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even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.

8 ¶ And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the 'Gezerites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old 2 Heb. the number of days. 3 Heb. a year of days.

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the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

9 And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.

10 And Achish said, "Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.

11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.

12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel 'utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

4 Or, Gerzites.

Verse 2. 'Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.'-The manner in which this person is distinguished, as the son of Maoch,' seems to render it probable that he was not the same as the Achish who reigned when David first went to Gath. David's intention was now very different from what it had been at the former visit. His future prospects, and the enmity of the reigning king, were probably the common talk, and might afford sufficient reason for the king of Gath to deem it an act of policy to receive him well. Some think that a refuge within his dominions is to be understood as having been voluntarily offered by the king.

6. Ziklag.'-In the distribution of the land this town was assigned to Judah (Josh. xv. 31), and afterwards to Simeon (Josh. xix. 5); but it does not appear that the Israelites ever possessed it; and we now find it belonging to the Philistines, who gave it to David. We see, in ch. xxx., that when the Philistines assembled at Aphek to make war against Saul, and when David also had proceeded to the same place of rendezvous, the Amalekites availed themselves of the opportunity of invading the land, and burnt Ziklag; but, as the author of these chapters adds in the text, that the town still in his time pertained to the kings of Judah, it must afterwards have been rebuilt. We have no information about the place of Ziklag, except that it was in Daroma, the southern province of Palestine. Daroma began at Eleutheropolis, and extended thence about

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twenty miles southward. If we place it in the northern part of that province, we shall have it at a convenient distance to the south of Gath; for the history of David's transactions, during his sojourn among the Philistines, seems to render it quite clear that Ziklag must have been several miles to the south of Gath.

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8. Geshurites.'-See the note on Josh, xiii. 2.

'Gezrites.'-If, on the best authority to be obtained, the town of Gezer be rightly placed in the note to Josh. xii. 12, the southward direction of David's excursion will not allow these Gezrites to have been the inhabitants of that Gezer, as some writers conceive. The word is rather uncertain, and does not occur in the Septuagint version of this text. We have no information concerning such a people, unless, as Wells conjectures, they are the same as the Gerrhenians of 2 Macc. xiii. 24; so called from their chief town Gerra, mentioned by Strabo as lying between Gaza and Pelusium in Egypt.

10. Jerahmeelites.'-The Jerahmeelites were merely one of the branches of the family of Judah, and probably occupied the southern part of that tribe's territory. The information that David had been acting against his own tribe was well calculated to please and satisfy Achish. Jerahmeel, who gave name to this branch of the tribe, was the great-grandson of Judah; and concerning him and his posterity there are various particulars in 1 Chron. ii.

CHAPTER XXVIII.

1 Achish putteth confidence in David. 3 Saul, having destroyed the witches, 4 and now in his fear for saken of God, 7 seeketh to a witch. 9 The witch, encouraged by Saul, raiseth up Samuel. 15 Saul, hearing his ruin, fainteth. 21 The woman with his servants refresh him with meat.

AND it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish

said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men.

2 And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever.

3

Now 'Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, even in his own city. And Saul had put away

1 Chap. 25. 1.

those that had familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land.

4 ¶ And the Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and pitched in Shunem: and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they pitched in Gilboa.

5 And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled.

6 And when Saul enquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

7 Then said Saul unto his servants, Seek me a woman that hath a familiar spirit, that I may go to her, and enquire of her. And his servants said to him, Behold, there is a woman that hath a familiar spirit at En-dor.

8 And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and he went, and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night and he said, I pray thee, divine unto me by the familiar spirit, and bring me him up, whom I shall name unto thee.

9 And the woman said unto him, Behold, thou knowest what Saul hath done, how he hath cut off those that have familiar spirits, and the wizards, out of the land: wherefore then layest thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die?

10 And Saul sware to her by the LORD, saying, As the LORD liveth, there shall no punishment happen to thee for this thing.

11 Then said the woman, Whom shall I bring up unto thee? And he said, Bring me up Samuel.

12 And when the woman saw Samuel, she cried with a loud voice: and the woman spake to Saul, saying, Why hast thou deceived me? for thou art Saul.

13 And the king said unto her, Be not afraid for what sawest thou? And the woman said unto Saul, I saw gods ascending out of the earth.

14 And he said unto her, "What form is he of? And she said, An old man cometh up; and he is covered with a mantle. And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground, and bowed himself.

15 ¶ And Samuel said to Saul, Why hast thou disquieted me, to bring me up? And

2 Heb. what is his form?

6 Heb. mine hand.

Saul answered, I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answereth me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams: therefore I have called thee, that thou mayest make known unto me what I shall do.

16 Then said Samuel, Wherefore then dost thou ask of me, seeing the LORD is departed from thee, and is become thine enemy?

17 And the LORD hath done to him, "as he spake by me: for the LORD hath rent the kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to thy neighbour, even to David:

18 Because thou obeyedst not the voice of the LORD, nor executedst his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore hath the LORD done this thing unto thee this day.

19 Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with thee into the hand of the Philistines and to morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me the LORD also shall deliver the host of Israel into the hand of the Philistines.

20 Then Saul 'fell straightway all along on the earth, and was sore afraid, because of the words of Samuel: and there was no strength in him; for he had eaten no bread all the day, nor all the night.

21 ¶ And the woman came unto Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled, and said unto him, Behold, thine handmaid hath obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened unto thy words which thou spakest unto me.

22 Now therefore, I pray thee, hearken thou also unto the voice of thine handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou mayest have strength when thou goest on thy way.

23 But he refused, and said, I will not eat. But his servants, together with the woman, compelled him; and he hearkened unto their voice. So he arose from the earth, and sat upon the bed.

24 And the woman had a fat calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and did bake unleavened bread thereof:

25 And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they did eat. Then they rose up, and went away that night.

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Verse 2. 'I will make thee keeper of mine head.'-In the East the head is usually mentioned as the principal part of the body. In common language the head' is equivalent to 'the life: therefore, what Achish means is, probably, that he would make David the commander of his life-guard-a most honourable office in the East.

4. * Shunem.'—This place is mentioned in Josh. xix. 18, as being in the tribe of Issachar. Here it is the place where the Philistines encamp. It is also celebrated as the native place of the beautiful Abishag (1 Kings i. 3), and as the residence of the good woman who entertained Elisha (2 Kings iv. 8-37; viii. 1-6). Eusebius and Jerome describe it as being in their day a village five Roman miles from Mount Tabor towards the south, and bearing the name of Sulem. It has been recently recognised under the corresponding name of Solam, by several travellers, in a village three miles and a half north of Jezreel.

- Gilboa.-The circumstance of the narrative would alone lead us to seek Gilboa in the mountains which bound the great plain of Esdraelon on the south-east, and are interposed between it and the Jordan valley. Here there are a number of ridges, with a general direction from northwest to south-east, separated by vallies running in the same direction. The largest of these vallies is the southernmost; it is a broad, deep plain, about two miles and a half wide, and leading direct into the Jordan valley. This is supposed to be distinctively (for the plain of Esdraelon is sometimes so called) the valley of Jezreel. The mountains which bound it on the north appear to be those of Little Hermon, and the higher mountains which bound it on the south undoubtedly form Mount Gilboa. There is still, indeed, an inhabited village, in whose name of Jelbom that of Gilboa may be recognised.

7. A woman that hath a familiar spirit.'-See the note on Deut. xviii. 11. From the present text it appears that those who pretended to the spirit of divination included in their pretensions the power of obtaining access to the counsels of the dead; or, rather, of calling on the dead to appear to those who desired their presence. These were therefore what we call necromancers; the belief in whose powers has existed in most countries, and still lingers perhaps in some of the dark corners even of our own land. The present chapter has given occasion to much discussion, turning chiefly on the points-whether the appearance of Samuel was real, or an imposition of the pythoness on the credulity of Saul; and, if real, by what power it was produced? That the spirit of Samuel was evoked by the woman, and came on the compulsion of her powerful arts, is an opinion that has had its advocates, but has of late years generally been rejected. Even Sir Thomas Brown, whose errors are often on the side of credulity, rejected this explanation. In his chapter, 'Of the last and most common promoter of false opinions-the endeavours of Satan,' he says,-" Thus hath he (Satan) also made men believe that he can raise the dead, that he hath the key of life and death, and a prerogative above that principle which makes no regression from privations.' After alluding to the opinions of the heathen philosophical schools on this point, he adds:⚫ More inconsistent is the error of Christians, who, holding the dead do rest in the Lord, do yet believe they are at the lure of the devil,-that he, who is in bonds himself, commandeth the fetters of the dead, and, dwelling in the bottomless lake, (calleth) the blessed from Abraham's bosom:

-that can believe the real resurrection of Samuel, or that there is anything but delusion in the practice of necromancy, or the popular raising of ghosts' (Vulgar Errors, i. 10). For these and other reasons many believe that the witch of Endor was nothing more nor less than a cunning woman,' who, being acquainted with the state of public affairs--guessing that the tall stranger, who assured her that no harm should happen to herself, could be no other than the king of Israel-and being well acquainted, as probably most of the Israelites were, with the person of Samuel -undertook the no very difficult task of deceiving Saul. Under this view, it is thought that Saul did not see the appearance, but trusted to the woman's statement that she saw it; and that the voice which was heard was produced by the powers of ventriloquism:-although others suppose that the woman had an associate who personated the appearance and imitated the voice of the dead prophet. Some, however, conclude that this associate was a demon, whose aid she invoked on this occasion. But, thirdly, a large class of highly respectable interpreters contend that the appearance was really that of Samuel; but, of course, deny that the power of the woman or of the devil had any share in its production. They think that, when the woman was preparing either to use her craft in imposing on Saul, or else was about to employ her incantations in the expectation of raising a demoniacal spirit to answer his questions, Samuel himself, or his spirit, appeared, by the Lord's permission, to the very great and declared surprise of the woman herself. The text certainly does throughout convey the impression that the appearance was real. This also was the opinion of the ancient Jewish church, as expressed in Ecclus. xlvi. 20, where of Samuel it is said, that after his death he prophesied, and shewed the king his end.' Josephus also describes the appearance as really that of Samuel. Dr. Hales, in his New Analysis of Chronology, has an able article on this view of the subject; in which he thinks that the following were among the reasons for the permitted appearance to Saul:-1. To make Saul's crime the instrument of his punishment, in the dreadful denunciation of his approaching doom. 2. To shew to the heathen world the infinite superiority of the ORACLE OF THE LORD, inspiring his prophets, over the powers of darkness and the delusive prognostics of their wretched votaries in their false oracles. 3. To confirm the belief of a future state, by "One who rose from the dead," even under the Mosaical dispensation' (Luke xvi. 31).

'En-dor. This town is, in Josh. xvii. 11, assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, although lying beyond the limits of that tribe. It is mentioned in Ps. Ixxxiii. 10, in connection with the victory of Deborah and Barak; but is chiefly memorable for the circumstance recorded in this chapter. The name does not occur in the New Testament; but it was near to Nain, and in the time of Eusebius and Jerome it still existed as a large village, four miles south of Mount Tabor. At about this distance, in the northern slope of the lower ridge of the lesser Hermon, a village of this name is still found. Burckhardt describes the inhabitants as being aware of the Scriptural note of their village; for they point out the grotto which they believe the witch to have inhabited. The Bible says nothing of her grotto, and she probably lived in a house like the other inhabitants of the place.

CHAPTER XXIX.

1 David marching with the Philistines, 3 is disallowed by their princes. 6 Achish dismisseth him, with commendations of his fidelity.

Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel.

2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish.

3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of

Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day?

4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, 'Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men?

5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, 'Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

6 T Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this

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7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou 'displease not the lords of the Phi- ! listines.

8 And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle.

10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.

11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

3 Heb. thou art not good in the eyes of the lords.
5 Heb. before thee.

Verse 1. Aphek.'-See note to Josh. xii. 18. This must have been in the tribe of Issachar, in or on the borders of the great plain of Esdraelon; and must not be confounded with the place of the same name in the tribe of Judah, where the Philistines had their camp in the time of Eli (ch. iv. 1).

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Jezreel. This place is described in Josh. xix. 18, as being in the lot of Issachar. It is often mentioned in the subsequent history, as it acquired political importance from the presence of the kings of Israel, who had a palace in Jezreel, and sometimes held their court there, although Samaria was the capital. It is most frequently mentioned in the history of the house of Ahab. There was the vineyard of Naboth, which Ahab coveted to enlarge the palacegrounds (1 Kings xviii. 45, 46; xxi.); and here Jehu executed his dreadful commission against the house of Ahab, when Jezebel, Joram, and all who were connected with that wretched dynasty perished (2 Kings ix. 14, 37; x. 1-11). These horrid scenes appear to have given

the kings of Israel a distaste to this residence, as it is not again mentioned in their history. It is, however, named by Hosea (i. 4; comp. i. 11; ii. 22); and in Judith (i. 8; iv. 3; vii. 3); it occurs under the name of Esdraelon. In the days of Eusebius and Jerome it was still a large village, called Esdraela (Jezrael'); and in the same age it again occurs as Stradela. Nothing more is heard of it till the time of the Crusades, when it was called by the Franks, Parvum Gerinum, and by the Arabs, Zerin; and it is described as commanding a wide prospect-on the east to the mountains of Gilead, and on the west to Mount Carmel (Guil. Tyr. xxii. 26). But this line of identification seems to have been afterwards lost sight of, and Jezreel came to be identified with Jenin.

3. The princes of the Philistines.-The heads of the other Philistine states, not the lords in the court of Achish, who probably concurred in or submitted to the views which the king entertained concerning David.

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whim lifted up their voice and wept, until they no more power to weep.

5 Ane David's two wives were taken captives, Ahi the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of N the Carmelite.

6 And Davia was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was 'grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

7 And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David.

8 And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

9 So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed.

10 But David pursued, he and four hundred men: for two hundred abode behind, which were so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

11 And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water;

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12 And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

13 And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick.

14 We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

15 And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

16 ¶And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing,

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because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

17 And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day: and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled.

18 And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his two wives.

19 And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

20 And David took all the flocks and the

herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, 'This is David's spoil.

21 And David came to the two hundred men, which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brook Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he 'saluted them.

22 ¶ Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife and his children, that they may lead them away, and depart.

23 Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath preserved us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand.

24 For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

25 And it was so from that day 'forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

26 ¶ And when David came to Ziklag, he sent of the spoil unto the elders of Judah, even to his friends, saying, Behold a "present for you of the spoil of the enemies of the LORD;

27 To them which were in Beth-el, and to them which were in south Ramoth, and to them which were in Jattir,

28 And to them which were in Aroer, and to them which were in Siphmoth, and to them which were in Eshtemoa,

3 Or, asked them how they did. Heb. blessing.

4 Heb. men.

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