Monday, 15 April

1.   And David said in his heart, "Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand." 2.   Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3.   So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow. 4.   And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more. 5.   Then David said to Achish, "If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" 6.   So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. 7.   Now the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. 8.   And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. 9.   Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. 10.   Then Achish would say, "Where have you made a raid today?" And David would say, "Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites." 11.   David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, "Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’" And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. 12.   So Achish believed David, saying, "He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever."

1.   Now it happened in those days that the Philistines gathered their armies together for war, to fight with Israel. And Achish said to David, "You assuredly know that you will go out with me to battle, you and your men." 2.   And David said to Achish, "Surely you know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Therefore I will make you one of my chief guardians forever." 3.   Now Samuel had died, and all Israel had lamented for him and buried him in Ramah, in his own city. And Saul had put the mediums and the spiritists out of the land. 4.   Then the Philistines gathered together, and came and encamped at Shunem. So Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped at Gilboa. 5.   When Saul saw the army of the Philistines, he was afraid, and his heart trembled greatly. 6.   And when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets. 7.   Then Saul said to his servants, "Find me a woman who is a medium, that I may go to her and inquire of her." And his servants said to him, "In fact, there is a woman who is a medium at En Dor." 8.   So Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes, and he went, and two men with him; and they came to the woman by night. And he said, "Please conduct a seance for me, and bring up for me the one I shall name to you." 9.   Then the woman said to him, "Look, you know what Saul has done, how he has cut off the mediums and the spiritists from the land. Why then do you lay a snare for my life, to cause me to die?" 10.   And Saul swore to her by the LORD, saying, " As the LORD lives, no punishment shall come upon you for this thing." 11.   Then the woman said, "Whom shall I bring up for you?" And he said, "Bring up Samuel for me." 12.   When the woman saw Samuel, she cried out with a loud voice. And the woman spoke to Saul, saying, "Why have you deceived me? For you are Saul!" 13.   And the king said to her, "Do not be afraid. What did you see?" And the woman said to Saul, "I saw a spirit ascending out of the earth." 14.   So he said to her, "What is his form?" And she said, "An old man is coming up, and he is covered with a mantle." And Saul perceived that it was Samuel, and he stooped with his face to the ground and bowed down. 15.   Now Samuel said to Saul, "Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?" And Saul answered, "I am deeply distressed; for the Philistines make war against me, and God has departed from me and does not answer me anymore, neither by prophets nor by dreams. Therefore I have called you, that you may reveal to me what I should do." 16.   Then Samuel said: "Why then do you ask me, seeing the LORD has departed from you and has become your enemy? 17.   "And the LORD has done for Himself as He spoke by me. For the LORD has torn the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbor, David. 18.   "Because you did not obey the voice of the LORD nor execute His fierce wrath upon Amalek, therefore the LORD has done this thing to you this day. 19.   "Moreover the LORD will also deliver Israel with you into the hand of the Philistines. And tomorrow you and your sons will be with me. The LORD will also deliver the army of Israel into the hand of the Philistines." 20.   Then immediately Saul fell full length on the ground, and was dreadfully afraid because of the words of Samuel. And there was no strength in him, for he had eaten no food all day or all night. 21.   And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was severely troubled, and said to him, "Look, your maidservant has obeyed your voice, and I have put my life in my hands and heeded the words which you spoke to me. 22.   "Now therefore, please, heed also the voice of your maidservant, and let me set a piece of bread before you; and eat, that you may have strength when you go on your way." 23.   But he refused and said, "I will not eat." So his servants, together with the woman, urged him; and he heeded their voice. Then he arose from the ground and sat on the bed. 24.   Now the woman had a fatted calf in the house, and she hastened to kill it. And she took flour and kneaded it , and baked unleavened bread from it. 25.   So she brought it before Saul and his servants, and they ate. Then they rose and went away that night.

1.   Then the Philistines gathered together all their armies at Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2.   And the lords of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. 3.   Then the princes of the Philistines said, "What are these Hebrews doing here ?" And Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, " Is this not David, the servant of Saul king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or these years? And to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me ." 4.   But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; so the princes of the Philistines said to him, "Make this fellow return, that he may go back to the place which you have appointed for him, and do not let him go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become our adversary. For with what could he reconcile himself to his master, if not with the heads of these men? 5.   " Is this not David, of whom they sang to one another in dances, saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, And David his ten thousands’?" 6.   Then Achish called David and said to him, "Surely, as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. 7.   "Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines." 8.   So David said to Achish, "But what have I done? And to this day what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" 9.   Then Achish answered and said to David, "I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10.   "Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart." 11.   So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

1.   I say then, has God cast away His people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2.   God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying, 3.   "LORD, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life"? 4.   But what does the divine response say to him? "I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." 5.   Even so then, at this present time there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6.   And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7.   What then? Israel has not obtained what it seeks; but the elect have obtained it, and the rest were blinded. 8.   Just as it is written: "God has given them a spirit of stupor, Eyes that they should not see And ears that they should not hear, To this very day." 9.   And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, A stumbling block and a recompense to them. 10.   Let their eyes be darkened, so that they do not see, and bow down their back always." 11.   I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? Certainly not! But through their fall, to provoke them to jealousy, salvation has come to the Gentiles. 12.   Now if their fall is riches for the world, and their failure riches for the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! 13.   For I speak to you Gentiles; inasmuch as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14.   if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh and save some of them. 15.   For if their being cast away is the reconciling of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16.   For if the firstfruit is holy, the lump is also holy ; and if the root is holy, so are the branches. 17.   And if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them, and with them became a partaker of the root and fatness of the olive tree, 18.   do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 19.   You will say then, "Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in." 20.   Well said . Because of unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by faith. Do not be haughty, but fear. 21.   For if God did not spare the natural branches, He may not spare you either. 22.   Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off. 23.   And they also, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24.   For if you were cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, who are natural branches , be grafted into their own olive tree?