Understand the KJV Bible

When the armies of Israel and the Philistines gathered for battle, they left their own countries dangerously exposed to attack. A large band of Amalekite men - famous as desert robbers - attacked and robbed several towns in the south of both countries. They attacked Ziklag, the home of David and his men, destroying it completely and taking hostage all its women and children.

At God's instruction, David set out on a rescue mission, although he did not know where to search for the robbers, who had retreated into the vast desert. David's men were exhausted, and a third of them were too tired even to join in the search for their own wives and children. It was an act of mercy towards a dying slave that provided the key information for the daring rescue attempt to proceed.

David had foolishly allowed Achish, one of the Philistine kings, to think that he (David) now opposed Israel. The result was that Achish ordered David and his men to join Philistia's army for their battle against Saul.

It shocked the other Philistine kings to see that 600 men from Israel were in their own army. They were even more horrified to discover that David was leading them. They knew well David's reputation as a bold and effective fighter, and they did not trust him to remain loyal to them.

So immediately before the battle, David and his men were sent back home. There, they would discover the terrible consequences of calling out all the fighting men in both Philistia and Israel to the battle. Their mutual enemies, the Amalekites, had taken advantage of the opportunity to rob from towns across both nations. Ziklag, where David and his men lived, was attacked in an especially fierce manner.

Saul was truly desperate before his final battle against the Philistines. He tried to consult God, but he received no answer. So in desperation, he went to a woman who claimed the power to consult the dead. He wanted to consult Samuel - because he believed that if anyone had power with God, Samuel did. However, Samuel had died, more than a year previously, and it is against God's law in Leviticus 19:31 to try to consult the dead. Previously, Saul had opposed fiercely anyone who used magic or witchcraft, but now Saul himself tried to use it to get directions from God for the battle.

The woman's magic brought up a spirit with such a terrible message of condemnation that it left Saul in a state of complete weakness: he was barely still alive. In the talk, we examine whether this truly was the spirit of the prophet Samuel; and how the sin of seeking to consult the dead became the reason for Saul's own death. We also discuss what Saul should have done in this situation.

The time came when, astonishingly, David believed that he must seek a place of refuge with one of the Philistine kings in order to escape from Saul. For Saul's whole rule, the Philistines were fierce enemies of Israel - but David, with his 600 men, considered that they were now safer in enemy territory than in their own land.

The move came with a cost to David's integrity. During his 16 months in Philistia, David was deceiving King Achish about the raids he was carrying out against the tribes of desert robbers who attacked both Israel and Philistia. David pretended that he was himself a robber, attacking Israel's people. Achish believed him, and so convinced himself that David was no longer popular in Israel.

However, David's firm plan was to be loyal to Achish while he continued to act in defence of Israel's people and to respect Saul.

For the second time, David found himself in a situation where he could have killed Saul, and for the second time, David chose to spare his life. David remembered that Saul was the Lord's anointed, chosen by God to rule over Israel, and therefore David refused absolutely to harm Saul in any way.

When the facts became known, this impressed Saul greatly. Saul confessed his sin and spoke to David kindly. In fact, he blessed David and declared that David would do great things and he would in the end overcome all his troubles; and in that Saul was right.

This was their final meeting. The two men would never see each other again.

David had been determined to carry out an act of great cruelty, and he would have done it, had not Abigail intervened with her great wisdom. Accepting personal responsibility for the foolish and evil behaviour of her husband, Nabal, she reminded David that as God's anointed king, he must gain his power in God's way, and not by the power of his own military action.

This was something that David had already resolved in his dealings with King Saul. David now saw that he must implement the same principle in everything that he did. God could deal with Nabal and his wickedness; David did not need to act - rather, he could and should hand the matter over to God.

At Engedi, there were plenty of hiding places for David, but there was no work for his 600 men. So David made the decision to return to the region of Ziph - where Saul had almost caught him - so that the men could work as guards for the shepherds, in a region at constant danger from violent robbers.

Of course, those guards were entitled to payment for their work, and they expected wealthy farmers like Nabal to pay at the time of shearing their sheep, when they would make good profits.

However Nabal refused to pay, and he did it with a nasty insult to David, whose men had worked so hard to look after Nabal's sheep. At once, David decided to act, and he himself led his men. In his anger, David failed to see that he was planning a massacre of men, most of whom were completely innocent. If Nabal's wife Abigail had not acted quickly to save David from the temptation, David would have been guilty of a truly terrible crime.

Engedi, near the Dead Sea, is a place of many caves, in one of which David hid from Saul, who wanted to kill him. However, Saul chose the very same cave when he needed to do something privately.

David's men urged him to take the opportunity to kill his enemy, and David was able to creep so close to Saul that, with a stroke of his knife, he cut off the fringe of Saul's robe. But would David now act to make himself king by ending Saul's life? And if not, how could God's promise ever be fulfilled that David would rule Israel?

The people in Keilah should have been truly grateful to David. With his group of 600 men, he fought to save them from the Philistines, who had been robbing their supplies of food. However, when Saul threatened to surround their town with his army, they cared little about David's life.

In Ziph, the inhabitants did not even need to be threatened to want to hand over David. They were glad to see an opportunity to please King Saul.

From both of these places, David's escape was truly a miracle. At one, a warning from God himself; at the other, an urgent message for Saul, was all that saved David from capture.

Yet in the middle of all this, David's friend Jonathan, the son of Saul, found him, and strengthened him with a reminder of the promises of God.

In the midst of Saul's persecution, David found a place of refuge in the cave at Adullam, and a band of men, outcasts from Israel, joined themselves with him.

However, Saul's anger continued unabated, and it drove him to one of the most terrible incidents in the entire Bible. Doeg the Edomite was remorseless in hunting down the families of Israel's chief priests. The sole survivor, Abiathar, escaped to David, taking the chief priest's ephod with him.