Chapter 27 Saul's army was completely destroyed

Saul has always been a simple Jewish farmer in his heart.He is not used to living in the city and does not want to stay in the house.Whenever possible, he stayed in the desert, and time and time again he left town and country for the quiet wilderness.One afternoon, in hot weather, he fell asleep under a big rock.And this stone is the place where David usually used to listen to the sound of the sun and wind.He wrote the revelations he heard from God into poetry. Captain Abner, Saul's relative, slept next to the king.When they came, David had already seen them from the nearby mountain. He quietly climbed down from the top of the mountain, came to the edge of the rock, took Abner's spear and shield, and returned to the hillside.

Then he called out, "Abner, hello, Abner." Abner wakes up, David yells at him, what kind of a faithful servant he is for having let a stranger take his sword from his responsibility to defend the king, and so on. Even Saul, who was filled with bitterness and resentment, had to admit David's generosity.David spared his life a second time.He told David that he was sorry for the persecution of David in the past, and now he asked David to come back. David packed up his things and returned to the court, but unfortunately he didn't stay long. Saul's mania grew worse by the day, and after a few weeks Saul was the same as ever, and David could no longer safely enter or leave the court.

Originally, David had the right to claim his rights as the duly unctioned ruler, but he knew Saul's days were numbered and he didn't want to push him. He left and never saw his old enemy again. Before long, David came to the village of Ziklah on the border and settled down.This place belonged to King Achish of Gath. David's life here was not pleasant. David seemed very attractive, and he was always surrounded by a gang of adventurous lads.They hoped to make a fortune by serving as David's squire or soldier. Such was the case with David when he was in the field, and at one time he had four hundred volunteers.That seems like a small number to us now, because we're used to armies of millions.But in the eleventh century BC, four hundred men was a mighty army.David was pretty much the ruler of a province.Many legends about him have been passed down to this day.

David seems to have set himself up as a bodyguard for the neighborhood, protecting them from robbers.There is such a story.There was a rich man in Carmel named Nabal who refused to pay protection money.David was furious, gathered his men and horses, and prepared to kill the whole family of Nabal.Nabal's wife, Abigail, got the news and rushed to meet David with a gift. She said many good things to appease the great hero. When Abigail came home, her husband was drunk.Unable to tell him what had happened, she told Nabal early the next morning of her near disaster, and Nabal was so frightened that he fell ill and died ten days later.

Abigail was now a widow, and when she met David, he was so impressed with her that, upon hearing of her husband's death, David immediately proposed to her, and Abigail agreed. David had grown tired of Michal (Saul's daughter).He gave her to a friend in the village of Galim, and he himself took Abigail as his wife and brought him to Hebron, where they had a son named Kiriab. But being newly married doesn't solve other problems.There is very little bodyguard business, and there are always so many followers around, and the income and expenditure cannot be balanced.In the end, the Jewish national hero who defeated the Philistines almost joined the Philistines' camp.

That's what happened.One day, King Achish (his host) suddenly informed him that the Philistines were going to fight against the Jews. According to the agreement, King Achish should go to support him, and David accepted his favor and should stand by him. David was in an embarrassing situation for a while, so he vaguely agreed, trying to delay the time as much as possible, but finally had no choice but to enter the Philistine barracks.Fortunately, the commander of the Philistines felt that this team was too unreliable, so he quietly told David to let them go back to Ziklag, and he would not work on his leader.

When he returned home, he found that Amalek had sacked Ziklag. David led his troops to pursue them and defeated them. Only 400 people were left, and the rest were all killed.Then he returned to the village and lived a peaceful life. The Philistines attacked on schedule.The result was unexpected. When Saul heard the news of the enemy's invasion, he fell into a deep depression. He felt that the last days were coming. He despaired of his fate to his family.So he wanted to seek help from a wizard.But the wizards in this country either fled or died as a result of carrying out Saul's orders.

Finally, it was said that there was a witch in Endor. In the middle of the night (he felt ashamed to go during the day), Saul went to see the witch, but the witch refused to receive him, because witchcraft was illegal, and she dared not open the door. Saul assured her that she would not be punished, and that she would be rewarded if she could get him to talk to a dead man. The witch asked him who he wanted to meet, and Saul said he wanted to see his old master Samuel. Then the shadow of an old man in a black robe gradually rose from the ground, which was the ghost of Samuel. Thus was the meeting between the living King Saul and the dead old judge Samuel.Samuel told Saul that the Philistines would bring him bad luck.

Saul fainted when he heard these words. However, this battle-hardened veteran has a brave soul. The next day he attacked the Philistines. By noon, Saul's army was completely destroyed, and his three sons, Jonathan, Melcheeshua, and Abinadab were killed.Saul himself pierced his heart with a sword.He thought of the hero Samson, so he would rather commit suicide than fall into the enemy's hands. The Philistines found Saul's body. The Philistines cut off his head and announced it throughout the land, so that the Philistines might rejoice. They took off Saul's shield, spear, and armor, and sent them to their temple of Ashtoreth, where they placed them with other trophies.

Then they nailed the headless bodies of Saul and his three sons to the wall of Beth-shan. When the villagers of Jabesh Gilead heard the news, they decided to snatch back the body of their benefactor who had rescued them. They sneaked into the city of Beth-shan in the dark, smuggled back the bodies of Saul and his three sons, and buried them in the Under the sacred old willow tree in this village. The terrible news came to David in a strange way.A Philistine, intent on pleasing the new king of the Jews, rode on a swift horse to the village of Ziklag to tell David of the death of his adversary.