Study Desk

David said to Achish, "Very well, you will learn what your servant can do." So Achish said to David, "Then I will assuredly make you my bodyguard for life!"

So the Philistines assembled and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they camped in Gilboa.

So Saul inquired of the LORD, but the LORD did not answer him, either in dreams, or by the Urim, or by the prophets.

Then Saul said to his servants, "Find for me a woman who is a medium, so that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "Behold, there is a woman who is a medium at En-dor."

So Saul swore an oath to her by the LORD, saying, "As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing."

And Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" Saul replied, "I am very distressed, for the Philistines are waging war against me, and God has abandoned me and no longer answers me, either through prophets or in dreams; therefore I have called you, so that you may let me know what I should do."

"Just as you did not obey the LORD and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so the LORD has done this thing to you this day.

"Furthermore, the LORD will also hand Israel along with you over to the Philistines; so tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Indeed, the LORD will hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines!"

"So now you too, please listen to the voice of your servant, and let me serve you a piece of bread, and eat it, so that you will have strength when you go on your way."

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

But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him, and the commanders of the Philistines said to him, "Make the man go back, so that he will return to his place where you have assigned him, and do not let him go down to battle with us, or in the battle he may become an adversary to us. For how could this man find favor with his lord? Would it not be with the heads of these men?

"Now then, return and go in peace, so that you will not do anything wrong in the sight of the governors of the Philistines."

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

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

So David left, he and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where some who were left behind stayed.

So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives.

So David had captured all the sheep and the cattle which the people drove ahead of the other livestock, and they said, "This is David's plunder."

Then all the wicked and worthless men among those who went with David said, "Since they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoils that we have recovered, except to every man his wife and his children, so that they may lead them away and leave."

But David said, "You must not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us, for He has protected us and handed over to us the band of raiders that came against us.

"And who will listen to you in this matter? For as is the share of the one who goes down into the battle, so shall be the share of the one who stays by the baggage; they shall share alike."