²Saul went to the desert of Ziph, taking with him 3,000 of Israel’s best-trained men to search for David. ³Saul camped by the road at the hill of Hachilah near Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he realized Saul had come to the desert for him, ⁴David sent spies to confirm that Saul had arrived.

⁵Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. David saw the place where Saul and Ner’s son Abner, the commander of the army, were lying. Saul was lying in the camp, and the troops were camped around him.

⁶David asked Ahimelech the Hittite and Abishai, who was Zeruiah’s son and Joab’s brother, “Who will go with me to Saul in the camp?”

Abishai answered, “I’ll go with you.”

⁷So David and Abishai went among ⸤Saul’s⸥ troops that night. Saul was lying asleep inside the camp with his spear stuck in the ground near his head. Abner and the soldiers were lying around him. ⁸Abishai said to David, “Today God has turned your enemy over to you. Please let me nail him to the ground with one stab of the spear. I won’t have to do it twice!”

⁹“Don’t kill him!” David told Abishai. “No one has ever attacked the Lord’s anointed king and remained free of guilt. ¹⁰I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives,” David added, “the Lord will strike him. Either his time will come when he’ll die ⸤naturally⸥, or he’ll go into battle and be swept away. ¹¹It would be unthinkable for me to attack the Lord’s anointed king. But please take that spear near his head and that jar of water, and let’s go.”

¹²David took the spear and the jar of water near Saul’s head, and they left. All of them were asleep. No one saw them, knew about it, or woke up. The Lord had made them fall into a deep sleep.

¹³David went over to the other side and stood on top of the hill some distance away. (There was a wide space between them.) ¹⁴Then David called to the troops and to Ner’s son Abner. “Won’t you answer, Abner?” he asked.

“Who is calling the king?” Abner asked.

¹⁵David asked Abner, “Aren’t you a man? Is there anyone like you in Israel? Then why didn’t you guard your master, the king? Someone came to kill His Royal Majesty. ¹⁶What you’ve done isn’t good. I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, you are dead men. You didn’t guard your master, the Lord’s anointed king. Look at the king’s spear and the jar of water that were near his head.”

¹⁷Saul recognized David’s voice. “Is that your voice, my servant David?” he asked.

“It is my voice, Your Royal Majesty,” David answered. ¹⁸“Why are you pursuing me?” he added. “What have I done? What crime have I committed? ¹⁹Your Majesty, please listen to my words. If the Lord has turned you against me, let him be satisfied with an offering. But if mere mortals ⸤have turned you against me⸥, let them be cursed by the Lord. They have prevented me from having a share of the Lord’s inheritance. ‘Go and serve other gods,’ they tell me. ²⁰Don’t let my blood fall to the ground, away from the Lord’s presence. The king of Israel has come to search for one flea like someone hunting a partridge in the hills.”

²¹“My servant David,” Saul said, “I have sinned. Come back. I will not harm you again, because you valued my life today. I’ve acted like a fool and made a terrible mistake.”

²²David responded, “Here’s the king’s spear. One of the young men should come over and get it. ²³The Lord will reward any person who is righteous and faithful. The Lord handed you over to me today, but I refused to attack the Lord’s anointed king. ²⁴As I placed great value on your life today, may the Lord place great value on my life and rescue me from all trouble.”

²⁵Then Saul said, “Blessed are you, my servant David. You will accomplish many things and certainly will succeed.”

So David went his way, while Saul returned home.

27TH CHAPTER

David at Ziklag

¹David said to himself, “One of these days Saul will sweep me away. The best thing for me to do is to make sure that I escape to Philistine territory. Then Saul will give up looking all over Israel for me, and I’ll escape from him.” ²So David went with his 600 men to King Achish of Gath, Moach’s son. ³David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each one had his family, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail (who had been Nabal’s wife) from Carmel. ⁴When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he didn’t search for him anymore.

⁵David said to Achish, “If you will permit me, let me have a place in one of the outlying towns so that I can live there. Why should I live in the royal city with you?” ⁶So Achish immediately gave him Ziklag. (This is why Ziklag still belongs to the kings of Judah today.)

⁷David stayed in Philistine territory for one year and four months. ⁸Then David and his men went to raid the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They lived in the territory which extends from Telaim^ato Shur and Egypt.) ⁹Whenever David attacked the territory, he left no man or woman alive. He also took sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and returned to Achish.

¹⁰Achish would ask, “Whom did you raid today?”^b

And David would answer, “the Negev in Judah,” or “the portion of the Negev where the descendants of Jerahmeel live,” or “the portion of the Negev where the Kenites live.” ¹¹He did not bring a single man or woman back to Gath alive. He thought, “They could tell Achish what I ⸤really⸥ did.” This was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine territory. ¹²And Achish believed David. Achish thought, “He has definitely made his own people in Israel despise him. He’ll be my servant from now on.”

28TH CHAPTER

¹At that time the Philistines had gathered their army to fight against Israel. Then Achish said to David, “You need to know that you and your men will be going with me into battle.”

²“Very well,” David responded to Achish, “you will then know what I can do.”

“Very well,” Achish told David, “I will make you my bodyguard for life.”

Saul’s Sin—the Occult

³Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel had mourned for him and buried him in his hometown Ramah. (Saul had rid the land of mediums and psychics.)

⁴The Philistines assembled and camped in Shunem. Saul also assembled the whole Israelite army, and they camped at Gilboa. ⁵When Saul looked at the Philistine army, he was very afraid—terrified. ⁶He prayed to the Lord, but the Lord didn’t answer him through dreams, the Urim,^aor prophets. ⁷Saul told his officers, “Find me a woman who conjures up the dead. Then I’ll go to her and ask for her services.”

His officers told him, “There is a woman at Endor who conjures up the dead.”

⁸After disguising himself by putting on other clothes, Saul left with two men and came to the woman that night. He said to her, “Please consult with a dead person for me. Conjure up the person I request.”

⁹The woman told him, “You know that Saul rid the land of mediums and psychics. Why are you trying to trap me and have me killed?”

¹⁰But Saul took an oath in the Lord’s name, “I solemnly swear, as the Lord lives, you will not be harmed if you do this.”

¹¹“Whom should I conjure up for you?” the woman asked.

“Conjure up Samuel for me,” he answered.

¹²When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out loudly and asked, “Why did you deceive me? You’re Saul!”

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

“I see a god rising from the ground,” the woman answered.

¹⁴“In what form?” he asked her.

She answered, “An old man is coming up, and he’s wearing a robe.” Then Saul knew it was Samuel. Saul knelt down with his face touching the ground.

¹⁵Samuel asked Saul, “Why did you disturb me by conjuring me up?”

Saul answered, “I’m in serious trouble. The Philistines are at war with me, and God has turned against me and doesn’t answer me anymore—either by the prophets or in dreams. So I’ve called on you to tell me what to do.”

¹⁶Samuel said, “Why are you asking me when the Lord has turned against you and become your enemy? ¹⁷The Lord has done to you ⸤exactly⸥ what he spoke through me: The Lord has torn the kingship out of your hands and given it to your fellow Israelite David. ¹⁸The Lord is doing this to you today because you didn’t listen to him or unleash his burning anger on Amalek. ¹⁹For the same reasons the Lord will hand you and Israel over to the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. And then the Lord will hand Israel’s army over to the Philistines.”

²⁰Immediately, Saul fell flat on the ground. He was frightened by Samuel’s words. He also had no strength left, because he hadn’t eaten anything all day or all night. ²¹The woman came over to Saul and saw that he was terrified. “I listened to you,” she told him, “and I took my life in my hands when I did what you told me to do. ²²Now please listen to me. I will serve you something to eat. Eat it so that you will have strength when you leave.”

²³But he refused. “I don’t want to eat,” he said. Nevertheless, his officers and the woman kept urging^bhim until he listened to them. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed.

²⁴The woman immediately butchered a fattened calf that she owned. She took flour, kneaded it, and baked some unleavened bread. ²⁵Then she served it to Saul and his officers. They ate and left that ⸤same⸥ night.

Read in Logos

Footnotes

a 27:8 Greek; Masoretic Text “lived in the country for a long time.”
b 27:10 Dead Sea Scrolls, Greek; Masoretic Text “Did you raid today?”
a 28:6 The Urim and Thummim were used by the chief priest to determine God’s answer to questions.
b 28:23 Greek; Masoretic Text “the woman broke through.”