A Harmony of the Books of Samuel, Kings and Chronicles

By William Day Crockett

BOOK SECOND.

THE REIGN OF SAUL.

Part III.

THE DECLINE OF SAUL AND THE RISE OF DAVID.

I. The Early History of David.

41. David chosen and anointed as Saul's Successor by Samuel.
1 Samuel 16:1-13.

1 Yahweh said to Samuel, “How long will you mourn for Saul, since I have rejected him from being king over Israel? Fill your horn with oil, and go. I will send you to Jesse the Bethlehemite; for I have provided a king for myself among his sons.”

2 Samuel said, “How can I go? If Saul hears it, he will kill me.”

Yahweh said, “Take a heifer with you, and say, I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. 3 Call Jesse to the sacrifice, and I will show you what you shall do. You shall anoint to me him whom I name to you.”

4 Samuel did that which Yahweh spoke, and came to Bethlehem. The elders of the city came to meet him trembling, and said, “Do you come peaceably?”

5 He said, “Peaceably; I have come to sacrifice to Yahweh. Sanctify yourselves, and come with me to the sacrifice.” He sanctified Jesse and his sons, and called them to the sacrifice. 6 It happened, when they had come, that he looked at Eliab, and said, “Surely Yahweh’s anointed is before him.”

7 But Yahweh said to Samuel, “Don’t look on his face, or on the height of his stature; because I have rejected him: for I see not as man sees; for man looks at the outward appearance, but Yahweh looks at the heart.” 8 Then Jesse called Abinadab, and made him pass before Samuel. He said, “Neither has Yahweh chosen this one.” 9 Then Jesse made Shammah to pass by. He said, “Neither has Yahweh chosen this one.” 10 Jesse made seven of his sons to pass before Samuel. Samuel said to Jesse, “Yahweh has not chosen these.” 11 Samuel said to Jesse, “Are all your children here?”

He said, “There remains yet the youngest, and behold, he is keeping the sheep.”

Samuel said to Jesse, “Send and get him; for we will not sit down until he comes here.”

12 He sent, and brought him in. Now he was ruddy, and withal of a beautiful face, and goodly to look on. Yahweh said, “Arise, anoint him; for this is he.”

13 Then Samuel took the horn of oil, and anointed him in the midst of his brothers: and the Spirit of Yahweh came mightily on David from that day forward. So Samuel rose up, and went to Ramah.

 

42. David's Introduction to the Court of Saul.
1 Samuel 16:14-23.

14 Now the Spirit of Yahweh departed from Saul, and an evil spirit from Yahweh troubled him. 15 Saul’s servants said to him, “See now, an evil spirit from God troubles you. 16 Let our lord now command your servants who are before you, to seek out a man who is a skillful player on the harp. It shall happen, when the evil spirit from God is on you, that he shall play with his hand, and you shall be well.”

17 Saul said to his servants, “Provide me now a man who can play well, and bring him to me.”

18 Then one of the young men answered, and said, “Behold, I have seen a son of Jesse the Bethlehemite, who is skillful in playing, a mighty man of valor, a man of war, prudent in speech, and a comely person; and Yahweh is with him.”

19 Therefore Saul sent messengers to Jesse, and said, “Send me David your son, who is with the sheep.”

20 Jesse took a donkey loaded with bread, and a bottle of wine, and a young goat, and sent them by David his son to Saul. 21 David came to Saul, and stood before him. He loved him greatly; and he became his armor bearer. 22 Saul sent to Jesse, saying, “Please let David stand before me; for he has found favor in my sight.” 23 It happened, when the spirit from God was on Saul, that David took the harp, and played with his hand: so Saul was refreshed, and was well, and the evil spirit departed from him.

 

II. David's Advancement and Saul's growing Jealousy.

43. The Story of David and Goliath.
(1) The Invasion of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 17:1-3.

1 Now the Philistines gathered together their armies to battle; and they were gathered together at Socoh, which belongs to Judah, and encamped between Socoh and Azekah, in Ephesdammim. 2 Saul and the men of Israel were gathered together, and encamped in the valley of Elah, and set the battle in array against the Philistines. 3 The Philistines stood on the mountain on the one side, and Israel stood on the mountain on the other side: and there was a valley between them.

 

(2) The Challenge of Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:4-11.

4 There went out a champion out of the camp of the Philistines, named Goliath, of Gath, whose height was six cubits and a span. 5 He had a helmet of brass on his head, and he was clad with a coat of mail; and the weight of the coat was five thousand shekels of brass. 6 He had brass shin armor on his legs, and a javelin of brass between his shoulders. 7 The staff of his spear was like a weaver’s beam; and his spear’s head weighed six hundred shekels of iron: and his shield bearer went before him. 8 He stood and cried to the armies of Israel, and said to them, “Why have you come out to set your battle in array? Am I not a Philistine, and you servants to Saul? Choose a man for yourselves, and let him come down to me. 9 If he be able to fight with me, and kill me, then will we be your servants; but if I prevail against him, and kill him, then you will be our servants, and serve us.” 10 The Philistine said, “I defy the armies of Israel this day! Give me a man, that we may fight together!”

11 When Saul and all Israel heard those words of the Philistine, they were dismayed, and greatly afraid.

 

(3) David is sent by his Father to his Brethren in the Army.
1 Samuel 17:12-22.

12 Now David was the son of that Ephrathite of Bethlehem Judah, whose name was Jesse; and he had eight sons: and the man was an old man in the days of Saul, stricken among men. 13 The three eldest sons of Jesse had gone after Saul to the battle: and the names of his three sons who went to the battle were Eliab the firstborn, and next to him Abinadab, and the third Shammah. 14 David was the youngest; and the three eldest followed Saul. 15 Now David went back and forth from Saul to feed his father’s sheep at Bethlehem. 16 The Philistine drew near morning and evening, and presented himself forty days. 17 Jesse said to David his son, “Now take for your brothers an ephah1 of this parched grain, and these ten loaves, and carry them quickly to the camp to your brothers; 18 and bring these ten cheeses to the captain of their thousand, and see how your brothers are doing, and bring back news.” 19 Now Saul, and they, and all the men of Israel, were in the valley of Elah, fighting with the Philistines. 20 David rose up early in the morning, and left the sheep with a keeper, and took, and went, as Jesse had commanded him; and he came to the place of the wagons, as the army which was going forth to the fight shouted for the battle. 21 Israel and the Philistines put the battle in array, army against army. 22 David left his baggage in the hand of the keeper of the baggage, and ran to the army, and came and greeted his brothers.

 

(4) David accepts Goliath's Challenge.
1 Samuel 17:23-37.

23 As he talked with them, behold, there came up the champion, the Philistine of Gath, Goliath by name, out of the ranks of the Philistines, and spoke according to the same words: and David heard them. 24 All the men of Israel, when they saw the man, fled from him, and were terrified. 25 The men of Israel said, “Have you seen this man who has come up? He has surely come up to defy Israel. It shall be, that the man who kills him, the king will enrich him with great riches, and will give him his daughter, and make his father’s house free in Israel.”

26 David spoke to the men who stood by him, saying, “What shall be done to the man who kills this Philistine, and takes away the reproach from Israel? For who is this uncircumcised Philistine, that he should defy the armies of the living God?”

27 The people answered him in this way, saying, “So shall it be done to the man who kills him.”

28 Eliab his eldest brother heard when he spoke to the men; and Eliab’s anger was kindled against David, and he said, “Why have you come down? With whom have you left those few sheep in the wilderness? I know your pride, and the naughtiness of your heart; for you have come down that you might see the battle.”

29 David said, “What have I now done? Is there not a cause?” 30 He turned away from him toward another, and spoke like that again; and the people answered him again the same way. 31 When the words were heard which David spoke, they rehearsed them before Saul; and he sent for him. 32 David said to Saul, “Let no man’s heart fail because of him. Your servant will go and fight with this Philistine.”

33 Saul said to David, “You are not able to go against this Philistine to fight with him; for you are but a youth, and he a man of war from his youth.”

34 David said to Saul, “Your servant was keeping his father’s sheep; and when a lion or a bear came, and took a lamb out of the flock, 35 I went out after him, and struck him, and rescued it out of his mouth. When he arose against me, I caught him by his beard, and struck him, and killed him. 36 Your servant struck both the lion and the bear. This uncircumcised Philistine shall be as one of them, since he has defied the armies of the living God.” 37 David said, “Yahweh who delivered me out of the paw of the lion, and out of the paw of the bear, he will deliver me out of the hand of this Philistine.”

Saul said to David, “Go; and Yahweh shall be with you.”

 

(5) David's Contest with Goliath.
1 Samuel 17:38-51.

38 Saul dressed David with his clothing. He put a helmet of brass on his head, and he clad him with a coat of mail. 39 David strapped his sword on his clothing, and he tried to move; for he had not tested it. David said to Saul, “I can’t go with these; for I have not tested them.” David took them off.

40 He took his staff in his hand, and chose for himself five smooth stones out of the brook, and put them in the shepherd’s bag which he had, even in his wallet. His sling was in his hand; and he drew near to the Philistine. 41 The Philistine came on and drew near to David; and the man who bore the shield went before him. 42 When the Philistine looked about, and saw David, he disdained him; for he was but a youth, and ruddy, and withal of a fair face. 43 The Philistine said to David, “Am I a dog, that you come to me with sticks?” The Philistine cursed David by his gods. 44 The Philistine said to David, “Come to me, and I will give your flesh to the birds of the sky, and to the animals of the field.”

45 Then David said to the Philistine, “You come to me with a sword, and with a spear, and with a javelin: but I come to you in the name of Yahweh of Armies, the God of the armies of Israel, whom you have defied. 46 Today, Yahweh will deliver you into my hand. I will strike you, and take your head from off you. I will give the dead bodies of the army of the Philistines this day to the birds of the sky, and to the wild animals of the earth; that all the earth may know that there is a God in Israel, 47 and that all this assembly may know that Yahweh doesn’t save with sword and spear: for the battle is Yahweh’s, and he will give you into our hand.”

48 It happened, when the Philistine arose, and came and drew near to meet David, that David hurried, and ran toward the army to meet the Philistine. 49 David put his hand in his bag, took a stone, and slung it, and struck the Philistine in his forehead; and the stone sank into his forehead, and he fell on his face to the earth. 50 So David prevailed over the Philistine with a sling and with a stone, and struck the Philistine, and killed him; but there was no sword in the hand of David. 51 Then David ran, and stood over the Philistine, and took his sword, and drew it out of its sheath, and killed him, and cut off his head therewith. When the Philistines saw that their champion was dead, they fled.

 

 (6) David once more in the royal Presence.
1 Samuel 17:55-58.

55 When Saul saw David go forth against the Philistine, he said to Abner, the captain of the army, “Abner, whose son is this youth?”

Abner said, “As your soul lives, O king, I can’t tell.”

56 The king said, “Inquire whose son the young man is!”

57 As David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, Abner took him, and brought him before Saul with the head of the Philistine in his hand. 58 Saul said to him, “Whose son are you, you young man?”

David answered, “I am the son of your servant Jesse the Bethlehemite.”

 

(7) The Deed of Shammah.

[2 Samuel 23:11b, 12.]

11b ...The Philistines were gathered together into a troop, where there was a plot of ground full of lentils; and the people fled from the Philistines. 12 But he stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh worked a great victory.

[1 Chronicles 11:13, 14.]

13 He was with David at Pasdammim, and there the Philistines were gathered together to battle, where there was a plot of ground full of barley; and the people fled from before the Philistines. 14 They stood in the midst of the plot, and defended it, and killed the Philistines; and Yahweh saved them by a great victory.

 

(8) The Rout of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 17:52-54.

52 The men of Israel and of Judah arose, and shouted, and pursued the Philistines, until you come to Gai, and to the gates of Ekron. The wounded of the Philistines fell down by the way to Shaaraim, even to Gath, and to Ekron. 53 The children of Israel returned from chasing after the Philistines, and they plundered their camp. 54 David took the head of the Philistine, and brought it to Jerusalem; but he put his armor in his tent.

 

44. David at the Court of Saul.
(1) Saul attaches David to his Suit.
1 Samuel 18:2.

2 Saul took him that day, and would let him go no more home to his father’s house.

 

(2) Jonathan's Friendship for David.
1 Samuel 18:1, 3, 4.

1 It happened, when he had made an end of speaking to Saul, that the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David, and Jonathan loved him as his own soul.


3 Then Jonathan and David made a covenant, because he loved him as his own soul. 4 Jonathan stripped himself of the robe that was on him, and gave it to David, and his clothing, even to his sword, and to his bow, and to his sash.

 

(3) David's Popularity.
1 Samuel 18:5.

5 David went out wherever Saul sent him, and behaved himself wisely: and Saul set him over the men of war, and it was good in the sight of all the people, and also in the sight of Saul’s servants.

 

(4) Saul's Hatred toward David.
1 Samuel 18:6-16.

6 It happened as they came, when David returned from the slaughter of the Philistine, that the women came out of all the cities of Israel, singing and dancing, to meet king Saul, with tambourines, with joy, and with instruments of music. 7 The women sang one to another as they played, and said,

“Saul has slain his thousands,
David his ten thousands.”

8 Saul was very angry, and this saying displeased him; and he said, “They have ascribed to David ten thousands, and to me they have ascribed but thousands. What can he have more but the kingdom?” 9 Saul eyed David from that day and forward. 10 It happened on the next day, that an evil spirit from God came mightily on Saul, and he prophesied in the midst of the house. David played with his hand, as he did day by day. Saul had his spear in his hand; 11 and Saul threw the spear; for he said, “I will pin David even to the wall!” David escaped from his presence twice. 12 Saul was afraid of David, because Yahweh was with him, and was departed from Saul. 13 Therefore Saul removed him from him, and made him his captain over a thousand; and he went out and came in before the people.

14 David behaved himself wisely in all his ways; and Yahweh was with him. 15 When Saul saw that he behaved himself very wisely, he stood in awe of him. 16 But all Israel and Judah loved David; for he went out and came in before them.

 

(5) Saul's artful Attempt against David's Life.
1 Samuel 18:17-29.

17 Saul said to David, “Behold, my elder daughter Merab, I will give her to you as wife. Only be valiant for me, and fight Yahweh’s battles.” For Saul said, “Don’t let my hand be on him, but let the hand of the Philistines be on him.” 18 David said to Saul, “Who am I, and what is my life, or my father’s family in Israel, that I should be son-in-law to the king?”

19 But it happened at the time when Merab, Saul’s daughter, should have been given to David, that she was given to Adriel the Meholathite as wife. 20 Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved David; and they told Saul, and the thing pleased him. 21 Saul said, I will give her to him, that she may be a snare to him, and that the hand of the Philistines may be against him. Therefore Saul said to David, “You shall this day be my son-in-law a second time.” 22 Saul commanded his servants, “Talk with David secretly, and say, ‘Behold, the king has delight in you, and all his servants love you: now therefore be the king’s son-in-law.’”

23 Saul’s servants spoke those words in the ears of David. David said, “Does it seems to you a light thing to be the king’s son-in-law, since I am a poor man, and lightly esteemed?”

24 The servants of Saul told him, saying, “David spoke like this.”

25 Saul said, “You shall tell David, ‘The king desires no dowry except one hundred foreskins of the Philistines, to be avenged of the king’s enemies.’” Now Saul thought to make David fall by the hand of the Philistines. 26 When his servants told David these words, it pleased David well to be the king’s son-in-law. The days were not expired; 27 and David arose and went, he and his men, and killed of the Philistines two hundred men; and David brought their foreskins, and they gave them in full number to the king, that he might be the king’s son-in-law. Saul gave him Michal his daughter as wife. 28 Saul saw and knew that Yahweh was with David; and Michal, Saul’s daughter, loved him. 29 Saul was yet the more afraid of David; and Saul was David’s enemy continually.

 

(6) David's increasing Popularity.
1 Samuel 18:30.

30 Then the princes of the Philistines went forth: and it happened, as often as they went forth, that David behaved himself more wisely than all the servants of Saul; so that his name was highly esteemed.

 

 (7) Jonathan proves his Friendship for David.
1 Samuel 19:1-7.

1 Saul spoke to Jonathan his son, and to all his servants, that they should kill David. But Jonathan, Saul’s son, delighted much in David. 2 Jonathan told David, saying, “Saul my father seeks to kill you. Now therefore, please take care of yourself in the morning, and live in a secret place, and hide yourself. 3 I will go out and stand beside my father in the field where you are, and I will talk with my father about you; and if I see anything, I will tell you.”

4 Jonathan spoke good of David to Saul his father, and said to him, “Don’t let the king sin against his servant, against David; because he has not sinned against you, and because his works have been very good toward you; 5 for he put his life in his hand, and struck the Philistine, and Yahweh worked a great victory for all Israel. You saw it, and rejoiced. Why then will you sin against innocent blood, to kill David without a cause?”

6 Saul listened to the voice of Jonathan: and Saul swore, “As Yahweh lives, he shall not be put to death.”

7 Jonathan called David, and Jonathan showed him all those things. Jonathan brought David to Saul, and he was in his presence, as before.

 

45. David is forced to leave Court.
(1) David escapes by Michal's Help.
1 Samuel 19:8-17.

8 There was war again. David went out, and fought with the Philistines, and killed them with a great slaughter; and they fled before him.

9 An evil spirit from Yahweh was on Saul, as he sat in his house with his spear in his hand; and David was playing with his hand. 10 Saul sought to pin David even to the wall with the spear; but he slipped away out of Saul’s presence, and he stuck the spear into the wall. David fled, and escaped that night. 11 Saul sent messengers to David’s house, to watch him, and to kill him in the morning. Michal, David’s wife, told him, saying, “If you don’t save your life tonight, tomorrow you will be killed.” 12 So Michal let David down through the window. He went, fled, and escaped. 13 Michal took the teraphim, and laid it in the bed, and put a pillow of goats’ hair at its head, and covered it with the clothes. 14 When Saul sent messengers to take David, she said, “He is sick.”

15 Saul sent the messengers to see David, saying, “Bring him up to me in the bed, that I may kill him.” 16 When the messengers came in, behold, the teraphim was in the bed, with the pillow of goats’ hair at its head.

17 Saul said to Michal, “Why have you deceived me thus, and let my enemy go, so that he is escaped?”

Michal answered Saul, “He said to me, ‘Let me go! Why should I kill you?’”

 

(2) David's Flight to Ramah and Saul's Pursuit.
1 Samuel 19:18-24.

18 Now David fled, and escaped, and came to Samuel to Ramah, and told him all that Saul had done to him. He and Samuel went and lived in Naioth. 19 It was told Saul, saying, “Behold, David is at Naioth in Ramah.”

20 Saul sent messengers to take David: and when they saw the company of the prophets prophesying, and Samuel standing as head over them, the Spirit of God came on the messengers of Saul, and they also prophesied. 21 When it was told Saul, he sent other messengers, and they also prophesied. Saul sent messengers again the third time, and they also prophesied. 22 Then went he also to Ramah, and came to the great well that is in Secu: and he asked, “Where are Samuel and David?”

One said, “Behold, they are at Naioth in Ramah.”

23 He went there to Naioth in Ramah. Then the Spirit of God came on him also, and he went on, and prophesied, until he came to Naioth in Ramah. 24 He also stripped off his clothes, and he also prophesied before Samuel, and lay down naked all that day and all that night. Therefore they say, “Is Saul also among the prophets?”

 

(3) The Conference between David and Jonathan.
1 Samuel 20:1-23.

1 David fled from Naioth in Ramah, and came and said before Jonathan, “What have I done? What is my iniquity? What is my sin before your father, that he seeks my life?”

2 He said to him, “Far from it; you shall not die. Behold, my father does nothing either great or small, but that he discloses it to me; and why should my father hide this thing from me? It is not so.”

3 David swore moreover, and said, “Your father knows well that I have found favor in your eyes; and he says, ‘Don’t let Jonathan know this, lest he be grieved:’ but truly as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, there is but a step between me and death.”

4 Then Jonathan said to David, “Whatever your soul desires, I will even do it for you.”

5 David said to Jonathan, “Behold, tomorrow is the new moon, and I should not fail to dine with the king; but let me go, that I may hide myself in the field to the third day at evening. 6 If your father miss me at all, then say, ‘David earnestly asked leave of me that he might run to Bethlehem his city; for it is the yearly sacrifice there for all the family.’ 7 If he says, ‘It is well;’ your servant shall have peace: but if he be angry, then know that evil is determined by him. 8 Therefore deal kindly with your servant; for you have brought your servant into a covenant of Yahweh with you: but if there is iniquity in me, kill me yourself; for why should you bring me to your father?”

9 Jonathan said, “Far be it from you; for if I should at all know that evil were determined by my father to come on you, then wouldn’t I tell you that?”

10 Then David said to Jonathan, “Who shall tell me if perchance your father answers you roughly?”

11 Jonathan said to David, “Come, and let us go out into the field.” They both went out into the field. 12 Jonathan said to David, “By Yahweh, the God of Israel, when I have sounded my father about this time tomorrow, or the third day, behold, if there is good toward David, shall I not then send to you, and disclose it to you? 13 Yahweh do so to Jonathan, and more also, should it please my father to do you evil, if I don’t disclose it to you, and send you away, that you may go in peace: and Yahweh be with you, as he has been with my father. 14 You shall not only while yet I live show me the loving kindness of Yahweh, that I not die; 15 but also you shall not cut off your kindness from my house forever; no, not when Yahweh has cut off the enemies of David everyone from the surface of the earth.” 16 So Jonathan made a covenant with the house of David, saying, “Yahweh will require it at the hand of David’s enemies.” 17 Jonathan caused David to swear again, for the love that he had to him; for he loved him as he loved his own soul. 18 Then Jonathan said to him, “Tomorrow is the new moon: and you will be missed, because your seat will be empty. 19 When you have stayed three days, you shall go down quickly, and come to the place where you hid yourself when this started, and shall remain by the stone Ezel. 20 I will shoot three arrows on its side, as though I shot at a mark. 21 Behold, I will send the boy, saying, ‘Go, find the arrows!’ If I tell the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are on this side of you. Take them;’ then come; for there is peace to you and no hurt, as Yahweh lives. 22 But if I say this to the boy, ‘Behold, the arrows are beyond you;’ then go your way; for Yahweh has sent you away. 23 Concerning the matter which you and I have spoken of, behold, Yahweh is between you and me forever.”

 

(4) Jonathan learns his Father's Intentions towards David.
1 Samuel 20:24-34.

24 So David hid himself in the field: and when the new moon had come, the king sat him down to eat food. 25 The king sat on his seat, as at other times, even on the seat by the wall; and Jonathan stood up, and Abner sat by Saul’s side: but David’s place was empty. 26 Nevertheless Saul didn’t say anything that day: for he thought, “Something has happened to him. He is not clean. Surely he is not clean.”

27 It happened on the next day after the new moon, the second day, that David’s place was empty. Saul said to Jonathan his son, “Why doesn’t the son of Jesse come to eat, neither yesterday, nor today?”

28 Jonathan answered Saul, “David earnestly asked leave of me to go to Bethlehem. 29 He said, ‘Please let me go, for our family has a sacrifice in the city. My brother has commanded me to be there. Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please let me go away and see my brothers.’ Therefore he has not come to the king’s table.”

30 Then Saul’s anger was kindled against Jonathan, and he said to him, “You son of a perverse rebellious woman, don’t I know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame, and to the shame of your mother’s nakedness? 31 For as long as the son of Jesse lives on the earth, you shall not be established, nor your kingdom. Therefore now send and bring him to me, for he shall surely die!”

32 Jonathan answered Saul his father, and said to him, “Why should he be put to death? What has he done?”

33 Saul cast his spear at him to strike him. By this Jonathan knew that his father was determined to put David to death. 34 So Jonathan arose from the table in fierce anger, and ate no food the second day of the month; for he was grieved for David, because his father had done him shame.

 

 (5) The Parting between David and Jonathan.
1 Samuel 20:35-42.

35 It happened in the morning, that Jonathan went out into the field at the time appointed with David, and a little boy with him. 36 He said to his boy, “Run, find now the arrows which I shoot.” As the boy ran, he shot an arrow beyond him. 37 When the boy had come to the place of the arrow which Jonathan had shot, Jonathan cried after the boy, and said, “Isn’t the arrow beyond you?” 38 Jonathan cried after the boy, “Go fast! Hurry! Don’t delay!” Jonathan’s boy gathered up the arrows, and came to his master. 39 But the boy didn’t know anything. Only Jonathan and David knew the matter. 40 Jonathan gave his weapons to his boy, and said to him, “Go, carry them to the city.”

41 As soon as the boy was gone, David arose out of the south, and fell on his face to the ground, and bowed himself three times. They kissed one another, and wept one with another, and David wept the most. 42 Jonathan said to David, “Go in peace, because we have both sworn in the name of Yahweh, saying, ‘Yahweh shall be between me and you, and between my seed and your seed, forever.’” He arose and departed; and Jonathan went into the city.

 

III. David's Outlaw Life.

46. David's Flight.
(1) To Nob, to Ahimelech, the High Priest.
1 Samuel 21:1-9.

1 Then came David to Nob to Ahimelech the priest. Ahimelech came to meet David trembling, and said to him, “Why are you alone, and no man with you?” 2 David said to Ahimelech the priest, “The king has commanded me a business, and has said to me, ‘Let no man know anything of the business about which I send you, and what I have commanded you; and I have appointed the young men to such and such a place.’ 3 Now therefore what is under your hand? Give me five loaves of bread in my hand, or whatever there is present.”

4 The priest answered David, and said, “There is no common bread under my hand, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”

5 David answered the priest, and said to him, “Truly, women have been kept from us about these three days. When I came out, the vessels of the young men were holy, though it was but a common journey. How much more then today shall their vessels be holy?” 6 So the priest gave him holy bread; for there was no bread there but the show bread, that was taken from before Yahweh, to put hot bread in the day when it was taken away.

7 Now a certain man of the servants of Saul was there that day, detained before Yahweh; and his name was Doeg the Edomite, the best of the herdsmen who belonged to Saul. 8 David said to Ahimelech, “Isn’t there here under your hand spear or sword? For I have neither brought my sword nor my weapons with me, because the king’s business required haste.”

9 The priest said, “The sword of Goliath the Philistine, whom you killed in the valley of Elah, behold, it is here wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. If you will take that, take it; for there is no other except that here.”

David said, “There is none like that. Give it to me.”

 

 (2) To Achish, King of Gath.
1 Samuel 21:10-15.

10 David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 The servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David the king of the land? Didn’t they sing one to another about him in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?’” 12 David laid up these words in his heart, and was very afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 He changed his behavior before them, and pretended to be mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard. 14 Then Achish said to his servants, “Look, you see the man is mad. Why then have you brought him to me? 15 Do I lack madmen, that you have brought this fellow to play the madman in my presence? Shall this fellow come into my house?”

 

(3) To the Cave of Adullam.

1 Samuel 22:1, 2.

1 David therefore departed there, and escaped to the cave of Adullam. When his brothers and all his father’s house heard it, they went down there to him. 2 Everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was discontented, gathered themselves to him; and he became captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men.

1 Chronicles 12:16-18.

16 There came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold to David. 17 David went out to meet them, and answered them, “If you have come peaceably to me to help me, my heart shall be knit to you; but if you have come to betray me to my adversaries, since there is no wrong in my hands, may the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.” 18 Then the Spirit came on Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, and he said, “We are yours, David, and on your side, you son of Jesse: peace, peace be to you, and peace be to your helpers; for your God helps you.” Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

 

(4) To Mizpeh of Moab, where he finds Asylum for his Parents.
1 Samuel 22:3, 4.

3 David went there to Mizpeh of Moab, and he said to the king of Moab, “Please let my father and my mother come out with you, until I know what God will do for me.” 4 He brought them before the king of Moab; and they lived with him all the while that David was in the stronghold.

 

(5) To the Forest of Hereth, in Judah.
1 Samuel 22:5.

5 The prophet Gad said to David, “Don’t stay in the stronghold. Depart, and go into the land of Judah.”

Then David departed, and came into the forest of Hereth.

 

47. Saul's Vengeance on the Priests of Nob.
1 Samuel 22:6-20.

6 Saul heard that David was discovered, and the men who were with him. Now Saul was sitting in Gibeah, under the tamarisk tree in Ramah, with his spear in his hand, and all his servants were standing about him. 7 Saul said to his servants who stood about him, “Hear now, you Benjamites! Will the son of Jesse give everyone of you fields and vineyards, will he make you all captains of thousands and captains of hundreds, 8 that all of you have conspired against me, and there is none who discloses to me when my son makes a treaty with the son of Jesse, and there is none of you who is sorry for me, or discloses to me that my son has stirred up my servant against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”

9 Then Doeg the Edomite, who stood by the servants of Saul, answered and said, “I saw the son of Jesse coming to Nob, to Ahimelech the son of Ahitub. 10 He inquired of Yahweh for him, gave him food, and gave him the sword of Goliath the Philistine.”

11 Then the king sent to call Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were in Nob: and they came all of them to the king. 12 Saul said, “Hear now, you son of Ahitub.”

He answered, “Here I am, my lord.”

13 Saul said to him, “Why have you conspired against me, you and the son of Jesse, in that you have given him bread, and a sword, and have inquired of God for him, that he should rise against me, to lie in wait, as at this day?”

14 Then Ahimelech answered the king, and said, “Who among all your servants is so faithful as David, who is the king’s son-in-law, and is taken into your council, and is honorable in your house? 15 Have I today begun to inquire of God for him? Be it far from me! Don’t let the king impute anything to his servant, nor to all the house of my father; for your servant knows nothing of all this, less or more.”

16 The king said, “You shall surely die, Ahimelech, you, and all your father’s house.” 17 The king said to the guard who stood about him, “Turn, and kill the priests of Yahweh; because their hand also is with David, and because they knew that he fled, and didn’t disclose it to me.” But the servants of the king wouldn’t put forth their hand to fall on the priests of Yahweh. 18 The king said to Doeg, “Turn and attack the priests!”

Doeg the Edomite turned, and he attacked the priests, and he killed on that day eighty-five people who wore a linen ephod. 19 He struck Nob, the city of the priests, with the edge of the sword, both men and women, children and nursing babies, and cattle and donkeys and sheep, with the edge of the sword. 20 One of the sons of Ahimelech, the son of Ahitub, named Abiathar, escaped, and fled after David.

 

48. David in Keilah.
(1) David rescues Keilah.
1 Samuel 23:1-5.

1 David was told, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.”

2 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and strike these Philistines?”

Yahweh said to David, “Go strike the Philistines, and save Keilah.”

3 David’s men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah: how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”

4 Then David inquired of Yahweh yet again. Yahweh answered him, and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.”

5 David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their livestock, and killed them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

 

 (2) Abiathar joins David.
1 Samuel 22:21-23; 23:6.

21 Abiathar told David that Saul had slain Yahweh’s priests. 22 David said to Abiathar, “I knew on that day, when Doeg the Edomite was there, that he would surely tell Saul. I am responsible for the death of all the persons of your father’s house. 23 Stay with me, don’t be afraid; for he who seeks my life seeks your life. For with me you shall be in safeguard.”


6 It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

 

(3) David escapes from Keilah.
1 Samuel 23:7-13.

7 It was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars.” 8 Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him; and he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “O Yahweh, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. 11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? Yahweh, the God of Israel, I beg you, tell your servant.”

Yahweh said, “He will come down.”

12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?”

Yahweh said, “They will deliver you up.”

13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he gave up going there.

 

49. David's last Meeting with Jonathan.
1 Samuel 23:14-18.

14 David stayed in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill country in the wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God didn’t deliver him into his hand. 15 David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. David was in the wilderness of Ziph in the wood.

16 Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose, and went to David into the woods, and strengthened his hand in God. 17 He said to him, “Don’t be afraid; for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you; and that also Saul my father knows.” 18 They both made a covenant before Yahweh: and David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his house.

 

50. David's Betrayal by the Ziphites.
1 Samuel 23:19-24a.

19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself with us in the strongholds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of the desert? 20 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king’s hand.”

21 Saul said, “You are blessed by Yahweh; for you have had compassion on me. 22 Please go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, and who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he is in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.”

24a They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul:...

 

51. David's Escape from Saul in the Wilderness of Maon.
1 Samuel 23:24b-28.

24b ...but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert. 25 Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told, he went down to the rock, and stayed in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard that, he pursued David in the wilderness of Maon. 26 Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men surrounded David and his men to take them. 27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land!” 28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.

 

52. David in the Wilderness of En-gedi: He spares Saul in the Cave.
1 Samuel 23:29-24:22.

29 David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En Gedi.

1 It happened, when Saul was returned from following the Philistines, that it was told him, saying, “Behold, David is in the wilderness of En Gedi.” 2 Then Saul took three thousand chosen men out of all Israel, and went to seek David and his men on the rocks of the wild goats. 3 He came to the sheep pens by the way, where there was a cave; and Saul went in to relieve himself. Now David and his men were abiding in the innermost parts of the cave. 4 The men of David said to him, “Behold, the day of which Yahweh said to you, ‘Behold, I will deliver your enemy into your hand, and you shall do to him as it shall seem good to you.’” Then David arose, and cut off the skirt of Saul’s robe secretly. 5 It happened afterward, that David’s heart struck him, because he had cut off Saul’s skirt. 6 He said to his men, “Yahweh forbid that I should do this thing to my lord, Yahweh’s anointed, to put forth my hand against him, since he is Yahweh’s anointed.” 7 So David checked his men with these words, and didn’t allow them to rise against Saul. Saul rose up out of the cave, and went on his way. 8 David also arose afterward, and went out of the cave, and cried after Saul, saying, “My lord the king!”

When Saul looked behind him, David bowed with his face to the earth, and showed respect. 9 David said to Saul, “Why do you listen to men’s words, saying, ‘Behold, David seeks your hurt?’ 10 Behold, this day your eyes have seen how that Yahweh had delivered you today into my hand in the cave. Some urged me to kill you; but I spared you; and I said, I will not put forth my hand against my lord; for he is Yahweh’s anointed. 11 Moreover, my father, behold, yes, see the skirt of your robe in my hand; for in that I cut off the skirt of your robe, and didn’t kill you, know and see that there is neither evil nor disobedience in my hand, and I have not sinned against you, though you hunt for my life to take it. 12 May Yahweh judge between me and you, and may Yahweh avenge me of you; but my hand shall not be on you. 13 As the proverb of the ancients says, ‘Out of the wicked comes forth wickedness;’ but my hand shall not be on you. 14 Against whom has the king of Israel come out? Whom do you pursue? A dead dog? A flea? 15 May Yahweh therefore be judge, and give sentence between me and you, and see, and plead my cause, and deliver me out of your hand.”

16 It came to pass, when David had made an end of speaking these words to Saul, that Saul said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” Saul lifted up his voice, and wept. 17 He said to David, “You are more righteous than I; for you have done good to me, whereas I have done evil to you. 18 You have declared this day how you have dealt well with me, because when Yahweh had delivered me up into your hand, you didn’t kill me. 19 For if a man finds his enemy, will he let him go away unharmed? Therefore may Yahweh reward you good for that which you have done to me this day. 20 Now, behold, I know that you shall surely be king, and that the kingdom of Israel shall be established in your hand. 21 Swear now therefore to me by Yahweh, that you will not cut off my seed after me, and that you will not destroy my name out of my father’s house.”

22 David swore to Saul. Saul went home; but David and his men went up to the stronghold.

 

53. The Death of Samuel.
1 Samuel 25:1a.

1a Samuel died; and all Israel gathered themselves together, and lamented him, and buried him in his house at Ramah....

 

 

54. David in the Wilderness of Paran:the History of Nabal and Abigail.
1 Samuel 25:1b-38.

1b ...David arose, and went down to the wilderness of Paran. 2 There was a man in Maon, whose possessions were in Carmel; and the man was very great, and he had three thousand sheep, and a thousand goats: and he was shearing his sheep in Carmel. 3 Now the name of the man was Nabal; and the name of his wife Abigail; and the woman was of good understanding, and of a beautiful face: but the man was churlish and evil in his doings; and he was of the house of Caleb. 4 David heard in the wilderness that Nabal was shearing his sheep. 5 David sent ten young men, and David said to the young men, “Go up to Carmel, and go to Nabal, and greet him in my name. 6 You shall tell him, ‘Long life to you! Peace be to you, and peace be to your house, and peace be to all that you have. 7 Now I have heard that you have shearers. Your shepherds have now been with us, and we didn’t hurt them, neither was there anything missing from them, all the while they were in Carmel. 8 Ask your young men, and they will tell you. Therefore, let the young men find favor in your eyes; for we come in a good day. Please give whatever comes to your hand, to your servants, and to your son David.’”

9 When David’s young men came, they spoke to Nabal according to all those words in the name of David, and ceased.

10 Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David? Who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants who break away from their masters these days. 11 Shall I then take my bread, and my water, and my meat that I have killed for my shearers, and give it to men who I don’t know where they come from?”

12 So David’s young men turned on their way, and went back, and came and told him according to all these words. 13 David said to his men, “Every man put on his sword!”

Every man put on his sword. David also put on his sword. About four hundred men followed David; and two hundred stayed by the baggage. 14 But one of the young men told Abigail, Nabal’s wife, saying, “Behold, David sent messengers out of the wilderness to Greet our master; and he railed at them. 15 But the men were very good to us, and we were not hurt, neither missed we anything, as long as we went with them, when we were in the fields. 16 They were a wall to us both by night and by day, all the while we were with them keeping the sheep. 17 Now therefore know and consider what you will do; for evil is determined against our master, and against all his house; for he is such a worthless fellow that one can’t speak to him.”

18 Then Abigail hurried and took two hundred loaves of bread, two bottles of wine, five sheep ready dressed, five measures of parched grain, one hundred clusters of raisins, and two hundred cakes of figs, and laid them on donkeys. 19 She said to her young men, “Go on before me. Behold, I come after you.” But she didn’t tell her husband, Nabal. 20 It was so, as she rode on her donkey, and came down by the covert of the mountain, that behold, David and his men came down toward her; and she met them.

21 Now David had said, “Surely in vain have I kept all that this fellow has in the wilderness, so that nothing was missed of all that pertained to him. He has returned me evil for good. 22 God do so to the enemies of David, and more also, if I leave of all that belongs to him by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.1

23 When Abigail saw David, she hurried, and alighted from her donkey, and fell before David on her face, and bowed herself to the ground. 24 She fell at his feet, and said, “On me, my lord, on me be the iniquity; and please let your handmaid speak in your ears. Hear the words of your handmaid. 25 Please don’t let my lord regard this worthless fellow, even Nabal; for as his name is, so is he. Nabal is his name, and folly is with him; but I, your handmaid, didn’t see the young men of my lord, whom you sent. 26 Now therefore, my lord, as Yahweh lives, and as your soul lives, since Yahweh has withheld you from blood guiltiness, and from avenging yourself with your own hand, now therefore let your enemies, and those who seek evil to my lord, be as Nabal. 27 Now this present which your servant has brought to my lord, let it be given to the young men who follow my lord. 28 Please forgive the trespass of your handmaid. For Yahweh will certainly make my lord a sure house, because my lord fights the battles of Yahweh; and evil shall not be found in you all your days. 29 Though men may rise up to pursue you, and to seek your soul, yet the soul of my lord shall be bound in the bundle of life with Yahweh your God. He will sling out the souls of your enemies, as from the hollow of a sling. 30 It shall come to pass, when Yahweh has done to my lord according to all the good that he has spoken concerning you, and shall have appointed you prince over Israel, 31 that this shall be no grief to you, nor offense of heart to my lord, either that you have shed blood without cause, or that my lord has avenged himself. When Yahweh has dealt well with my lord, then remember your handmaid.”

32 David said to Abigail, “Blessed is Yahweh, the God of Israel, who sent you this day to meet me! 33 Blessed is your discretion, and blessed are you, that have kept me this day from blood guiltiness, and from avenging myself with my own hand. 34 For indeed, as Yahweh, the God of Israel, lives, who has withheld me from hurting you, unless you had hurried and come to meet me, surely there wouldn’t have been left to Nabal by the morning light so much as one who urinates on a wall.2

35 So David received of her hand that which she had brought him: and he said to her, “Go up in peace to your house. Behold, I have listened to your voice, and have granted your request.”

36 Abigail came to Nabal; and behold, he held a feast in his house, like the feast of a king. Nabal’s heart was merry within him, for he was very drunken. Therefore she told him nothing, less or more, until the morning light. 37 It happened in the morning, when the wine was gone out of Nabal, that his wife told him these things, and his heart died within him, and he became as a stone. 38 It happened about ten days after, that Yahweh struck Nabal, so that he died.

 

55. David's matrimonial Relations.
1 Samuel 25:39-44.

39 When David heard that Nabal was dead, he said, “Blessed is Yahweh, who has pleaded the cause of my reproach from the hand of Nabal, and has kept back his servant from evil. Yahweh has returned the evildoing of Nabal on his own head.” David sent and spoke concerning Abigail, to take her to him as wife. 40 When the servants of David had come to Abigail to Carmel, they spoke to her, saying, “David has sent us to you, to take you to him as wife.”

41 She arose, and bowed herself with her face to the earth, and said, “Behold, your handmaid is a servant to wash the feet of the servants of my lord.” 42 Abigail hurried, and arose, and rode on a donkey, with five ladies of hers who followed her; and she went after the messengers of David, and became his wife. 43 David also took Ahinoam of Jezreel; and they both became his wives. 44 Now Saul had given Michal his daughter, David’s wife, to Palti the son of Laish, who was of Gallim.

 

56. David, betrayed again by the Ziphites, spares Saul the second Time.
1 Samuel 26:1-25.

1 The Ziphites came to Saul to Gibeah, saying, “Doesn’t David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert?” 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 Saul encamped in the hill of Hachilah, which is before the desert, by the way. But David stayed in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul had certainly come. 5 David arose, and came to the place where Saul had encamped; and David saw the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his army: and Saul lay within the place of the wagons, and the people were encamped around him. 6 Then answered David and said to Ahimelech the Hittite, and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, brother to Joab, saying, “Who will go down with me to Saul to the camp?”

Abishai said, “I will go down with you.” 7 So David and Abishai came to the people by night: and, behold, Saul lay sleeping within the place of the wagons, with his spear stuck in the ground at his head; and Abner and the people lay around him. 8 Then Abishai said to David, “God has delivered up your enemy into your hand this day. Now therefore please let me strike him with the spear to the earth at one stroke, and I will not strike him the second time.”

9 David said to Abishai, “Don’t destroy him; for who can put forth his hand against Yahweh’s anointed, and be guiltless?” 10 David said, “As Yahweh lives, Yahweh will strike him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall go down into battle and perish. 11 Yahweh forbid that I should put forth my hand against Yahweh’s anointed; but now please take the spear that is at his head, and the jar of water, and let us go.”

12 So David took the spear and the jar of water from Saul’s head; and they went away: and no man saw it, nor knew it, neither did any awake; for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from Yahweh was fallen on them. 13 Then David went over to the other side, and stood on the top of the mountain afar off; a great space being between them; 14 and David cried to the people, and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Don’t you answer, Abner?”

Then Abner answered, “Who are you who cries to the king?”

15 David said to Abner, “Aren’t you a man? Who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord, the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. 16 This thing isn’t good that you have done. As Yahweh lives, you are worthy to die, because you have not kept watch over your lord, Yahweh’s anointed. Now see where the king’s spear is, and the jar of water that was at his head.”

17 Saul knew David’s voice, and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?”

David said, “It is my voice, my lord, O king.” 18 He said, “Why does my lord pursue after his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand? 19 Now therefore, please let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If it is so that Yahweh has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is the children of men, they are cursed before Yahweh; for they have driven me out this day that I shouldn’t cling to Yahweh’s inheritance, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods!’ 20 Now therefore, don’t let my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of Yahweh; for the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as when one hunts a partridge in the mountains.”

21 Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Behold, I have played the fool, and have erred exceedingly.”

22 David answered, “Behold the spear, O king! Then let one of the young men come over and get it. 23 Yahweh will render to every man his righteousness and his faithfulness; because Yahweh delivered you into my hand today, and I wouldn’t put forth my hand against Yahweh’s anointed. 24 Behold, as your life was respected this day in my eyes, so let my life be respected in the eyes of Yahweh, and let him deliver me out of all oppression.”

25 Then Saul said to David, “You are blessed, my son David. You shall both do mightily, and shall surely prevail.” So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.

 

57. David again in the Land of the Philistines.
(1) David once more flees to Achish, King of Oath.
1 Samuel 27:1-4.

1 David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel. So shall I escape out of his hand.” 2 David arose, and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. 4 It was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

 

(2) Achish grants Ziklag to David.
1 Samuel 27:5, 6

5 David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: why Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day.

 

(3) David's Operations while at Ziklag.
1 Samuel 27:7-12.

7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. 8 David and his men went up, and made a raid on the Geshurites, and the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land, who were of old, as you go to Shur, even to the land of Egypt. 9 David struck the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the cattle, and the donkeys, and the camels, and the clothing; and he returned, and came to Achish. 10 Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?”

David said, “Against the South of Judah, against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.” 11 David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring them to Gath, saying, “Lest they should tell of us, saying, ‘David this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’”

12 Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he shall be my servant forever.”

 

(4) List of the Men who came to David at Ziklag.
1 Chronicles 12:1-7.

1 Now these are those who came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war. 2 They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow: they were of Saul’s brothers of Benjamin. 3 The chief was Ahiezer; then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite, 4 and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite, 5 Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite, 6 Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites, 7 and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

 

IV. Saul's Downfall in War with the Philistines.

58. The Philistines prepare for a Campaign against Israel.
1 Samuel 28:10.

10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall happen to you for this thing.”

 

59. David and the Philistine Invasion of Israel.
(1) Achish places Confidence in David.
1 Samuel 28:1b, 2.

1b ...Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you shall go out with me in the army, you and your men.”

2 David said to Achish, “Therefore you shall know what your servant will do.”

Achish said to David, “Therefore will I make you my bodyguard for ever.”

 

(2) David encamps with the Philistines in Aphek:the Israelites pitch in Jezreel
1 Samuel 29:1, 2.

1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. 2 The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear with Achish.

 

(3) David, dismissed from the Philistine Army, starts for Ziklag.
1 Samuel 29:3-11a.

3 Then the princes of the Philistines said, “What about these Hebrews?”

Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to this day?”

4 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?’”

6 Then Achish called David, and said to him, “As Yahweh lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords don’t favor you. 7 Therefore now return, and go in peace, that you not displease the lords of the Philistines.”

8 David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

9 Achish answered David, “I know that you are good in my sight, as an angel of God. Notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10 Therefore now rise up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you; and as soon as you are up early in the morning, and have light, depart.”

11a So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines....

 

(4) The Philistines march toward Jezreel.
1 Samuel 29:11b.

11b ...The Philistines went up to Jezreel.

 

 

 (5) List of the Men who joined David on his Way to Ziklag.
1 Chronicles 12:19-22.

19 Of Manasseh also there fell away some to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle; but they didn’t help them; for the lords of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, “He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.”

20 As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands who were of Manasseh. 21 They helped David against the band of rovers: for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the army. 22 For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great army, like the army of God.

 

60. David's Victory over the Amalekites who had destroyed Ziklag.
1 Samuel 30:1-31.

1 It happened, when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the South, and on Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire, 2 and had taken captive the women and all who were therein, both small and great. They didn’t kill any, but carried them off, and went their way. 3 When David and his men came to the city, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captive. 4 Then David and the people who were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5 David’s two wives were taken captive, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6 David was greatly distressed; for the people spoke of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David strengthened himself in Yahweh his God. 7 David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me here the ephod.”

Abiathar brought the ephod to David. 8 David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “If I pursue after this troop, shall I overtake them?”

He answered him, “Pursue; for you shall surely overtake them, and shall without fail recover all.”

9 So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those who were left behind stayed. 10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so faint that they couldn’t go over the brook Besor. 11 They found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he ate; and they gave him water to drink. 12 They gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins. when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him; for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights. 13 David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?”

He said, “I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days ago I fell sick. 14 We made a raid on the South of the Cherethites, and on that which belongs to Judah, and on the South of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.”

15 David said to him, “Will you bring me down to this troop?”

He said, “Swear to me by God that you will neither kill me, nor deliver me up into the hands of my master, and I will bring you down to this troop.”

16 When he had brought him down, behold, they were spread around over all the ground, eating, drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah. 17 David struck them from the twilight even to the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped from there, except four hundred young men, who rode on camels and fled. 18 David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; and David rescued his two wives. 19 There was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them. David brought back all. 20 David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drove before those other livestock, and said, “This is David’s spoil.”

21 David came to the two hundred men, who were so faint that they could not follow David, whom also they had made to stay at the brook Besor; and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people who were with him. When David came near to the people, he greeted them. 22 Then all the wicked men and base fellows, of those who went with David, answered and said, “Because they didn’t go with us, we will not give them anything of the spoil that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, that he may lead them away, and depart.”

23 Then David said, “You shall not do so, my brothers, with that which Yahweh has given to us, who has preserved us, and delivered the troop that came against us into our hand. 24 Who will listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down to the battle, so shall his share be who tarries by the baggage: they shall share alike.” 25 It was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. 26 When David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil to the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, “Behold, a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of Yahweh.” 27 He sent it to those who were in Bethel, and to those who were in Ramoth of the South, and to those who were in Jattir, 28 and to those who were in Aroer, and to those who were in Siphmoth, and to those who were in Eshtemoa, 29 and to those who were in Racal, and to those who were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and to those who were in the cities of the Kenites, 30 and to those who were in Hormah, and to those who were in Borashan, and to those who were in Athach, 31 and to those who were in Hebron, and to all the places where David himself and his men used to stay.

 

61. The Philistines pitch in Shunem:the Israelites in Gilboa.
1 Samuel 28:4.

4 The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.

 

62 Saul's Visit to the Witch of Endor.
1 Samuel 28:3, 5-25.

3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. Saul had put away those who had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.


5 When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6 When Saul inquired of Yahweh, Yahweh didn’t answer him, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets. 7 Then Saul said to his servants, “Seek me a woman who has a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her.”

His servants said to him, “Behold, there is a woman who has a familiar spirit at Endor.”

8 Saul disguised himself, and put on other clothing, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night: and he said, “Please divine to me by the familiar spirit, and bring me up whomever I shall name to you.”

9 The woman said to him, “Behold, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off those who have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?”

10 Saul swore to her by Yahweh, saying, “As Yahweh lives, no punishment shall happen to you for this thing.”

11 Then the woman said, “Whom shall I bring up to you?”

He said, “Bring Samuel up for me.”

12 When the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice; and the woman spoke to Saul, saying, “Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!”

13 The king said to her, “Don’t be afraid. For what do you see?”

The woman said to Saul, “I see a god coming up out of the earth.”

14 He said to her, “What does he look like?”

She said, “An old man comes up. He is covered with a robe.” Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and showed respect.

15 Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me, to bring me up?”

Saul answered, “I am very distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may make known to me what I shall do.”

16 Samuel said, “Why then do you ask of me, since Yahweh has departed from you and has become your adversary? 17 Yahweh has done to you as he spoke by me. Yahweh has torn the kingdom out of your hand, and given it to your neighbor, even to David. 18 Because you didn’t obey the voice of Yahweh, and didn’t execute his fierce wrath on Amalek, therefore Yahweh has done this thing to you this day. 19 Moreover Yahweh will deliver Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines; and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Yahweh will deliver the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines.”

20 Then Saul fell immediately his full length on the earth, and was terrified, because of the words of Samuel. There was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night. 21 The woman came to Saul, and saw that he was very troubled, and said to him, “Behold, your handmaid has listened to your voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have listened to your words which you spoke to me. 22 Now therefore, please listen also to the voice of your handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength, when you go on your way.”

23 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, constrained him; and he listened to their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat on the bed. 24 The woman had a fattened calf in the house. She hurried and killed it; and she took flour, and kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread of it. 25 She brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

 

63. The Fall of the House of Saul.
(1) The Battle of Mount Gilboa.

1 Samuel 31:1-13.

1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines followed hard on Saul and on his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was greatly distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me!” But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died with him. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor bearer, and all his men, that same day together. 7 When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley, and those who were beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 It happened on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to the house of their idols, and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth; and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth Shan. 11 When the inhabitants of Jabesh Gilead heard concerning him that which the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth Shan; and they came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13 They took their bones, and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

1 Chronicles 10:1-14.

1 Now the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain on Mount Gilboa. 2 The Philistines followed hard after Saul and after his sons; and the Philistines killed Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. 3 The battle went hard against Saul, and the archers overtook him; and he was distressed by reason of the archers. 4 Then Saul said to his armor bearer, “Draw your sword, and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and abuse me.”

But his armor bearer would not; for he was terrified. Therefore Saul took his sword, and fell on it. 5 When his armor bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword, and died. 6 So Saul died, and his three sons; and all his house died together. 7 When all the men of Israel who were in the valley saw that they fled, and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and lived in them. 8 It happened on the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. 9 They stripped him, and took his head, and his armor, and sent into the land of the Philistines all around, to carry the news to their idols, and to the people. 10 They put his armor in the house of their gods, and fastened his head in the house of Dagon. 11 When all Jabesh Gilead heard all that the Philistines had done to Saul, 12 all the valiant men arose, and took away the body of Saul, and the bodies of his sons, and brought them to Jabesh, and buried their bones under the oak in Jabesh, and fasted seven days. 13 So Saul died for his trespass which he committed against Yahweh, because of the word of Yahweh, which he didn’t keep; and also because he asked counsel of one who had a familiar spirit, to inquire, 14 and didn’t inquire of Yahweh: therefore he killed him, and turned the kingdom to David the son of Jesse.

 

(2) The Accident to Mephibosheth.
2 Samuel 4:4.

4 Now Jonathan, Saul’s son, had a son who was lame of his feet. He was five years old when the news came of Saul and Jonathan out of Jezreel; and his nurse took him up, and fled: and it happened, as she made haste to flee, that he fell, and became lame. His name was Mephibosheth.

 
Bible References taken from:
The World English Bible (WEB) is a Public Domain (no copyright) Modern English translation of the Holy Bible, based on the American Standard Versionof the Holy Bible first published in 1901, the Biblia Hebraica Stutgartensa Old Testament, and the Greek Majority Text New Testament.