Torah reading was Va-Yehi (Genesis 47:28-50:26); Haftorah Reading is I Kings 2:1-12
By Irv Jacobs, M.D
LA JOLLA, California — This short prose passage can be regarded as King David’s last will and testament, on his death bed. It is given in the form of a statement to his son Solomon, who is about to assume the throne.
The connection to the Torah portion is that both deal with the death of a leader, respectively Jacob and King David. [1]
I have chosen the translation and interpretations of Emeritus Professor Dr. Robert Alter of the University of California Berkeley. [2]
Mostly filled with vengeance, David directs Solomon to end the lives of several persons who competed with him.
The text proceeds:
“And you must be strong and be a man. And keep what the LORD your God enjoins, to walk in his ways, to keep His statutes, His commands, and His dictates and His admonitions…so that you may prosper…He spoke unto me…’If your sons keep their way to walk before Me…with their whole being, no man of yours will be cut off from the throne of Israel. [3]
And what’s more, you yourself know what Joab…did to me, to the two commanders of the armies of Israel, Abner…and Amasa—he killed them, and shed the blood of war in peace…And you must act in your wisdom, and do not let his gray head do down in peace to Sheol (i.e. the grave). [4]
David then quickly turned attention to a grateful gesture for the family of Barzilai, who were loyal at a time when Absalom (another of David’s sons) chased, with intent to kill, David.
Then David turned attention to Shimei, who had cursed him. David had confronted him, saying, ‘I will not put you to death…” promptly adding to Solomon…’you are a wise man…bring his gray head down in blood to Sheol!’
Finally there is the so-called mandatory ‘upbeat’ end to this haftorah tale! David dies and was buried in the City of David, with Solomon crowned king!
David, in his latter years, was no longer the beloved character we like to remember. Neither are his allies or his enemies. Here, he expresses mainly a large catalogue of vengeances, directing Solomon to carry out elimination of those mentioned persons.
He starts with a bow to God’s laws (peace), then proceeds to violate them.
One would maintain obsequious, greater than arm’s length, behavior when dealing with such a labile and vengeful person as David. He had become a beastly paranoid tyrant.
I conclude that Bible stories have no assured peaceful, righteous themes. This one is clothed in references to God’s laws but violate them in wholesale fashion.
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NOTES
[1] Etz Hayim, The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, p. 312
[2] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 441-3
[3] Of course, having violated God’s laws so thoroughly, Solomon’s kingdom split at his death. He was no better than David as king.
[4] As background, Joab had been a loyal ally to David for nearly a half century. Despite this, David wanted him dead, an act of vengeance for a more recent undisclosed offense. Loyalty was a disposable element, depending on David’s most recent encounter with a person. Vengeance could arise abruptly. As for Joab, he was also treacherous. David accused him of an approach to Amasa with a friendly gesture: ‘Is it well with you, my brother?’—followed quickly with a stabbing to the belly.
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Irv Jacobs is a retired medical doctor who delights in Torah analysis. He often delivers a drosh at Congregation Beth El in La Jolla, and at his chavurah.