Immerse: Kingdoms Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 145
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S am u el – K I N G S
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in urging him to eat, so he finally yielded and got up from the ground and
sat on the couch.
The woman had been fattening a calf, so she hurried out and killed it.
She took some flour, kneaded it into dough and baked unleavened bread.
She brought the meal to Saul and his advisers, and they ate it. Then they
went out into the night.
The entire Philistine army now mobilized at Aphek, and the Israelites
camped at the spring in Jezreel. As the Philistine rulers were leading out
their troops in groups of hundreds and thousands, David and his men
marched at the rear with King Achish. But the Philistine commanders demanded, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”
And Achish told them, “This is David, the servant of King Saul of Israel.
He’s been with me for years, and I’ve never found a single fault in him from
the day he arrived until today.”
But the Philistine commanders were angry. “Send him back to the town
you’ve given him!” they demanded. “He can’t go into the battle with us.
What if he turns against us in battle and becomes our adversary? Is there
any better way for him to reconcile himself with his master than by handing our heads over to him? Isn’t this the same David about whom the
women of Israel sing in their dances,
‘Saul has killed his thousands,
and David his ten thousands’?”
So Achish finally summoned David and said to him, “I swear by the
Lord that you have been a trustworthy ally. I think you should go with
me into battle, for I’ve never found a single flaw in you from the day you
arrived until today. But the other Philistine rulers won’t hear of it. Please
don’t upset them, but go back quietly.”
“What have I done to deserve this treatment?” David demanded. “What
have you ever found in your servant, that I can’t go and fight the enemies
of my lord the king?”
But Achish insisted, “As far as I’m concerned, you’re as perfect as an
angel of God. But the Philistine commanders are afraid to have you with
them in the battle. Now get up early in the morning, and leave with your
men as soon as it gets light.”
So David and his men headed back into the land of the Philistines, while
the Philistine army went on to Jezreel.
Three days later, when David and his men arrived home at their town of
Ziklag, they found that the Amalekites had made a raid into the Negev
and Ziklag; they had crushed Ziklag and burned it to the ground. They