The Living Bible (96 page)

1 Samuel
26

Now the men from Ziph came back to Saul at Gibeah to tell him that David had returned to the wilderness and was hiding on Hachilah Hill.
²
 So Saul took his elite corps of three thousand troops and went to hunt him down.
^3-4
 Saul camped along the road at the edge of the wilderness where David was hiding, but David knew of Saul’s arrival and sent out spies to watch his movements.

    
^5-7
 David slipped over to Saul’s camp one night to look around. King Saul and General Abner were sleeping inside a ring formed by the slumbering soldiers.

    
“Any volunteers to go down there with me?” David asked Ahimelech (the Hittite) and Abishai (Joab’s brother and the son of Zeruiah).

    
“I’ll go with you,” Abishai replied. So David and Abishai went to Saul’s camp and found him asleep, with his spear in the ground beside his head.

    
⁸
 “God has put your enemy within your power this time for sure,” Abishai whispered to David. “Let me go and put that spear through him. I’ll pin him to the earth with it—I’ll not need to strike a second time!”

    
⁹
 “No,” David said. “Don’t kill him, for who can remain innocent after attacking the Lord’s chosen king?
¹⁰
 Surely God will strike him down some day, or he will die in battle or of old age.
¹¹
 But God forbid that I should kill the man he has chosen to be king! But I’ll tell you what—we’ll take his spear and his jug of water and then get out of here!”

    
¹²
 So David took the spear and jug of water, and they got away without anyone seeing them or even waking up, because the Lord had put them sound asleep.
¹³
 They climbed the mountain slope opposite the camp until they were at a safe distance.

    
¹⁴
 Then David shouted down to Abner and Saul, “Wake up, Abner!”

    
“Who is it?” Abner demanded.

    
¹⁵
 “Well, Abner, you’re a great fellow, aren’t you?” David taunted. “Where in all Israel is there anyone as wonderful? So why haven’t you guarded your master the king when someone came to kill him?
¹⁶
 This isn’t good at all! I swear by the Lord that you ought to die for your carelessness. Where is the king’s spear and the jug of water that was beside his head? Look and see!”

    
^17-18
 Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is that you, my son David?”

    
And David replied, “Yes, sir, it is. Why are you chasing me? What have I done? What is my crime?
¹⁹
 If the Lord has stirred you up against me, then let him accept my peace offering. But if this is simply the scheme of a man, then may he be cursed by God. For you have driven me out of my home so that I can’t be with the Lord’s people, and you have sent me away to worship heathen gods.
²⁰
 Must I die on foreign soil, far from the presence of Jehovah? Why should the king of Israel come out to hunt my life like a partridge on the mountains?”

    
²¹
 Then Saul confessed, “I have done wrong. Come back home, my son, and I’ll no longer try to harm you; for you saved my life today. I have been a fool, and very, very wrong.”

    
²²
 “Here is your spear, sir,” David replied. “Let one of your young men come over and get it.
²³
 The Lord gives his own reward for doing good and for being loyal, and I refused to kill you even when the Lord placed you in my power.
²⁴
 Now may the Lord save my life, even as I have saved yours today. May he rescue me from all my troubles.”

    
²⁵
 And Saul said to David, “Blessings on you, my son David. You shall do heroic deeds and be a great conqueror.”

    
Then David went away and Saul returned home.

1 Samuel
27

But David kept thinking to himself, “Someday Saul is going to get me. I’ll try my luck among the Philistines until Saul gives up and quits hunting for me; then I will finally be safe again.”

    
^2-3
 So David took his six hundred men and their families to live at Gath under the protection of King Achish. He had his two wives with him—Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
⁴
 Word soon reached Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he quit hunting for him.

    
⁵
 One day David said to Achish, “My lord, if it is all right with you, we would rather live in one of the country towns instead of here in the royal city.”

    
⁶
 So Achish gave him Ziklag (which still belongs to the kings of Judah to this day),
⁷
 and they lived there among the Philistines for a year and four months.
⁸
 He and his men spent their time raiding the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who had lived near Shur along the road to Egypt ever since ancient times.
⁹
 They didn’t leave one person alive in the villages they hit and took for themselves the sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning to their homes.

    
¹⁰
 “Where did you make your raid today?” Achish would ask.

    
And David would reply, “Against the south of Judah and the people of Jerahmeel and the Kenites.”

    
¹¹
 No one was left alive to come to Gath and tell where he had really been. This happened again and again while he was living among the Philistines.
¹²
 Achish believed David and thought that the people of Israel must hate him bitterly by now. “Now he will have to stay here and serve me forever!” the king thought.

1 Samuel
28

About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with Israel.

    
“Come and help us fight,” King Achish said to David and his men.

    
²
 “Good,” David agreed. “You will soon see what a help we can be to you.”

    
“If you are, you shall be my personal bodyguard for life,” Achish told him.

    
³
 (Meanwhile, Samuel had died and all Israel had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah, his hometown. King Saul had banned all mediums and wizards from the land of Israel.)

    
⁴
 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul and the armies of Israel were at Gilboa.
^5-6
 When Saul saw the vast army of the Philistines, he was frantic with fear and asked the Lord what he should do. But the Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams, or by Urim,
*
or by the prophets.
^7-8
 Saul then instructed his aides to try to find a medium so that he could ask her what to do, and they found one at Endor. Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. He went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.

    
“I’ve got to talk to a dead man,” he pleaded. “Will you bring his spirit up?”

    
⁹
 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman demanded. “You know that Saul has had all of the mediums and fortune-tellers executed. You are spying on me.”

    
¹⁰
 But Saul took a solemn oath that he wouldn’t betray her.

    
¹¹
 Finally the woman said, “Well, whom do you want me to bring up?”

    
“Bring me Samuel,” Saul replied.

    
¹²
 When the woman saw Samuel, she screamed, “You’ve deceived me! You are Saul!”

    
¹³
 “Don’t be frightened!” the king told her. “What do you see?”

    
“I see a specter coming up out of the earth,” she said.

    
¹⁴
 “What does he look like?”

    
“He is an old man wrapped in a robe.”

    
Saul realized that it was Samuel and bowed low before him.

    
¹⁵
 “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me back?” Samuel asked Saul.

    
“Because I am in deep trouble,” he replied. “The Philistines are at war with us, and God has left me and won’t reply by prophets or dreams; so I have called for you to ask you what to do.”

    
¹⁶
 But Samuel replied, “Why ask me if the Lord has left you and has become your enemy?
¹⁷
 He has done just as he said he would and has taken the kingdom from you and given it to your rival, David.
¹⁸
 All this has come upon you because you did not obey the Lord’s instructions when he was so angry with Amalek.
¹⁹
 What’s more, the entire Israeli army will be routed and destroyed by the Philistines tomorrow, and you and your sons will be here with me.”

    
²⁰
 Saul now fell full length upon the ground, paralyzed with fright because of Samuel’s words. He was also faint with hunger, for he had eaten nothing all day.
²¹
 When the woman saw how distraught he was, she said, “Sir, I obeyed your command at the risk of my life.
²²
 Now do what I say, and let me give you something to eat so you’ll regain your strength for the trip back.”

    
²³
 But he refused. The men who were with him added their pleas to that of the woman until he finally yielded and got up and sat on the bed.
²⁴
 The woman had been fattening a calf, so she hurried out and killed it and kneaded dough and baked unleavened bread.
²⁵
 She brought the meal to the king and his men, and they ate it. Then they went out into the night.