Study Desk

David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines; then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand."

David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his troops, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal's widow.

Now David and his men went up and made raids on the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for these were the landed settlements from Telam on the way to Shur and on to the land of Egypt.

David left neither man nor woman alive to be brought back to Gath, thinking, "They might tell about us, and say, ‘David has done so and so.'" Such was his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.

Achish trusted David, thinking, "He has made himself utterly abhorrent to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant."

Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. Saul had expelled the mediums and the wizards from the land.

When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly.

Then Saul said to his servants, "Seek out for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her." His servants said to him, "There is a medium at Endor."

He said to her, "What is his appearance?" She said, "An old man is coming up; he is wrapped in a robe." So Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground, and did obeisance.

Because you did not obey the voice of the Lord , and did not carry out his fierce wrath against Amalek, therefore the Lord has done this thing to you today.

He refused, and said, "I will not eat." But his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he listened to their words. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

She put them before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish,

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him; and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, "Send the man back, so that he may return to the place that you have assigned to him; he shall not go down with us to battle, or else he may become an adversary to us in the battle. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here?

Is this not David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has killed his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?"

So David set out with his men early in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Now when David and his men came to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negeb and on Ziklag. They had attacked Ziklag, burned it down,

When David and his men came to the city, they found it burned down, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive.

David was in great danger; for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in spirit for their sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God.

they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two clusters of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit revived; for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights.