Study Desk

"This thing that you have done is not good. As the LORD lives, all of you undoubtedly must die, because you did not guard your lord, the LORD'S anointed. And now, see where the king's spear is and the jug of water that was at his head!"

He also said, "Why then is my lord pursuing his servant? For what have I done? Or what evil is in my hand?

"Now then, please let my lord the king listen to the words of his servant. If the LORD has incited you against me, may He accept an offering; but if it is people, cursed are they before the LORD, because they have driven me out today so that I would have no share in the inheritance of the LORD, saying, 'Go, serve other gods.'

"And the LORD will repay each man for his righteousness and his faithfulness; for the LORD handed you over to me today, but I refused to reach out with my hand against the LORD'S anointed.

Then Saul said to David, "Blessed are you, my son David; you will both accomplish much and assuredly prevail." So David went on his way, and Saul returned to his place.

Then David said to himself, "Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to safely escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand."

And David lived with Achish in Gath, he and his men, each with his own household—David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's widow.

Now David and his men went up and attacked the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt.

And David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, "Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, 'This is what David has done, and this has been his practice all the time that he has lived in the country of the Philistines.'"

So Achish believed David, saying, "He has undoubtedly made himself repulsive among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever."

Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel had mourned him and buried him in Ramah, his own city. And Saul had removed the mediums and spiritists from the land.

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

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."

He said to her, "How does he appear?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe." Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed with his face to the ground and paid homage.

"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.

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.

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

And the governors of the Philistines were proceeding on, leading hundreds and thousands, and David and his men were proceeding in the back with Achish.

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?

"Is this not David, of whom they sing in the dances, saying, 'Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands'?"