David blessed Abigail and thanked her and accepted all that she had brought for him and his men. She went back home to find her husband having a big party and very drunk. She didn't tell him anything until morning when she told him everything. The news freaked him out so badly that he became catatonic. Ten days later he died. David heard that Nabal had died and thanked God for saving him from doing the wrong thing by killing them all as he had planned. Then David asked Abigail to marry him, my guess is that she was ready to have an honorable husband. She got right on her donkey and went to David and became his wife. David also married another woman named Ahinoam she was from Jezreel. Saul had given David's wife Michal to another man.
Saul was trying to track down David again. David went to where Saul was and waited till dark when they were all asleep. He snuck into the camp with another guy and found where Saul was sleeping. The other guy (Abishai) told him to kill Saul, but David would not because Saul was God's anointed. So instead they took the spear which was stuck in the ground at Saul's head and his water jug and left. No one heard anything because God had caused them all to sleep deeply. David crossed the valley to a hill on the other side and yelled that the men guarding the king did not deserve to live because they did not do their job, that someone had come into the camp and could have killed him. Saul recognized David's voice and yelled back to ask if it was David. David said he was right and asked him why he was pursuing him again. Had the Lord told him to do this? Then Saul apologized and told David that he wouldn't try to hurt him again, and he'd made a mistake and acted like a fool. Then they went home.
David did not trust Saul. He figured the safest place for him to stay was with the Philistines! Saul wouldn't find him there. David and his 600 soldiers and all their families went to Achish the king of Gath. When Saul heard where David was he stopped searching for him. David asked Achish for some land and he gave him a place called Ziklag where they settled with their families. They lived there for 16 months. While they were there David and his men raided different places leaving nothing alive. Achish trusted David and thought he would be there forever since he was attacking the Israelites, that they would hate him.
The Philistines gathered to fight against Israel. Achish told David to go too and be his bodyguard. Saul gathered his army nearby and was terrified. He tried prayer but the Lord didn't answer, so Saul asked his servants to find him a medium so he could find out what was going to happen. Now Saul had killed all the mediums and sorcerers, so they had to go to a place where they were still alive. They found a woman who didn't want to admit she was able to consult spirits. But Saul promised he would not hurt her and asked her to bring up Samuel. She told him she saw a spirit coming up out of the ground. Saul asked what he looked like. She said it was an old man in a robe, Saul knew it was Samuel. Samuel asked why Saul had disturbed him. Saul whined about his distress and Samuel reminded him that what was happening was exactly what he had said would happen and that tomorrow he and his sons would die and be with Samuel. Saul passed out. He hadn't eaten all day and the woman made him and his men eat. Then they left.
When the Philistine commanders found out that David and his fighters were in their ranks they wouldn't trust him and told Achish to make him leave. So David and his 600 men went back home.
The Amalekites raided and burned Ziklag while David and his men were away. Their wives and children had been carried off with the Amalekites. They cried until they couldn't cry anymore and then they got mad and wanted to stone David. They were bitter in spirit, but David found strength in God. David had Abiathar the priest bring the ephod so he could inquire of the Lord whether he should pursue the raiding party. The Lord replied that they should go and that they would be successful. So they left to rescue their families.
Tomorrow finish 1Samuel & read 2Samuel ch1-2
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