Spurning his spear to kill his deadly rival, Saul, David contrasts

most favorably with Hagen, who kills Siegfried in an attack

in which Wagner’s opera based on the Niebelungenlied casts

hateful Hagen as a spear-armed stabber of the heroic Siegfried’s back,

supporting regime change, spear-sparring with less doubt

than David when he spared Saul from thoughts of regime change backing out,

in a mythogemic biblical report of the removal

of a regime’s royal ruler, Hagen’s program spurned by David with semitic disapproval,

David, the custodian of Israel’s rules stored in a holy ark,

unlike contemporary drivers who drive in reverse the vehicles they park,

protecting his back by wearing on his back the tabernacular ephod,

not using Saul’s spear, his back protected by support of God.

David’s refusal to stab in the back a righteously anointed king with his royal spear contrasts with  Hagen’s use of his spear to stab Siegfried in the back in the final opera of Richard Wagner’s Der Ring des Nibelungen (The Ring Cycle), titled Götterdämmerung (The Twilight of the Gods).

In “The King’s Spear,” thetorah.com, Daniel Bodi writes:

Upon the death of King Ahaziah of Judah (ca. 842 B.C.E.), his mother, Athalya, seizes the throne in Jerusalem and attempts to eliminate any rivals, including her grandson, Joash. To save Joash’s life, his aunt Jehosheba and her husband Jehoiada, the high priest, conceal him in the Jerusalem temple (2 Kgs 11:1–6; 2 Chron 22:10–12).

Six years later, Jehoiada organizes the overthrow of Queen Athalya. As part of his plan, he orders the guards to come armed to the Temple (vv. 7–8).[2] In  2 Kgs 11:10 we learn that  he brings out King David’s חֲנִית, “spear” and shields, which we are told were kept in the Temple.

No biblical narratives about David depict him carrying a spear. Considering that David’s weapons are two hundred years old, the purpose of these relics must be symbolic, rather than military, and allude to the spear that David refrained from using to kill King Saul, who was trying to kill him, as David’s nephew Abishai urges him  to do in  1 Sam.  26:8-12, luring him to kill Saul to kill Saul while he is sleeping, in order to  “pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear.” David takes the spear from beside Saul’s head but does not use it.

The spear acts as a “trophy” or evidence of David’s innocence and his refusal to seize power through violence, being a sign of his obedience to God (“the Lord’s anointed”) and trust in divine justice rather than human revenge.

In “Do You Back Into a Parking Spot or Back Out?,” NYT, 2/21/26, Steven Kurutz writes:

“America, we often hear, is a deeply divided country. To our ideological divisions, allow me to add one of the vehicular kind: people who pull into a parking lot space versus those who back in.

For decades, there were generally agreed-upon standards and norms around parking. You entered a lot, saw an open spot and pulled in, like everyone else. But in the past few years, it seems to me something has changed in our national parking lots.

Perhaps you’ve noticed it at the supermarket or CVS. Amid all the cars that are parked headfirst, a seemingly increasing number have instead been backed in. These dissenters face out, like getaway drivers in a bank robbery ready to make a clean escape. Some people, myself included, find the move annoying.”

Explaining the ephod, Rashi on  Exod. 28:6 writes that it was a garment that protected the back. When King David was being pursued by Saul and faced uncertainty regarding the loyalty of the people of Keilah, he instructed Abiathar, a high priest, to bring the ephod in order learn from it whether he was in danger of being killed (1 Sam. 23:9–12):

וַיֵּ֣דַע דָּוִ֔ד כִּ֣י עָלָ֔יו שָׁא֖וּל מַחֲרִ֣ישׁ הָרָעָ֑ה וַיֹּ֙אמֶר֙ אֶל־אֶבְיָתָ֣ר הַכֹּהֵ֔ן הַגִּ֖ישָׁה הָאֵפֽוֹד׃ {ס}

When David learned that Saul was planning to harm him, he told the priest Abiathar to bring the ephod forward.

וַיֹּ֘אמֶר֮ דָּוִד֒ יְהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל שָׁמֹ֤עַ שָׁמַע֙ עַבְדְּךָ֔ כִּֽי־מְבַקֵּ֥שׁ שָׁא֖וּל לָב֣וֹא אֶל־קְעִילָ֑ה לְשַׁחֵ֥ת לָעִ֖יר בַּעֲבוּרִֽי׃

And David said, “O ETERNAL God of Israel, Your servant has heard that Saul intends to come to Keilah and destroy the town because of me.

הֲיַסְגִּרֻ֣נִי בַעֲלֵי֩ קְעִילָ֨ה בְיָד֜וֹ הֲיֵרֵ֣ד שָׁא֗וּל כַּֽאֲשֶׁר֙ שָׁמַ֣ע עַבְדֶּ֔ךָ יְהֹוָה֙ אֱלֹהֵ֣י יִשְׂרָאֵ֔ל הַגֶּד־נָ֖א לְעַבְדֶּ֑ךָ {ס}        וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהֹוָ֖ה יֵרֵֽד׃ {ס}

Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me into his hands? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O ETERNAL God of Israel, tell Your servant!” And GOD said, “He will.”

וַיֹּ֣אמֶר דָּוִ֔ד הֲיַסְגִּ֜רוּ בַּעֲלֵ֧י קְעִילָ֛ה אֹתִ֥י וְאֶת־אֲנָשַׁ֖י בְּיַד־שָׁא֑וּל וַיֹּ֥אמֶר יְהֹוָ֖ה יַסְגִּֽירוּ׃ {ס}

David continued, “Will the citizens of Keilah deliver me and my men into Saul’s hands?” And GOD answered, “They will.”

© The Times of Israel (Blogs)