David once besought God to tell him when he would die. His petition was
not granted, for God has ordained that no man shall foreknow his end.
One thing, however, was revealed to David, that his death would occur
at the age of seventy on the Sabbath day. David desired that he might
be permitted to die on Friday. This wish, too, was denied him, because
God said that He delighted more in one day passed by David in the study
of the Torah, than in a thousand holocausts offered by Solomon in the
Temple. Then David petitioned that life might be vouchsafed him until
Sunday; this, too, was refused, because God said it would be an
infringement of the rights of Solomon, for one reign may not overlap by
a hairbreadth the time assigned to another. Thereafter David spent
every Sabbath exclusively in the study of the Torah, in order to secure
himself against the Angel of Death, who has no power to slay a man
while he is occupied with the fulfillment of God's commandments. The
Angel of Death had to resort to cunning to gain possession of David.
(125) One Sabbath day, which happened to be also the Pentecost holiday,
(126) the king was absorbed in study, when he heard a sound in the
garden. He rose and descended the stairway leading from his palace to
the garden, to discover the cause of the noise. No sooner had he set
foot on the steps than they tumbled in, and David was killed. The Angel
of Death had caused the noise in order to utilize the moment when David
should interrupt his study. The king's corpse could not be moved on
the Sabbath, which was painful to those with him, as it was lying
exposed to the rays of the sun. So Solomon summoned several eagles, and
they stood guard over the body, shading it with their outstretched
pinions. (127)