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One-sentence summary: The Philistines wage war against Israel; when Saul inquires of the Lord and receives no answer, he seeks out a medium who conjures Samuel- who tells Saul that Israel will be defeated and both he and his sons will die the next day, and it comes to pass.
The Philistines gather for war against Israel, and King Achish tells David he will go with him to battle and that he will make him one of his chief guardians forever. Samuel has been buried in Ramah, his own city, and Saul had put the mediums and spiritists out of the land. Saul gathers Israel together, and the two nations encamp for war. When Saul sees the Philistine army, he is afraid, and "his heart [trembles] greatly." He inquires of the Lord, but the Lord does not answer him, "either by dream, by Urim, or the prophets," so Saul asks his servants to find him a woman who is a medium in the land. A medium is found, and Saul disguises himself and he goes by night with two men. He asks the woman to conduct a seance. She reminds him that Saul has cut off the mediums and spiritists, and that she will die if she does this, but Saul swears by the Lord that she will not be punished. So she asks him who she should bring up for him, and he asks her to bring up the prophet Samuel. When the woman sees Samuel, she cries with a loud voice, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" Sauls answers her not to be afraid and asks her what she sees. She says she sees a spirit descending out of the earth and that it is an old man covered with a mantle. Saul realizes it is Samuel, so he bows with his face to the ground. Samuel asks Saul why he has disturbed him by bringing him up, and Saul answers he is distressed because the Philistines are fighting him and that God has left him and will not answer him anymore. He asks Samuel what he should do, but Samuel says "Why do you ask me, seeing the Lord has departed from you and has become your enemy?" He says the Lord has done what He spoke through himself and has taken the kingdom from him and given it to David because he did not obey God's voice to destroy Amalek. He says that moreover, the Lord will deliver Israel into the hands of the Philistines and that tomorrow, both Saul and his sons will be with him (dead). Immediately, Saul falls on the ground and is afraid because of the words, and "there [is] no strength in him" because he hadn't eaten all day and night. The woman sees he is severely troubled, and she asks him to let her feed him, but he refuses. However, when his servants and the woman urge him, he listens. She kills a calf and also bakes unleavened bread and brings it before him and his servants, and they eat.
Then, the Philistines gather all their armies, and David is with King Achish. The Philistine princes ask the king what "these Hebrews" are doing with them, and he tells them who David is and how he has been faithful to him and says he is a defector. But they tell him to make David return and not right with them, lest he fight with Israel; also, he might use the opportunity to try to get favor back with King Saul. Achish calls David and tells him the lords don't favor him and to therefore return and go in peace. David asks what he has done and tells him he wants to fight the king's enemies. The king says David is like an angel, but the lords have insisted, so he tells him to leave early in the morning with his men and go, and David does. They return to the land of the Philistines.
On David's return to Ziklag, the Amalekites have attacked and burned the city with fire and taken captive all the people, so David and his men come and see the city burned with their wives, sons, and daughters taken captive, and they "weep, until they have no more power to weep." David's wives are also taken, and he is greatly distressed, because the people are so grieved they talk of stoning him. But "David [strengthens] himself fin the Lord his God." He says to the priest to bring him the ephod, and he asks the Lord if he should pursue the troop, and the Lord tells him to pursue and that he will surely overtake them and recover all. So he and 400 men pursue, because the other 200 are so weary they cannot. They find an Egyptian in the field who has not eaten or drunk anything for three days, so they give him food and water. David asks him who he is, and he says he is from Egypt, a servant of the Amalekites and that he fell sick so his master left him behind. David asks him to take him to the Philistine troop, and he promises not to kill him or deliver him into his master's hand. David comes to the troop, and they are in the midst of a party celebrating their victory and spoil, and David attacks them that night until evening the next day. Only 400 escape of them by camel, and David recovers all and rescues his wives.
David takes the flocks and herds and declares it his spoil. He returns to the 200 weary men, and the "wicked and worthless men" who went with him to fight tell him they will not share the spoil with the ones who stayed except their wives and children, so that they can take them and depart. But David says it is wrong and says they all will share alike, so from that day forward, he makes it a rule for Israel. He also sends some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends as a present.
The Philistines fight against Israel, and Israel is defeated and flees, and the Philistines pursue Saul and his sons, and they kill all three of his sons, including Jonathan. The battle becomes fierce against Saul, and he is severely wounded by archers, so he asks his armor bearer to kill him with his sword because he doesn't want the uncircumcised men to kill him, but the man refuses. So Saul falls on his sword, and the armor bearer does likewise after him. So Saul, his sons, his armor bearer, all all his men die that day. When the rest of Israel hears all this, they also forsake their cities and flee, and the Philistines come and dwell in the cities. The next day, when the Philistines come to strip the slain, they see Saul and his three sons dead, and they cut off Saul's head and take his armor, and they send word through all the Philistines so that they may proclaim it in their temples and among the people. They put his armor in the temple of the Ashtaroth and even pin his body to a wall. When Jabesh Gilead hears what has been done to Saul, the valiant men travel by night and take his body and his sons' bodies from the wall and burn them and bury them under a tamarisk tree in Jabesh. Then, they fast for seven days.
Thoughts/discussion questions:
We can see clearly in this passage how rebellion is like the sin of witchcraft. It is wanting your own power instead of yielding to God's, and it leads to more and more wickedness.
Jonathan- who remained a faithful friend to David- died because of Saul's decisions. Sin has far-reaching consequences that we can never see.