Kavanot: The Madness of King Saul

אין שכינה שורה לא מתוך עצבות

The navi presents us with the irony of the previous pasuk telling us of the רוח ה׳ that filled David and the רוח ה׳ that had left Saul (note סרה is the past perfect, something that had happened before the current narrative) then the further irony of his new רוח, a רוח רעה, that is described at מאת ה׳. That doesn’t necessarily mean a punishment from ה׳; the phrase could mean simply “great, overwhelming”, like Nimrod, “גבר ציד לפני ה׳”‎ (בראשית י:ט), or Nineveh, “עיר גדולה לאלקים”‎ (יונה ג:ג). Saul’s punishment was the loss of מלכות; the loss of his רוח ה׳ I think was the result of his reaction.

Chazal have a rule, (שבת ל:ב)‎ שאין שכינה שורה לא מתוך עצבות, codified as halacha by the Rambam in יסודי התורה ז:ד; you need the appropriate emotional state to achieve a connection to הקב״ה. This is necessary for learning Torah as well; Rava would start each lecture with a joke‎ (שבת ל:ב), then get into the serious mode of learning.

The midrash explains that Yaakov lost his רוח הקודש after Yosef was kidnapped. מיום שנגנב יוסף נסתלקה רוח הקודש ממנו‎ (בראשית רבה צא:ו); the עץ יוסף explains it was מפני העצבות.

Gaining the sense of שמחה that allows a connection to הקב״ה was an important part of the preparation of the neviim. Negative emotions like anger or depression prevent that connection. As William Congreve said, “Music has charms to soothe a savage breast”. Thus when Saul meets up with the בני נבאים (navi “students”) they are described as “ופגעת חבל נבאים ירדים מהבמה ולפניהם נבל ותף וחליל וכנור והמה מתנבאים”‎ (שמואל א י:ו). And so Saul’s advisors recommend music to remove the רוח רעה and bring back the רוח ה׳.

Doeg HaEdomi

Who was “אחד מהנערים” who advised Saul? In English, “one of” implies anonymity but Chazal interpret it a specifying the most important; compare “אחד העם” that Avimelech mentions, that Rashi explains refers to himself as king (בראשית כו:י). Chazal identify this אחד מהנערים as דאג האדמי, described later as (שמואל א כא:ו)‎ אביר הרעים אשר לשאול and as (שמואל א כב:ט)‎ נצב על עבדי שאול. He clearly was one of Saul’s chief advisors. There is a hint that he was Saul’s friend from way back; when he is looking for his lost donkeys he says “דאג לנו”‎ (שמואל א ט:ה). We will see much more of him later, but his mention here is not meant to be flattering.

There is a movie tradition that the evil advisor, the one who will betray the hero in the end, is the one sporting a goatee. We don’t know what Doeg’s facial hair looked like, but he definitely was the goatee sort.

In the eyes of Chazal, Doeg was a talmid chacham but one overcome by jealousy of David. The gemara (זבחים נד:ב)‎ says David and Doeg argued over where the Beit Hamikdash would stand: סנהדרין בחלקו דיהודה ושכינה בחלקו דבנימין ואי מדלינן ליה מתפליג טובא מוטב דניתתי ביה פורתא כדכתיב ובין כתפיו שכן ועל דבר זה נתקנא דואג האדומי בדוד. Doeg was seen as one who uses his learning to hurt others:

And so Chazal see the praise of David here as an attempt to stimulate the jealousy of Saul against David, while trying to “keep your friends close, but your enemies closer”. As Rashi explains, כל עצמו נתכוון להכנוס עין רעה של שאול בדוד, שיתקנא בו.

David’s Harp

רבי יהודה אומר כנור של מקדש של שבעת נימין היה שנאמר (תהילים טז) “שובע שמחות את פניך” אל תיקרי שובע אלא שבע ושל ימות המשיח שמונה שנאמר (תהילים יב) “למנצח על השמינית” על נימא שמינית של עולם הבא עשר שנאמר (תהילים צב) “עלי עשור ועלי נבל עלי הגיון בכנור” ואומר (תהילים לג) ”הודו לה׳ בכנור בנבל עשור זמרו לו שירו לו שיר חדש.“

ערכין יג:ב

The כנור (usually translated as lyre) is a stringed instrument (Chazal say David’s had 7 strings; we will not deal with the kabbalistic implications of that here) with the lower end of the strings attached to a soundbox that allowed the notes to resonate, creating a richer sound than a simple plucked string. It did not have a fingerboard, so the length and therefore the note of each string was fixed when it was tuned. So a 7-string lyre could play seven notes; enough for Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star but not for works of great complexity. That implies that it was used to accompany songs, not as a solo instrument. The depth and complexity are in the words and meanings of the songs. This makes our task easier, since we have no idea how ancient Jewish music sounded. The simplicity of the כנור justifies analyzing David’s songs in terms of the text that we do have.

העלית מן שאול נפשי

We don’t know what David sang to Saul. But I think we have a hint of the message that he would continue to sing throughout his life, addressing situations like this.

א מזמור: שיר חנכת הבית לדוד.
ב ארוממך ה׳ כי דליתני; ולא שמחת איבי לי.
ג ה׳ אלהי שועתי אליך ותרפאני.
ד ה׳ העלית מן שאול נפשי; חייתני מיורדי בור.
ה זמרו לה׳ חסידיו; והודו לזכר קדשו.
ו כי רגע באפו חיים ברצונו :בערב ילין בכי; ולבקר רנה.
ז ואני אמרתי בשלוי בל אמוט לעולם.
ח ה׳ ברצונך העמדתה להררי עז: הסתרת פניך; הייתי נבהל.
ט אליך ה׳ אקרא; ואל אדני אתחנן.
י מה בצע בדמי ברדתי אל שחת: היודך עפר; היגיד אמתך.
יא שמע ה׳ וחנני; ה׳ היה עזר לי.
יב הפכת מספדי למחול לי: פתחת שקי; ותאזרני שמחה.
יג למען יזמרך כבוד ולא ידם: ה׳ אלקי לעולם אודך.

תהילים פרק ל

Harav Yerucham Levovitz asks: David was alive when he uttered these words—how could he speak as if he had already descended to Gehinnom which is a place of punishment for sinners after death? From this we learn that one can suffer purgatory even while alive! As the Talmud teaches (נדרים כב,א)‎ כל הכואס כל מיני גהינום שולטין בו. The flames of frustration, anguish and melancholy which smolder within the heart of the depressed man are the equivalent of the fires of Gehinnom. Throughout the Book of Psalms, most references to “falling into the lower world” refer to this type of inferno.

David thanks G-d for lifting up his spirits from this raging purgatory, and for instilling in his heart joy, the equivalent of Paradise.

Daas Chochma u’Mussar vol. 3, pp. 20 and 22, quoted in Artscroll Tehillim, p. 361

This approach allows us to understand the perek as a unified whole. David praises ה׳ for raising him up (דליתני, as Hirsch explains, is drawing up as a bucket from a well. If the drawer lets go, the bucket falls again. David’s is dependent at all times on ה׳), and not making his enemies happy. The parallel implies the “raising” is the allowing him to be happy. ה׳ healed him by raising him out of his private hell of depression.

Then the tone shifts; David is not addressing ה׳ but the audience. “All of you, חסידיו, praise Him, because His anger at you will be brief and his pleasure everlasting.” Even if you are sad now, tomorrow there will be joy.

Then, some backstory. David was overconfident in his own abilities but ברצונך העמדתה להררי עז. Hirsch translates הררי as a verb—”by Your good will I ascended to power.“ And when ה׳ broke that connection, he fell into despair.

And then he prayed,“Why should let me stay silent (Malbim’s translation of בדמי) or remain in my (metaphoric) grave? As it stands, I cannot praise you correctly. Help me!” And ה׳ brought him out of his depression, so that he (translation of כבוד is difficult; most translate “soul”) can sing to Him forever.

Thus the loss of our connection to ה׳ causes despair, which in turn makes that connection impossible. We have to break the cycle by asking ה׳ for help and recognizing that the connection will not be broken forever; we can re-achieve it. We see that, at least temporarily, David succeeded in consoling Saul, and this thought—that we need to be in the proper mood to connect to ה׳—is why this perek is called שיר חנכת הבית. The purpose of the Beit Hamikdash is to be the earthly connection to ה׳ and David is teaching us how to start. Thus we start every morning’s davening with שיר חנכת הבית, so that we too can say, ה׳ אלקי לעולם אודך.