By Irv Jacobs, M.D.
LA JOLLA, California — The readings for this Shabbat are taken from I Samuel, of the “Early Prophets,” [1] though one can find another reading, from Amos, when in another year Aharei Mot’s haftorah is combined with that of Kedoshim. [2] The rabbis clearly took liberties in making arbitrary adjustments for such combinations when they felt such need. The strategy of their formulae escapes this writer.
I have chosen to paraphrase the translation of this Haftorah done by Professor Emeritus Robert Alter of the University of California Berkeley. [3]
The text from I Samuel deals with an arranged scheme by David with his friend Jonathan to escape an intended assassination of David by the jealous and threatened King Saul. Although the text is in the “Prophets” section of the Tanakh, it contains no prophecy!
This writer sees no connection of this episode to the Torah reading of Aharei Mot, which deals with (a) sacrifice rites of a goat and bull, (b) the sending off of a second goat ‘carrying sins’ into the wilderness, (c) ‘cleansing of the shrine and Tent of Meeting with blood of the two sacrificed animals. (d) Emphasis of restriction against eating blood (d) denied practice of rites they had seen in Egypt. (e) Additionally sexual and other prohibitions are elaborately emphasized, e.g. incest, homosexuality, child sacrifice, bestial sex, etc. Israelites be warned: You will be cast out of the land promised to you for violations.
Here are paraphrased excerpts from the Haftorah:
Jonathan planned an escape scheme for David, in view of David avoiding a treacherous dinner invitation/encounter by Saul. His strategy was to give warning to David of Saul’s approach to kill him, i.e. escape clue via the direction of arrows Jonathan shoots.
When David didn’t show up two days in a row of such invitations, Jonathan covered for David with an alibi of David’s “urgent need to be away in Bethlehem” for a family sacrificial event. Saul, incensed, accused his son Jonathan of having been conceived by a “perverse wife” of Saul. He accused Jonathan of abandonment to be “his own heir” to the throne. Saul wanted David eliminated, dead and no threat henceforth for Saul’s throne.
The mandatory “upbeat” ending of this Haftorah is that David and Jonathan embrace, in peace and in loving separation, “God as witness.” David escapes.
Comment: The rabbis who allegedly saw connections between these different texts must have taken leave of their logical senses. To this modern reader, I throw up my hands in disbelief. It is as if they had a potpourri of things they wished to write down and preserve, but had no idea how to organize and/or connect them. Sadly, often there is no connection.
Perhaps an only thin thread of connection is that the spared send-off goat of Azazel in the Torah reading is analogous to David’s escape from Saul in the Haftorah.
Meanwhile, this Haftorah story is laced with hatred and jealousy. It does not belong in the Prophets section. Instead of an upbeat story of spirituality in the Tanakh, readers are confronted with this hateful story of realpolitik, likely with actual “historical” content.
The Torah text, though it contains strong ethical mandates, seriously mixes in material that belongs elsewhere. Of course, the reader must put this ancient material in context, e.g. bloody sacrifices were the norm to the ancients.
I should say that though the Tanakh contains its most complete “biography” in the person of David, much of what has come down to us is likely untrue. Did David really do all attributed to him, e.g. slaying of the “giant” Goliath? Was Goliath a real character or an exaggerated make belief one. We do have archaeological evidence of David’s existence in the form of carved inscriptions stating “Beit David” and sites within Jerusalem containing his name.
[1] This story, inserted by the Tanakh editors into the Book of Prophets, hardly fits into a prophetic mode. It has no prophecy. It is a story of hateful realpolitik, unbecoming of the ultimate ethical religion of Judaism. It can be dated in history at c. 1010 BCE.
[2] Etz Hayim,The Jewish Publication Society, 2001, New York, pp. 706-710
[3] Robert Alter, The Hebrew Bible, Prophets Vol. 2, W. W. Norton & Company, New York, 2019, pp. 262-265
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.