April 14th
1 Samuel, 29
David’s loyalty
1: Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and
the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2: And the lords of the Philistines
passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the
rereward with Achish. 3: Then
said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish
said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of
Saul the king of Israel,
which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault
in him since he fell unto me unto this day? 4: And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and
the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he
may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go
down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for
wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? 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 slew
his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6: Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the
LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with
me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the
day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee
not. 7: Wherefore now return,
and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. 8: And David said unto Achish, But
what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have
been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my
lord the king? 9: And Achish
answered and said to David, I know that thou art 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:
Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are
come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light,
depart. 11: So David and his
men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the
Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
1 Samuel, 30
David defeats Amalek
1: And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the
third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten
Ziklag, and burned it with fire; 2:
And had taken the women captives, that were therein: they slew not any, either
great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way. 3: So David and his men came to the
city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons,
and their daughters, were taken captives. 4: Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their
voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep. 5: And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the
Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite. 6: And David was greatly distressed;
for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was
grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged
himself in the LORD his God. 7:
And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me
hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. 8: And David inquired at the LORD,
saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered
him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.
9: So David went, he and the
six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those
that were left behind stayed. 10:
But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which
were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor. 11: And they found an Egyptian in the
field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they
made him drink water; 12: And
they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins: and 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: And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence
art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and
my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. 14: We made an invasion upon the
south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah,
and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire. 15: And David said to him, Canst thou
bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou
wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will
bring thee down to this company. 16:
And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the
earth, eating and 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: And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening
of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young
men, which rode upon camels, and fled. 18:
And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away: and David rescued
his two wives. 19: And there
was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor
daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David
recovered all. 20: And David
took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle,
and said, This is David's spoil. 21:
And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not
follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they
went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when
David came near to the people, he saluted them. 22: Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those
that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give
them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and
his children, that they may lead them away, and depart. 23: Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that
which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company
that came against us into our hand. 24:
For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth
down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall
part alike. 25: And it was so
from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto
this day. 26: And when David
came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his
friends, saying, Behold a present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the
LORD; 27: To them which were in
Bethel, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in
Jattir, 28: And to them which
were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in
Eshtemoa, 29: And to them which
were in Rachal, and to them which were in the cities of the Jerahmeelites, and
to them which were in the cities of the Kenites, 30: And to them which were in Hormah, and to them which were in
Chor-ashan, and to them which were in Athach, 31: And to them which were in Hebron, and to all the places
where David himself and his men were wont to haunt.
1 Samuel, 31
Saul dies
1: Now the Philistines fought against Israel:
and the men of Israel fled
from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa.
2: And the Philistines followed
hard upon Saul and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and
Abinadab, and Malchi-shua, Saul's sons. 3:
And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore
wounded of the archers. 4: Then
said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through
therewith; lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through, and abuse me.
But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a
sword, and fell upon it. 5: And
when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword,
and died with him. 6: So Saul
died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day
together. 7: And when the men
of Israel that were on the
other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side 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 dwelt in them. 8: And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came
to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa.
9: And they cut off his head,
and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round
about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. 10: And they put his armour in the
house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan. 11: And when the inhabitants of
Jabesh-gilead heard of 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 came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. 13: And they took their bones, and
buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.
In the next three passages we see
David’s loyalty to the Achish and of David’s battle and victory over the
Amalek. Then lastly we read of the death of Saul in battle. It all started with
the Philistines coming together to Aphek and the children of Israel gathered
their army at Jezreel. The Philistines gathered according to their numbers –
hundreds of thousands but David came up in the rear of the Philistines. It is
sad to think that David Israel’s king is found in the enemy camp as a result of
Saul’s disposition toward him. The Philistines said who is this person with you
and the Achish said it is David – Saul’s servant. He has been with me a long
time and l have found no fault in him. The Philistines were very cross and
insisted that David return to his home. Achish called David and said the
Philistines want you to go home and David answered what have l done wrong?
Achish said l know that you have done nothing wrong you have been like an angel
of God to me. So David got up early and went home. After three days David found
that the Amalekites had invaded the land from the south and they had captured
all the population and taken them away. So David went to find the city of Ziklag burnt and all the
people gone. David and his men wept for them until they have exhausted
themselves in their mourning. David’s two wives had been taken and his men
thought of stoning him because they were so grieved. But David encouraged
himself in his LORD. This is a particular feature of a man of God he has such a
relation with the Lord that his spirit is not completely dependent on his
company he is able to be encouraged by the Lord when all those around him are
in despair. David asked for Abithar to enquire of the LORD of his course of
action and the Lord said go and defeat the enemy and you will recover everyone.
So David went to war with 600 men and joined with the 200 that had stayed
behind and David pursued the enemy leaving behind those who were exhausted.
(It’s interesting to see that from the very beginning to this day David’s army
was growing slowly.) On their journey they found an exhausted Egyptian in a
field and they gave him food and drink until he recovered. They asked him who
he was and he said l am an Egyptian and l have been left behind because l fell
sick. And David said can you lead us to your master? He replied, I will but you
mustn’t hand me over to my master. When they caught up with the army they were
spread out like a huge host and they were eating, dancing and getting drunk.
David attacked from the first light until the evening of the following day and
all of the enemy were destroyed. None escaped except 400 hundred men on camels.
David recovered everything and he recovered his two wives. When David returned
to the 200 men who were too weak to fight there were some evil men in his
company who said these things don’t need to be shared with those who did not
fight with us. But David said no the victory and the spoils will be shared
among all of Israel
those who go to battle and those who stay behind. This became a law in Israel. David
sent some of the spoils to the elders of Israel
and to all the people who were friendly to him and his men throughout Israel. Later
the Philistines attacked Israel
and Israel
was routed and the Philistines chased after Saul and they killed his sons
Jonathan, Abinadab and Malshi-shua. And Saul was stuck by the archers. So Saul
said to his armour bearer draw your sword and kill me but his armour bearer was
afraid to do this. So Saul took a sword and fell onto it. Then the amour bearer
killed himself as well. The next day the Philistines found Saul and cut off his
head and sent his armour to the temples of their gods. And they fixed Saul’s
body to the wall of Beth-shan. But when the men of the city knew what they had
done the mighty men of valour came and rescued his body and burnt it and buried
the ashes under a tree in Jabs and then they fasted seven days. While David was having victory Saul faced
defeat and his own death. If only they had fought together.
Steve
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