1-2 King Achish of Gath and David
- The Philistines gather to fight against Israel
- Achish compels David to bring his men to help them fight.
- When Saul sees the Philistines gathered against him, he becomes frightened and "inquires of the LORD," but God does not answer. So he asks his servants to find him a medium. (He has previously expelled all mediums and wizards from Israel.)
- They find a medium at Endor. Disguising himself and taking 2 men with him, he goes at night to Endor to the medium.
- The medium reminds him that conjuring is illegal, but he assures her she'll not be punished.
- Saul asks her to bring up Samuel. When she does, she is surprised, and knows that it is Saul who has requested it.
- When Saul realizes it is Samuel, he bows before him.
- Samuel is angry at being disturbed, and tells Saul exactly what he has told him before: God has torn the kingdom from him and given it to David.
- Besides that, Israel will lose the battle against the Philistines, and both Saul and his sons will "shall be with me."
- Saul collapses, not only from fear, but hunger, and the woman insists on feeding him "a fatted calf." Saul and his servants eat and return home.
1-11 Philistines Reject David
- In the meantime, the Philistines are gathering at Aphek to fight Israel; Israel is encamped at Jezreel.
- David and his men are bringing up the rear.
- When the army commanders see David and his men, they protest their presence. Because of his reputation in the Israelite army, they figure he will "reconcile himself to his lord with the heads of the men here."
- Achish reluctantly sends David back to Gath.
- The Philistines go up to Jezreel.
1-30 David Avenges Destruction at Ziklag
- While armies have been absent from Ziklag, Amalekites have raided the city, burning it down and carrying away all the people, including David's two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail.
- In their grief, the people with David threaten to stone him.
- David calls for Abiathar the priest and his ephod, and asks God if he should pursue the Amalekites.
- God tells him to go, and he takes his 600 men. However, 200 of them are too weary to make the whole journey and stay behind at the Wadi Besor.
- The rest continue, and on the way find an Egyptian who has been left behind. He directs them to the Amalekite camp.
- David and his men attack the camp and rescue the captives, including his wives; 400 Amalekites escape on camels.
- They also capture other spoil, which his 400 are reluctant to share with the 200 that stayed behind.
- But David insists they share, even making it an official ordinance: "The share of the one who goes down into the battle shall be the same as the share of the one who stays by the baggage."
- He sends part of the spoil to the elders in Judah (all the places where David had roamed), saying, "Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the LORD."
- These last two incidents give us glimpses into the character of David and demonstrate his wisdom as a statesman and a politician. In giving part of the spoil to soldiers left behind at the Wadi, he demonstrates his compassion and generosity, and in sharing the spoil with the elders in Judah, he demonstrates not only his gratitude toward those who have helped him but political acumen (and irony): giving spoil he's taken from one of Israel's enemies (Amalek) that he has taken in the name of another (the Philistines).
1-13 Death of Saul and His Sons
- This Philistine army (David had been a part of) overtakes the Israelite army and kill Saul's sons - Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua. Who knows what would have happened here if David had been part of the Philistine army that kills his beloved friend? This has to be God at work, carrying out his purposes: 1) Protecting David from experiencing this unthinkable sight, 2) protecting him from trying to save Jonathan and maybe losing his own life, 3) fulfilling the prophecy Samuel had made to Saul, and 4) allowing David to go back to Ziklag and not only rescue his wives but provide spoil for his friends in Judah, helping his reputation among them.
- The Philistine archers wound Saul, and he asks his armor-bearer to finish the job, because he doesn't want the Philistines to find him and "make sport" of him, but the armor-bearer refuses, so Saul falls on his own sword. When the armor-bearer sees this, he falls on his own sword.
- When Israelites in local cities see Saul and his sons defeated, they flee the cities, and the Philistines occupy them.
- While stripping the dead soldiers, the Philistines find the body of Saul, cut off his head, put his armor in one of their temples, and fasten his body to the "wall of Beth-shan."
- The people of Jabesh-gilead hear of this and by night rescue his body and bury Saul's body and those of his sons and bury them "under a tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted 7 days." It seems to me that the occupants of Jabesh-gilead are often found doing the right thing. Gathering together the snippets about them from these books of history would make an interesting study.
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