Study Desk

Now in those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war to fight against Israel. So Achish said to David, "Certainly you realize that you must go out with me in the army, you and your men."

Then the Philistines assembled and came and encamped at Shunem, so Saul assembled all Israel, and they encamped at Gilboa.

So Saul said to his servants, "Search for me a woman who is a medium so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "Look there is a woman who is a medium in Endor."

So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went with two of his men. And they came to the woman by night and he said, "Please consult a spirit for me through the ritual pit, and bring up for me the one whom I tell you."

So the woman asked, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" He said, "Bring up Samuel for me."

Then Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul said, "I am in distress! For the Philistines are about to make war against me, but God has turned away from me, and he does not answer me any more, not by the prophets or by the dreams. So I called to you to let me know what I should do."

Then the woman came to Saul and realized that he was absolutely terrified, so she said to him, "Look, your female servant has obeyed you, and I have risked my life. I have listened to your words that you have spoken to me.

So then, you also please listen to the voice of your female servant, and let me set before you a morsel of bread, and you eat so that you will have strength in you when you go on your way."

But he refused and said, "I will not eat!" However, his servants urged him, and the woman also. So he listened to what they said, and he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

Now the woman had a fattened bull calf in the house, so she quickly slaughtered it and took flour, kneaded dough, and baked him some unleavened bread.

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him and they said to him, "Send the man back so that he might return to his place where you have assigned him! But he will not go down with us into the battle, so that he does not become an adversary to us in the battle. By what could this fellow make himself favorable to his lord? Is it not with the heads of these men?

So Achish called David and said to him, "As Yahweh lives, certainly you were honest, and I am pleased to have you marching with me in the campaign. For I have not found any wrong in you from the day you came to me until this day, but in the eyes of the rulers, you are not good.

So then, return and go in peace, so that you do not do something that displeases the rulers of the Philistines."

So then, rise early in the morning, you and the servants of your lord who came with you. When you rise early in the morning and it is light enough for you, leave.

So David set out early, he and his men, to leave in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, but the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Then David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, "Please bring the ephod here for me." So Abiathar brought the ephod to David.

So David went, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the Wadi Besor, but the rest remained.

So David asked him, "Will you take me down to this band of raiders?" He said, "Swear to me by God that you will not kill me and that you will not deliver me into my master's hand! Then I will take you down to this band."

So he took him down, and there they were, spread out over the surface of all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all of the abundant plunder which they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah.

So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken; David also rescued his two wives.