Shaul

Name:

Shaul's (שָׁא֔וּל) name has a lot of meanings with the primary one being "asked for" or desired. The root comes from sha'al  (שָׁאַל), which means 1) to ask, enquire, borrow, or seek; 2) to be given on request, to grant, or to give or lend on request; 3) to inquire, consult, or interrogate; 4) to beg or desire. Shaul encompasses all of these meanings at different points in the story. If you vowelize Shaul's name differently however, you get Sheol meaning the "underworld, netherworld, or the grave" and "the place of no return" or "exile." David's poetry often uses wordplay between Shaul and Sheol.

For more detailed descriptions of each panel: see Young Shaul.

My Take on Shaul

I see Shaul as a proto-feminist for the following reasons:

1. "O' daughters of Yisrael, weep for Shaul, who dressed you in scarlet finery and gold ornaments." — Sh'muel Bet (Samuel I) 1:24; 1995 Schocken Bible Everett Fox translation

2. Commentary from Machar Rosh Chodesh that claims he didn't want to grab a wife at Shiloh (Tze'enah Ure'enah Haftarot, When Rosh Chodesh occurs on Sunday 8-13; Rashi on Sh'muel 20:30:1-3 from The Metsudah Tanach series)

3. Radak and Abardanel's commentary on Michal's remarriage stating that Shaul may have forced David to give Michal a get to avoid Michal from becoming an agunah (Radak on Sh'muel Aleph (Samuel I) 25:43; Abardanel on Sh'muel Aleph (Samuel I) 25:44:1).

4. Talmudic commentary saying that Michal wore tefillin (Tractate Tefillin 1:3; Jerusalem Talmud Berakhot 2:3:9; Jerusalem Talmud Eruvin 10:1:4; Melkhita DeRabbi Yishmael, Tractate Pischa 17:32; Sefer HaCinukh 421:9; Mishneh Torah Tefillin, Mezzuzah, and the Torah Scroll 4:13). In the Babylonian Talmud, she faced no objections from the Sanhedrin (Eruvin 96a; Sefer HaCinukh 421:9) say that the Sages did not protest. Clearly, Shaul had no issues with his daughter taking up a primarily "male mitzvah." 

5. Biblical scholarship connecting Shaul to Chana role-wise (Olyan 2020; White 2006). Some scholars even see Chana as Shaul's original mother (Milstein 2016).

6. Parallels between Shaul and the Matriarchs: Sarah with his insistence on his son's inheritance and jealousy specifically the evil eye (Rashi on Genesis 21:14:2; Bereshit Rabbah 45:5), Rivka as a youth by the well searching for lost donkeys, and Rachel in his beauty (Vayetzei Bereshit (Genesis) 29:17; Bereshit Rabbah 70:18), modesty (Megillah 13b:1), and despair (Vayetzei Bereshit (Genesis) 30:1; Tribal Lands 8:12).

7. Only having one wife and one concubine in contrast to kings having more than one wife and one concubine (Sh'muel Aleph (Samuel I) 14:50; Sh'muel Bet (Samuel II) 3:7; Midrash Tehillim 7:2).

8. The heavy-handed nature of propaganda against Shaul of Judges 19-21 (Milstein 2016) as well as pro-Shaul propaganda focusing on the House of Eli's misconduct against women (Olyan 2020).