I Samuel 28 begins with Israel under attack by the Philistines. David is living in Philistia in the town of Ziglag and still has a close relationship with King Achish. In fact, King Achish tells David to be ready to join him in battle against Israel. David agrees.
In the meantime, Samuel dies and is buried in Ramah. When Saul sees that the Philistines are ready to attack, he gets very afraid. Normally, he would have run to Samuel to consult the Lord, but Samuel is dead and he couldn’t figure out what to do either through dreams or by sacred lots or by the prophets.
As a result, Mr. “Do as I say, not as I do” decides to consult a medium – she is often referred to as the witch of Endor. She was reluctant to help because of the ban Saul had placed on mediums and others who consult the spirits of the dead.
Considering this passage, one must believe that there are people who can contact the dead – not that I think this is ever a good idea. This medium certainly had this ability. She summoned Samuel and both she and Saul saw the dead prophet. Samuel confirmed what he had said before: the Lord was handing Saul’s kingdom over to David. He also told Saul that he and his sons would be killed in battle the next day and the army would go down in defeat. To say Saul was upset is probably an understatement.
In the meantime, the Philistine rulers refuse to have David follow King Achish into battle and it’s a good thing too. When David and his men arrive back in Ziglag, they find out that the Amalekites had raided Ziglag and burned it to the ground. The women and children were safe, but were carried off by the Amalekites. Everyone was very distraught, but – and I love it – David found strength in the Lord his God.”
Rather than running off after his family in a rush, David consults the Lord and finds that if he chases the raiders, he will recover everything that was taken from him. He takes his 600 men and heads out after the Amalekites, but eventually, 200 of the men are just too weary to proceed. David and the remaining 400 come upon a former Egyptian slave who tells them where they can find their families. David sends some of the plunder they recover to several towns in Judah. This probably helped cement his leadership when the time came for him to be crowned king.
Saul and three of his sons are killed while fighting the Philistines. The Israelites see what has happened and flee their towns. The Philistines take advantage of this and occupy the abandoned towns.
So, I Samuel ends with the death of Saul and his three sons.
Psalm 18 reflects David’s praise for being rescued from all his enemies and from Saul. If you think about it, David had a lot of enemies: the Amalekites, the Philistines, and Saul and his army. Small wonder that David calls the Lord his strength, his rock, his fortress, his savior, his shield, the power that saves him, his place of safety – if anyone needed a place of safety, it was David – and a light in the darkness. Does this Psalm have more meaning to you connected with the final chapters of I Samuel? It does to me.
Tomorrow, it’s Psalm 121, 123, 124, 125, 128, 129, and 130.
After I posted my blog yesterday, I found out my class wasn’t until today. It was a great class. I learned a lot about coloring leather. I also went to see The Three Stooges. It was hilarious.
Until next time…
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