The Qur’an tells the story of Israel’s first king in a few verses of the chapter of the Cow. It calls him Ṭālūt (طَالُوت), and Muslim commentators have long identified him with the Saul of the Hebrew Bible.
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The king the people did not expect
After Moses, the Qur’an says, the leaders of Israel asked a prophet of theirs for a king to lead them in battle. God appointed Ṭālūt, and the people objected that he had no wealth; their prophet answered that God had chosen him and increased him in knowledge and stature.1 The Hebrew Bible tells the same story of Samuel and Saul, and describes Saul as taller than any of the people by a head.2 The Qur’anic name may itself echo that height, from the Arabic ṭūl, tallness.
The test of the river
The Qur’an adds a test at a river: those who drank their fill would not be of Ṭālūt’s army, those who took only a handful from it would. Few passed, and that small band, trusting God, defeated Goliath’s army when David killed Goliath.3 The Hebrew Bible tells of a similar test of drinking water in the story of Gideon.4
فَلَمَّا فَصَلَ طَالُوتُ بِٱلْجُنُودِ قَالَ إِنَّ ٱللَّهَ مُبْتَلِيكُم بِنَهَرٍ فَمَن شَرِبَ مِنْهُ فَلَيْسَ مِنِّى وَمَن لَّمْ يَطْعَمْهُ فَإِنَّهُۥ مِنِّىٓ إِلَّا مَنِ ٱغْتَرَفَ غُرْفَةًۢ بِيَدِهِۦ ۚ فَشَرِبُوا۟ مِنْهُ إِلَّا قَلِيلًا مِّنْهُمْ ۚ فَلَمَّا جَاوَزَهُۥ هُوَ وَٱلَّذِينَ ءَامَنُوا۟ مَعَهُۥ قَالُوا۟ لَا طَاقَةَ لَنَا ٱلْيَوْمَ بِجَالُوتَ وَجُنُودِهِۦ ۚ قَالَ ٱلَّذِينَ يَظُنُّونَ أَنَّهُم مُّلَـٰقُوا۟ ٱللَّهِ كَم مِّن فِئَةٍ قَلِيلَةٍ غَلَبَتْ فِئَةً كَثِيرَةًۢ بِإِذْنِ ٱللَّهِ ۗ وَٱللَّهُ مَعَ ٱلصَّـٰبِرِينَ ٢٤٩
And when Saul went forth with the soldiers, he said, “Indeed, Allāh will be testing you with a river. So whoever drinks from it is not of me, and whoever does not taste it is indeed of me, excepting one who takes [from it] in the hollow of his hand.” But they drank from it, except a [very] few of them. Then when he had crossed it along with those who believed with him, they said, “There is no power for us today against Goliath and his soldiers.” But those who were certain that they would meet Allāh said, “How many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allāh. And Allāh is with the patient.”
Qur’an 2:2495
The verse gives the story its point. The Qur’an tells it for its lesson, a king chosen for knowledge and strength over wealth, and a small army that wins because it is patient and trusts God: ‘how many a small company has overcome a large company by permission of Allah.’ The story Muslims read is the story of David’s rise, told as a lesson in faith.
Further reading: David, The king and the Pharaoh.