Speaker: Rabbi Zvi Aryeh Rosenfeld ז”ל.
05:00 – Shaul HaMelech – King Saul, desperate to know the outcome of an approaching battle against the Plishtim – Philistines, asks a sorceress to summon his teacher, Shmuel HaNavi – Samuel the Prophet, back from the dead.
12:21 – Shmuel HaNavi tells the king that he will die in the battle, but will be with Shmuel in Gan Eden – paradise, indicating the complete righteousness of Shaul HaMelech.
*15:59 – Two questions: what gave this sorceress the power to accomplish what Tzaddikim couldn’t? And why was Shaul forced to receive the answer to his query through such strange circumstances? Rav Noson of Nemirov ז”ל explains that this was to demonstrate the powerful concern of a teacher for his student.
18:16 – Even though in our time “sorcery” is nothing more than illusions created through fraud and trickery, in those days, authentic magic existed. Hashem allowed witchcraft to be effective to maintain the freedom of choice between good and evil at that time.
20:56 – Dovid HaMelech returns to Ziklag to find it in ruins. In addition, the wives and children of his 600 soldiers have been taken captive. After consulting the Urim veTumim – prophetic device of the Kohen Gadol – Dovid decides to track down the enemy and learns they are from the tribe of Amalek. 200 men stay behind while Dovid and 400 of his men rescue the captives and take plunder. Dovid HaMelech insists that the spoils of the battle are shared equally with all 600 men, to show that the outcome was from Hashem, and not a result of the number of people fighting the battle.
25:05 – The three sons of Shaul, including Yonasan, are killed in the battle against the Philistines. Shaul is mortally wounded in battle and asked his servant to kill him, to prevent the chilul Hashem of a King of Israel being captured and tortured by the enemy. The servant refused so Shaul HaMelech fell upon his own sword and died. When his servant witnessed this, he too fell upon his own sword and died.
27:12 – The inhabitants of Yovesh-Gilad heroically rescue Shaul Hamelech’s body from the enemy and give him a fitting burial.
28:23 – When Dovid HaMelech hears of Shaul‘s death he questions the messenger carefully and then commands the execution of this bearer of bad news. Dovid mourns Shaul HaMelech and, even more so, the death of his beloved friend, Yonason ben Shaul.
32:12 – Dovid returns to Eretz Yisrael to take over the kingdom, but encounters opposition from Shaul’s general, Avner, who installs Shaul’s remaining son as king.
*33:45 – The death of Shaul HaMelech is not considered suicide because his act was purely on behalf of Hashem’s honor.
38:18 – What is suicide? The answer to this question can be understood through contrasting the death of Shaul HaMelech with the execution of Rabbi Chanina ben Teradion (2nd century CE): “Since the scroll of the Torah is burning with me, the Power that will avenge this offense against the Torah will also avenge the offense against me.” (Avodah Zarah 17b).
47:37 – Closing blessing.
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