As David ascends to total leadership over both Hebrew kingdoms, he quickly comes to realize what it means to be in such a high station. He has a nation full of people who see his power. Some admire him, some fear him and some challenge him. Most tragically, the moment people see David as a king is the moment he becomes disconnected from them. They no longer see a man, a friend, or even a proper partner. Chapters four and five of Second Samuel may depict the rise of our ostensible hero to the crown, but it can't help sounding sad and even, to an extent, empty.

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At the beginning of Second Samuel, David returns to Israel and is anointed king by a large contingent of supporters, but he is not universally accepted. There is still a group of soldiers loyal to Avner, the de facto retainer of Saul's line. It is very clear by Chapter 3 that Avner has opportunistically claimed all that Saul once had, if only because there is no one but David to oppose him. Avner even takes Saul's concubine for himself, a sign that he has been using the civil war in Judah to luxuriate in the ill-gotten trappings of royalty. The entire third chapter of Second Samuel is about setting things right, including relieving Avner of the throne he stole.

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it is traditional to make the Ketubah ornate to encourage couples to display it in their homesMany people would assume that a legal document outlining the conditions for marriage and provisions for the potential end of a marriage is a modern invention of today's lawyer-saturated society. The truth is that the marriage contract, today known as the prenuptial agreement, is practically as old as marriage itself. It may not seem very romantic, but many societies of law have been in the practice of using marriage contracts, as well as revising them, for thousands of years. In Jewish culture, this contract is called a Ketubah.

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I have suggested several times now that the rise of David to the highest office in the kingdom of Judah as it is depicted is nothing short of a popular revolution. Because the text had to deal with the oral history of its culture as well as the creation of a compelling narrative, this revolution couldn't be portrayed as an out-and-out civil war. David could not kill Saul and remain the hero. With Saul's death at Mt. Gilboa at the end of First Samuel, that problem has been taken care of. What remains for the story is the struggle for power that follows.

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Today we come to the end of the first Book of Samuel, chapters 29, 30 and 31. In these chapters, it's easy to see a sort of literary conundrum. As we saw last week, David had allied himself with the Philistines after he fled Israel. When the Philistine king decides to invade Israel with the intent to wholly conquer it, David intends on marching with him. This presents a major problem for storytellers who need David to be a sympathetic figure. How can he take up arms against his own people and still remain the folk hero First Samuel has clearly tried to make him?

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From one very narrow and simplistic perspective, the Old Testament is clear cut on its stance concerning homosexuality. Leviticus 20:13 says, in so many words, that sexual bonding between two men is "an abomination" and for anti-gay activists this has been enough. From an educated standpoint, the popular interpretation of this passage is inadequate. Though I cannot speak for New Testament scripture on the topic, I would like to offer my own theological argument for why Leviticus 20:13 should not be considered presently valid.

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Jewish culture has a complicated history with its sense of nationhood. Like any people, we strive to have a sovereign country of our own, yet so much of Jewish identity comes from the experience of being the outsider. All but one of our biblical founders, Isaac, spent a great deal of time as guests in a foreign nation and the epic story of our culture takes place entirely in transit. Even outside of the texts of the Torah, Jews have built our heritage from the perspective of the international, perpetual wanderer. Yiddish is every bit as Jewish as Hebrew and it is a hodgepodge of different languages from across Europe. Modern synagogues owe as much of their structure to the designs of our Christian neighbors in America as to our constantly evolving drive to reform. In Jewish culture, to be an outsider is to be at home. Perhaps that is why David, a king among kings, experiences one of the most important moments of his life in a foreign country.

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A common literary convention in the texts of the Torah is to juxtapose two seemingly unrelated stories that reflect the same values. One is usually a small, individual case and the other a large, "main arc" story on the same subject. This method is a lot like legal precedent. By reviewing an individual case that would be very relatable to common people and then showing how it's similar to a larger idea, these stories denote a worldview that includes a universal system of justice. What's right and good for the small is also right and good for the royal. Toward the end of First Samuel, just such a device is employed to teach a lesson about protection and responsibility.

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It's easy to see biblical texts as being a glorification of war. There are dozens of instances of God telling various leaders to bring the sword to one enemy or another. There are many layers to this theme, but it should be noted that Judaism now and in its most ancient form has never called war a good thing. More to the point, these texts never encourage us today to seek conflict. In the book of First Samuel there is a lot of fighting. It is a text that came from a period of near constant conflict. As such it is important to look at the moments when violence is averted and the message those moments are designed to convey.

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The story of Saul and David is nothing less than the chronicle of a revolution. As First Samuel draws on, more and more people get caught up in the conflict. So much of this setup provides insight into how the people of Judah in exile viewed themselves. It's important to remember that, like much of the written Torah, the earliest parts of this story were put to parchment during the Babylonian captivity while the final version of the text wasn't solidified until a period of major reform after the return. One way or another, the revolutionary overtones in First Samuel are strong and intrinsically tied to the values of those who wrote and preserved it.

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