In the last chapters of 1 Samuel, Fr. Mike focuses on David's wisdom in battle through his prayer and ability to unite the people of Israel. He also touches on Psalm 18 and how wonderful things can happen once we allow ourselves to be loved by God. Today's readings are 1 Samuel 29-31 and Psalm 18. For the complete reading plan, visit ascensionpress.com/bibleinayear. Please note: The Bible contains adult themes that may not be suitable for children - parental discretion is advised.
Chapter 1: What is the focus of today's readings?
Using the Great Adventure Bible timeline, we'll read all the way from Genesis to Revelation, discovering how the story of salvation unfolds and how we fit into that story today. It is day 119. We are at the last few chapters, in fact, the last three chapters of 1 Samuel 29, 30 and 31. We're also going to be praying today, Psalm 18.
As always, I'm reading from the Revised Standard Version, Second Catholic Edition. I'm using Great Adventure Bible from Ascension. If you want to download your own Bible in a Year reading plan, you can go to ascensionpress.com slash Bible in a Year. And if you've not yet subscribed to this podcast, I invite you to consider that. And then after considering to actually do it, that'd be really good.
It really takes no time at all. You just click subscribe and then you're subscribed. As I said, it is day 119. We're reading 1 Samuel chapter 29, chapter 30, chapter 31, and we're praying Psalm 18. 1 Samuel chapter 29. The Philistines reject David.
Now the Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and the Israelites were encamped by the fountain which is in Jezreel, as the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands. And David and his men were passing on in the rear with Akshish. The commanders of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here?
And Akshish said to the commanders of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and for years? And since he deserted to me, I have found no fault in him to this day.
but the commanders of the philistines were angry with him and the commanders of the philistines said to him send the man back that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him he shall not go down with us to battle lest in the battle he become an adversary to us for how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord Would it not be with the heads of the men here?
Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands? Then Akshish called David and said to him, As the Lord lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign, for I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day.
Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. So go back now, and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines. And David said to Akshish, But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?
And Akshish made answer to David, I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. Now then, rise early in the morning with the servants of your Lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.
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Chapter 2: How did David show wisdom in battle?
And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep. David's two wives also had been taken captive, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, the widow of Nebal of Carmel. And David was greatly distressed.
For the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the Lord his God. And David said to Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech, Bring me the ephod. So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. And David inquired of the Lord, Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?
He answered him, Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue. So David set out, and the six hundred men who were with him, and they came to the brook Besor, where those stayed who were left behind. But David went on with the pursuit, he and four hundred men, two hundred stayed behind, who were too exhausted to cross the brook Besor.
They found an Egyptian in the open country, and brought him to David. And they gave him bread, and he ate. They gave him water to drink. And they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and two clusters of raisins, and
Chapter 3: What happened to Ziklag and its significance?
and when he had eaten his spirit revived for he had not eaten bread or drunk water for three days and three nights and david said to him to whom do you belong and where are you from he said i am a young man of egypt servant to an amalekite and my master left me behind because i fell sick three days ago
We had made a raid upon the Negev of the Cherethites, and upon that which belongs to Judah, and upon the Negev of Caleb, and we burned Ziklag with fire. And David said to him, Will you take me down to this band? And he said, Swear to me by God that you will not kill me or deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will take you down to this band.
And when he had taken him down, behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped except 400 young men who mounted camels and fled.
David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and David rescued his two wives. Nothing was missing, whether small or great, sons or daughters, spoil or anything that had been taken, David brought back all. David also captured all the flocks and herds, and the people drove those cattle before him and said, This is David's spoil.
Then David came to the two hundred men who had been too exhausted to follow David and who had been left at the brook Besor. And they went out to meet David and to meet the people who were with him. And when David drew near to the people, he saluted them.
Then all the wicked and base fellows among the men who had gone with David said, Because they did not go with us, we will not give them any of the spoil which we have recovered, except that each man may lead away his wife and children and depart. But David said, You shall not do so, my brothers.
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Chapter 4: How did David seek God's guidance?
With what the Lord has given us, he has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike. And from that day forward, he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day. When David came to Ziklag,
He sent part of the spoil to his friends, the elders of Judah, saying, Here is a present for you from the spoil of the enemies of the Lord.
It was for those in Bethel, in Ramoth of the Negev, in Jatir, in Eroar, in Sifmoth of Eshtimoah, in Rakhal, in the cities of the Jeremelites, in the cities of the Kenites, in Hormah, in Borashan, in Natak, in Hebron, for all the places where David and his men had roamed.
the death of Saul and his sons.
Now the Philistines fought against Israel, and the men of Israel fled before the Philistines and fell slain on Mount Gilboa. And the Philistines overtook Saul and his sons, and the Philistines slew Jonathan and Abinadab and Melchishua, the sons of Saul. The battle pressed hard upon Saul, and the archers found him, and he was badly wounded by the archers.
Then Saul said to his armor-bearer, Draw your sword and thrust me through with it, lest these uncircumcised come and thrust me through and make sport of me. But his armor-bearer would not, for he feared greatly. Therefore Saul took his own sword and fell upon it. And when his armor-bearer saw that Saul was dead, he also fell upon his sword and died with him.
Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day, together. And when the men of Israel, who were on the other side of the valley and those beyond the Jordan, saw that the men of Israel had fled and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook their cities and fled. And the Philistines came and dwelt in them.
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Chapter 5: What was the outcome of David's pursuit?
On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, they found Saul and his three sons fallen on Mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armor, and sent messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to carry the good news to their idols and to the people. They put his armor in the temple of Ashtaroth, and they fastened his body to the wall at Bet-shan.
But when the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead heard what the Philistines had done to Saul, all the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Bet-shan. And they came to Jabesh and burnt them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days.
Psalm 18, royal thanksgiving for victory.
To the choir master, a psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, who addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hands of all his enemies and from the hand of Saul, he said, I love you, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer, my God, my rock in whom I take refuge, my shield and the horn of my salvation.
My stronghold. I call upon the Lord who is worthy to be praised and I am saved from my enemies. The cords of death encompassed me. The torrents of perdition assailed me. The cords of Sheol entangled me. The snares of death confronted me. In my distress, I called upon the Lord. To my God, I cried for help. From his temple, he heard my voice and my cry to him reached his ears.
Then the earth reeled and rocked. The foundations also of the mountains trembled and quaked because he was angry. Smoke went up from his nostrils and devouring fire from his mouth. Glowing coals flamed forth from him. He bowed the heavens and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
he rode on a cherub and flew he came swiftly upon the wings of the wind he made darknesses covering around him his canopy thick clouds dark with water out of the brightness before him there broke through his clouds hailstones and coals of fire the lord also thundered in the heavens And the Most High uttered his voice, hailstones and coals of fire. And he sent out his arrows and scattered them.
He flashed forth lightnings and routed them. Then the channels of the sea were seen, and the foundations of the world were laid bare at your rebuke, O Lord, at the blast of the breath of your nostrils. He reached from on high. He took me. He drew me out of many waters. He delivered me from my strong enemy and from those who hated me, for they were too mighty for me.
They came upon me in the day of my calamity, but the Lord was my stay. He brought me forth into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me.
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Chapter 6: What does Psalm 18 express about God's deliverance?
And maybe in some ways, just to be able to go back and to allow yourself to follow along, just because it can be kind of a new way to pray. One of the things that sticks out to me from this Psalm 18, well, there's so many great things, so many good things. But one line that every time I pray this Psalm 18, which is pretty, pretty often, there is a line that talks again, Psalm 18 verse 19.
It says, he brought me forth into a broad place. He delivered me because he delighted in me. The translation that I typically will use when it comes to the liturgy of the hours, when I'm praying Psalms, the Psalms is he saved me because he loved me. And there's something about that. He delivered me because he delighted in me. He saved me because he loved me.
And there's something so powerfully true about this. And when we allow the Lord to love us, when we allow the Lord to delight in us, something changes, something radically changes. I think a lot of us hold on to this idea that I have to perform in order to please the Lord, that you have to perform in order to please the Lord, that you have to do something in order to be delighted in.
And Psalm 18 just says, no, he saved you because he delighted in you. He saved David because he delighted in David. And he saves you because he loves you. And it's something so powerful to allow it to really transform our hearts that you don't need to perform in order to be preferred, that the Lord just loves you. He already delights in you.
Okay, one quick note about 1 Samuel, the end of the book. Tomorrow, we're going on to 2 Samuel and to 1 Chronicles. But here's a couple things that just reveal the wisdom of David, right? So David's going to go fight with the Philistines, and they say, no, we don't trust you. And they were right. They should not trust David.
Now, Akshi's trusted David because David's been lying to him all this time and saying that he's been doing raids upon the Israelite people, and he hasn't been. And so they send him back. Anyways, he gets back to Ziklag and realizes the Amalekites... have raided his city and they've taken off all the people, taken the people away. Now here's where David shows some wisdom, number of places.
Number one, David shows his wisdom by saying he donned the ephod, right, the clothing of the priest, and he goes before the Lord and he asks God, should we pursue these Amalekites? Should we pursue them in order to retrieve our family members and get back our stuff? And the first thing he does, he asks direction from the Lord. He doesn't just say, here's what we're going to do.
David has learned, right? Remember, David has learned that I'm going to ask direction from the Lord first if I should go into this battle. And that's number one. Now, it could seem really obvious to you. Of course, you're going to go after them. But David shows wisdom and he prays first. Number two, after he routes the Amalekites and comes back, there's two other ways that David shows his wisdom.
One is he had a party of 600 men at some point at the Brook of Besor. 200 of those men were so exhausted they couldn't go on any further. So they stayed with the baggage. They stayed with all their stuff and they guarded that stuff while the other 400 went on and defeated the Amalekites.
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