1 Samuel 26-28
Rare Medium Says
"You're Done"

In these verses the psalmist laments that God is no longer helping them like He did in the first part of the psalm. Instead of going out to fight their battles, God is letting them lose. The psalmist asserts that in spite of not receiving God's benefits/blessing, they have been loyal to Him, keeping His covenant, and not wavering in their faith (like Job). Therefore the psalmist has confidence to trust in God's hesed/loyal covenantal love's and continues to pray.

An evil person usually speaks lies, and gets tangled in them. A righteous person, on the other hand, not only gets delivered from the trouble that the wicked try to cause him (with their lies), but winds up with good, as a result of his words. Not only do we receive payback from our words, but also our works.

The Ziphites again betray David, and Saul again reneges on his promies, and seeks to kill David. God again delivers Saul into David's hand (by causing a deep sleep on the camp), and David again refrains from taking vengeance. Yawn. The interesting piece that's new is the desire David has to be guiltless, which explains his refusal to kill Saul. He is trusting that God will strike Saul, or he will die of old age, or be destroyed in battle.

Making sure that there is a good space between them, David taunts Abner, Saul's uncle and commander in chief for failing to protect Yahweh's anointed (which David was).

David again persuades Saul of his innocence, indicating that the treatment David is receiving is tantamount to encouraging him to leave Israel and serve another god in another land.

Saul again acknowledges his sin, great error, and folly, then blesses David, who reminds him of God's just judgment (which Saul never seems to have in mind).

To escape Saul's insanity, David “defects” to Gath, Goliath's hometown, and the place where David did his madman imitation. There is no indication that David sought the Lord's counsel in this decision, but the same can be said of the previous interaction with Saul. Proverbs 22:3 “A prudent man sees danger, and hides himself; but the simple pass on, and suffer for it.”  King Achish, probably happy to have David not fighting for Saul, gives him the city of Ziklag.

The places where David resides and raids are in the territory Yahweh gave to Judah (see map). David is actually fulfilling the Israelite responsibility to drive out and destroy the pagans (15:5), something the rest of the nation was disobeying. His “deception” about where he raided could be viewed as a military tactic or deliberate vagueness. His answer is literally “Negev” which can mean “south of.” David was raiding the “area” south of Judah, not necessarily southern Judah. This fits the other two areas descriptions as well. Achish took it to mean David was attacking Judah, making it impossible to go back to them. David didn't correct the misperception.

In the upcoming war against Israel, Achish makes David his bodyguard. More about this in the next chapter. The two previous times Saul encountered the Philistines like this (chapters 13 and 17), neither time went well.

Samuel was dead; Saul had killed the priests at Nob, and had previously removed the mediums and wizards from the land. Saul had turned his back on God, so God wasn't answering his prayers for guidance. Consequently, when faced with an invading army, Saul was left on his own, without any supernatural insight, which was just the way he had wanted it, except now he was panicking.

Saul sends his servants seeking a medium who could conjure up dead spirits so he can get advice. Most people who turn to the dead for guidance are spiritually dead, and don't have a relationship with God. Sin causes the separation, so He can't hear them (Isa 59:2). God forbade consulting spirits and the dark side (Dt 18) because He communicated to His people all they needed to know through His revelation (and prophets). Words from the dark side aren't likely to lead to life either.

The witch of Endor cried in surprise at seeing Samuel, perhaps expecting her normal demon/spirit to appear. She also saw that her inquirer was Saul.

Samuel was a little cranky from being awakened and reiterated the previous message of judgment that Saul had failed to obey Yahweh, so He had become his adversary. He adds that the impending attack was Yahweh's work of retribution, and that Saul and his sons would be in the grave with Samuel that day (to await future resurrection and permanent judgment -Dan 12:2-3).

The condemned man gets his last meal and the curtain falls.