Jacob & MIB as a Parallel to David & Saul? by Leezy Shy

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Theory please be kind-this is my first theory submission. I'm also not totally sure what the meaning of all this is, but it's driving me crazy thinking about it, so I had to post it here to get some other comments as well. :)

So last night's episode with the numbers got me thinking-why were certain people assigned certain numbers? And then the whole concept of the Psalms & Psalm 23 hit me; 23-Shepherd. Could it work for the other characters as well?

Psalm 4-Locke
Psalm 8-Hurley
Psalm 15-Sawyer
Psalm 16-Sayid
Psalm 23-Jack
Psalm 42-Sun

Psalm 4 is known as a psalm of confidence, one where a man rises above the lamentations, which Locke has done in the ALT universe. Psalm 8 is about being thankful for everything that God has made and being appreciative of your blessings, which Hurley has also seemed to embrace in the ALT world. Psalm 15 is one of wisdom, where one offers wisdom and lives righteously. Sawyer already offered advice to Hurley on the place in the ALT, and I suspect as we move forward, he's not going to be anywhere close to being a con man. For Sayid, Psalm 16 is another psalm of confidence, where one is confident of preservation from an untimely death and being granted a full life. I think his rebirth on the island, and the implication that he was going to Nadia in the ALT timeline may nod towards this full life. Psalm 23 is about being a man of faith, and recognizing that being a shepherd or leader of the people is sometimes difficult, but that through repentance and faith, redemption is p! ossible. I think Jack has achieved this too in the ALT timeline. Finally, Psalm 42 is about loss, exclusion, exile, and for this reason, I'd say its more about Sun than Jin. She's exiled from the others on the island when they travel back in time, and in the ALT timeline, she's exiled from Jin again. Ultimately though, Psalm 42 encourages one not to lose hope.

OK, so after all that-here's what I'm thinking with David and Saul, and here's where I don't know how it fits in with the whole Lost universe. In biblical stories (and this is the short version, and try not to be nit picky if I leave out details, just trying to get thoughts out), Saul, the first appointed king of Israel, had a lot of issues with David, his immediate successor chosen by God because Saul didn't follow the rules for a sacrifice.

Now, Saul was appointed by Samuel under God's direction, and Samuel's name means "name of God." Saul (or MIB) got increasingly jealous of David (or Jacob), but because David was pure of heart, and had a close relationship with God, he couldn't kill him without angering the people (or the Others, or the Temple Others, or Dharma-I have no idea, really). So he set up a variety of military type situations in which David could potentially be killed, but of course, David had divine protection. And as Saul got further away from God, an evil spirit was sent to trail him (Smoky). Saul also sent David out to recruit other military leaders for his army, since he was officially the king-David was just the God appointed king.

So what if Jacob was out visiting our Losties under MIB's direction? What if MIB wanted them there to build up his army, and the island is the promised land? Perhaps Jacob prayed for their redemption using the Psalms-I don't think it was ever said that the numbers were in place before their names were. The numbers could have been added after their names had been written in the cave.

I don't think this is an exact interpretation of the David/Saul story by any means, and I'm really not sure where all the time travel, electromagnetic, Jughead thing fits in, but when I started looking at the Psalms, and then the David/Saul story, there were too many little coincidences to ignore.

Let me know your thoughts-I would love some help sorting this out!