April 19: 1 Samuel 28-31, Psalm 18

April 19, 1 Samuel 28-31, Psalm 18

1 Samuel 28 The Philistines are getting ready for war against Israel again. Achish, who David had been serving while fleeing from Saul, wanted David to be his servant for life. 

We are reminded here that Samuel had died, which seems out of place, until the next verses! We learn that Saul had enforced God's law of being against those in witchcraft and Saul made it illegal to be a medium, or any form of witchcraft was illegal, and he sent all of the mediums out of the land. But, your convictions only have value when they are tried, and Saul’s convictions were weak. God wouldn't speak to Saul about what to do with the upcoming battle, through dreams or a prophet, so instead of repenting of his wicked ways, Saul wanted to find a different way to know if he should go to battle or not. And so Saul wanted to find a medium to find Samuel so that he could tell him! Saul changes his clothes and disguises himself and goes to a medium. At first she refused to help him because it was illegal, but Saul gave her his ‘word’ that in the name of God, nothing bad would happen to her. Here, Saul trumps the Lord and states that she won't be punished, even though it is punishable through God's law. She agreed and Saul asked her to bring up Samuel’s spirit from the dead. As a side note, commentators and theologians have spent a lifetime trying to explain this little episode. I am going to park it at this spot: God’s Word said this happened, so it did. The lady sees Samuel and she screams, obviously looking different than what she is used to seeing. Then she  somehow knows that Saul is the man in disguise. She is afraid of the law against what she is doing and pleads before the King sitting before her and she knows she was deceived by him (not a man of his word…). Saul bows in reverence to the ground upon seeing Samuel. Samuel asked Saul why he disturbed him from his sleep, and Saul explains that God won’t talk to him and he needs to know what to do in battle. Samuel assured Saul that the reason that God is not speaking to him is because Saul disobeyed God, and has become His enemy, and that David would be soon taking over. Oh, and two more little messages for Saul - tomorrow you and your sons will die and be joining Samuel, and the Israelites will be handed over to the Philistines. As would be expected, Saul falls to the ground and lost all his strength. At the end of this fiasco, the lady and his servants convinced him to eat something before they left.  

1 Samuel 29 Back to David.. recall from chapter 28 the Philistines were getting ready to fight the Israelites and now we learn that they will not let David and his men fight with them, because the Philistine leaders don’t trust David like Achish did, mainly because he had killed so many Philistines in his younger days and may turn on them in battle. David and his men were sent away. Achish reaffirmed his trust in David as David was blameless to him, but regardless, they must leave. We don't see why this is a good thing that the Philistines sent David away, but we quickly learn that it was the Lord's doing, as David was needed elsewhere...

1 Samuel 30 Meanwhile, about 50 miles away, the Amalekites capitalized on the fact that the Philistines and Israelites would be fighting in the the north, so they attacked Judah in the south. They raided David’s town and took everything, including the people and David’s wives, but killed nobody. The Israelites were distressed greatly, but the narrator makes sure that we are aware that David himself was strengthened by God!

David requested the ephod so that he could inquire of God, and God told him that they would win as they attacked the Amalekites. 400 of his men went with him to attack, 200 stayed behind because they were too exhausted to cross the brook. As they were on their way, they ‘just so happened’ (no such thing as coincidence, it is God setting it all up) to come across an Egyptian that was a slave to one of the Amalekites, but was too ill and so they left him to die. He was tired and ill, so they fed him and gave him water - and he felt much better. Low and behold, he knew where the Amalekites were and he would bring David and his men to them if they promised to not make him go back to them. Which according the Lord's law, the Israelites didn't have to give a slave back that didn't want to return to their master if they had been mistreated. Deuteronomy 23:15-16. So instead of taking him back, he joined David and his men, and told them where to find the Amalekites. 

When David and his men arrived, they saw the Amalekites having quite a party - with all the soil from their town. David and his men fought them all night and killed all of them but 400 who escaped. They got back all their people and plundered everything of the Amalekites, including the stuff that was stolen from them. Some of the greedy men that were with David did not want to share any of the plunder with the 200 men who stayed behind, but David made sure that they got an equal amount and made it a rule that if some stay behind in war, they are to receive the same amount of the plunder. Then David shared some of the spoil with his friends from Judah. 

1 Samuel 31 Back to the Philistines! They went to battle the Israelites and the Israelites fled. The Philistines killed Jonathan and Saul’s other sons. The archers wounded Saul bad. Saul didn't want to be in the hands of the Philistines (I can only imagine what they would do to a King), so he instructed his armor bearer to kill him. The armor bearer was too afraid to do it because it was the Lord's chosen King. So since the armor bearer didn't do anything, Saul killed himself by falling on his own sword. His armor bearer did the same thing. The Philistines came and made their home where the Israelites used to live. The next day, they came and cut off Saul’s head, took his armor, and hung his body up. They put the armor next to their idols in the temple. Some Israelites went secretly during the night and stole back his body and gave him and and sons a proper burial. 

Psalm 18 Here we are reminded that God is our Protector, just like He was for David. Can you express, like David, I love you Lord, you are my strength, my rock, my redeemer, my refuge, my shield? If you try to do things on your own, are you capable of having all of those job titles for you and your family? I highly doubt it! We need to be like David - call to God in our distress because he will rescue us from our enemies when they are too mighty. God is our support when we keep our lives pure before Him and purse Him and not sin. For those that are against God or are crooked, God is against them - it is that simple. 

God’s ways are perfect. 

There is no God but our God. 

God’s right hand supports us.

God is the only God of Salvation. 

God rescues us. 

To sum it all up:

• Your convictions only have value when they are tried. How are your convictions? 
• David himself was strengthened by God, is that where you go to find your strength when times are tough, or do you turn to a vice perhaps?
• Always know that God is there for you. Trust Him and pursue Him, not sin.