The Five Books of
Moses (Torah)
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The Eight Books of
the Prophets (Neviim)
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The Eleven Books of
the Writings (Kesuvim)
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1.
Genesis
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6.
Joshua
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14. Psalms
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2.
Exodus
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7.
Judges
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15. Proverbs
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3.
Leviticus
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8.
Samuel
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16. Job
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4.
Numbers
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9.
Kings
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17. Song of
Songs
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5.
Deuteronomy
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10. Isaiah
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18. Ruth
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11. Jeremiah
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19. Lamentations
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12. Ezekiel
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20. Ecclesiastes
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13. The Twelve
(minor prophets) Trei-Assar (1. Hosea, 2. Joel, 3.
Amos, 4. Obadiah, 5. Jonah, 6. Micah, 7. Nahum, 8. Habakkuk, 9. Zephaniah,
10. Haggai, 11. Zechariah and 12. Malachi)
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21. Esther
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22. Daniel
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23. Ezra/Nehemia
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24. Chronicles
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The Book after the Book of Judges in the Christian Old Testament (OT) is Ruth. Since I am writing about the Hebrew Bible, the sequence I follow here would be that of the Jewish Bible and not that of the OT. As I mentioned earlier, the number of Books in the Protestant OT and Hebrew Bible are the same, the difference being only in the sequence of arrangement of chapters.
With
1,505 verses, distributed across 55 chapters, the Book of Samuel (Tamil: சாமுவேல்)
is one of the largest in the Hebrew Bible. In the Christian Bible, the Book of
Samuel is divided into two, 1 Samuel and 2 Samuel. Also divided are the two
other books in the OT, namely Kings and Chronicles. The reason why these Books
were split into two is obvious from their size or the number of verses they
contain. But strangely, Psalm, the largest book in the Bible with more than
2,400 verses, has been spared without any attempt to partition it.
Traditionally
the Book of Samuel is attributed to Prophet Samuel himself, but modern scholarship
attributes the work to many independent authors. The Book of Samuel begins with
Yahweh’ selection of Samuel as the chosen prophet, conflict between Israelites
and Philistines, anointment of Saul as Israel’s king despite prior warnings, failure
of Saul as a king and his replacement by David, story of the stolen Ark by
Philistines and its restoration to Israel, David fleeing to Philistines and his
return to Jerusalem, David’s great sin, the birth of Solomon and the
establishment of kingdom of David and his family in Jerusalem for years to
come.
(1) Don’t be misled
by looks
The
most famous episode in the Book of Samuel is the story of David facing Goliath.
The Israelite Lord, having decided to replace King Saul with an anointed one,
asks Prophet Samuel to go to Bethlehem for an interview of Jesse’s sons. Jesse is asked to parade her sons one by one
in front Samuel who, impressed by Eliab’s look, thinks that he must be the
anointed one. But the Lord says to
Samuel….
Do not consider his
appearance or his height,
for I have rejected
him.
The LORD does not look at the things people look at.
People look at the outward appearance,
but the LORD
looks at the heart.
(Samuel 1: 16:7)
அவன் தோற்றத்தையும், உயரத்தையும் பார்க்காதே;
ஏனெனில் நான் அவனைப் புறங்கணித்துவிட்டேன்.
மனிதர் பார்ப்பது போல் நான் பார்ப்பதில்லை.
மனிதர் முகத்தைப் பார்க்கின்றனர்;
ஆண்டவரோ அகத்தைப் பார்க்கின்றார்.
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| Dravid targets Goliath's eye with the sling |
After overcoming the
mighty Goliath, David the youngest son of Jesse, finally gets anointed as per
the wish of the Lord. The Qur’an also recapitulates the story of David and
Goliath in Sura “The Cow” (2: 249-251).
(2) Triumphant returns
of the prophets
"No prophet is accepted in his hometown” said Jesus
(Luke 4:24). Mathew (13:57) also records the same statement attributed to Jesus
in these terms: "Only in his hometown and in his
own house is a prophet without honor" (see also John, 4:44). We can
see this in the lives of many prophets of the Semitic world. The Book of Samuel
narrates how Prophet David was forced to leave Israel and flee to Philistine.
This story has some interesting resemblance to the history of Prophet Muhammad
himself. The Quran goes on record to say that many messengers have been
rejected by their own people in the past, and they all showed considerable
patience when rejected and persecuted until divine help came to them (Quran 6:
34; 16:110). In Samuel, we see David fleeing Jerusalem to protect himself from
prosecution by King Saul.
But David thought to himself,
“One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul.
Best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.
Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel,
And I will slip out of his hand.” (1 Samuel, 27:1-2)
The
resemblances between the emigration and return of David and Muhammad have been
outlined in the following comparative table:
Prophet David
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Prophet Muhammad
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Asylum
with neighbours
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Flight to Philistine: “So David and the six hundred men with him left and
went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. David and his men settled in
Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two
wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. When
Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.”
(1 Samuel, 27: 1-4)
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Flight to Medina: While conveying the message of Islam to his follow Arabs,
Prophet Muhammad found the going tough. When he discovered the
pagan Arab’s plan to assassinate him, Muhammad fled to
the north, from Mecca to the city of Yathrib, now called Medina.
Like David, many of his followers also followed him to Medina. With this migration, called
"Hijra" in Arabic, begins the history of Islam and the calendar of
Muslims.
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Raiding
for booty
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“Now David and his men
went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites. (From
ancient times these peoples had lived in the land extending to Shur and
Egypt.). Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman
alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he
returned to Achish.” (Samuel 1: 27:8)
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Once in
Medina, Muhammad and his companions indulged in a series of raids on caravans
en route to Mecca. The booties of such raids were then shared among them. It
seems such acts of violence were justified those days, more so in this case, as
it was considered a method of retaliation against the very same Meccan tribes
of Quraish who forced Muhammad and his followers to emigrate from their
native land.
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Years in exile
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To save
himself from Saul, David and his followers flee from Israel to the
Philistines. Protected by the Philistine king, spend about a year and a half.
Saul naturally stopped searching for David.
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Prophet Muhammad spent eight years
in Medina helping the infighting Yathribites to lead a life of coexistence through
joint treaties and agreements. Since Medina was about 340 km away, the
Meccans did not pursue with their objective of assassinating Muhammad.
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Return
of the prophets
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Return
to Israel: Just like how Prophet Muhammad secured the control
of Mecca with the help of Medinites, the Philistines defeat the Israelites.
The only difference being that Philistines did not trust David being included
in their army as he was an Israelite himself (fearing that he might turn
against the Philistines during the war)
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Return
to Mecca: When
the time was ripe, Muhammad summoned all his warrior Muslims in Medina to
march towards Mecca. The Quraish were overpowered and unlike the defeat
of Israelites by Philistines, there was hardly any bloodshed. Thus Muhammad
and his followers conquered Mecca and its sanctuary. Since a general amnesty
was given to all people, most of them eventually accepted his message and
became Muslims.
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(3) The Ark of Jews,
Takht of Sikhs and Guru-āsana of Vaishnavites
The
Jewish Ark of the Covenant is a receptacle or cabinet in the Tabernacle which
held the Tablets of Ten Commandments. In Hebrew the Tabernacle is called ‘mishkan’
(משכן)
which means “dwelling
place" (of God). It was sort of a mobile temple that Jews carried with
them wherever they went during their travels till they built their temple in
the promised land. Once the Temple got built in Jerusalem, the Ark found its
place there (1 Kings, 8:1-11). Following the destruction of the temple and
subsequent establishment of synagogues (Jewish place of worship), the Ark in
them now holds the Torah scrolls.
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| Takht in a Gurudwara |
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| Ark of the Jews |
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| Guru-asana in Neo-Vaishnavism, Assam (Photo by Ashley Baker, IFAW) |
Unlike
the Guru-āsana and Takht, the Ark of the Jews is an important symbol of Jewish covenant with
their Lord Yahweh, something that was emphasized during the formative stages of
Judaism. The Jews carried this Ark set in the portable Tabernacle wherever they
went during their periods of wandering in wilderness in search of their promised
land.
The
Bible records the story of the missing Ark and its eventual restoration in
Samuel. The first book of Samuel mentions the sequences of how the Philistines
took away the Ark after their victory (Chapter 4), provoking the Lord’s anger
(Chapter 5) which led to its return to Israel after seven months of absence
(Chapter 7).
After the
Philistines had captured the ark of God, they took it from Ebenezer to Ashdod.
Then they carried the ark into Dagon’s temple and set it beside Dagon.
(1 Samuel: 5:1-2)
And the
ark of the LORD was in the country of the Philistines seven months. And the
Philistines called for the priests and the diviners, saying: 'What shall we do
with the ark of the LORD? Declare unto us wherewith we shall send it to its
place.’
(1
Sam 6:1-2)
When
I read this narrative of stolen Ark, I am reminded of the history of the black
stone (Arabic: الحجر الأسود) which was stolen during one of the raids conducted on the Ka’ba
following the advent of Islam in Arabia. The sacred black stone occupies the
corner of the Ka’ba, the holy sanctuary of Muslims. According to
historian Al-Juwayni, the black stone was returned twenty-three years later, in
952 (*).
All
the religions that I have discussed so far this section - namely Judaism,
Sikhism, Islam and Assamese Neo Vaishnavism - are strongly monotheistic and forbid
veneration of any idol. Yet we see in them the symbolization of a structure and
its paraphernalia as possible alternatives to the idol. It seems that mankind
needs to idolize something in one form or the other for worship. In this context, it is pertinent
to quote what Swami Vivekananda wrote on the condemnation of others' form of worship as idol worship:
The Christians think that when God
came in the form of a dove it was all right,
but
if He comes in the form of a fish, as the Hindus say,
it
is very wrong and superstitious.
The Jews think if an idol be made
in the form of a chest with two angels sitting on it,
and
a book on it, it is all right,
but
if it is in the form of a man or a woman, it is awful.
The Mohammedans think that when
they pray,
if
they try to form a mental image of the temple with the Ka’ba,
the
black stone in it, and turn towards the west, it is all right,
but
if you form the image in the shape of a church it is idolatry.
This is the defect of image
worship.
(Complete Works, Volume 4: The Chief Symbols).
(4) David’s sin of
coveting neighbour’s wife
Adultery
in most cultures, especially in India, is often connected to the affairs with or
desires for others’ wives. In Indian literary tradition, two kinds of adultery
are banished: (i) visiting a prostitute and (ii) desiring neighbor’s wife. More
than visiting a prostitute, relationship with other’s wife is considered an
unforgivable sin. Tamil classics Thirukkural and Nalatiyar have one chapter
each devoted entirely on the subject of ‘not desiring neighbour’s wife”. This
moral dictum has been reiterated in many other literary works of different
religious including Hinduism, Christianity, Sikhism, Buddhism, Islam etc. (see Nitisātakam, 52; Job 31:9; Hovamol,
115; Guru Grant Sāhib p. 425, 472; Dhammāpada, 309) . One of the best poems on
this ethical principle I have come across is from Nālatiyār:
Enters with fear; comes out with
fear;
Enjoys with fear, keeps secret
with fear;
Every minute he lives with fear
and fear;
Still why does he desire another’s
wife?
(Nalatiyar 83) [Translator: Pl. M. Annamalai]
Sometimes
the virtue of ‘not desiring another’s wife’ is projected as the foremost important
of all virtues. “You
may trespass the bounds of other virtues, but not the bounds of another’s wife”
(Kural 150) said Thiruvalluvar in Thirukkural. The foundation story of one of
the world’s most popular epic, the Rāmāyana, is built on the evils of Rāvan desiring
Rāma’s wife Sita. Even prophets seem to have fallen into the trap of desiring
another man’s wife. We see this in the Bible as well the Qur’an. In the case of the Bible, it was the
relationship David had with Uriah’s wife Bathsheba, and in the Qur’an it was
the marriage of Zayd’s wife Zaynab to Prophet Muhammad. Though both are a result
of desire to get others’ wives, there are some basic differences.
Samuel
2 records the story of how David sees from his rooftop neighbor Uriah’s wife
Bathsheba bathing and succumbs to his physical desires of attaining her (2 Sam
11:2). In spite of knowing that she is Uriah’s wife, David prevails upon her (2
Sam 11:4), makes her pregnant (2 Sam 11:5) and even gets her husband Urial
killed in a battle (2 Sam 11:15-17) only for the sake of marrying her (2 Sam
11:27) David later repents and gets away with a minor punishment from the Lord (2
Sam 12:18). In essence David violated one of the TEN COMMANDMENTS which is “You shall not covet anything that belongs to
your neighbour” (Exodus 20:17).
In the case of Prophet
Muhammad, the wife was not neighbour’s but that of his own adopted son. It was
the Prophet himself who arranged Zaynab's marriage to his adopted son Zayd,
who had earlier been a slave. When Zayd divorced her so that the Prophet could
marry her, there seem to have been some public opposition to this act since
adopted sons were considered the same biological sons. The Qur’an, however,
justified this act by stating that adopted sons are not like biological sons.
Then when Zayad had dissolved his marriage with her (Zainab),
we joined her in
marriage to thee:
In order that there may be no difficulty to the believers
in the matter of
marriage of the wives of their adopted sons.
(Sura 33:37)
All
these only go on to show that prophets are also humans. They make mistakes,
some repent and some don’t.
References:
Sarma, S. 1991. A Few Aspects of Assamese Literature and
Culture. Assam Sahitya Sabha. Pages
36-71
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