1 Samuel 27 (résumé): David amongst the Philistines

David had had enough of being hunted by Saul so he came up with the idea of living amongst the Philistines as there would be out of reach for Saul. The plan worked as David, his 2 wives Ahinoam and Abigail, and his 600 men lived there with no problem for 1 year and 4 months. They were given the town of Ziklag by Achish son of the king of Gath. From there David would conduct raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites although he used to tell Achish that he was attacking non-Philistine peoples. In every raid David left nobody alive and captured all the livestock. 

1 Samuel 26 (résumé): David spares Saul's life again

David now was in the Desert of Ziph and the Ziphites told Saul that he was there. So Saul went there with 3,000 men and camped for the night beside the road. In the night David went to Saul's camp with Abishai when everyone was sleeping. They crept up to where Saul was and Abishai urged David to kill Saul, but David would not touch the Lord's anointed. They just picked up Saul's spear and water jug and withdrew. The following morning David reprimanded Abner, Saul's army captain, for the lax guarding of the king and produced the king's spear and water jug as proof. Upon recognizing David's voice Saul was grateful for the reprieve and again promised he wouldn't chase David again, and he blessed David. 

1 Samuel 25 (résumé): David, Nabal & Abigail

Samuel died and all Israel mourned before burying him at his home in Ramah.

Then David moved to the Desert of Maon where there lived Nabal and Abigail. She was intelligent and beautiful but he was bad-tempered, unfriendly and mean, despite being very rich with 1,000 goats and 3,000 sheep. David sent some men to get some supplies from Nabal as he was owing him favours, but Nabal humiliated the men and sent them away empty handed. David was infuriated by Nabal's treatment and set out with 400 men to take vengeance. However Abigail got to hear what at happened and intervened taking 200 loaves of bread, 2 skins of wine, 5 dressed sheep, 37 litres of roasted corn, 100 raisin cakes and 200 pressed figs cakes to David. Her beautiful gesture and kind words turned away David's wrath as she begged forgiveness. When Abigail got home, having solved the problem caused by her irrational callous husband, she told him what she had done. Nabal suddenly became ill and died within a few days, and Abigail became David's wife together with Ahinoam, but he had already separated from Michal.

1 Samuel 24 (résumé): David spares Saul's life

 Saul continued his pursuit of David near the Crags of the Wild Goats together with 3,000 men, and he went into a cave to relieve himself not knowing that hidden in that cave was David himself. David crept up on Saul and could easily have killed him, but he would not do harm to the anointed of the Lord. Instead David cut off a corner off his robe secretly. Outside the cave David presented to Saul the piece of his robe and explained to him how easily he could have killed him. Saul wept and said that David was much more righteous than he was. He said may the Lord reward you well for the way you treated me today. He said he was sure that one day David would be king and he asked David to swear to not harm his family, to which David agreed.

1 Samuel 23 (résumé): David saves Keilah

David heard that the town of Keilah was being attacked by the Philistines so he sought God's guidance as to whether he should intervene and received the green light. The ensuing battle saw David and his men inflict heavy losses on the Philistines as they saved the people of Keilah. 

However word reached Saul of David's whereabouts so he called up his men to besiege David and his men at Keilah. When David was tipped off concerning Saul's plan he consulted God through the priest Abiathar who confirmed that Saul was on his way and that the people would hand over David in the event of a siege. Hence David and his 600 men escaped and stayed in the strongholds of the Desert of Ziph. There Jonathan sought him out and encouraged him in the Lord. Saul kept pursuing David into the Desert of Maon, but when Saul was closing in on him word reached him of a Philistine raid, so he was forced to go and deal with that, and David went up from there to live in the strongholds of En Gedi. 

Balloon

8 people have been killed in a hot air balloon accident in the southern state of Santa Catarina in Brazil. There were 13 survivors from the accident. The balloon caught fire and fell to the ground.

Please pray for Jozilene and Toinho - a couple that had premature twin girls on April 28th called Sofia and Safira. Sofia is already home, but Safira is still in intensive care in the maternity hospital. This family is part of our São Mamede church. I married them 10 years ago.

On Saturday we spent over 5 hours at the Youth Conference at Green Pastures and what a joy it was to see the meeting hall full with 213 young people praising the Lord. After the service there was a competition for the best fancy dress and then they had a game of bingo with a variety of little prizes for the winners. On the way there I saw a Pigmy Nightjar and a Burrowing Owl.

Last night I both led the service and preached God's word in Patos. Numbers were down owing to the youth conference and the general festive period. Nevertheless it was a good service.

1 Samuel 22 (résumé): David flees to Adullam & Mizpah

David left Gath and went to the cave of Adullam where his family joined him with his father's household. Thus leader David soon had a group of 400 men with him. Then David went to Mizpah where he left his parents with the king of Moab, doubtless for their protection. Then David left for the forest of Hereth in Judah. 

By this time Saul found out that David had been at Nob from his chief shepherd Doeg the Edomite who had seen David there. He told Saul of Ahimelech's help given to David including the giving of Goliath's sword. Saul was livid accusing his own men of treachery and Ahimelech and his priests as well. Then Saul ordered his men to kill the priests, but in view of the fact that they refused, he ordered Doeg the Edomite to do it, and he killed no less than 85 priests! They went on to slaughter the people and livestock of Nob! Just Abiathar, son of Ahimelech, managed to escape and joined forces with David.