Question.-What was the conduct of Saul when he saw the great host of the Philistines?

Answer. He was greatly afraid. He asked for counsel and help from the Lord, but he did not, we may sup pose, ask in a proper spirit of penitence and faith, and he received no answer. In his fear he became superstitious, and although he had before ordered that all who pretended to possess magical powers should be driven out of the land, he now sought to find one who would undertake to raise the dead.

Q-Had the woman really the power to raise up the spirit of Samuel ?

A.-This is one of the most difficult passages in the Bible. It would seem that the Lord overruled the wickedness of the woman, and permitted Samuel to appear. She seems to have been surprised, and to have seen some very strange sight, and to have been greatly alarmed. A wonderful miracle appears to have been wrought for the purpose of warning Saul of his fate, and the punishment he would receive for his disobedience.

Now

OW the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek; and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel. And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish.

Then 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?

And 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? should it not be with the heads of these men? Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands?

Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the LORD liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day nevertheless the lords favour thee not. Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines.

And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king?

And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master's servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart.

So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

And it came to pass, when David and his men were come to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the south, and Ziklag, and smitten Ziklag, and burned it with fire; and had taken the women captives, that were therein they slew not any, either great or small, but carried them away, and went on their way.

So David and his men came to the city, and, behold, it was burned with fire; and their wives, and their sons, and their daughters, were taken captives. Then David and the people that were with him lifted up their voice and wept, until they had no more power to weep.

And David's two wives were taken captives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the wife of Nabal the Carmelite.

And David was greatly distressed; for the people spake of stoning him, because the soul of all the people was grieved, every man for his sons and for his daughters: but David encouraged himself in the LORD his God.

And David said to Abiathar the priest, Ahimelech's son, I pray thee, bring me hither the ephod. And Abiathar brought thither the ephod to David. And David enquired at the LORD, saying, Shall I pursue after this troop? shall I overtake them? And he answered him, Pursue: for thou shalt surely overtake them, and without fail recover all.

So David went, he and the six hundred men that were with him, and came to the brook Besor, where those that were left behind stayed. But David pursued, he and four hundred men for two hundred abode behind, which were faint so that they could not go over the brook Besor.

And they found an Egyptian in the field, and brought him to David, and gave him bread, and he did eat; and they made him drink water; and they gave him a piece of a cake of figs, and

two clusters of raisins: and when he had eaten, his spirit came again to him: for he had eaten no bread, nor drunk any water, three days and three nights.

And David said unto him, To whom belongest thou? and whence art thou? And he said, I am a young man of Egypt, servant to an Amalekite; and my master left me, because three days agone I fell sick. We made an invasion upon the south of the Cherethites, and upon the coast which belongeth to Judah, and upon the south of Caleb; and we burned Ziklag with fire.

And David said to him, Canst thou bring me down to this company? And he said, Swear unto me by God, that thou wilt neither kill me, nor deliver me into the hands of my master, and I will bring thee down to this company.

And when he had brought him down, behold, they were spread abroad upon all the earth, eating and drinking, and dancing, because of all the great spoil that they had taken out of the land of the Philistines, and out of the land of Judah.

And David smote them from the twilight even unto the evening of the next day and there escaped not a man of them, save four hundred young men, which rode upon camels, and fled. And David recovered all that the Amalekites had carried away and David rescued his, two wives. And there was nothing lacking to them, neither small nor great, neither sons nor daughters, neither spoil, nor anything that they had taken to them: David recovered all. And David took all the flocks and the herds, which they drave before those other cattle, and said, This is David's spoil.

And David came to the two hundred men which were so faint that they could not follow David, whom they had made also to abide at the brock Besor: and they went forth to meet David, and to meet the people that were with him: and when David came near to the people, he saluted them.

Then answered all the wicked men and men of Belial, of those that went with David, and said, Because they went not with us, we will not give them ought of the spoil that we have recovered, save to every man his wife. and his children, and they may lead them away, and depart.

Then said David, Ye shall not do so, my brethren, with that which the LORD hath given us, who hath pre

served us, and delivered the company that came against us into our hand. For who will hearken unto you in this matter? but as his part is that goeth down to the battle, so shall his part be that tarrieth by the stuff: they shall part alike.

And it was so from that day forward, that he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel unto this day.

Question.-Did the Philistines believe that David would really fight against the Israelites ? Answer. They did not trust him as Achish the king did. They remembered how he had conquered them in past times, and they believed that when the time of battle came, he would turn against them and help Saul, and so regain his favour. They expressed this opinion when they said, "Wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men ?" that is, by helping to destroy the Philistine army.

Q. What rule did David make as to the division of the spoil taken from the Philistines?

A. That those who remained behind to take care of the baggage, or "stuff," as it is called, did their duty

as well as those who actually took part in destroying the Philistines, and were equally worthy of reward. We must faithfully perform our allotted task, whatever it may be, and however obscure we may appear; it is doing it from a sense of duty that is pleasing to God. Our Lord Jesus taught the same lesson when He said that those who worked only for one hour in the vineyard were to be rewarded the same as those who had worked all day.

Q-What share of the spoil did David keep for himself, and what did he do with it?

A. The flocks and the herds, leaving the arms, jewels, and other articles of value to be divided amongst his followers. He gave his share of the spoil to his friends in Judah, and no doubt he could not have given them anything more acceptable.

Now

WOW the Philistines fought against Israel: and the men of Israel fled from before the Philistines, and fell down slain in mount Gilboa. And the Philistines followed hard upon Saul, and upon his sons; and the Philistines slew Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Melchishua, Saul's sons.

And the battle went sore against Saul, and the archers hit him; and he was sore wounded of the archers. Then said Saul unto his armourbearer, Draw thy sword, and thrust me through therewith; lest these uncircumcised

come and thrust me through, and abuse me. But his armourbearer would not; for he was sore afraid. Therefore Saul took a sword and fell upon it. And when his armourbearer saw that Saul was dead, he fell likewise upon his sword, and died with him.

So Saul died, and his three sons, and his armourbearer, and all his men, that same day together.

And when the men of Israel that were on the other side of the valley, and they that were on the other side Jordan, saw that the men of Israel fled,

and that Saul and his sons were dead, they forsook the cities, and fled; and the Philistines came and dwelt in them.

And it came to pass on the morrow, when the Philistines came to strip the slain, that they found Saul and his three sons fallen in mount Gilboa. And they cut off his head, and stripped off his armour, and sent into the land of the Philistines round about, to publish it in the house of their idols, and among the people. And they put

his armour in the house of Ashtaroth: and they fastened his body to the wall of Beth-shan.

And when the inhabitants of JabeshGilead heard of that which the Philistines had done to Saul; all the valiant men arose, and went all night, and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and came to Jabesh, and burnt them there. And they took their bones, and buried them under a tree at Jabesh, and fasted seven days.

Question.-Why did the Philistines put the armour. of Saul in the house of Ashtaroth? Answer.-Ashtaroth was one of the idols worshipped by the heathen Philistines. It was customary when anything of special importance had been captured in battle, to keep it in what was supposed to be a sacred place. David had given Goliath's sword to be preserved in the tabernacle, and, from a similar motive, the armour of Saul, who had been such a terrible enemy of the Philistines, was looked upon as a most valuable trophy. The practice has continued to our times, and in some churches may still be seen the flags taken in battles in which we have been victorious. Q.-Why did the men of Jabesh-Gilead, when they had recovered the bodies of Saul and his sons, burn them?

A.-Burning the dead was not customary with the Israelites; indeed, we have many descriptions of the care with which the bodies of the dead were buried in

caves and tombs. It is supposed that, in this case, the bodies had been so shockingly treated that it was thought better to burn them, so that they should not be seen by many. Or, it may have been, they feared that at some future time the Philistines might take the bodies from the graves and again insult them. Burning, of course, made that impossible. Saul's head was cut off, and, we read in the First Book of Chronicles, was placed in the temple of Dagon.

Q-What tree were the remains of Saul and his sons burned under ?

A. The tamarisk tree at Jabesh, a well-known spot, no doubt the place where Saul had sat in state and collected his people about him when he asked them to help him against David, and told Abimelech the priest that he should surely die. Then he thought himself all powerful; at the very same spot his ashes -after he had killed himself in despair, and the Philistines had so insulted his dead body--were now buried.

Good David, whose psalms have so often been sung,

At first was not noble or grand,

But only a shepherd boy, when he was young,
Though afterwards king of the land.

But he soon was made king, for the prophet foretoldi
That God meant to honour him thus;
And if we will serve Him, like David of old,
The Lord will be mindful of us.

OW it came to pass after the death of Saul, when David was returned from the slaughter of the Amalekites, and David had abode two days in Ziklag; it came even to pass on the third day, that, behold, a man came out of the camp from Saul with his clothes rent, and earth upon his head: and so it was, when he came to David, he fell to the earth and did obeisance.

And David said unto him, From whence comest thou? And he said unto him, Out of the camp of Israel am I escaped. And David said unto him, How went the matter? I pray thee, tell me. And he answered, That the people are fled from the battle, and many of the people also are fallen and dead; and Saul and Jonathan his son are dead also.

And David said unto the young man that told him, How knowest thou that

Saul and Jonathan his son be dead? And the young man that told him said, As I happened by chance upon mount Gilboa, behold, Saul leaned upon his spear; and, lo, the chariots and horsemen followed hard after him. And when he looked behind him, he saw me, and called unto me. And I answered, Here am I. And he said unto me, Who art thou? And I answered him, I am an Amalekite. He said unto me, again, Stand, I pray thee, upon me, and slay me for anguish is come upon me, because my life is yet whole in me. So I stood upon him, and slew him, because I was sure that he could not live after that he was fallen: and I took the crown that was upon his head, and the bracelet that was on his arm, and have brought them hither unto my lord.

Then David took hold on his clothes, and rent them; and likewise all the