The odd couple
Shmuel and Shaul
The story of Samuel's (Shmuel) birth appears in 1Samuel chapter 1. In brief, his mother Hanna was barren and went to the tabernacle at Shiloh to pray for a child. When she gives birth at the end of chapter 1, there is an explanation of the name she gives the child. Now, most child naming in the Tanach involves an explanation of the name which sounds like the name- a pun - if you will. There are many examples in the book of Bereshit. At the end of chapter 1 in the book of Samuel there are at least 5 puns. However the puns all relate to the name Saul ( Shaul in Hebrew). So what's going on?
In the book of Judges there are a series of stories about ad hoc military leaders who arise to provide salvation for their tribe when the need arises. Each tribe probably had an oral tradition which was passed down. These traditions were probably incorporated into the book of Judges and other places in Tanach. It is possible that the story of Samuels birth incorporates the story of Saul, a hero of the tribe of Benjamin and later the first king of Israel.
The question is why did the author of Samuel use the story of Saul. One possible reason is that it was familiar to him and probably to others and oral traditions are prone to spread. He may have used it as a convenience. The birth of Samson in the book of Judges has similar overtones in that both Samuel and Samson were nazirites (one who does not cut his hair or drink wine) from birth, this giving them an aura of holy warrior. This might have been part of the tradition related to Saul. But there is another possibility. Did the author of Samuel use Saul's "annunciation" story to say that this was not only the birth of Samuel, but the beginning of kingship in Israel. This is an idea given by Robert Polzin. After all, one of the themes of the book of Judges is that the loose confederation of tribes during that period never functioned as a fused political entity. Each tribe or tribes fought its own wars eventually resulting in civil war against the tribe of Benjamin. This seems a way of showing that Israel needs a king rather than the loose tribal federation.
If this is correct, then the use of the Saul related puns in the Samuel story, besides being a brilliant literary device, is a harbinger of the coming monarchy in Israel.
