Study Desk

You did not obey the Lord and did not carry out his burning anger against Amalek; therefore the Lord has done this to you today.

He refused, saying, “I won’t eat,” but when his servants and the woman urged him, he listened to them. He got up off the ground and sat on the bed.

She served it to Saul and his servants, and they ate. Afterward, they got up and left that night.

As the Philistine leaders were passing in review with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were passing in review behind them with Achish.

The Philistine commanders, however, were enraged with Achish and told him, “Send that man back and let him return to the place you assigned him. He must not go down with us into battle only to become our adversary during the battle. What better way could he ingratiate himself with his master than with the heads of our men?

So David and his men got up early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

David and his men arrived in Ziklag on the third day. The Amalekites had raided the Negev and attacked and burned Ziklag.

When David and his men arrived at the town, they found it burned. Their wives, sons, and daughters had been kidnapped.

David was in an extremely difficult position because the troops talked about stoning him, for they were all very bitter over the loss of their sons and daughters. But David found strength in the Lord his God.

David recovered everything the Amalekites had taken; he also rescued his two wives.

When David came to Ziklag, he sent some of the plunder to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, “Here is a gift for you from the plunder of the Lord’s enemies.”

to those in Hebron, and to those in all the places where David and his men had roamed.

The Philistines pursued Saul and his sons and killed his sons, Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua.

Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and run me through with it, or these uncircumcised men will come and run me through and torture me!” But his armor-bearer would not do it because he was terrified. Then Saul took his sword and fell on it.

When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell on his own sword and died with him.

So on that day, Saul died together with his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men.

When the men of Israel on the other side of the valley and on the other side of the Jordan saw that Israel’s men had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the cities and fled. So the Philistines came and settled in them.

The next day when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons dead on Mount Gilboa.

They cut off Saul’s head, stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to spread the good news in the temples of their idols and among the people.

Then they put his armor in the temple of the Ashtoreths and hung his body on the wall of Beth-shan.