1. Lesson One of the Book of Daniel, Introduction to the Book of Daniel

Lesson 53,  Geography Study Concerning the Scriptures, Saul’s Pursuit of David

 

Saul’s Pursuit of David

1.     To Ramah – Samuels village

2.     To Nob – Ahimelech the priest

3.     To Gath – feigning madness

4.     To Adullam – 400 men joined him

5.     To Moab – to take his parents to the king of Moab

6.     To Masada – stronghold along the Dead Sea

7.     To the Forest of Hereth – Learns of Sauls execution of Ahimelech

8.     To Keilah – counteroffensive against the Philistines

9.     To the Wilderness of Ziph and Maon – to escape from Philistine retaliation and from Saul

10.   To the Wilderness of Judea at Engedi – first opportunity to     slay Saul

11.   To Masada again

12.   To the Wilderness of Maon – where he meets Nabal and then Abigail

13.   To the wood, in the hill of Hachilah – David carries off the kings spear and rebukes Abner, Saul’s general

14.   Again to Gath – offers his services to Achish, king of Gath

 

1 Samuel 27:2,3,  And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife.

 

Achish  The king with whom David sought refuge when he fled from Saul (1 Sam. 21:10-15).

 

He is called Abimelech in the superscription of Ps. 34.

 

(Psalm 34, A Psalm of David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech; who drove him away, and he departed) Even though David played the fool here he composed this psalm to record God’s deliverance in this instance. 

 

Vs. 6, This poor man cried, and the Lord heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles.

 

It was probably this same king to whom David a second time repaired at the head of a band of 600 warriors, and who assigned him Ziklag, whence he carried on war against the surrounding tribes (1 Sam. 27:5-12).

 

Achish had great confidence in the valor and fidelity of David (1 Sam. 28:1, 2), but at the instigation of his courtiers did not permit him to go up to battle along with the Philistine hosts (1 Sam. 29:2-11).

 

David remained with Achish a year and four months. 

 

Perhaps Achish was seeking to place a buffer between himself and what he perceived to be a growing menace in the direction of Egypt, the marauding tribes of Amalekites, Geshurites, and Gizrites. 

 

In any event, David periodically found it necessary to raid some of these regions along the southern frontier of Ziklag. (16) (19)

 

1 Samuel 27:8,  And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.

 

The effect of Saul’s preoccupation with the threat of David was that he paid insufficient attention to his real foe-the Philistines. 

 

Evidence indicates that the Philistines had begun virtually to encircle Saul’s kingdom, adding to their control of the coastline and the city of Beth-shan  by seizing both the Esdraelon and Jordan valleys.

 

Anticipating a full-scale and final attack on the Judean’s forces, the Philistines marshaled their troops at Aphek (17) , the scene of an earlier victory.

 

Of course the soldiers of Aphek were part of this confederation.  And so David’s array of men marched with them to Aphek, where some of the other Philistine commanders objected to their presence.

 

1 Samuel 29:1-4,  Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish. 3Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day? 4And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master?

 

David and his men therefore returned to their home in Ziklag (18). 

 

By God’s grace David was prevented from fighting against his countrymen. 

 

The actual battle between Saul and the Philistines was lost even before it began, greatly outclassed in manpower and technology and without a positive message from the Lord the battle of Mt. Gilboa was nothing short of a debacle.

 

1 Samuel 28:5,6,  And when Saul saw the host of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart greatly trembled. 6And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets.

 

Gilboa

[gil-BOH-uh; “bubbling fountain” (?)] A semi-circular ridge of hills in the territory of Issachar, rising to a height of about 1700 ft. (520 m) above sea level. Located e of the Jezreel Valley, the battle of Mt. Gilboa, in which Saul and his sons died, took place on its w slopes.

 

David remained in the Ziklag region for some time; it was there that he was notified concerning the grim details of the death of Saul and Jonathan. 

 

After spending the appropriate time in mourning, David inquired of the Lord concerning his direction, now that his bid for kingship was uncontested. 

 

2 Samuel 2:1-4,  And it came to pass after this, that David inquired of the LORD, saying, Shall I go up into any of the cities of Judah? And the LORD said unto him, Go up. And David said, Whither shall I go up? And he said, Unto Hebron. 2So David went up thither, and his two wives also, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail Nabal’s wife the Carmelite. 3And his men that were with him did David bring up, every man with his household: and they dwelt in the cities of Hebron. (20) 4And the men of Judah came, and there they anointed David king over the house of Judah.

 

Informed by his Lord, David set out from Ziklag on a journey that brought him to Hebron where he as officially crowned “king of Judah”.