Study Desk

‘Please let me go,' he said, ‘because our family is celebrating the sacrificial feast in town, and my brother ordered me to be there. So then, if you are my friend, let me go and see my relatives.' That is why he isn't in his place at your table."

At that, Saul threw his spear at Jonathan to kill him, and Jonathan realized that his father was really determined to kill David.

Don't just stand there! Hurry up!" The boy picked up the arrow and returned to his master,

Jonathan gave his weapons to the boy and told him to take them back to town.

After the boy had left, David got up from behind the pile of stones, fell on his knees and bowed with his face to the ground three times. Both he and Jonathan were crying as they kissed each other; David's grief was even greater than Jonathan's.

The king's officials said to Achish, "Isn't this David, the king of his country? This is the man about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.'"

So whenever David was around them, he pretended to be insane and acted like a madman when they tried to restrain him; he would scribble on the city gates and let spit drool down his beard.

So Achish said to his officials, "Look! The man is crazy! Why did you bring him to me?

Don't I have enough madmen already? Why bring another one to bother me with his crazy actions right here in my own house?"

David fled from the city of Gath and went to a cave near the town of Adullam. When his brothers and the rest of the family heard that he was there, they joined him.

So David left his parents with the king of Moab, and they stayed there as long as David was hiding out in the cave.

One day Saul was in Gibeah, sitting under a tamarisk tree on a hill, with his spear in his hand, and all his officers were standing around him. He was told that David and his men had been located,

and he said to his officers, "Listen, men of Benjamin! Do you think that David will give fields and vineyards to all of you, and make you officers in his army?

So King Saul sent for the priest Ahimelech and all his relatives, who were also priests in Nob, and they came to him.

So David and his men went to Keilah and attacked the Philistines; they killed many of them and took their livestock. And so it was that David saved the town.

So Saul called his troops to war, to march against Keilah and besiege David and his men.

So David and his men—about six hundred in all—left Keilah at once and kept on the move. When Saul heard that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up his plan.

So they left and returned to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in a desolate valley in the southern part of the Judean wilderness.

Saul and his men set out to look for David, but he heard about it and went to a rocky hill in the wilderness of Maon and stayed there. When Saul heard about this, he went after David.

Saul and his men were on one side of the hill, separated from David and his men, who were on the other side. They were hurrying to get away from Saul and his men, who were closing in on them and were about to capture them.