Thousands and Myriads

I read an article on Shabbat which mentioned the famous phrase "והם רבבות אפרים והם אלפי מנשה" - "...These are the myriads of Ephraim, those are the thousands of Manasseh" (Devarim 33:17) and it occurred to me that the same numbering pairing appears also in the song that the women sang after David vanquished the Plishtim: "הכה שאול באלפו ודוד ברבבותיו" - "...Saul has slain his thousands; David, his tens of thousands" (Shmuel 1:18:7).

It occurred to me that the phrase from Devarim might better explain why the song caused Shaul so much consternation. After all, it was just a commoners' song celebrating David's military prowess. David was obviously younger than Shaul and therefore logically more capable of defeating a larger number of goons in battle. Was Shaul's reaction simply basic jealousy? I don't think so. 

Consider the phrase from Devarim: It describes the younger brother, Ephraim, overtaking the older brother, Menashe, in greatness. And as we know, Ephraim also received the rights of the elder son, including the promise of ruling. Hearing the women's song, Shaul may well have found in it an echo of Ephraim and Menashe's blessing: The younger brother overtaking the older brother. In other words, the song would have implied that David was going to overtake, perhaps overthrow, Shaul. From his story, we know Shaul was very prophetically-minded. He may well have thought that the women were echoing a kind of prophecy directed at him - doubling his fears.



Comments

  1. AnonymousJune 4, 2026 at 11:03 PM

    Nice.
    In the Hebrew Language, there is no numeric denomination of 10,000 - 10,000 is denoted by the terms revavah רְבָבָה and ribo רִבּוֹ.
    In the Torah, there were appointed officers for groups of 10s, 50s, and 100s, with the highest position for officers for sarei alafim שָׂרֵי אֲלָפִים (officers of thousands).

    Consider the bracha given to Rivka, Bereishit 24:60: "our sister, may you become thousands of myriads" - relating to the two children she was to bear. Te phrase alfei, 1000s, relates to Eisav, whose point of reference is Olam HaZeh, and revavah, 10,000, refers to Ya'akov, who identifies with Olam HaBa (Bereishit Rabbah 60:13). The title given to the early rulers of Eisav's descendants was aluf, chief, cognate to the word elef, 1,000. Ya'akov embodied Emet, truth, and identifies with Olam HaBa that stretches from the uncountable level of 10,000 to eternity.

    Tehillim also makes this comparison: "1000 shall fall at your side and 10,000 at your right hand" (Tehillim 91:7)

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