have stirred thee up against me, let him accept an offering; but if children of men, cursed be they before Jehovah; for they have driven me out this day from abiding in the in20 heritance of Jehovah, saying: Go, serve other gods. And now, let not my blood fall to the earth before the face of Jehovah. For the king of Israel has come out to seek a flea, as one hunts the partridge in the mountains. 21 And Saul said: I have sinned. Return, my son David; for I will no more do thee harm, because my life was precious in thine eyes this day. Behold, I have done foolishly, and 22 have erred exceedingly. And David answered and said: Behold the king's spear! And let one of the young men come 23 over and fetch it. And Jehovah will render to every man For Jehovah gave his righteousness and his faithfulness. thee into my hand to-day; but I would not stretch forth my 24 hand against Jehovah's anointed. And, behold, as thy life was much prized this day in mine eyes, my life shall be much prized in the eyes of Jehovah, and he will deliver me out of 25 all tribulation. And Saul said to David: Blessed be thou, my son David. Thou wilt both essay great things, and also wilt surely prevail. And David went on his way; and Saul returned to his place. 1 AND David said in his heart: I shall now perish some day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the 2 territory of Israel; so shall I escape out of his hand. And David arose and passed over, he and the six hundred men that were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of 3 Gath. And David remained with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man and his household; David and his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmel4itess, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; and he sought for him no more. 5 And David said to Achish: If now I have found favor in thine eyes, let them give me a place in one of the country cities, that I may dwell there. For why should thy servant 6 dwell in the royal city with thee? And Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore has Ziklag belonged to the kings 7 of Judah, to this day. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. 8 And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites; for these were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, and to the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and saved neither man nor woman alive; and he took sheep, and oxen, and asses, and camels, and apparel, and returned, and came 10 to Achish. And Achish said: Ye have not made an inroad to-day? And David said: Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and to the south of 11 the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring to Gath, saying: Lest they should inform against us, saying: So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwells in the country of the Philistines. 12 And Achish confided in David, saying: He has made himself utterly abhorred among his people in Israel; and he shall be my servant forever. 1 AND it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David: Be assured, that thou 2 shalt go out with me in the army, thou and thy men. And David said to Achish: Therefore, thou shalt know what thy servant will do. And Achish said to David: Therefore will I make thee keeper of my head forever. 3 And Samuel was dead, and all Israel had lamented him, and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put away them that had divining-spirits, and the wizards, 4 out of the land. And the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped in Shunem. And Saul gathered all 5 Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa. And Saul V. 3. Divining-spirits. See the writer's explanatory note on Isaiah 8: 19, and his note on the Hebrew text of the same passage. 7 saw the host of the Philistines, and he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. And Saul inquired of Jehovah; and Jehovah answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by the prophets. And Saul said to his servants: Seek for me a woman that has a divining-spirit, that I may go to her, and inquire of her. And his servants said to him: Behold, a woman that 8 has a divining-spirit is at En-dor. And Saul disguised himself, and put on other raiment, and went, he and two men with him, and they came to the woman by night. And he said: Divine for me, I pray thee, by the divining-spirit, and 9 bring up for me him whom I shall name to thee. And the woman said to him: Behold, thou knowest what Saul has done; that he has cut off them that have divining-spirits, and the wizards, out of the land. Wherefore then layest 10 thou a snare for my life, to cause me to die? And Saul swore to her by Jehovah, saying: As Jehovah lives, there 11 shall no punishment befall thee for this thing. And the woman said: Whom shall I bring up to thee? And he 12 said: Bring me up Samuel. And the woman saw Samuel, and she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman said to Saul: Why hast thou deceived me? For thou art Saul. 13 And the king said to her: Be not afraid; for what seest thou? And the woman said to Saul: I see a god coming 14 out of the earth. And he said to her: What form is he of? And she said: An old man comes up; and he is covered with a robe. 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 Saul said: I am sore distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God is departed from me, and answers me no more, neither by prophets, nor by dreams; and I have called thee, that thou mayest make 16 known to me what I shall do. And Samuel said: Wherefore -V. 13. A god. -V. 14. A robe. V. 6. Urim. See the note on Ex. 28: 30; and compare Num. 27: 21.- then dost thou ask of me, seeing that Jehovah is departed 17 from thee, and is become thine enemy? And Jehovah has done for himself, as he spoke by me; for Jehovah has rent the kingdom out of thy hand, and given it to thy neighbor, 18 to David. As thou didst not obey the voice of Jehovah, nor execute his fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore has Jehovah 19 done this thing to thee this day. And Jehovah will give Israel also with thee into the hand of the Philistines; and to-morrow shalt thou and thy sons be with me; the host of Israel also will Jehovah give into the hand of the Philistines. 20 And 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 to Saul, and saw that he was sore troubled; and she said to him: Behold, thy handmaid has obeyed thy voice, and I have put my life in my hand, and have hearkened to thy words which thou hast spoken to me. 22 And now, I pray thee, hearken thou also to the voice of thy handmaid, and let me set a morsel of bread before thee; and eat, that thou mayest have strength, when thou goest on thy way. But he refused, and said: I will not eat. And his servants constrained him, and also the woman; and he hearkened 23 VV. 7-20. The transactions here recorded have been the occasion of much speculation, and many theories have been devised to account for them. In Dr. Schaff's American edition of Lange's Critical, Doctrinal, and Historical Commentary, a full statement of these speculations and theories is given in Vol. V. on the Old Testament, edited with great ability and learning by Professors C. H. Toy and J. A. Broadus. It may be safely assumed that the woman was a noted impostor, who practiced on the credulity of the weak and ignorant by her deceptive arts, expressly forbidden in the Divine law (Lev. 20: 6), as inconsistent with a truly religious spirit, and therefore sinful as well as corrupting. In the narrative itself the following facts are to be particularly noted :- 1. The woman was ignorant of the person of her visitor. 2. She was herself terrified at the apparition which she pretended she had power to call up. 3. It was not visible to Saul, and he identified Samuel from her description of what she saw. So much is clear from the narrative. Whatever was supernatural, therefore, must have been present only to the mind of the woman; for what her eyes could see could be seen by the eyes of Saul. If such were the case, she was made the instrument of a communication to Saul through what seemed, in her mental conception, an apparition of the prophet. Divine wisdom has at other times made use of similar instruments, as in the case of Balaam. Num. 23: 5, "Jehovah put a word in Balaam's mouth"; 24: 4, "who heard the words of God, who saw the vision of the Almighty." No sanction was given to Saul's unauthorized visit to the sorceress. The instrument he used in violation of law, was made the instrument of his humiliation and punishment. to their voice. And he arose from the earth, and sat on the 24 couch. And the woman had a fatted calf in the house; and she hasted, and killed it, and took flour, and kneaded it, and 25 baked unleavened bread thereof. And she brought it before Saul, and before his servants; and they ate. Then they rose up, and went away that night. 1 AND the Philistines gathered all their armies to Aphek; 2 and Israel encamped by the fountain that is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rear 3 with Achish. And the princes of the Philistines said: What do these Hebrews? And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines: Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to me, 4 unto this day? And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him: Let the man return, and go back to his place which thou hast appointed him; and let him not go down with us to the battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us. For wherewith shall he make himself acceptable to his master? 5 Is it not with the heads of these men? Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying: Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6 And Achish called David, and said to him: Surely, as Jehovah lives, thou art upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the camp is good in my sight. For I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming to 7 me unto this day; but the lords favor thee not. And now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. 8 And David said to 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 and fight the 9 enemies of my lord the king? And Achish answered and said to David: I know that thou art good in my sight, as an |