Haftorah Parashat Chayei Sarah
HAFTARAT CHAYEI SARA
I Melakhim, 1:1—1:31
My dad passed away suddenly when he was fifty and I was twenty-four, so there was never the classic deathbed scene, when the family patriarch has the opportunity to share with his loved ones his final words of wisdom, his hopes for them, and the share of his heritage he hopes that offspring will continue into the coming generations.
That vision of the Good Death has some roots in Tanach, but it is not, it seems to me, the dominant one. In the haftarah to Vayehi, the section of the Torah where Yaakov commands his sons on his deathbed, we read the next chapter of Melachim, where David does the same with Shlomo. Interestingly, in both cases the dying father speaks rather impersonally, passing on understanding of the national tasks facing his surviving offspring, but not so much about their personal connection or continuity.
What we have in this week’s haftarah, and the attached parsha, is the more common occurrence in Tanach, the case of a person trying to insure the continuity of his legacy into the next generation long before he passes away. If Yitshak gets married at forty, Avraham sends Eliezer to find Rivkah when he is about 139, with thirty-six more years to live. Yaakov gets to Lavan at the age of 77, meaning that (depending on how one takes the Midrashim about his having stopped to study at the academy of Shem and Ever) Yitshak had decided to bless his sons at about the age of 120, when he had another sixty years to live.
David haMelech had also made some moves in that direction, although not ones that established Shlomo’s role as his successor as firmly as Batsheva would have liked, or as would have forestalled Adoniyahu from acting as he did, building up allies and assuming that he would inherit the kingship. The baalei ha-haftarah putting this as the attached piece of Scripture to read with Parshat Hayye Sara perhaps draws our attention to Avraham’s greater success in this area.
When I was going through my dad’s stuff, among the interesting documents I found was his will, which should have been a couple of short paragraphs, but ended up being two pages. The paragraphs said that all his earthly possessions should go to my Mom, and then detailed what should happen were she to have either predeceased or jointly deceased with him (neither of which, thank God, happened).
It is all of the rest of the will that I found moving, and that connects to our haftarah. For each of his children, my father had established a particular religious possession that that child should have, the part of his spiritual legacy he wanted to bequeath to that child.
Avraham, too, worries about continuity, and through Yitshak. He sends Eliezer—who, earlier in Bereshit, Avraham had despairingly identified as his possible heir; it is perhaps to make sure we understand that that will never happen that he is here always referred to as “the slave” or “Avraham’s slave,” as if to insure that we understand his status—to find Yitshak a wife, the necessary first step in providing for a continuous chain of the Abrahamic family.
David had apparently made gestures in that direction, but not enough for Adoniyahu to get the point. Batsheva and Natan knew that Shlomo was meant to succeed him, but Adoniyahu thought he could get around that. Possibly, of course, Adoniyahu knew David’s intentions but thought he could circumvent them. Along those lines, it is sad to note how much people—in that time and ever since—can allow themselves to be motivated by self-interest, instead of seeking their proper place within the world order. Adoniyahu might have lived out a productive and happy life, had he been willing to accept that one of his younger brothers would rule; instead, he attempted to get the throne himself, with disastrous results (at least for him).
The thread running through all of this, for me, is the difference between valuing the deathbed scene and valuing having set the future in place. The former emphasizes the leave-taking aspect of death, while the latter focuses on insuring the proper formation of the future. Part of being human, I see the parsha and haftarah as reminding us, is knowing that our time on earth is limited (which has ramifications in numerous areas of our lives), and being sure to prepare for that eventuality in our broader legacies as well.
One challenge is knowing how to balance a concern with what will happen after one’s passing with a continued effort to contribute to the here and now. Avraham lives for many years, and even allows Yitshak to reach his late thirties, before setting him up with a wife. David reaches seemingly advanced old age before he makes his view of the future fully known. The intent of recognizing one’s mortality is not to be fatalistic nor to dispense with a concern with this life; it is only to include in one’s considerations the reality that time is limited, and to make some arrangements for the time after. Having done so, the person can then enjoy the rest of their time on earth, however long that may be, secure in having done his or her own best to see that whatever contributions they have made will be carried into the next generation.
Phrases and their Ramifications:
In the first verse of the haftarah, we are told that David was old and could not be warmed. R. Saadya Gaon, in Emunot ve-Deot, mentions that fact in an arresting discussion of the end of life. In his view—and we should stress that R Saadya Gaon is one of the earliest Jewish philosophers, so do not make the mistake of reading this as the writings of a backward or superstitious man— just before a person passes away, they see the Angel of Death (a view that Hollywood enjoys playing with, in various contexts), and it causes them fear and a chill. David, Scripture has earlier told us, was shown the Angel of Death killing the Jewish people during a plague that David’s misdeeds had caused (for that story, see II Samuel 24;1-17).
When Natan the Prophet is speaking with Batsheva about how to raise the issue with David, he suggests that she go in first, and that he will then enter after her, promising u-mileti et devarayich, I will fill in your words. Several medieval scholars, including Sefer Hasidim (a work dedicated to high, even extreme, forms of piety) and Sefer Mitsvot Katan, cite a Yerushalmi in Peah which infers from this that it is permissible to speak ill (tell lashon hara) of those who cause strife in the Jewish people. According to them, the damage caused by fomenting splits among the Jewish people is sufficiently problematic that the ordinary proscription of slander is removed. Shabbat Shalom.
1Kgs.1
[1] Now king David was old and stricken in years; and they covered him with clothes, but he gat no heat.
[2] Wherefore his servants said unto him, Let there be sought for my lord the king a young virgin: and let her stand before the king, and let her cherish him, and let her lie in thy bosom, that my lord the king may get heat.
[3] So they sought for a fair damsel throughout all the coasts of Israel, and found Abishag a Shunammite, and brought her to the king.
[4] And the damsel was very fair, and cherished the king, and ministered to him: but the king knew her not.
[5] Then Adonijah the son of Haggith exalted himself, saying, I will be king: and he prepared him chariots and horsemen, and fifty men to run before him.
[6] And his father had not displeased him at any time in saying, Why hast thou done so? and he also was a very goodly man; and his mother bare him after Absalom.
[7] And he conferred with Joab the son of Zeruiah, and with Abiathar the priest: and they following Adonijah helped him.
[8] But Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and Nathan the prophet, and Shimei, and Rei, and the mighty men which belonged to David, were not with Adonijah.
[9] And Adonijah slew sheep and oxen and fat cattle by the stone of Zoheleth, which is by En-rogel, and called all his brethren the king’s sons, and all the men of Judah the king’s servants:
[10] But Nathan the prophet, and Benaiah, and the mighty men, and Solomon his brother, he called not.
[11] Wherefore Nathan spake unto Bath-sheba the mother of Solomon, saying, Hast thou not heard that Adonijah the son of Haggith doth reign, and David our lord knoweth it not?
[12] Now therefore come, let me, I pray thee, give thee counsel, that thou mayest save thine own life, and the life of thy son Solomon.
[13] Go and get thee in unto king David, and say unto him, Didst not thou, my lord, O king, swear unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne? why then doth Adonijah reign?
[14] Behold, while thou yet talkest there with the king, I also will come in after thee, and confirm thy words.
[15] And Bath-sheba went in unto the king into the chamber: and the king was very old; and Abishag the Shunammite ministered unto the king.
[16] And Bath-sheba bowed, and did obeisance unto the king. And the king said, What wouldest thou?
[17] And she said unto him, My lord, thou swarest by the LORD thy God unto thine handmaid, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne.
[18] And now, behold, Adonijah reigneth; and now, my lord the king, thou knowest it not:
[19] And he hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the sons of the king, and Abiathar the priest, and Joab the captain of the host: but Solomon thy servant hath he not called.
[20] And thou, my lord, O king, the eyes of all Israel are upon thee, that thou shouldest tell them who shall sit on the throne of my lord the king after him.
[21] Otherwise it shall come to pass, when my lord the king shall sleep with his fathers, that I and my son Solomon shall be counted offenders.
[22] And, lo, while she yet talked with the king, Nathan the prophet also came in.
[23] And they told the king, saying, Behold Nathan the prophet. And when he was come in before the king, he bowed himself before the king with his face to the ground.
[24] And Nathan said, My lord, O king, hast thou said, Adonijah shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne?
[25] For he is gone down this day, and hath slain oxen and fat cattle and sheep in abundance, and hath called all the king’s sons, and the captains of the host, and Abiathar the priest; and, behold, they eat and drink before him, and say, God save king Adonijah.
[26] But me, even me thy servant, and Zadok the priest, and Benaiah the son of Jehoiada, and thy servant Solomon, hath he not called.
[27] Is this thing done by my lord the king, and thou hast not shewed it unto thy servant, who should sit on the throne of my lord the king after him?
[28] Then king David answered and said, Call me Bath-sheba. And she came into the king’s presence, and stood before the king.
[29] And the king sware, and said, As the LORD liveth, that hath redeemed my soul out of all distress,
[30] Even as I sware unto thee by the LORD God of Israel, saying, Assuredly Solomon thy son shall reign after me, and he shall sit upon my throne in my stead; even so will I certainly do this day.
[31] Then Bath-sheba bowed with her face to the earth, and did reverence to the king, and said, Let my lord king David live for ever.