וַיִּשְׁלַ֣ח שָׁא֔וּל אֶל־יִשַׁ֖י לֵאמֹ֑ר יַעֲמָד־נָ֤א דָוִד֙ לְפָנַ֔י כִּֽי־מָ֥צָא חֵ֖ן בְּעֵינָֽי׃
Saül fit dire à Jessé: "Je désire que David reste à mon service, car il m’a plu."
Rabbeinu Bahya
A Midrashic approach to Proverbs 25,17 (based on Rashi, Chagigah 7): On the one hand Solomon wrote הוקר רגלך מבית רעך, “visit your neighbor's house sparingly;” on the other hand David wrote in Psalms 66,13 :אבא ביתך בעולות, “I enter Your house with burnt-offerings.” The apparent contradiction is resolved by applying the “house” mentioned in Proverbs to the occasions when one has to offer sin-offerings or guilt-offerings. One should strive to minimize the need for such visits to the Temple. On the other hand, the verse in Psalms refers to the occasions when one approaches G’d bearing burnt-offerings and peace-offerings, i.e. voluntary gifts, not offerings in order to obtain atonement and forgiveness. The message of this Midrash is that both Solomon and David refer to the Holy Temple as “the house of your friend.” We find a similar comment by our sages when they said that the Israelites are called “friends” i.e. ריעים of the Lord, citing such verses as Psalms 122,8 למען אחי ורעי, “for the sake of my kin and friends...for the sake of the house of the Lord.” Solomon also says of G’d: רעך ורע אביך אל תעזוב, “do not abandon your friend or the friend of your father” (Proverbs 27,10), and in Song of Songs he speaks of זה דודי וזה רעי, “this is my beloved, and this is my friend” (Song of Songs 5,16). The thought behind all these verses is that a person should be careful not to sin so that he does not have to abuse his friendship with the Lord by entering His house too frequently in order to offer sin-offerings. It is best not to have to offer such offerings altogether.
We find that the prophet Samuel (Samuel I 16,22) expresses similar sentiments when he says: “it is better to listen to G’d’s commandments (observe them) than to offer meat-offerings to the Lord (in the Temple).” The reference was to the animals captured from the Amalekites. which the people and Saul offered to G’d as sacrifices, consuming their meat. When Solomon counseled not to be a frequent visitor in one’s friend’s house he referred to the House of G’d who should remain one’s “friend.” When Solomon wrote in Proverbs 21,27 that the meat-offerings of the wicked are an abomination, he meant that at the time when a wicked person brings an offering to G’d, G’d automatically thinks of his sins turning the entire procedure into an abomination. However, when the offerings are not connected to sin but are brought by righteous people and this is reflected in the kind of animals being offered, David tells us that such offerings are welcome, i.e. אבא ביתך בעולות, “let me enter Your house with burnt-offerings.” One of the temptations we must resist is taking advantage of having a “friend” in the house of G’d to whom we bring זבח i.e. meat-offerings, as if it were something “He” needs, until “He gets fed up” with these frequent unwelcome intrusions by us. When David speaks about bringing burnt-offerings to the Temple, he means offerings which are to atone for sins not actually committed but contemplated. Such sinful thoughts occur mostly at night, and they are difficult for a person to be saved from as there are no social restrictions to man thinking sinful thoughts. He is not found out and his image with his peers is not affected by what he merely thinks about. This is one of the reasons that the time for bringing such an offering is the night when the sin is still fresh and can be forgiven immediately.
We find that the prophet Samuel (Samuel I 16,22) expresses similar sentiments when he says: “it is better to listen to G’d’s commandments (observe them) than to offer meat-offerings to the Lord (in the Temple).” The reference was to the animals captured from the Amalekites. which the people and Saul offered to G’d as sacrifices, consuming their meat. When Solomon counseled not to be a frequent visitor in one’s friend’s house he referred to the House of G’d who should remain one’s “friend.” When Solomon wrote in Proverbs 21,27 that the meat-offerings of the wicked are an abomination, he meant that at the time when a wicked person brings an offering to G’d, G’d automatically thinks of his sins turning the entire procedure into an abomination. However, when the offerings are not connected to sin but are brought by righteous people and this is reflected in the kind of animals being offered, David tells us that such offerings are welcome, i.e. אבא ביתך בעולות, “let me enter Your house with burnt-offerings.” One of the temptations we must resist is taking advantage of having a “friend” in the house of G’d to whom we bring זבח i.e. meat-offerings, as if it were something “He” needs, until “He gets fed up” with these frequent unwelcome intrusions by us. When David speaks about bringing burnt-offerings to the Temple, he means offerings which are to atone for sins not actually committed but contemplated. Such sinful thoughts occur mostly at night, and they are difficult for a person to be saved from as there are no social restrictions to man thinking sinful thoughts. He is not found out and his image with his peers is not affected by what he merely thinks about. This is one of the reasons that the time for bringing such an offering is the night when the sin is still fresh and can be forgiven immediately.
Rav Hirsch
V. 6. הקרב וגו׳. Das Gesetzeszeugnis selbst, oder vielmehr die Anforderungen desselben haben ja bereits im כהן einen lebendigen Vertreter inmitten des Volkes erhalten, der durch die symbolischen Opferhandlungen im Heiligtum, wie durch die sein ganzes Leben vor den Augen des Volkes gestaltenden כהונה-Gesetze, der Nation מכין und מכונן sein, ihr "Bildung und Richtung" zur Lösung dieser Anforderungen bringen soll. Diese priesterliche Heranbildung und Heranerziehung der Nation zum Gesetzesheiligtum gehört ja wesentlich, ja in allererster Linie der "Levitenwacht" um dieses Gesetz an, die Unantastbarkeit des Heiligtums ist ja der allererste Ausgangspunkt der Priesterstellung und des Priesterberufs und er, der כהן, der Priester, ist als der erste Wächter ums Gesetz der Nation und – sich gegenüber bestellt. Es wird daher zunächst der von den Leviten zu vollziehenden Wacht um das Gesetzesheiligtum der Charakter eines Hilfedienstes für die vom Priester zu lösende Aufgabe erteilt. Es wird damit den Leviten selbst diese ihre Funktion in das Licht ihrer höheren, den göttlichen volksbildenden und erziehenden Zwecken, derer der Priester zu warten hat, näheren Beziehung gesetzt. הקרב, heißt es, lass sie dir und Aharon "näher" treten, והעמדת אותו לפני אהרן הכהן, (vergl. Esther 4, 5; Daniel 1, 5; Sam. I. 16, 22; Kön. I. 1, 2 usw. wo עמד לפני immer die Stellung eines persönlichen Dienstes bezeichnet). – ושרתו אתו. Wir haben bereits zu Schmot 31, 10 auf die Verwandtschaft von שרת mit שרד hingewiesen und bemerkt, wie שרת immer ein persönliches Bedienen, d. i. eine solche Leistung bezeichnet, die den andern einer sonst von ihm selbst zur Befriedigung seiner Wünsche, Obliegenheiten usw. zu erfüllenden Tätigkeit überhebt. Diese beiden Ausdrücke hier: והעמדת אתו לפני וגו׳, ושרתו אתו geben eben der לויה, dem Levitenamt, den Charakter eines mitarbeitenden Gehilfen der כהונה.