Is There a Connection Between Saul’s Murderous Paranoia and His Religious Fundamentalism?

A virtual event presentation by Rabbi Dr. Zev FarberAbout The Event: When Israel undergoes a famine, King David learns that the cause is Saul’s slaughter of the Gibeonites “out of zealotry for Israel and Judah” years earlier. This is not the only slaughter we hear about regarding Saul. And yet Saul was the first king of Israel, chosen by God and Samuel, and was the person most responsible for putting Israel on the map as an independent power. How do we understand the fuller picture of the man? The connection between Saul’s successes and his downfall may be his fundamentalism.*Source Sheet: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1x8C3T7JrM5bJj6w_DslTvj3CTT_3h5uD/view?usp=sharingAbout The SpeakerDr. Rabbi Zev Farber is the Senior Editor of TheTorah.com and a Research Fellow at the Shalom Hartman Institute. His newest book, The Bible’s First Kings: Uncovering the Story of Saul, David, and Solomon (co-authored with Avi Faust), is forthcoming from Cambridge University Press. ★ Support this podcast ★