HelpFinder Bible - Flipbook - Page 639
1 SAM UEL 28
page 269
die, because you failed to protect your master,
the Lord’s anointed! Look around! Where are
the king’s spear and the jug of water that were
beside his head?”
17 Saul recognized David’s voice and called
out, “Is that you, my son David?”
And David replied, “Yes, my lord the king.
18 Why are you chasing me? What have I done?
What is my crime? 19 But now let my lord the
king listen to his servant. If the Lord has stirred
you up against me, then let him accept my offering. But if this is simply a human scheme, then
may those involved be cursed by the Lord. For
they have driven me from my home, so I can no
longer live among the Lord’s people, and they
have said, ‘Go, worship pagan gods.’ 20 Must I
die on foreign soil, far from the presence of the
Lord? Why has the king of Israel come out to
search for a single flea? Why does he hunt me
down like a partridge on the mountains?”
21 Then Saul confessed, “I have sinned. Come
back home, my son, and I will no longer try to
harm you, for you valued my life today. I have
been a fool and very, very wrong.”
22 “Here is your spear, O king,” 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, for you are the Lord’s anointed one.
24 Now may the Lord value my life, even as I
have valued yours today. May he rescue me from
all my troubles.”
25 And Saul said to David, “Blessings on you,
my son David. You will do many heroic deeds,
and you will surely succeed.” Then David went
away, and Saul returned home.
David among the Philistines
But David kept thinking to himself,
“Someday Saul is going to get me. The
best thing I can do is escape to the Philistines.
Then Saul will stop hunting for me in Israelite
territory, and I will finally be safe.”
2 So David took his 600 men and went
over and joined Achish son of Maoch, the
king of Gath. 3 David and his men and their
families settled there with Achish at Gath.
David brought his two wives along with him—
Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail, Nabal’s
widow from Carmel. 4 Word soon reached Saul
that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped
hunting for him.
5 One day David said to Achish, “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 the town of 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.
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28:6 Hebrew by Urim.
8 David and his men spent their time raiding
the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—people who had lived near Shur, toward
the land of Egypt, since ancient times. 9 David
did not leave one person alive in the villages
he attacked. He took the sheep, goats, cattle,
donkeys, camels, and clothing before returning
home to see King Achish.
10 “Where did you make your raid today?”
Achish would ask.
And David would reply, “Against the south
of Judah, the Jerahmeelites, 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 to himself, “By now the people of Israel must hate him bitterly. Now he will have to
stay here and serve me forever!”
Saul Consults a Medium
About that time the Philistines mustered their armies for another war with
Israel. King Achish told David, “You and your
men will be expected to join me in battle.”
2 “Very well!” David agreed. “Now you will
see for yourself what we can do.”
Then Achish told David, “I will make you my
personal bodyguard for life.”
3 Meanwhile, Samuel had died, and all Israel
had mourned for him. He was buried in Ramah,
his hometown. And Saul had banned from the
land of Israel all mediums and those who consult the spirits of the dead.
4 The Philistines set up their camp at Shunem, and Saul gathered all the army of Israel
and camped at Gilboa. 5 When Saul saw the vast
Philistine army, he became frantic with fear.
6 He asked the Lord what he should do, but the
Lord refused to answer him, either by dreams
or by sacred lots* or by the prophets. 7 Saul then
said to his advisers, “Find a woman who is a
medium, so I can go and ask her what to do.”
His advisers replied, “There is a medium at
Endor.”
8 So Saul disguised himself by wearing ordinary clothing instead of his royal robes. Then he
went to the woman’s home at night, accompanied by two of his men.
“I have to talk to a man who has died,” he
said. “Will you call up his spirit for me?”
9 “Are you trying to get me killed?” the woman
demanded. “You know that Saul has outlawed
all the mediums and all who consult the spirits
of the dead. Why are you setting a trap for me?”
10 But Saul took an oath in the name of the
Lord and promised, “As surely as the Lord lives,
nothing bad will happen to you for doing this.”
11 Finally, the woman said, “Well, whose
spirit do you want me to call up?”
“Call up Samuel,” Saul replied.
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