Hot answers tagged samuel-shmuel-book-of
14
Indeed, a keen observation. This observation is made as well by Abarbanel and Malbim, who both explain that the first time, Shmuel ran to Eli, as he was Eli's servant and he was motivated to serve him properly. However, when he went to Eli, and it turned out Eli had never called him in the first place, he was a bit embarrassed. So the second time, he was ...
12
According to http://www.rci.rutgers.edu/~uzwiak/AnatPhys/Cardiovascular_System.html
the heart touches the chest wall between the 5th and 6th ribs. So if this passage means that he literally stabbed him at the 5th rib, it would have been a very efficient and quick kill.
9
"The box in which the Philistines sent a gift to the G-d of Israel was placed next to it" (Bava Basra 14a).
To expand on Shalom's answer:
The basic reason that the Philistines made these particular images is that these were the plagues they had been struck with (I Sam. 5:6 and Rashi there). Malbim (to 6:4-5) explains that the Philistine "priests and ...
8
David's status after his anointing and before Shaul's death was actually, according to Megillah 14b, the subject of a halachic dispute between him and Avigayil. David himself held that he was a king for all purposes, and that therefore Naval (who had denied his men food and insulted him - I Sam. 25) was a rebel against the monarchy and could be put to death ...
8
M'tzudos quotes Rabi Yochanan as saying that that spot is particularly dangerous because of the presence there of the liver and gallbladder.
8
The Hebrew is משתין בקיר, mashtin b'kir. Mashtin is used frequently in the Talmud for "urinate", and kir is wall. So David is saying "there won't be left alive even one thing-that-urinates-against-the-wall."
The classical commentaries say that means either a male human being, or a dog. Either way, it was intended as a disparaging reference.
Many English ...
8
This example does not seem to be one of Biblical errancy. Rashi was saying that the author of this particular work within the Bible chose a derogatory nickname, replacing Baal for the negative Boshet. (Or perhaps even contemporaries of Ish Boshet called him that.) Rashi was not saying that scribes edited out Ish Boshet and replaced the original Biblical ...
7
This is discussed, of course, by Abarbanel, first thing in Sefer Shmuel.
An initial glance at the names of the books of Tanach shows us that the books are not necessarily named for their authors, especially in this case being that Shmuel clearly did not author a large portion of Sefer Shmuel. Rather, books are named for their content.
There are two ways to ...
7
As you said, Ralbag (and most of the commentaries) understand this to be talking about statues of some kind. (Metzudas David to 5:8 also cites this as a second explanation.) So according to that view of things, David had nothing against the blind and lame people any more than against any of the other Jebusites.
Metzudas David's first explanation (to 5:6), ...
6
Targum Jonathan consistently translates this phrase (it also appears a few times in I and II Kings) as ידע מדע, "one who knows knowledge." Rashi explains that he gets this from the Hebrew by taking משתין as related to משית, "arranges" or "sets," so that it can be translated as "one who arranges [his thoughts] in the walls of his heart" - i.e., an adult with ...
6
Malbim (I Shmuel 1:1) believes that "ויהי איש אחד" specifies that this man is unique in purpose (מיוחד). [He gets this idea from a midrash that I unfortunately cannot find.] Here, Elkana is "uniquely destined" as Shmuel's father.
The other example Malbim brings is from Shoftim 13:2: "ויהי איש אחד מצרעה", referring to
Manoach. Manoach was not necessarily a ...
6
Gen. 1:5 states:
ויקרא א-להים לאור יום, ולחשך קרא לילה
"G-d called the light 'day', and the darkness He called 'night.'"
So the name of Hashem is omitted in the second half of the verse. This leads R. Elazar to comment (Bereishis Rabbah 3:6) that "G-d does not associate His name with evil, only with good."
6
According to Divrei HaYomim 1 8:33 and Divrei Hayomim 1 9:39 his real name was Ashba'al.
ונר הוליד את קיש וקיש הוליד את שאול ושאול הוליד את יהונתן ואת מלכי שוע ואת אבינדב ואת אשבעל
The Radak explains why he is called Ish Boshes since his name ended in Ba'al it was translated to Boshes, and according to Rashi it was changed to Boshes as a deragortory to ...
5
Presumably he thinks he's speaking to Eli.
Malbim explains accordingly: Shmuel's "Hineni" in v. 4 is to tell Eli, "I'm not sleeping!" and then he runs over to see just what Eli wants from him. The second and third times, then (vv. 6 and 8), he doesn't need to repeat this phrase, because Eli already knows he's awake; he just goes over and says, "I am here ...
5
בליעל appears many times in Tanach and appears to be a compound word: בלי (=without) and יעל. Three possible meanings are given here:
בלי יעל where יעל derives from the root ע-ל-ה = to go up. The people are 'without going up' implying they will go down to Gehonim.
בלי יעל where יעל derives from the root י-ע-ל = purpose (like the words הועיל and תועלת). ...
5
To begin with, Saul only ordered the execution of Achimelekh's Beit Av( Samuel I 22:16):
ויאמר המלך, מות תמות אחימלך: אתה, וכל-בית אביך
And the king said: 'Thou shalt surely die, Ahimelech, thou, and all thy father's house.'
The massacre at Nov was Doeg's own initiative( ibid. 22:18-19):
ויאמר המלך, לדויג (לדואג), סב אתה, ופגע בכהנים; ויסב דויג ...
4
Radak (to v. 8) explains simply: one or two times it might indeed have been Shmuel's imagination (thinking in his sleep that someone was calling him), but three times means that Shmuel really had heard something. Since no one else was there except Eli and Shmuel, Eli understood that it must be a Divine voice.
He also quotes Ibn Ezra, who says that it's ...
4
Eliezer is praying when Rivka approaches.
When he recaps the story to her family, he says "I was still meditating (or speaking to my heart)", they may not have understood "prayer", but they understood "meditation."
Note that the entire book of Shir HaShirim has only a half-mention of G-d's name, "shalhevetya" can mean either "its flame" or "a G-dly flame."
...
4
And the men of Israel said, "Have you seen this man who is coming up, for he is coming up to taunt Israel? And it will be, that the man who will kill him, the King will enrich him with great riches, and he will give him his daughter, and he will make his father's house free in Israel."
Rashi: "'And he will make his father’s house free': from ...
4
Radak explains "His arms-bearer saw that Shaul dies" with
i.e., close to death… but he did not die yet until the [reporter] killed him….
Alternatively, Radak continues,
it's possible the [reporter] lied: he didn't kill him but found him dead after [Shaul] had fallen on his sword. He said [he'd killed Shaul] to appeal to David….
Ralbag (Ⅰ Sh'muel ...
4
Ibn Ezra (Shemot 28:6 Peirush Aroch) suggests that someone who was familiar with asking through the Urim VeTumim would be capable of getting answers on occasion from the Ephod. (I think he is referring to the two stones on the shoulders that clipped to the Choshen, but I'm not sure.)
Thus David used the Ephod (which we know he had, per 23:6) and Shaul used ...
4
Both RaDaK and Malbim understand that David was not telling Shelomo to execute Shime'i outright, but each saw it to be done differently:
RaDak writes( on MelakhimI 2:8):
ירד לקראתי -
שאמחול לו ונשבעתי לו שלא אמיתנו, אף על פי שנשבעתי לו שלא אמיתנו, חייב מיתה הוא, ולשמור שבועתי לא תמיתנו, עד שתמצא לו עלה ועון וסבב אתה הדבר שיבא לידי עון, שיהיה לך דין ...
3
Sefer Magen Shaul explains why in Shmuel2 13:39 it says Dovid HaMelech instead of HaMelech Dovid. He says that at this point Dovid lost the strength of Malchus by losing interest in chasing after AvSholom. Therefore the word HaMelech is placed after his name in this instance.
3
No one knows for sure since no reason is given in the text (the T'anach/the Bible).
Therefore the question is open to conjecture within the commentaries and midrashim. @msh210 gives an answer from the commentaries of Rabbi Moshe Alshich.
Another answer: it was "professional courtesy" -- while Saul was willing to kill the people, he decided to spare his ...
2
It's not just with "ish." Since a singular noun obviously means there's only one of it, then whenever the Torah uses the form "X echad" (or "X achas") it tells us that there is something special about the referent. As one example, the Gemara (Megillah 28a) points out that the expression "ha-keves echad" (Num. 28:4) teaches us that it has to be a "unique ...
2
What about the fact that it is possible that David was king of ONLY Judah for 2 years and then remained in Hevron but was king over all of Israel for 5.5 more years before moving to Jerusalem?
This seems like a likely idea given that Ish Boshet did not make a very good king and needed Avner to keep his kingship. If that is the case David became king 2 ...
2
The Philistines had been afflicted by hemhorroids, which were then irritated by rats, as a punishment for stealing the Ark.
By their thinking, they could appease the Ark (or whatever force behind it) and stop this nuisance by returning the Ark, along with some golden rats and golden hemhorroids, for good measure. Nothing to do with how they worshipped; it ...
2
If I understand him correctly, Alshich explains as follows. Shaul thought the words "והכיתה את עמלק", "smite Amalek", referred to the people, but not the king, who is referred to as "Amaleki" (see e.g. verses 3, 15, 20). He made this mistake because the yetzer hara was influencing him heavily so as to save his nation, Amalek (for the yetzer hara is the sar, ...
2
After doing some digging this is what I've found
1 & 2 - What was pronounced was a 'Cherem' which, especially when done by a king, applies to people who are not present (assumedly it applies to anyone that the pronouncer has in mind). The source for this is the Ramban on Vayikrah 27:29
3 - most Rishonim learn that bread means all food
4 - there are many ...
2
I have heard in the name of the Chida - that women have three special Mitzvos - which is the Roshei Teivos of Chana - Ches = Chalah, Nun = Nidah, Hei = Hadlokas HaNer - and a woman who does these three is considered a Isha Ksheirah.
Notwithstanding the above there is a Medrash Breishis Rabsi Parshas Chaya Sara 23:1 which lists 22 Isha Ksheiras and one of ...
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