PM April 14th 1 Samuel 29

April 14^th           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 dependant 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.