NOTES for Ch1 15:29

It is interesting: what did Michal see that made her look down on David not only literally, but also figuratively? One could, of course, explain everything by the features of early prophetic religiosity that were characteristic of David. Its outward manifestations sometimes really did look strange and not very presentable: turbulent ecstasies, sometimes indistinct speech, and much else that outwardly did not fit well with the rules of respectable behavior, especially if to all this one adds that in moments of ecstatic prophetic dancing prophets often tore off their outer clothing, and sometimes not only outer clothing. But is that the only issue? One could also recall, for example, that in general people in those times viewed prophets as special and unusual people, and at the same time as strange ones, and that prophet and madman were sometimes designated by the same word. Here one could already speak not only about David's era, but about any other. Of course, neither Michal nor anyone else in those times would have said anything against Yahwism. Such a statement would have looked at least inappropriate, not because Yahwism was then the state religion, but simply because to speak against Yahwism would have meant speaking against one's own people. Every normal and decent person then had to be a Yahwist, of course in Jewish society. But even despite the religious upsurge connected with the relatively recent end of the war, religiosity in "respectable society" was encouraged "in moderation." David, of course, now belonged precisely to "respectable society"; he could no longer allow himself to be simply a prophet, as he had been before. But David himself thinks differently: he feels himself to be first of all a prophet, and only second a king. And he becomes a good king precisely for that reason. Any society can become respectable without quotation marks only if each of its members learns to listen to and hear God, without looking back at any "respectability" or any "measure."