The Arcanum of the Monarchy | 161camp, under Eli’s orders, together with his sons (4:4), only to witness the unfold-
ing disaster. Samuel experiences this event as a revelation from YHVH: the loss
of the ark stemmed not from the superior strength of the Philistines but from
YHVH himself. Samuel would replace the hereditary cultic leadership with a
prophetic, divine leadership without the ark and without the oracle of the ephod.
He spends possibly two decades (from the ark defeat to the gathering at Mizpa
in 7:5), nonviolently and noncoercively building power as a counterweight to the
disgraced priestly authority. He does this primarily by gathering around him
a circle of nevi’im, men inspired by the spirit of YHVH, who travel in groups
throughout the land, singing, playing instruments, dancing in ecstasy, in witness
to the rule of YHVH. Against critics who contest the association of Samuel with
the bands of nevi’im reported in the text, Buber argues for a number of connec-
tions both textual and phenomenological.^34 Samuel and the nevi’im exemplify a
relation to YHVH that runs from God to human being, rather than the other way
around. The davar, the word, and the ruach, the spirit, of YHVH descend on the
nevi’im, whereas priests resemble conjurors in that they attempt to move upward.
But there are textual connections as well: at 10:5 Samuel announces to Saul that
he will receive the Spirit together with a band of nevi’im, and at 19:20 Samuel is
“standing as head over them,” like “a secret society [Geheimbund]: a society for
speech and a society for life.”^35
The nevi’im are committed to the ideology of Deborah, Gideon, and the di-
rect rule of YHVH: “The true forerunner, the true spearhead, the true leader,
the true melekh is JHWH. That is the nebiish stance, with or without the name
nabi, and wherever it manifests itself, the nabi-essence manifests itself.... From
there is the catastrophe of the Ark and its consequences to be considered anew.”^36
Samuel, perhaps looking back to the period of Mosaic leadership before the sin of
the calf, may even see the loss of the ark as an opportunity to reeducate the people
about the truth of divine leadership. The loss of the ark is a symbol that YHVH
leads according to his will alone. YHVH perceived that the people believed that
they “had” him when they had the ark; let them learn that “he is no pseudo-king
to whom one can dictate; he is the true melekh.”^37 The people, however, are at-
tached to the ark; they mourn for the lost leadership of God “as for the dead.”^38
Therefore Samuel convenes a sacred gathering at Mizpa, to induce YHVH to the
revival of the leadership.
The Desire of the People Transformed: From Direct
to Indirect Theocracy
Here the narrative pace accelerates, but there is no great rout of the Philistines
in Buber’s reconstructed version of 1 Samuel. Instead, the Philistines hear of the
gathering at Mizpa, and, sensing a plot against their hegemony, initiate a crack-
down. However, a report of their troop movements reaches the Israelites in time