1 Samuel 27–31

David among the Philistines

27David said to himself, “One of these days Saul will kill me. The best thing for me to do is to escape to Philistia. Then Saul will give up looking for me in Israel, and I will be safe.” ²So David and his 600 men went over at once to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³David and his men settled there in Gath with their families. David had his two wives with him, Ahinoam from Jezreel, and Abigail, Nabal’s widow, from Carmel. ⁴When Saul heard that David had fled to Gath, he gave up trying to find him.

⁵David said to Achish, “If you are my friend, let me have a small town to live in. There is no need, sir, for me to live with you in the capital city.” ⁶So Achish gave him the town of Ziklag, and for this reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. ⁷David lived in Philistia for sixteen months.

⁸During that time David and his men would attack the people of Geshur, Girzi, and Amalek, who had been living in the region a very long time. He would raid their land as far as Shur, all the way down to Egypt, ⁹killing all the men and women and taking the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and even the clothes. Then he would come back to Achish, ¹⁰who would ask him, “Where did you go on a raid this time?” and David would tell him that he had gone to the southern part of Judah or to the territory of the clan of Jerahmeel or to the territory where the Kenites lived. ¹¹David would kill everyone, men and women, so that no one could go back to Gath and report what he and his men had really done. This is what David did the whole time he lived in Philistia. ¹²But Achish trusted David and said to himself, “He is hated so much by his own people the Israelites that he will have to serve me all his life.”

28Some time later, the Philistines gathered their troops to fight Israel, and Achish said to David, “Of course you understand that you and your men are to fight on my side.”

²“Of course,” David answered. “I am your servant, and you will see for yourself what I can do.”

Achish said, “Good! I will make you my permanent bodyguard.”

Saul Consults a Medium

^3*Now Samuel had died, and all the Israelites had mourned for him and had buried him in his own city of Ramah. Saul had forced all the fortune tellers and mediums to leave Israel.

⁴The Philistine troops assembled and camped near the town of Shunem; Saul gathered the Israelites and camped at Mount Gilboa. ⁵When Saul saw the Philistine army, he was terrified, ^6*and so he asked the Lord what to do. But the Lord did not answer him at all, either by dreams or by the use of Urim and Thummim or by prophets. ⁷Then Saul ordered his officials, “Find me a woman who is a medium, and I will go and consult her.”

“There is one in Endor,” they answered.

⁸So Saul disguised himself; he put on different clothes, and after dark he went with two of his men to see the woman. “Consult the spirits for me and tell me what is going to happen,” he said to her. “Call up the spirit of the man I name.”

⁹The woman answered, “Surely you know what King Saul has done, how he forced the fortune tellers and mediums to leave Israel.^v Why, then, are you trying to trap me and get me killed?”

¹⁰Then Saul made a sacred vow. “By the living Lord I promise that you will not be punished for doing this,” he told her.

¹¹“Whom shall I call up for you?” the woman asked.

“Samuel,” he answered.

¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed and said to Saul, “Why have you tricked me? You are King Saul!”

¹³“Don’t be afraid!” the king said to her. “What do you see?”

“I see a spirit coming up from the earth,” she answered.

¹⁴“What does it look like?” he asked.

“It’s an old man coming up,” she answered. “He is wearing a cloak.”

Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, and he bowed to the ground in respect.

¹⁵Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me? Why did you make me come back?”

Saul answered, “I am in great trouble! The Philistines are at war with me, and God has abandoned me. He doesn’t answer me any more, either by prophets or by dreams. And so I have called you, for you to tell me what I must do.”

¹⁶Samuel said, “Why do you call me when the Lord has abandoned you and become your enemy? ^17*The Lord has done to you what he told you through me: he has taken the kingdom away from you and given it to David instead. ^18*You disobeyed the Lord’s command and did not completely destroy the Amalekites and all they had. That is why the Lord is doing this to you now. ¹⁹He will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will join me, and the Lord will also hand the army of Israel over to the Philistines.”

²⁰At once Saul fell down and lay stretched out on the ground, terrified by what Samuel had said. He was weak, because he had not eaten anything all day and all night. ²¹The woman went over to him and saw that he was terrified, so she said to him, “Please, sir, I risked my life by doing what you asked. ²²Now please do what I ask. Let me prepare some food for you. You must eat so that you will be strong enough to travel.”

²³Saul refused and said he would not eat anything. But his officers also urged him to eat. He finally gave in, got up from the ground, and sat on the bed. ²⁴The woman quickly killed a calf which she had been fattening. Then she took some flour, prepared it, and baked some bread without yeast. ²⁵She set the food before Saul and his officers, and they ate it. And they left that same night.

David is Rejected by the Philistines

29The Philistines brought all their troops together at Aphek, while the Israelites camped at the spring in the Valley of Jezreel. ²The five Philistine kings marched out with their units of a hundred and of a thousand men; David and his men marched in the rear with King Achish. ³The Philistine commanders saw them and asked, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

Achish answered, “This is David, an official of King Saul of Israel. He has been with me for quite a long time now. He has done nothing I can find fault with since the day he came over to me.”

⁴But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said to him, “Send that fellow back to the town you gave him. Don’t let him go into battle with us; he might turn against us during the fighting. What better way is there for him to win back his master’s favour than by the death of our men? ^5*After all, this is David, the one about whom the women sang, as they danced, ‘Saul has killed thousands, but David has killed tens of thousands.’ ”

⁶Achish called David and said to him, “I swear by the living GOD of Israel that you have been loyal to me; and I would be pleased to let you go with me and fight in this battle. I have not found any fault in you from the day you came over to me. But the other kings don’t approve of you. ⁷So go back home in peace, and don’t do anything that would displease them.”

⁸David answered, “What have I done wrong, sir? If, as you say, you haven’t found any fault in me since the day I started serving you, why shouldn’t I go with you, my master and king, and fight your enemies?”

⁹“I agree,” Achish replied. “I consider you as loyal as an angel of God. But the other kings have said that you can’t go with us into battle. ¹⁰So then, David, tomorrow morning all of you who left Saul and came over to me will have to get up early and leave as soon as it’s light.”

¹¹So David and his men started out early the following morning to go back to Philistia, and the Philistines went on to Jezreel.

The War against the Amalekites

30Two days later David and his men arrived back at Ziklag. The Amalekites had raided southern Judah and attacked Ziklag. They had burnt down the town ²and captured all the women; they had not killed anyone, but had taken everyone with them when they left. ³When David and his men arrived, they found that the town had been burnt down and that their wives, sons, and daughters had been carried away. ⁴David and his men started crying and did not stop until they were completely exhausted. ^5*Even David’s two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, had been taken away.

⁶David was now in great trouble, because his men were all very bitter about losing their children, and they were threatening to stone him; but the Lord his God gave him courage. ^7*David said to the priest Abiathar son of Ahimelech, “Bring me the ephod,” and Abiathar brought it to him. ⁸David asked the Lord, “Shall I go after those raiders? And will I catch them?”

He answered, “Go after them; you will catch them and rescue the captives.”

⁹So David and his 600 men started out, and when they arrived at the brook of Besor, some of them stayed there. ¹⁰David continued on his way with 400 men; the other 200 men were too tired to cross the brook and so stayed behind. ¹¹The men with David found an Egyptian out in the country and brought him to David. They gave him some food and water, ¹²some dried figs, and two bunches of raisins. After he had eaten, his strength returned; he had not had anything to eat or drink for three full days. ¹³David asked him, “Who is your master, and where are you from?”

“I am an Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite,” he answered. “My master left me behind three days ago because I was ill. ¹⁴We had raided the territory of the Cherethites in the southern part of Judah and the territory of the clan of Caleb, and we burnt down Ziklag.”

¹⁵“Will you lead me to those raiders?” David asked him.

He answered, “I will if you promise me in God’s name that you will not kill me or hand me over to my master.” ¹⁶And he led David to them.

The raiders were scattered all over the place, eating, drinking, and celebrating because of the enormous amount of loot they had captured from Philistia and Judah. ¹⁷At dawn the next day David attacked them and fought until evening. Except for 400 young men who mounted camels and got away, none of them escaped. ¹⁸David rescued everyone and everything the Amalekites had taken, including his two wives; ¹⁹nothing at all was missing. David got back all his men’s sons…