Throughout July and August we are listening to stories of “Heroes and Villains.” Last week’s villain was King Saul. As a follow up to that story, I invite you to hear a very weird story about King Saul in I Samuel 19:18-24. I’ll summarize the story, but please read it for yourself so you’ll know that I’m not making this up.
When Saul had decides to kill David, David escapes with the help of Saul’s son Jonathan (last week’s hero!) and Saul’s daughter Michal, who is also David’s wife. David flees to a town where the great Samuel leads a school of prophets. Those prophets seem to be in a perpetual state of prophetic frenzy. Saul sends messengers to capture David, but when they approach the prophets, the messengers fall into a prophetic frenzy! Upon hearing the news, Saul sends more messengers – one would imagine that these are hardened warriors – and they fall into a prophetic frenzy. But, wait, it gets better. Saul is sick of this nonsense and pursued David himself. And when he arrives Saul falls into a prophetic frenzy! (There’s a Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On!) I would draw you a picture, but according to the chronicler, Saul ripped off his clothes and lay naked all day and night at Samuel’s feet, so I’ll leave it there.
Yes, it is an odd story. But, it concludes with the purposeof the story, which is to explain the origin of the well-known proverb, “Is Saul also among the prophets?” If you’ve never heard that proverb it’s probably because you live in the 21stcentury, but in the Ancient Near East it was widely known. (So much so that there’s a competing story about the proverb’s origin in I Samuel 10:9-12. I’ll leave that story for you to read, as well as the choice of which story best explains the origins of the proverb.)
So, it turns out that the weird story is a means of explaining an odd proverb. But, the proverb’s oddness does not lie in its unfamiliarity to us. It’s odd because of the differing roles of the prophet and the king.
Prophets were notoriously dedicated to telling the truth. That is why they were also notoriously killed quite often. And while most of us like to say that we want to live by the truth, what we really want is a comforting truthiness that supports and legitimates our way of living. The prophets did not have the luxury of tickling the ears in order to win friends and influence people. Their blessed curse was to tell the truth, come what may. That is why it was common for the priests to accuse them of heresy and the politicians to accuse them of being disloyal. While everyone wants the prophet in their corner, true prophets are beholden to no one and wholly given to the truth.
The king, however, is the embodiment of being beholden. While there is a ton of privilege in the king’s welfare being synonymous with the welfare of the nation, it is also a tether, forever tying the king to the good of the land. That is why the legacy of Israel’s kings is so riddled with problems. They would choose what they felt to be advantageous for their reign and, in doing so, often violated God’s clear direction. This sin was the prophetic contribution of the theologian Dietrich Bonhoeffer in Germany when too many Christians were subjecting God’s word to Nazi ideology. The king is beholden, but the free and prophetic voice for God cannot be. Therein lies the crisis of allegiance and the cost of discipleship.
So, if King Saul is among the prophets, that would be a very odd juncture of the roles of king and prophet. No wonder the proverb is posed as a question. It may offer disbelief when a political leader presumes to be speaking on God’s behalf. It may simply be a way of expressing surprise when an invested political leader seems to do the right thing! Or, it may be a reminder that the relationship between the crown and the prophetic word of God may correspond on occasion, but typically are at odds with one another.
Sometimes even weird stories about weird proverbs in the Bible offer a wisdom far beyond what most of us can imagine.
Mark of St. Mark
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