사무엘상 24:5의 인용 해설

A shiggayon of David Menachem says (p. 170) that this, too, is one of the names of a melody named for the instrument, and so he explained “on shigyonoth,” [in Habakkuk 3:1]. But our Sages (Mid. Ps. 7:18) explained it as an expression of error, that he confessed and prayed about the error that he had [committed by] reciting a song upon Saul’s downfall, as it is stated (in II Sam. 22:1): “And David spoke to the Lord, etc.” The contents of the psalm, however, do not indicate this, because it speaks of the nations (in verse 9): “May the Lord judge the peoples.” I, therefore, say that he recited it concerning Ishbi in Nob (II Sam. 21:16), who came upon him as a punishment for Saul; as our Rabbis explained, that the Holy One, blessed be He, said to him, “Through you, Doeg the Edomite was banished; through you, Saul and his sons were slain, etc.” as is stated in “Chelek” (Sanh. 95a). The errors that David asked of the Holy One, blessed be He, [were] that he [himself] be delivered into the hands of his enemies and that his descendants should not be destroyed. (The last sentence does not appear in all editions.) [Therefore, because his life was endangered,] David reversed his prayer and prayed that he should not fall into the hands of his enemies. Now this is its meaning: An error that David sang to the Lord because he had erred in saying to the Holy One, blessed be He, to deliver him into the hands of his enemies on account of Saul, who was slain because of him. Another explanation: Concerning the error of the skirt of Saul’s coat, which he had severed.

But he was not warmed. Our Rabbis said, “He who disgraces clothing will ultimately be deprived of their pleasures.”¹Maseches Berachos 62b. [Dovid’s clothing did not warm him] because he tore off the corner of Shaul’s robe.²See I Shmuel 24:5. The Midrash [Aggadah states], Rabbi Shmuel son of Nachmeni said, that as Dovid saw the angel standing in Yerusholayim with his sword drawn in his hand, his blood became cold from fear.³That terror of that experience remained with Dovid, and from then on he could never again find warmth.

“King David was old and advanced in years” [1:1]. King David was seventy years old. He became king when he was thirty and he was king for forty years. Here one asks a question. Why does Scripture call him old? Was seventy a great age? The answer is that he was weak as someone a hundred years old, because he had waged many wars with the nations. Therefore, he was weak. They covered him with clothes, but he did not feel warm. The Midrash writes that any person who shames the clothes and does not treat them properly, his own clothes do not keep him warm.¹B. Berakhot, 62b; Yalkut Shimoni, I Kings, Remez 166. King David cut off the garment of King Saul.²I Samuel, 24:5. Therefore, his garments did not warm him and he was always cold. The sages further said: King David once saw the Angel of Death. As a result, he was frightened and he was cold for the rest of his days.³Pirke de Rabbi Eliezer, chap. 43. He was even colder in his old age.

From Bor HaSiroh. The name of a place [But] the Rabbis said: A well and a thorn caused Avner to be killed, by not grasping unto the deeds of Dovid, by [ignoring] the jug of water that [Dovid] took from [under] the head of Shaul¹⁴This is reference to Shmuel I, 26,12 where Dovid was being pursued by Shaul and Avner. Dovid found them sleeping and hence vulnerable. Not wanting to harm them but wanting to show Shaul he had been there, Dovid took the spear and the jug of water that was underneath Shaul’s head. and also [by ignoring] the corner of Shaul's garment¹⁵This is a reference to Shmuel I, 24,5 where Shaul, in pursuit of Dovid, stopped temporarily inside the cave where Dovid was hiding with his men. Dovid did not kill him but surreptitiously caught off the corner of Shaul’s garment. [Avner dismissed this and] he said "Perhaps one of the thorns caught upon [the garment] and tore it.