Historical

Saul Consults a Medium

28 At that time, the Philistines gathered their armed forces to fight against Israel. Achish said to David, “You surely know that you and your men must march out with me in the army.”

² David said to Achish, “Well then, you know what your servant will do.”

“Well then, I appoint you my bodyguard for life,” Achish said to David.

³ Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented him and buried him in Ramah, his hometown. Saul had removed from the land those who were mediums and spiritists.

⁴ So the Philistines mustered and came and camped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together and they camped at Gilboa. ⁵ Now when Saul saw the camp of the Philistines, he was afraid and his heart trembled greatly. ⁶ When Saul inquired of Adonai, Adonai did not answer, neither by dreams nor by Urim or prophets.

⁷ Then Saul said to his courtiers, “Find me a woman who is a medium, so I may go to her and inquire through her.” So his courtiers said to him, “Behold, there is a woman that is a medium at En-dor.” ⁸ So Saul disguised himself, put on other clothes, and went with two other men, and they reached the woman by night. Then he said, “Please conjure up for me a ghost—bring up for me the one I will name to you.”

⁹ “Look, you know what Saul has done,” she said, “how he has cut off the mediums and spiritists from the land. So why then are you setting a trap for my life to get me killed?”

¹⁰ Saul vowed to her by Adonai saying, “As Adonai lives, no punishment will come on you for this thing.”

¹¹ “Whom will I bring up for you?” the woman asked.

“Bring me up Samuel,” he said.

¹² But when the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud shriek. Then the woman spoke to Saul saying, “Why have you deceived me? You are Saul!”

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

The woman said to Saul, “I see a godlike being coming up from the earth.”

¹⁴ “What does he look like?” he asked her.

“An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped with a robe,” she said.

Then Saul knew that it was Samuel, so he bowed down and prostrated himself with his face to the ground. ¹⁵ Samuel said to Saul, “Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?”

“I’m in great distress,” Saul answered. “The Philistines are waging war against me, and God has turned away from me—He doesn’t answer me anymore, whether by prophets or by dreams. So I called you up to tell me what I should do.”

¹⁶ Samuel said, “So why ask me, since Adonai has turned away from you and become your adversary? ¹⁷ Now Adonai has done for Himself just as He foretold through me—Adonai has torn the kingship out of your hand and has given it to another fellow, to David. ¹⁸ Since you did not obey the voice of Adonai and did not execute His fierce wrath on Amalek, so Adonai has done this to you today. ¹⁹ Moreover, Adonai will also give the Israelites who are with you into the hand of the Philistines. Tomorrow you and your sons will be with me! Yes, Adonai will give the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.”

²⁰ Then Saul immediately fell full length upon the ground, and became so terrified because of the words of Samuel that there was absolutely no strength in him, for he had eaten nothing all day and all night. ²¹ Then the woman came to Saul and saw that he was so agitated, so she told him, “Behold, your maidservant obeyed you; I put my life in my hand by listening to your words, which you spoke to me. ²² Please you too listen to the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a morsel of bread before you, so you can eat and have strength to go on your way.”

²³ But he refused and said, “I won’t eat.” But when his courtiers and the woman urged him, he listened to them. So he got up from the ground and sat on the bed. ²⁴ The woman had a fatted calf in the house, so she hurried and butchered it, and took flour, kneaded it, and baked unleavened bread from it. ²⁵ She brought it before Saul and his courtiers, and they ate. Then they arose and went away that night.

David Sent Back from Battle

29 Now the Philistines mustered all their armies at Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring in Jezreel. ² As the Philistine lords were proceeding ahead of their hundreds and thousands, David and his men were bringing up the rear with Achish. ³ Then the Philistine commanders said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

Achish said to the Philistine commanders, “No! That’s David, servant of Israel’s King Saul—he’s been with me today for over a year, and I’ve not found any fault in him since the day he defected to me until now.”

⁴ But the Philistine commanders got angry with him, and the Philistine commanders said to him, “Make this man go back—back to his place you assigned him. He must not go down with us to the battle, or in the battle he might become our adversary. For how would this fellow appease his lord? Wouldn’t it be with the heads of our men? ⁵ Isn’t this one David, about whom they were singing in dances saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’”

⁶ So Achish called David and said to him, “As Adonai lives, you have been upright and your going out and your coming in with me, in the army are pleasing in my eyes. For I never found fault with you since the day of your coming to me up to this day. However, the other lords do not approve of you. ⁷ So now, turn around and go back in peace, and you won’t be doing anything to displease the Philistine lords.”

⁸ “But what have I done?” David said to Achish. “What have you found in your servant from the day I have been before you to this day, that I shouldn’t go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹ “I know,” Achish answered saying to David. “You are as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle.’ ¹⁰ So now, rise up early in the morning, you and the servants of your lord that came with you, and as soon you rise, early in the morning, once there is light, leave.” ¹¹ So David rose up early, he and his men, leaving in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. Meanwhile, the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Raid on Amalek

30 Now it came to pass, when David and his men returned to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire; ² taking the women in it captive, young and old, without killing anyone, but carried them off as they went their way. ³ So when David and his men came to the town, behold, it was burned with fire—and their wives, their sons and their daughters had been taken captives. ⁴ Then David and the troops with him lifted up their voice and wept until they there was no more strength in them to weep. ⁵ Even David’s two wives were taken captive—Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.

⁶ So David was in a serious bind, for the troops were calling for his stoning, for all the troops were bitter of soul, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Adonai his God. ⁷ Then David said to Abiathar the kohen son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ David inquired of Adonai saying, “Should I pursue after this raiding band? Shall I overtake them?”

He answered him, “Pursue! For you will surely overtake and you will surely rescue!” ⁹ So David went, he and the 600 men with him, and came to the Wadi Besor, where those left behind remained— ¹⁰ for 200 men stayed behind because they were too exhausted to cross Wadi Besor. Yet David pursued, he and the other 400 men.

¹¹ Then they found an Egyptian in the open field and brought him to David, gave him bread to eat and water to drink, ¹² and they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two cakes of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came back to him, for he had eaten no bread and drunk no water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?”

“I am a young Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite,” he said. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made a raid in the Negev of the Cherethites, and on Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb; also we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ Then David asked him, “Will you lead me to this raiding band?”

“Swear to me by God that you won’t kill me or deliver me into my master’s hands,” he said, “and I will lead you to this marauding band.” ¹⁶ So he led him down, and behold, they were scattered over all the area, eating, drinking and feasting because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ David attacked them from the twilight until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped, except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled.

¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ There was nothing of theirs missing, whether young or old, sons or daughters, spoils or anything else that had been carried off—David recovered everything. ²⁰ David took all the flocks and the herd that they had driven ahead of the other cattle, so they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

²¹ When David reached the 200 men—who had been too exhausted to follow David and were left at Wadi Besor—they came out to meet David and to meet the men with him, so David approached these people and greeted them. ²² But all the wicked men and worthless fellows among those who accompanied David said, “Because they did not accompany us, we shouldn’t give them any of the spoil that we’ve recovered, except every man may take his wife and his children and leave.”

²³ “You must not do so, my brothers with what Adonai has given us,” David said. “It is He who has protected us and gave into our hands the raiding band that attacked us. ²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? The share of him who went down to the battle is to be the same as that of him who remained by the baggage. They will share alike.” ²⁵ So it has been from that day forward—he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ When David arrived at Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Look, a blessing for you from the spoil of the enemies of Adonai,” ²⁷ to those in Beth-el, Ramoth-Negev, Jattir, ²⁸ Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, ²⁹ Racal, to those in the towns of Jerahmeelite, to those in the towns of the Kenites, ³⁰ Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach, ³¹ Hebron and to all the places where David and his men had roamed.

Saul Killed on Mt. Gilboa

31 Now the Philistines were fighting against Israel. Israel’s men fled before the Philistines and many fell slain on Mount Gilboa. ² The Philistines pressed hard after Saul and his sons, and the Philistines struck down Jonathan, Abinadab and Malchishua, the sons of Saul. ³ When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers hit him, so he was severely wounded by the archers. ⁴ Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, “Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, or else these uncircumcised will come and thrust me through after torturing me.” But his armor-bearer refused, for he was too afraid. So Saul took the sword and fell on it. ⁵ When his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he likewise fell on his sword and died with him. ⁶ So Saul, his three sons, his armor-bearer, and all his men died together that same day.

⁷ When the men of Israel who were on the other side of the valley and those across the Jordan saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they abandoned the towns and fled. Then the Philistines came and occupied them.

⁸ It was the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. ⁹ So they cut off his head and stripped off his armor, and sent them throughout the land of the Philistines, to spread the good news to the house of their idols and to the people. ¹⁰ Then they put his armor in the house of the Ashtaroth and fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

¹¹ Now when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, ¹² all their valiant men set out and walked all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, then went to Jabesh and burned them there. ¹³ They took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted for seven days.