Yoma 23 - David and Shaul

On the previous page, we mentioned that one should not count the Jews. Two people who did count were King Shaul and King David, and Talmud continues with them. King Shaul was without a blemish, and that exactly was his blemish. One needs to have a “basket of creepy-crawlies” behind his back so that if he becomes haughty, they can tell him, “Looks where you come from!” So even though Shaul did fewer wrong acts, David, when he erred, cried and asked for forgiveness, which counts more.

Also, Shaul renounced his honor and did not take revenge on Amalek, as a king should. Any Sage who is not vengeful and does not keep a grudge like a snake - is not a true sage. Now, this last statement is problematic because the Torah said not to take revenge!? - It is only meant in monetary matters. But still, we learned that one should be forgiving!? - Yes, if the offender comes to apologize, but otherwise, the Sage should keep the offense in mind.

Before there was a lottery and people were still running up the ramp to claim the Temple services, once a priest, seeing the other one in front of him, thrust a knife and mortally wounded him. They eulogized him right there, and then the boy's father came and said that the death of his son should be the atonement and that his son was still alive, so they should take the knife out of him and avoid ritual contamination of the knife. 

He cared more about the knife than about his son! How could this happen? Did the purity become more important, or did the bloodshed become cheaper in their eyes? Alas, they cared little about life.

Art: The Wounded Trumpeter by Horace Vernet