The Historical David: The Real Life of an Invented Hero by Joel S. Baden

“Hebrew.” 22 The most common explanation for this etymology, which would not put the Hebrews in a particularly flattering light, is that some proportion of the early Israelite population that settled the small villages of the central highlands of Canaan were of habiru background, perhaps escaping the social structures of the major city-states. The emerging Israelites may have been seen as habiru, not because of their banditry or mercenary activities, but because they existed outside of the mainstream centralized societies. It is perhaps for this reason, as many have noted, that in the Bible it is often foreigners who describe the Israelites as Hebrews, rather than Israelites using the term themselves. One such example is found in our story: when the officers of the Philistine army see David and his men, they ask Achish, “Who are these Hebrews?” (1 Sam. 29:3). If what they mean is “Who are these habiru ?” they could hardly have put it more accurately. David’s story very closely parallels that of Idrimi, the Mitanni prince. David was once a prince, or very nearly so—he was, according to the Bible, the king’s son-in-law. He was forced from his position of power into the wilderness of Canaan, where he found a group of outlaws ready to make him their leader. And now, with that same band, he was on the verge of making his triumphant return to power.
     
     
    Saul’s Death
     
    D AVID’S MERCENARY CAREER WITH the Philistines was not brief. He stayed as a vassal of Achish for more than a year—sixteen months, according to the Bible (1 Sam. 27:7). That he stayed so long is testimony to the comfort and wealth that his position provided. David was in no rush to leave the Philistines. He had made a home for himself.
    As we have seen, however, the lengthy periods of small-time raids were regularly broken up by full-scale battles between the Philistines and the Israelites. And David must have known that his turn for such a battle would eventually come. And indeed, the beginning of 1 Samuel 28 says that “the Philistines mustered their forces for war, to fight against Israel” (28:1). Since David had been more than a year in his service, Achish had every right to expect that David would accompany him to war. In fact, the Bible tells us that Achish made David his personal bodyguard (28:2), a role that is so anathema to the notion of David as the glorious Israelite king that it is almost certainly true.
    Before turning to the description of this crucial battle, the biblical account detours with the famous episode of Saul and the witch of En-dor. Even the basic premise—Saul consulting a witch for help—lets us know that this is not a historical account. Like the anointing of David in 1 Samuel 16, it is a private event with supernatural goings-on, and like the first chapter in the David narrative, it serves to demonstrate that Saul has no further divine right to the kingship. Saul asks the witch to raise Samuel’s ghost, for Saul is afraid of the Philistine armies. Samuel reminds Saul—and us, the readers—that God has taken the kingship from Saul and given it to David. He further tells Saul that in the next day’s battle, Saul and his sons will die and the Philistines will be victorious. One hardly needs to go to great lengths to argue for the fictional nature of the story. But we may note that it complements the episodes of David encountering Saul unawares in the wilderness: the earlier stories point out emphatically that David would never harm Saul; the episode of the witch of En-dor makes clear that Saul’s death in battle will be the work of God. Saul’s time has come, just as David had predicted: “Yahweh himself will strike him down, or his day will come and he will die, or he will go down to battle and perish” (1 Sam. 26:10). But both stories make the same fundamental point: David will not be responsible for Saul’s death.
     

    Saul’s Death
     
    The Philistines marched far to the north to confront