1 Samuel 1
Hannah's Vow at Shiloh
Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship. His wife Hannah has no children; his other wife Peninnah does, and provokes her over it annually. Elkanah's attempt to console Hannah — am I not more to you than ten sons — lands poorly, as the text notes with quiet precision. Hannah goes to the sanctuary and prays in silence. The priest Eli, watching her lips move without sound, concludes she is drunk. She corrects him gently. He blesses her. She returns home, conceives, and bears a son. She names him Samuel — heard of God — and, once he is weaned, brings him back to Shiloh to live with Eli in fulfilment of the vow she made in her distress. The chapter is a portrait of grief, of tenacious faith, and of the reversal that will structure the whole book.
1 Samuel 2
The Song and Eli's Corrupt Sons
Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven. The second half of the chapter turns harsh. Eli's sons Hophni and Phinehas, who serve as priests at Shiloh, are described as scoundrels: they take the best portions of the people's offerings by force and sleep with the women who serve at the entrance to the sanctuary. Eli hears reports and rebukes them mildly, but they do not listen. A man of God arrives and pronounces judgment on Eli's house: because you honoured your sons above the Lord, the time is coming when there will not be an old man in your house; both your sons will die on the same day. The chapter closes with a brief notice that the boy Samuel grew in the Lord's presence — the shadow over Eli's sons makes his growth more significant.
1 Samuel 3
The Boy Samuel Is Called
Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible. Samuel is sleeping in the temple at Shiloh near the ark. In the night the Lord calls Samuel by name. He gets up and goes to Eli: here I am, for you called me. Eli says he did not call him and sends him back. This happens three times. The text notes — pointedly — that Samuel did not yet know the Lord, and the word of the Lord had not yet been revealed to him. Eli perceives on the third interruption that it is the Lord calling the boy and tells him: if he calls again, say, Speak, Lord, for your servant is listening. The Lord comes and calls as before; Samuel answers. The Lord gives him a devastating message about Eli's house. Samuel lies until morning, afraid to tell Eli. Eli asks. Samuel tells him everything. Eli says: it is the Lord, let him do what seems good to him. The chapter closes: Samuel grew and the Lord was with him and let none of his words fall to the ground.
1 Samuel 4
The Ark Captured, Eli Falls
Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward. Israel goes to war against the Philistines and is defeated, losing four thousand men. The elders decide to bring the ark of the covenant from Shiloh to the battlefield — if the Lord is with the ark, Israel cannot lose. When the ark arrives the camp shouts so loud that the earth shakes. The Philistines hear the noise, learn what it means, and brace themselves: a god has come into the camp, they say, woe to us. They fight — and route Israel completely. Thirty thousand Israelite foot soldiers fall. Hophni and Phinehas die. The ark is taken. A Benjaminite runs to Shiloh to report. Eli, sitting by the road watching for news of the ark, hears the city's cry of lamentation. He is told the ark is captured. He falls backward from his seat, breaks his neck, and dies. He is ninety-eight. His daughter-in-law, pregnant and in labour, hears that her husband and father-in-law are dead and the ark is taken; she gives birth, names the boy Ichabod — where is the glory? — and dies.
1 Samuel 5
The Ark Among the Philistines
Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy. The Philistines bring the ark to Ashdod and put it in the temple of their god Dagon, setting it beside the statue. The next morning Dagon has fallen face down before the ark. They put the statue back. The morning after, Dagon has fallen again — and this time his head and both hands are broken off and lying on the threshold, only the trunk of the statue remaining. Then the hand of the Lord falls heavily on the people of Ashdod and the surrounding area, afflicting them with tumours. The men of Ashdod send the ark to Gath. The hand of the Lord falls on Gath. They send it to Ekron. The people of Ekron cry out: they have sent the ark to us to kill us. The ark has been in Philistine territory seven months when the chapter ends. The ark is not a passive trophy. It acts, and the Philistines learn that capturing the symbol of another people's god does not give you control over that god.
1 Samuel 6
The Ark Returns to Israel
Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence. Their solution is elegant: put the ark on a cart pulled by two nursing cows whose calves have been penned away from them. If the cows go straight toward Israel, away from their own calves, it will be a sign. The cows go straight, lowing as they go, and take the ark to Beth-shemesh. The Beth-shemites are harvesting wheat in the valley and they lift up their eyes and see the ark. They rejoice, split the cart for wood, offer the cows as a burnt offering. The Philistine lords watch from a distance, then return to Ekron. But the men of Beth-shemesh make a fatal error: some of them look into the ark. The Lord strikes seventy of them down. The survivors send word to the next town — who is able to stand before the Lord, this holy God?
1 Samuel 7
Samuel Judges Israel at Mizpah
Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc. The ark has been at Kiriath-jearim for twenty years; all Israel laments and turns toward the Lord. Samuel tells the people: if you are returning to the Lord with all your heart, remove the foreign gods and direct your heart to the Lord, and he will deliver you from the Philistines. They gather at Mizpah for an assembly of fasting and confession. The Philistines hear that Israel has assembled at Mizpah and come up against them. The Israelites are afraid and ask Samuel to keep crying to the Lord. Samuel offers a burnt offering. The Lord thunders with a mighty voice against the Philistines and throws them into confusion; Israel pursues them to Beth-car. Samuel sets up a stone between Mizpah and Shen and names it Ebenezer — stone of help — saying: thus far the Lord has helped us. The Philistines are subdued throughout Samuel's lifetime. The chapter ends with Samuel's circuit as judge: Bethel, Gilgal, Mizpah, and then home to Ramah.
1 Samuel 8
Israel Demands a King
Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book. Samuel is old; he has appointed his sons Joel and Abijah as judges in Beersheba, but they are corrupt, taking bribes and perverting justice. The elders of Israel come to Samuel at Ramah with a direct request: appoint a king to govern us like all the other nations. Samuel is displeased and prays. The Lord tells him to listen to the people — they have not rejected you but me from being king over them. But warn them solemnly. Samuel delivers the warning: a king will take your sons for his chariots and his armies and his fields, take your daughters for his kitchens and perfumeries, take the best of your fields and vineyards and flocks. He will take — the verb hammers through the speech eight times in eight verses. The people refuse to listen: we want to be like other nations; our king will govern us and go out before us and fight our battles. Samuel reports to the Lord. The Lord says: listen to their voice, and make them a king.
1 Samuel 9
Saul Finds Samuel
Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony. He is the son of Kish of Benjamin, a man of wealth; Saul himself is described as handsome, and there was not a man among the Israelites more handsome than he; he stood head and shoulders above everyone else. He has been sent to find his father's lost donkeys. The search ranges across the highlands of Ephraim without success, and his servant suggests they consult a man of God in the nearby city who might tell them where to look. The man of God is Samuel. The Lord has already told Samuel that the day before: at this time tomorrow I will send you a man from Benjamin, whom you shall anoint as ruler over my people Israel. When Saul appears in the gate asking for the seer's house, Samuel sees him and hears the Lord: here is the man I told you about. Samuel tells Saul the donkeys have been found, gives him a place of honour at the feast, and that evening they talk on the roof of the house. Saul is puzzled; his tribe is the smallest, his family is of no account. But the call is already in motion.
1 Samuel 10
Saul Anointed and Chosen by Lot
Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection. In the morning Samuel pours oil on Saul's head and tells him the Lord has anointed him ruler over his people Israel. He gives Saul three signs to confirm the call: he will meet two men near Rachel's tomb who tell him the donkeys are found; then three men at the oak of Tabor; then, at Gibeah of God, a band of prophets coming down from the high place, and the spirit of the Lord will rush upon Saul and he will prophesy with them and be turned into a different person. It happens exactly as described. The people later who see Saul prophesying say: is Saul also among the prophets? — a phrase that passes into proverb. Then Samuel summons all Israel to Mizpah for the public selection. The tribe of Benjamin is chosen, then the clan of Matri, then Saul son of Kish. But Saul cannot be found — he has hidden himself among the baggage. He is fetched out, stands head and shoulders above the people, and Samuel presents him: there is no one like him among all the people. The people shout: Long live the king.
1 Samuel 11
Saul Rescues Jabesh-gilead
Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure. Nahash the Ammonite besieges Jabesh-gilead and offers terms: I will make a treaty with you if I can gouge out every right eye and thereby bring disgrace on all Israel. The elders of Jabesh-gilead ask for seven days to seek help. Messengers go to Gibeah, and when the people hear the news they weep aloud. Saul is coming in from the fields behind his oxen when he hears. The spirit of God rushes upon him in a fury. He cuts up his oxen and sends the pieces throughout Israel with a message: whoever does not come out after Saul and Samuel, this is what will happen to his oxen. Three hundred thousand from Israel and thirty thousand from Judah muster at Bezek. Saul attacks the Ammonites the next morning and defeats them. The people now want to kill the men who had despised Saul earlier. Saul refuses: no one will be put to death today, for today the Lord has wrought salvation in Israel. Samuel then renews the kingship at Gilgal with great rejoicing.
1 Samuel 12
Samuel's Farewell Address
Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter. He begins with a self-defence: I have served you from my youth to this day. Whose ox have I taken? Whose donkey? Whom have I defrauded or oppressed? The people confirm that he has done none of these things. Samuel then delivers a review of Israel's history — the Exodus, the judges, and the recurring pattern of apostasy, oppression, repentance, and deliverance — and presents the request for a king as the latest instance. He confirms that Saul is their king. Now then, if you will fear the Lord and serve him and obey his voice and not rebel against the commandment of the Lord, then both you and the king who reigns over you will follow the Lord your God. But if you will not obey the voice of the Lord, and if you rebel against his commandment, then the hand of the Lord will be against you. To drive the point home, Samuel calls on the Lord to send thunder and rain in the wheat harvest — a sign of the season's unnatural disruption. Thunder and rain come. The people are afraid. Samuel tells them not to fear: just do not turn aside from following the Lord.
1 Samuel 13
Saul's Unauthorized Sacrifice
Chapter 13 begins the decline. Jonathan strikes a Philistine garrison at Geba and the Philistines mobilize with overwhelming force: thirty thousand chariots, six thousand horsemen, and troops like sand on the seashore. Israel hides in caves, rocks, holes, and cisterns; many cross the Jordan to flee. Saul is at Gilgal with the terrified remnant of his army melting away. Samuel told him to wait seven days. The seventh day passes. Samuel has not come. Saul orders the burnt offering made and makes it himself. He has just finished when Samuel arrives. What have you done? Samuel asks. Saul explains the military pressure, the deserting troops, the Philistines mobilizing. Samuel's verdict is final: you have acted foolishly. You have not kept the commandment of the Lord your God. The Lord would have established your kingdom over Israel forever. But now your kingdom will not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart and has appointed him to be ruler over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded. Samuel leaves. The chapter ends with Israel almost unarmed — the Philistines have controlled all the smiths to prevent the Israelites from forging swords.
1 Samuel 14
Jonathan's Solo Raid
Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs. Jonathan proposes to his armour-bearer that they cross to the Philistine garrison alone: nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few. They devise a sign: if the Philistines say come up to us, it is a sign from the Lord. The Philistines say come up — Jonathan and his armour-bearer climb the cliff and kill twenty men in a small area. Panic spreads through the entire Philistine camp: the earth shakes. Saul's sentries see the camp in confusion. He musters his troops and counts them; Jonathan and his armour-bearer are missing. He calls for the ark and then, as the confusion grows, leads his army into the rout. The Lord saves Israel. But Saul has placed the army under an oath: cursed is anyone who eats food before evening. Jonathan, who was not there for the oath, eats honey from a comb he finds in the forest. When the oath is reported to him he says: my father troubles Israel. The evening comes; the men slaughter livestock and eat blood. Saul stops them. Then the lot is cast to find who has sinned; it falls on Jonathan. Saul says he must die. The people intervene: Jonathan must not die who worked this great salvation in Israel. The people ransom Jonathan. Saul withdraws.
1 Samuel 15
Saul Spares Agag, Samuel Leaves
Chapter 15 is the final disqualification. Samuel gives Saul a command from the Lord: attack Amalek and destroy everything — men, women, children, infants, livestock. This is the herem, the total-destruction command. Saul defeats the Amalekites but spares Agag the king and the best of the livestock. The Lord tells Samuel: I regret that I made Saul king, for he has turned back from following me. Samuel is angry. He goes to find Saul, who greets him with a self-congratulatory report: I have performed the commandment of the Lord. Samuel says: what then is this bleating of sheep? Saul explains that the army kept the best animals to sacrifice to the Lord. Samuel's response is the chapter's central line: to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams. Because you have rejected the word of the Lord, he has rejected you from being king. Saul confesses and asks Samuel to return with him so he can worship. Samuel refuses: you have rejected the word of the Lord. Samuel turns to go. Saul grabs his robe and it tears. Samuel says: the Lord has torn the kingdom of Israel from you this day. Samuel then hews Agag to pieces before the Lord at Gilgal and goes home to Ramah. He never sees Saul again until the day of Saul's death. The Lord is sorry that he made Saul king over Israel.
1 Samuel 16
David Anointed at Bethlehem
Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible. The Lord tells Samuel to stop mourning Saul and go to Jesse of Bethlehem, for one of his sons is chosen. Samuel is afraid — if Saul hears that he has anointed another king he will kill him. He goes under cover of a sacrifice. Jesse's sons pass before him: Eliab, Saul's type physically — but the Lord tells Samuel: do not look on his appearance or the height of his stature; the Lord does not see as mortals see; they look on the outward appearance, but the Lord looks on the heart. Seven sons pass. None is chosen. Are these all your children? The youngest is out keeping the sheep. They send for him. He is ruddy, with beautiful eyes and handsome. The Lord says: rise and anoint him, for this is the one. Samuel anoints David; the spirit of the Lord rushes mightily upon him from that day forward. Then, in the same chapter, an evil spirit torments Saul, and his servants recommend a skilled musician. David is brought to Saul to play the harp whenever the spirit afflicts him. Saul loves him greatly and appoints him his armour-bearer.
1 Samuel 17
David and Goliath
Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter. The Philistine army is at Socoh in Judah; Israel is camped across the valley of Elah. The Philistine champion Goliath comes out morning and evening for forty days to challenge Israel to single combat. His dimensions and armour are given in precise and oppressive detail: six cubits and a span tall, five thousand shekels of bronze mail, a spear shaft like a weaver's beam. No one in Israel will fight him. David arrives at the camp bringing food to his brothers from his father in Bethlehem. He hears the challenge and begins asking questions. His older brother Eliab loses his temper. David presses on and is brought to Saul. He makes the lion-and-bear speech — the Lord who saved me from the lion and the bear will save me from this Philistine. Saul tries his own armour on David; it does not fit. David goes to the brook and picks five smooth stones. He walks toward Goliath. Goliath despises and curses him. David makes his declaration: you come to me with sword and spear; I come to you in the name of the Lord of hosts. He slings one stone; it sinks into Goliath's forehead. He takes Goliath's own sword and cuts off his head. The Philistines run. Israel pursues them to Gath and Ekron.
1 Samuel 18
Jonathan's Covenant; Saul's Fear
Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize. Jonathan, having watched the Goliath victory, binds his soul to David's and makes a covenant with him, giving him his own robe, armour, sword, bow, and belt. It is an act of extraordinary self-abnegation from the crown prince. David is then set over the men of war and succeeds in everything he undertakes. The trouble begins with a song. Women come out from all the towns to meet Saul after the victory, singing and dancing: Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands. Saul is furious and frightened: they have ascribed ten thousands to David, and what more can he have but the kingdom? From that day he eyes David suspiciously. The next day an evil spirit comes on Saul and he raves inside his house; David is playing his lyre. Saul hurls his spear at David. David evades him twice. Saul is afraid of David because the Lord is with him and has departed from Saul. He removes David from his presence by making him a commander of a thousand. But David continues to succeed. Saul offers David his elder daughter Merab as wife, then gives her to another. Then Saul's daughter Michal loves David. Saul sees an opportunity: let Michal be a trap for him. The bride price is one hundred Philistine foreskins. David brings two hundred. Saul gives Michal to David in marriage and becomes his enemy.
1 Samuel 19
Saul Tries to Kill David
Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent. Saul tells his servants and his son Jonathan to kill David. Jonathan loves David; he warns him and intercedes with Saul, speaking of David's blamelessness and his service to Saul. Saul relents and swears: as the Lord lives, he shall not be put to death. David is restored to Saul's presence. But in the next Philistine war David succeeds again, the evil spirit returns, and Saul again throws his spear. David escapes. Saul sends men to David's house to watch it and kill him in the morning. Michal tells David he must flee tonight or tomorrow he will be dead. She lets him down through a window. She then puts a household idol in the bed with goat's hair at its head and tells the men David is ill. When Saul sends again she says he left on his own orders. David flees to Samuel at Ramah. Saul sends three rounds of messengers to seize David; each round falls to prophesying with the prophets. Saul goes himself and falls into prophetic ecstasy, strips off his clothes, and lies naked all day and all night. This generates the second use of the saying: is Saul also among the prophets?
1 Samuel 20
Jonathan and David at the Stone Ezel
Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature. David, fleeing from Naioth, goes to Jonathan: what have I done, what is my guilt, that your father seeks my life? Jonathan cannot believe his father truly wants David dead — surely his father tells him everything. They devise a plan. David will be absent from Saul's table at the new moon festival; Jonathan will tell Saul he asked to go to Bethlehem. Saul's reaction will be the test. They will signal the result with arrows: if Jonathan sends a boy to find the arrows short of him, all is well; if he calls the arrows are further on, David must flee. Jonathan makes a covenant with David: may the Lord be with David as he was with Saul. He asks David to show kindness to his house forever. At the feast Saul notices David's absence; on the second day, Jonathan explains. Saul erupts: you son of a perverse rebellious woman, do you not know that you have chosen the son of Jesse to your own shame? He throws his spear at Jonathan. Jonathan is grieved for David and angry at his father's disgrace. The next day he shoots the arrows past the boy. The boy is dismissed. David comes out. They embrace and weep, the text says, until David weeps the more. They part. Jonathan goes into the city. David goes.
1 Samuel 21
David at Nob; David at Gath
Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation. David arrives at the sanctuary at Nob, alone, and lies to the priest Ahimelech: he is on a secret mission, his men are waiting, he needs provisions. The only bread available is the consecrated bread — the bread of the Presence — which under priestly law only the priests may eat. Ahimelech gives it to him, on condition that the men have kept themselves from women. David asks for a weapon. The only weapon available is the sword of Goliath, which was kept wrapped in a cloth behind the ephod. David takes it: there is nothing like it. (A servant of Saul named Doeg the Edomite, the chief of Saul's shepherds, is present and witnesses this exchange — this detail will matter in chapter 22.) David then goes to Achish the king of Gath among the Philistines. He has miscalculated: the servants of Achish recognize him as the man the Israelite women sang about. Afraid, David feigns madness — scratching on the doors of the gate and letting his saliva run down his beard. Achish says: am I so short of madmen that you bring this one to carry on in front of me? David is let go.
1 Samuel 22
The Massacre at Nob
Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book. David gathers around him in the cave of Adullam everyone who is in distress, in debt, or discontented — about four hundred men. He sends his parents to the king of Moab for safekeeping. A prophet tells him to return to Judah; he goes to the forest of Hereth. Saul, hearing that David has been found, summons his servants and accuses them of conspiracy. Doeg the Edomite reports that he saw David at Nob receiving bread and the sword of Goliath from the priest Ahimelech. Saul summons Ahimelech and all the priests of Nob. He accuses Ahimelech of conspiracy. Ahimelech defends himself — he knew nothing of any rift between David and the king. Saul orders his guards to kill the priests. They refuse — they will not raise their hands against the priests of the Lord. Saul turns to Doeg. Doeg kills eighty-five priests. He then attacks Nob — the priestly city — killing men, women, children, infants, oxen, donkeys, and sheep. One son of Ahimelech named Abiathar escapes and tells David. David says: I knew when Doeg was there that he would report. Stay with me; the one who seeks your life seeks mine. You will be safe with me.
1 Samuel 23
David in the Wilderness; Jonathan's Last Visit
Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting. David consults the Lord through the ephod (Abiathar has brought it) and is told to attack the Philistines besieging Keilah. His men are reluctant. He consults again. They attack and save Keilah. Saul hears that David is in Keilah — a walled city — and comes to besiege it. David consults the Lord: will the men of Keilah surrender me? The Lord says yes. David and his six hundred men leave. They move through the wilderness of Ziph. The Ziphites inform Saul of David's location. David hears Saul is coming. He is in the wilderness of Maon. Saul is coming around the mountain on one side while David is on the other, and Saul's men are surrounding David and his men to capture them — when a messenger reaches Saul: hurry, the Philistines have invaded. Saul breaks off the pursuit and goes to deal with the Philistines. David goes to the strongholds of Engedi. Before all this, in verse 16, Jonathan comes to David in the wilderness of Ziph, finds him, and strengthens his hand in God. He says: do not be afraid, for the hand of my father Saul shall not find you; you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. They make their covenant before the Lord. Jonathan goes home. They never meet again.
1 Samuel 24
David Spares Saul in the Cave
Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it. Saul is pursuing David with three thousand chosen men in the wilderness of Engedi. He enters a cave to relieve himself. David and his men are in the back of the same cave. His men whisper: here is your opportunity — the Lord has given your enemy into your hand. David creeps forward and cuts off a corner of Saul's robe. But immediately his heart strikes him: he should not have done this to the Lord's anointed. He restrains his men. When Saul has left the cave, David comes out and calls after him. He bows to the ground and makes his case: my lord the king, see the corner of your robe in my hand — I cut it off but would not kill you. I have not sinned against you, though you hunt my life to take it. The Lord judge between you and me, but my hand shall not be against you. Saul's response is the most unexpected speech in his story: is this your voice, my son David? He weeps. You are more righteous than I, he says. You have repaid me good while I have repaid you evil. He acknowledges that David will be king and asks David to swear not to destroy his descendants. David swears. Saul goes home. David and his men go to the stronghold.
1 Samuel 25
Abigail and Nabal
Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it. Nabal is a wealthy man in Maon, boorish and mean, married to a woman named Abigail who is intelligent and beautiful. David sends ten young men to Nabal at sheep-shearing time, asking him for provisions — David's men have been a protection to Nabal's shepherds in the wilderness. Nabal refuses brutishly: who is David? Why should I give my bread to men who come from I do not know where? David's response is furious: every man strap on his sword. He takes four hundred men and rides. Abigail is told of Nabal's refusal by a servant; she acts immediately and without telling her husband. She loads food — two hundred loaves, two skins of wine, five sheep prepared, grain, raisins, figs — onto donkeys and rides to intercept David. She gets down from her donkey and falls before him and makes a long, brilliant speech: the Lord has restrained you from bloodguilt; Nabal means 'fool' and folly is with him. When the Lord has appointed you ruler over Israel, you will not have this on your conscience. David's anger dissolves. When she returns and tells Nabal, who is drunk at his feast, he has a heart attack and dies ten days later. David sends for Abigail and she becomes his wife.
1 Samuel 26
David Spares Saul Again
Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible. The Ziphites inform Saul of David's location again. Saul comes to the hill of Hachilah with three thousand chosen men. David goes down into Saul's camp by night with Abishai. The whole camp is asleep. Saul lies sleeping at the centre, his spear stuck in the ground at his head, Abner the commander beside him. Abishai says: God has given your enemy into your hand today; let me pin him to the ground with one thrust of the spear. David refuses: who can raise his hand against the Lord's anointed and be guiltless? The Lord himself will strike him, or his day will come, or he will go into battle and perish. Do not destroy him. Take the spear and the water jar and let us go. They take both and leave. No one wakes — the Lord has put them all into a deep sleep. David goes to the opposite hill, calls out to Abner, and demonstrates his restraint by holding up the spear and water jar. The king responds. David makes his case. Saul says: I have sinned; come back, my son David, for I will never harm you again, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. David says: here is the king's spear — send a young man to get it. They part. This time the parting is final.
1 Samuel 27
David Among the Philistines
Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines. David reasons to himself: one day Saul will destroy me; there is nothing better for me than to escape to the Philistines, so that Saul will stop searching for me in Israel. He goes to Achish king of Gath — the same king before whom he feigned madness in chapter 21, now seeking him as an ally. He brings his six hundred men and their households. Saul hears and stops searching. Achish gives David the city of Ziklag in the south. David makes it his base for sixteen months. He leads raids from there — against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, peoples from the ancient land between Shur and Egypt — killing all the men and women and taking their livestock and goods. He tells Achish he has been raiding the Negeb of Judah or the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites or the Negeb of the Kenites. Achish believes him, reasoning that David has made himself utterly odious to Israel and will be his servant forever. David is accumulating safety, spoil, and time — but he is living in the middle of a sustained strategic deception.
1 Samuel 28
Saul and the Witch of Endor
Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible. The Philistines are massing for war. Saul sees their camp and is afraid; his heart trembles greatly. He inquires of the Lord: there is no answer — not by dreams, not by Urim, not by prophets. Samuel is dead. Saul, who has himself expelled all mediums and spiritists from the land, asks his servants to find him a medium. They find one at Endor. Saul disguises himself and goes to her at night with two men. He asks her to call up Samuel. She raises Samuel. She sees him and cries out — the apparition is terrifying to her. She describes an old man coming up, wrapped in a robe; Saul knows it is Samuel. He bows to the ground. Samuel says: why have you disturbed me by bringing me up? Saul explains: God has turned away from me, I need to know what to do. Samuel's answer is the most devastating message in the book: why do you ask me, since the Lord has turned from you and become your enemy? The Lord has done to you as he spoke through me: he has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to David. Moreover, the Lord will give Israel along with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. Saul falls full length to the ground. The medium urges him to eat. He refuses, then relents. She slaughters a fattened calf and bakes unleavened bread. He eats and goes away in the night.
1 Samuel 29
David Dismissed from the Philistine Army
Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel. The Philistine commanders see David and his men at the rear and ask Achish: what are these Hebrews doing here? Achish speaks well of David — he has found no fault in him since the day he deserted to me. The commanders are not persuaded: how will this man reconcile himself to his lord? Is it not with the heads of our men? Send him back. Achish goes to David with regret and tells him he has been found upright in Achish's eyes but the other commanders don't trust him. He asks David to go back peacefully. David protests — what have I done? why can't I come and fight against your enemies? — but the protests ring hollow in context, since the enemy he would be fighting is Israel. He is sent back to Ziklag. The chapter is brief and almost comic: David's double game has resolved itself, not through a moral crisis but through the Philistine lords' military pragmatism. He marches south. He does not have to fight against Israel.
1 Samuel 30
The Raid on Ziklag; David's Return
Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines. He and his men arrive at Ziklag on the third day to find it burned to the ground; the Amalekites have raided it and taken all the women and children captive, including David's two wives Ahinoam and Abigail. The men weep until they have no strength left to weep. Then they speak of stoning David. David strengthens himself in the Lord his God. He consults the ephod through Abiathar: shall I pursue? the Lord says: pursue, for you will certainly rescue them. David and his four hundred men — two hundred are too exhausted to cross the Besor ravine — set off. An Egyptian servant of an Amalekite, left behind sick, guides them to the Amalekite camp. David attacks from twilight until evening of the next day. He recovers everything — wives, children, all the women and children taken — and takes the Amalekites' flocks and herds as spoil. On the return, the two hundred men who stayed behind come out to greet the army. Some of the four hundred who went with David say: they did not go, so they get no share of the spoil. David overrules them: the share of the one who stays with the baggage is the same as the share of the one who goes into battle. It becomes a statute in Israel from that day.
1 Samuel 31
The Death of Saul on Gilboa
Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story. The Philistines fight Israel on Mount Gilboa. Israel flees. The Philistines kill Jonathan, Abinadab, and Malchishua, Saul's sons. The battle presses hard against Saul. The archers find him and he is severely wounded. He says to his armour-bearer: draw your sword and run me through, or these uncircumcised will come and abuse me. His armour-bearer will not — he is terrified. Saul takes his own sword and falls on it. His armour-bearer falls on his own sword as well. They die together. When the Israelites in the valley see that Saul and his sons are dead, they flee and the Philistines occupy their cities. The next day the Philistines strip the dead and find Saul and his three sons on Mount Gilboa. They cut off Saul's head, strip off his armour, and send messengers throughout the land of the Philistines to proclaim the news. They put his armour in the temple of Ashtaroth and fasten his body to the wall of Beth-shan. When the inhabitants of Jabesh-gilead hear — Jabesh-gilead, which Saul saved in his first victory in chapter 11 — the valiant men walk all night and take Saul's body and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan. They bring them to Jabesh and burn them and bury the bones under a tamarisk tree and fast for seven days.