Chapter 28 is a chapter of blocked pathways. The Philistines gather again for battle, only this time new figures stand in the arena: David, who is in the service of Achish king of Gat, and on the other side Shaul, who is left alone after the death of Shmuel, without a prophet, without the Urim, and without a dream. The chapter opens with the arrangement between Achish and David, and from there the prophet moves on to describe Shaul's situation, his dread, and the unfolding of events until his turning to the necromancer at Ein Dor.
וַיְהִי בַּיָּמִים הָהֵם וַיִּקְבְּצוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים אֶת־מַחֲנֵיהֶם לַצָּבָא לְהִלָּחֵם בְּיִשְׂרָאֵל, וַיֹּאמֶר אָכִישׁ אֶל־דָּוִד: יָדֹעַ תֵּדַע כִּי אִתִּי תֵּצֵא בַמַּחֲנֶה אַתָּה וַאֲנָשֶׁיךָ. - And it came to pass in those days that the Philistines gathered their camps for war to fight against Israel, and Achish said to David: You should surely know that you shall go out with me in the camp, you and your men.
This is a saga that repeats itself: time and again the Philistines return to make war, and here too they prepare for another battle. But we must be precise in the wording: what is the meaning of "you should surely know," and what is the novelty in "that you shall go out with me, you and your men" - after all, if he is speaking to him, it is obvious that he goes out with him?
The Malbim explains: Achish tells David that he does not want him to march among the soldiers and be part of the army, but rather to go with him personally. In those days the king would take for himself a close accompanying unit, separate from the entire army, and this unit was usually composed of foreign soldiers and not of his own people. Why? Because a soldier from among the local people might have political ambitions: in a single moment he could decide to rebel, kill the king, and seize power, and immediately he becomes the next king. But if one brings a unit from another land, those men have no interest in the internal politics and have nothing to gain here, and in this way the king ensures that none of his soldiers will rebel against him. Therefore he said to David: you shall go out with me, not as a fighter in the ranks of the army but as a chief bodyguard.
Why did he propose this to him? Out of two concerns: first, that perhaps David would not want to fight against the people of Israel; and second, that perhaps the Philistines themselves would not want to fight shoulder to shoulder with David - "shall we fight together with him? we do not trust him." And indeed we will see further on that the Philistines raise this very claim. Therefore Achish said to him: I do not want my army to object, and I do not want to place you in an uncomfortable situation, and so you will be only a chief bodyguard. That way I trust you, and it also will not trouble the people.
וַיֹּאמֶר דָּוִד אֶל־אָכִישׁ: לָכֵן אַתָּה תֵדַע אֵת אֲשֶׁר יַעֲשֶׂה עַבְדֶּךָ. וַיֹּאמֶר אָכִישׁ אֶל־דָּוִד: לָכֵן שֹׁמֵר לְרֹאשִׁי אֲשִׂימְךָ כָּל הַיָּמִים. - And David said to Achish: Therefore you shall know what your servant will do. And Achish said to David: Therefore I will make you keeper of my head all the days.
When David understood the intention of Achish, and the offer suited his own plans exactly (that he does not want to go and kill Jews), he made himself as one who does not understand. He said to him: "you shall know what your servant will do" - meaning, you shall see what feats of valor I will perform in battle. He plays as though he does not understand that Achish wants him as a bodyguard and not as a fighter, and he signals to him that he is even ready to kill the Jews. And Achish, so that David would not think that this stems from a lack of trust, or from suspicion that his heart still leans toward the Jews, says to him: I trust you one hundred percent, so much so that I will make you keeper of my head. Whom does one place as a bodyguard? The most trustworthy man. And not a one time appointment, but "all the days" - be completely at ease.
Here the prophet leaves this matter, and we will return to it further on: whether David went out to battle or not, in what capacity he came, and what the Philistine lords and their officers argued in their opposition to the whole affair. Now the prophet turns to the Israelite side: what is happening among the tribes of Israel and with Shaul as the winds of war begin to blow, and how he prepares for the battle.
וּשְׁמוּאֵל מֵת, וַיִּסְפְּדוּ לוֹ כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיִּקְבְּרֻהוּ בָרָמָה וּבְעִירוֹ, וְשָׁאוּל הֵסִיר הָאֹבוֹת וְאֶת הַיִּדְּעֹנִים מֵהָאָרֶץ. - And Shmuel had died, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Rama, in his own city, and Shaul had removed the necromancers and the mediums from the land.
Shmuel's death, the eulogy, and the burial were already mentioned in the previous chapters. Why does the verse repeat and say "and Shmuel had died," and what is the connection between this and "and Shaul had removed the necromancers and the mediums from the land," which is included in that very same verse? The Malbim enumerates four reasons for this repetition.
The first reason: Shmuel had died - which is why Shaul had removed the mediums from the land. As long as Shmuel was alive, who would be foolish enough to go and consult mediums? You have a direct connection to the Creator of the world: you ask the prophet and the prophet tells you everything. The prophet is called "the seer," for he could see everything. Would you go and consult a dim, clouded lens when you have a clear, shining lens? And not only that, but there were many prophets in his day. When Shmuel died, however, the vision of prophecy was sealed, and when the people wanted to know something they began to consult mediums and diviners. Shaul saw that mediums and diviners had come back into vogue, and he understood that they had to be cut off from the land. This is important for us to know now, since we will soon see that Shaul himself wished to consult a medium, and the very purge he had carried out created a problem for him.
The second reason: Shmuel had died - which is why "the Philistines gathered." At first the Philistines feared Shmuel's power, but now that he had died they were no longer afraid and gathered for war. And especially since they had a valuable ally in David, who until now had been striking down the Philistines, and now "David is with us" - and Shmuel is dead, they have nothing to worry about.
The third reason: Shmuel had died - and this explains Shaul's great dread before the battle. As long as Shmuel was alive, Shaul relied on Shmuel's merits; now that he had died, he had no one to lean on, and so he fell into great dread, as we will see in the following verses.
The fourth reason: Shmuel had died - which is why "Shaul inquired of Hashem." Had Shmuel been alive, he would have inquired through Shmuel. And why was he now forced to search out all sorts of other paths? Because Shmuel had died, and he had no choice but to try indirect ways of making contact with the Divine providence above.
וַיִּקָּבְצוּ פְלִשְׁתִּים וַיָּבֹאוּ וַיַּחֲנוּ בְשׁוּנֵם, וַיִּקְבֹּץ שָׁאוּל אֶת כָּל יִשְׂרָאֵל וַיַּחֲנוּ בַּגִּלְבֹּעַ. - The Philistines gathered and came and camped at Shunem, and Shaul gathered all Israel and they camped at Gilboa.
The Philistines are camped at Shunem and Israel is opposite them at Gilboa. In the following verses the Malbim lists four reasons that pushed Shaul into a corner until he turned to the medium. The first, as stated, is "Shmuel had died" - I have no choice, I must receive information from someone. The second: the Philistines camped at Shunem, and Shunem is within the Land of Israel. This shows enormous audacity on the part of the Philistines, and it shows how very lowly our situation was. If the Philistines can enter here and pitch their camp right among us, the situation is very grave.
וַיַּרְא שָׁאוּל אֶת מַחֲנֵה פְלִשְׁתִּים וַיִּרָא וַיֶּחֱרַד לִבּוֹ מְאֹד. - Shaul saw the camp of the Philistines and he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.
This is the third reason: the dread itself. The Gemara says that when sudden dread falls upon a person, "even though he himself does not see - his mazal sees." Though you yourself do not see and do not understand why fear has suddenly seized you, know that you are receiving transmissions from the soul above. The neshama is in the storehouses of the heights, the nefesh is within the body, and the ruach is the medium and intermediary between them. Sometimes a person receives a transmission but has no tools to decipher it, and it causes him dread without his knowing its meaning. And the very dread tells you that you have something to fear. "His mazal" refers to the neshama, and the word "mazal" is from the term "flowing" (nozel), for the abundance descends and cascades down through the neshama by way of the ruach to the nefesh and to a person's body. Shaul understood: if I feel dread, my heart is foretelling evil to me, something bad is about to happen. And this was a further reason for him to try to find out through a medium whether trouble was coming, and whether there was anything he could do to save himself from it.
וַיִּשְׁאַל שָׁאוּל בַּה' וְלֹא עָנָהוּ ה', גַּם בַּחֲלֹמוֹת גַּם בָּאוּרִים גַּם בַּנְּבִיאִם. - Shaul inquired of Hashem, but Hashem did not answer him, neither by dreams, nor by the Urim, nor by the prophets.
The Radak here explains: what does "also by dreams" mean? Through people who specialize in performing a dream inquiry (she'elat chalom). There are people who know how to perform a dream inquiry, and I have brought several methods in my book (in each method I left out something so that people would not try to use it in practice). Even so, this too does not work today. I once spoke with Rav Ratzabi, and he told me that he had performed a dream inquiry, without an oath adjuration, and you do not receive answers. Even worthy people do not receive answers today, because we are in a state of very great concealment of the Divine face and vision is not widespread. But long ago, hundreds of years ago, people would perform dream inquiries as a standard practice on all sorts of questions, for example whom to marry. The Baal Shem Tov would perform dream inquiries and many ascents of the soul. There was Rabbi Yaakov of Marvege, who would perform dream inquiries, and there is an entire book called "Responsa from Heaven": every night he would perform a dream inquiry and ascents of the soul, they would answer him, and in the morning he would rise and write the answers in the book. And the source of the dream inquiry is already in Scripture, in this very verse: "and Hashem did not answer him, also by dreams."
History records some fascinating questions. It is told of Rabbi Avraham HaLevi that he asked when the End of Days would come, and in such dream questions the answer usually comes by way of a pasuk. They answered him: "Mishael, Eltzafan, and Sitri" - meaning, mi shoel (who asks) something that God has hidden and concealed. Another man asked whether to marry a certain woman, and that woman had a brother named Levatin, and they showed him from Heaven the pasuk "and Lotan's sister was Timna." He understood: the sister of Levatin will be withheld (timna), and he did not marry her. There were also more tragic examples: one man asked whom his son would marry, and they showed him a coffin. He relates that a year or two later his son was killed in an accident and never entered into the covenant of marriage at all, and only then did he understand what he had been shown in the dream. Whoever wishes may look into that chapter of the book and will find many more stories of this kind.
The Malbim asks: here it is stated explicitly that Shaul inquired of Hashem, yet in Divrei HaYamim it says that he died because he did not seek out Hashem. He resolves this by distinguishing between "inquiring of Hashem" and "seeking out Hashem." To seek out Hashem means that a person seeks Him with all his heart, in prayer and supplication before the Creator of the world. To inquire of Hashem is a mere question, for the moment, by way of asking: what will be, Master of the World? Shaul made the inquiry, but to seek out Hashem and to plead before Him, that he did not do.
The proof is from the order of things: first he inquired through dreams, which is the lowest level; then through the Urim, that is, the Urim VeTumim by way of the Kohen; and finally through the prophets, which is the highest level, actual prophecy above which there is nothing. Seemingly he should have done the opposite: to turn first to the source, to the prophet who is directly connected to the Creator of the world, and if there is no answer, to try the Urim VeTumim, and if not, to try the lowest way of dreams. But this order teaches that Shaul did not prepare his heart to seek out Hashem: he said, I will inquire through the thing that requires the least preparation, through dreams, which involves no toil, no sanctification and purification, and no repentance, perhaps I will receive a simple answer in a simple way. He saw it was not working, so he tried more; he saw it was not working, so he tried the way of prophecy. This was the charge against him: that you did not seek out Hashem, but only inquired of Hashem.
וַיֹּאמֶר שָׁאוּל לַעֲבָדָיו: בַּקְּשׁוּ לִי אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת אוֹב וְאֵלְכָה אֵלֶיהָ וְאֶדְרְשָׁה בָּהּ. וַיֹּאמְרוּ עֲבָדָיו אֵלָיו: הִנֵּה אֵשֶׁת בַּעֲלַת אוֹב בְּעֵין דּוֹר. - And Shaul said to his servants: Seek out for me a woman who is a mistress of Ov, that I may go to her and inquire of her. And his servants said to him: Behold, there is a woman who is a mistress of Ov in Ein Dor.
The Malbim asks: how could Shaul go and inquire through a mistress of Ov, when this is an explicit prohibition from the Torah? He explains that at first his intention was not to inquire through the Ov itself, but to ask the mistress of Ov and she would inquire through the Ov. This is easier: it may involve "do not place a stumbling block before the blind," but there is no prohibition on his own inquiring through the Ov, only in an indirect manner. That is why he was precise to say "and inquire of her" - of her, and not of it. But in the end, once Shmuel began to speak to Shaul, Shaul continued and spoke with Shmuel, and then the matter became his own direct inquiry through the Ov, not by way of her but between him and Shmuel.
וַיִּתְחַפֵּשׂ שָׁאוּל וַיִּלְבַּשׁ בְּגָדִים אֲחֵרִים, וַיֵּלֶךְ הוּא וּשְׁנֵי אֲנָשִׁים עִמּוֹ, וַיָּבֹאוּ אֶל הָאִשָּׁה לָיְלָה, וַיֹּאמֶר: קָסֳמִי נָא לִי בָּאוֹב וְהַעֲלִי לִי אֵת אֲשֶׁר אֹמַר אֵלָיִךְ. - And Shaul disguised himself and put on other garments, and he went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night, and he said: Divine for me, please, by the Ov, and bring up for me the one whom I shall name to you.
Shaul changes his garments so that she will not recognize him, and the Midrash says that the two men who accompanied him were Avner and Amasa. Notice that all his actions here were meant to mislead her. First, he disguised himself so that she would not recognize that he was the king. Second, he brought only two men with him - a king does not travel with two men but with a troop and an entourage, and this too was so that it would not become known that he was the king. Third, "and they came to the woman by night," for it is not the way of a king to travel at night, and the darkness itself prevented anyone from recognizing who he was. Fourth, he said "and bring up for me the one whom I shall name to you" and did not immediately reveal whom he wanted, for had he told her straight out that he wanted Shmuel, she would have wondered: who is this commoner who comes to ask for the prophet himself? Rather, we will tell you later on whom we want, and she would think that perhaps he was asking for his father or his uncle or someone else, and thus he would draw her gradually into the matter.
And Chazal expound on "and they came to the woman by night": out of their distress it seemed to them like night. Night always expresses darkness, exile, and distress, and therefore they went by night - for it was night and darkness for them.
וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה אֵלָיו: הִנֵּה אַתָּה יָדַעְתָּ אֵת אֲשֶׁר עָשָׂה שָׁאוּל אֲשֶׁר הִכְרִית אֶת הָאֹבוֹת וְאֶת הַיִּדְּעֹנִי מִן הָאָרֶץ, וְלָמָה אַתָּה מִתְנַקֵּשׁ בְּנַפְשִׁי לַהֲמִיתֵנִי. - And the woman said to him: Behold, you know what Shaul did, that he cut off the Ovot and the Yidoni from the land, and why are you laying a snare for my life, to put me to death.
The woman is very afraid. She says to him: you know that Shaul issued a death sentence for anyone who uses Ovot and Yidonim, so why are you seeking a pretext to kill me? And what is "mitnakesh"? The Metzudat Tziyon explains it from the word mokesh (snare): you have a snare, and you want to remove it from yourself and transfer it to me. A mokesh is like a trap, a pit in the road, a place where a person catches himself and breaks his foot. That is, you are transferring your snare from yourself to me - this is the meaning of "why are you laying a snare for my life."
וַיִּשָּׁבַע לָהּ שָׁאוּל בַּה' לֵאמֹר: חַי ה' אִם יִקְּרֵךְ עָוֺן בַּדָּבָר הַזֶּה. - And Shaul swore to her by Hashem, saying: As Hashem lives, no punishment shall befall you for this matter.
You have nothing to worry about, I swear to you that no trouble will come upon you because of this. He still does not reveal to her that he is Shaul, and his intent is to tell her that the matter will not go out, it will remain between us and will not reach the hands of the king.
וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה: אֶת מִי אַעֲלֶה לָּךְ. וַיֹּאמֶר: אֶת שְׁמוּאֵל הַעֲלִי לִי. - And the woman said: Whom shall I bring up for you? And he said: Bring up Shmuel for me.
וַתֵּרֶא הָאִשָּׁה אֶת שְׁמוּאֵל וַתִּזְעַק בְּקוֹל גָּדוֹל, וַתֹּאמֶר הָאִשָּׁה אֶל שָׁאוּל לֵאמֹר: לָמָּה רִמִּיתָנִי וְאַתָּה שָׁאוּל. - And when the woman saw Shmuel, she cried out in a loud voice, and the woman said to Shaul, saying: Why have you deceived me, for you are Shaul.
How did she suddenly know that he was Shaul, and by what did she recognize him? Rashi brings: she saw something unusual that she had never seen in her life. All those brought up through the ov rise with their feet up and their head down, they come from above, as if jumping down headfirst. But here she saw him rising with his head up and his feet down. She said in her heart: this is only because of the honor of royalty. For when a king inquires through the ov, the one who is brought up rises in an upright manner, his head up and his feet down, not because this is Shmuel, but because of the honor of Shaul. From this she concluded: "for you are Shaul." And she feared that perhaps he had come to test her, and that this whole affair was done in order to check whether she was truly a woman who practices the ov, and now he would kill her. She thought that Shaul had set a trap for her.
And Shaul immediately came to calm her: "וַיֹּאמֶר לָהּ הַמֶּלֶךְ אַל תִּירְאִי" (And the king said to her: Do not fear).
The chapter opens with two parallel tracks: David, to whom Achish offers the role of his bodyguard in order to resolve the Philistines' suspicions, and David makes himself appear as one who does not understand and projects loyalty; and opposite him Shaul, in whose regard the text repeatedly mentions "and Shmuel had died" for four reasons: because the death of Shmuel led to the purging of the ovot, to the boldness of the Philistines, to Shaul's dread, and to his attempts to inquire through indirect means. And from here a chain of four pressures: the death of Shmuel, the Philistines encamping within the land, the dread of the heart, and the complete absence of any answer from Heaven. And at the root of it all is the charge that the Malbim raises: Shaul inquired of Hashem but did not seek out Hashem. He began with the cheap way that requires no preparation, and not with prayer, supplications and seeking His countenance. And from there he deteriorated to searching for a woman who practices the ov, to disguising himself, to swearing, and to the terrifying revelation at Ein Dor.