our twenty-third in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.


Whither Malchut

Chapter 20 brings collective amnesia as we pretend that Shaul didn’t just try to kill David. Instead David concocts an elaborate ruse to force his dear friend Yehonatan to see the truth of his father’s madness. We note parallels between the rosh chodesh meal of Shaul and the feast of Esther and offer an explanation for why Yehonatan needed to be bothered with shooting arrows when he was able to simply speak to David directly in the end.

Lastly, I offer an extended musing on the concept of Mored b’Malchut as applied to David and Yonatan and find a surprising explanation in the story of Uzziah which has many similarities to the current situation in Israel.

All this and more.

Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.


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Whither Malchut

Welcome to our twenty-second in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.

Episode 22 The betrayals

This chapter (19) begins to overtly express Shaul’s desire to kill David at the same time as those closest to Shaul including his daughter and mentor conspire to help Shaul’s enemy. We continue the motif of Shaul as Lavan and explain why Shaul didn’t simply have David killed at night in his bed. We note the parallel between our story of a king sending 3 waves of messengers to are unable to bring back the person the king wants because they have been spiritually elevated with the story of Oneklos the convert. For more on the pattern of Aggadot which are covertly sourced in Tanakh see our series, A Twice Told Tale on the retelling of Tanakh in the Aggadah.

Lastly, we wonder why Psalm 59 is the first time chronologically that David makes a direct reference to life events from the book of Samuel.

All this and more.

Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.


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Support this podcast: https://podcasters.spotify.com/pod/show/isaacson/support

Whither Malchut

Welcome to our twenty-first in a continuing series on the book of Shmuel or Samuel and the founding of Jewish monarchy.

Episode 21 - Shaul descent into the maelstrom

In this shiur we offer an explanation for why Shaul doesn’t seem to recognize David when the two had met in the previous chapter. We also attempt to understand the repetitious nature of the chapter by positing a novel literary technique that forces the reader to experience events as though they were the character (the movie reference was Momento). Thanks to Susan Ackerman’s insight that in Tanach love is never explicitly reciprocated, we avoid a reading that sees David as cold and calculating. Lastly we are perplexed by Shaul’s request, and David’s acceptance of a bride-price that involves mutilating the enemy and find shades of the Lavan story that will continue into the next chapter.

All this and more.

Thank you for joining us, I hope you enjoy this podcast and will consider sharing it with others.

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#Tanach #Shmuel #David #Shaul #Michal #Bible


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