"*** Samuel17 ***"
"David and his men ordered by Achish to accompany his army to fight against Israel Now the Philistines again mustered their forces to attack Israel. Achish said to David, You and your men will accompany my army. David replied, Now you will see what your servant can do. Achish said, If you do well, I will make you my bodyguard for life. The Philistine army commanders reject David But as the Philistine army marched with their kings, the army commanders saw David and his men marching with Achish and asked, Who are these Israelites? Achish replied, This is David who was a commander of Saul king of Israel."
"He has deserted and been with me for over a year. I have found no fault in him. But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, Send him back. He may turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his masters favour than by taking the heads of our own men. Is not this the David they sing about in their dances? David and his men return home to Ziklag So Achish called David and told what him the commanders had said and then said to him, Turn back and go in peace. Do nothing to displease the Philistine kings. David said, But what have I done? Why can I not go and fight"
"against the enemies of my lord the king? Achish answered, I know that you have been blameless in my sight, but the army commanders have said, He must not go with us into battle. So David and his men arose early next morning to return to Ziklag. The Philistine army set up camp in Israel The Philistine army then entered Israel and set up camp. The Lord does not answer Sauls inquiry for guidance Saul in turn mustered the Israelites and set up camp at Gilboa. However when he saw the huge Philistine army he began to fear and inquired of the Lord for guidance. But no answer came to him, neither by"
"dream nor by the high priest and Urim and Thummim, nor by a prophet. Saul in desperation consults a woman medium Saul finally said to his officials, Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may inquire of her. They replied, There is a woman in Endor who is a medium. So Saul disguised himself by putting on other clothes and by night he and two officials went to the woman. Saul said to her, Consult a spirit for me. Bring up the one I name. The woman fears to act, but Saul promises her protection The woman replied, Surely you know that Saul has forbidden all mediums in the land. Do not lay a"
"snare to bring about my death. But Saul swore to her, As surely as Jehovah lives you will not be punished for this. Saul asks the woman to bring up the spirit of Samuel The woman asked, Whom shall I bring up for you? Saul said to her, Bring up Samuel. The medium discerns that Saul is the king When the woman saw Samuel she shrieked and cried out, You have deceived me You are Saul The king said to her, Fear not. What did you see? The woman said, I saw a spirit like a god come up out of the earth. Saul asked, What does he look like? She replied, He is an elderly man clothed in a robe. Then Saul"
"knew it was Samuel, and he bowed down with his face to the ground. Samuel prophesies Israels defeat and Sauls death Samuel said to Saul, Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul said, I am in great distress. The Philistines have come to war against me and God has turned away from me. He no longer answers me by prophet or by dream. So I have called on you to tell me what to do. Samuel said, Why do you consult me? The Lord has done what he predicted through me. He has torn the kingdom out of your hands and given it to David, for you did not obey him in carrying out his fierce wrath"
"against the Amalekites. Jehovah will hand over both Israel and you to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Saul collapses on the floor in fear Immediately Saul fell full length on the floor, filled with fear at Samuels words. His strength was gone for he had eaten nothing all that day. The woman prepares food for Saul When the woman saw that Saul was greatly distressed she said to him, Let me prepare food that you will have strength to go your way. Saul refused and said, I will not eat. But his officials urged him and he got up from the floor and sat on the couch. The"
"woman had a fattened calf at the house which she slaughtered, and baked bread without yeast. Then she set the food before Saul and his officials and they ate. Then they arose and left."
"*** Samuel18 ***"
"David and his men find Ziklag burned and their wives and children captured When David and his men arrived back at Ziklag they discovered that Amalekites had raided the town and burned it, and taken their wives and children as captives. David finds strength in the Lord and enquires of him David and his men wept aloud until they had no more strength to weep. Then the men became bitter and talked of stoning David because of the loss of their sons and daughters, but David found strength in the Lord his God. He said to Abiathar the priest, Bring the ephod. Abiathar did so and David inquired of"
"the Lord, and asked, Shall I pursue this raiding party? The Lord answers, pursue and rescue so they set out immediately The Lord answered, Pursue them. You will overtake them and succeed in the rescue. So David and his 600 men set out immediately in pursuit. 200 of Davids men too exhausted to cross a river When they came to the river Besor 200 of his men remained behind, for they were too exhausted to cross. But David and 400 men crossed the river and continued in pursuit. David and his men assist a young Egyptian They came across a young Egyptian in a field and gave him water to drink"
"and figs and raisins to eat, for he had not eaten or drunk for three days. David asked him, To whom do you belong and where do you come from? He answered, I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite. My master abandoned me when I became ill three days ago. We raided Judah and the Negev and burned Ziklag. The Egyptian leads David to the raiders camp David said to him, Can you lead me to this raiding party? The young man answered, Swear to me before God that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master and I will lead you to them. David did so and the Egyptian led them to the raiders"
"camp. They found them spread out widely, eating, drinking and revelling because of the great amount of spoil they had taken. David defeats the raiders and recovers all that was taken and more David and his men fought the Amalekites from twilight until the evening of the next day. None escaped except 400 young men who fled on camels. David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives. He also kept all the flocks and herds as spoil and drove them before them as they returned. David divides the spoil equally When they came to the 200 men waiting at the river who had"
"been too exhausted to follow them, some worthless men among Davids followers said, Because they did not go with us we will not share with them the spoil we recovered. Each man may take his wife and children and go. But David replied, No my brothers, we must not withhold what the Lord has given us. He has protected us and handed over to us the forces that came against us. All of us shall share alike. David made this a law of Israel from that day to this. David sends some of the spoil to his friends in Judah When they arrived back in Ziklag, David sent some of the spoil to his friends the"
"elders of Judah who had befriended him in the places where he and his men had stayed."
"*** Samuel19 ***"
"The Philistines attack and the Israelites flee Meanwhile the Philistines made their attack on Mount Gilboa, and the Israelites fled before them, and many fell slain. Saul three sons die in battle The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and killed his three sons including Jonathan. Saul is severely wounded by Philistine archers The fighting grew fierce around the king, then the Philistine archers caught up with Saul and severely wounded him. Saul decides to take his own life Saul said to his armour-bearer, Run me through with your sword lest these uncircumcised Philistines make sport of me. But"
"his armour-bearer would not do it. So Saul took his own sword and fell on it. When the armour-bearer saw that Saul was dead he too fell on his sword and died with him. So Saul and his three sons and his armour-bearer died together that day. The Philistines occupy the surrounding towns When the Israelites in the towns round about saw that the Israelite army had fled, and heard that Saul and his sons were dead they abandoned their towns and fled, and the Philistines occupied them. Saul and his sons bodies hung on a city wall The next day when the Philistines came to strip the dead, they found"
"Saul and cut off his head and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news. They put Sauls armour in the temple of the goddess Astoreth, and hung his body and those of his sons on the wall of the city of Bethshan. The men of Jabesh bury Saul and his sons However when the people of Jabesh in Gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul and his sons, their valiant men crossed the Jordan and journeyed through the night to Bethshan. They took down the bodies of Saul and his sons from the wall and carried them back across the Jordan to Jabesh and burned them"
"there. Then they fasted seven days."