271 And David said to himself, Some day death will come to me by the hand of Saul: the only thing for me to do is to get away into the land of the Philistines; then Saul will give up hope of taking me in any part of the land of Israel: and so I may be able to get away from him. 2 So David and the six hundred men who were with him went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David and his men were living with Achish at Gath; every man had his family with him, and David had his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, who had been the wife of Nabal. 4 And Saul, hearing that David had gone to Gath, went after him no longer. 5 Then David said to Achish, If now I have grace in your eyes, let me have a place in one of the smaller towns of your land, to be my living-place; for it is not right for your servant to be living with you in the king's town. 6 So Achish straight away gave him Ziklag: and for that reason Ziklag has been the property of the kings of Judah to this day. 7 And David was living in the land of the Philistines for the space of a year and four months.
8 And David and his men went up and made attacks on the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for these were the people who were living in the land from Telam on the way to Shur, as far as Egypt. 9 And David again and again made attacks on the land till not a man or a woman was still living; and he took away the sheep and the oxen and the asses and the camels and the clothing; and he came back to Achish. 10 And every time Achish said, Where have you been fighting today? David said, Against the South of Judah and the South of the Jerahmeelites and the South of the Kenites. 11 Not one living man or woman did David ever take back with him to Gath, fearing that they might give an account of what had taken place, and say, This is what David did, and so has he been doing all the time while he has been living in the land of the Philistines. 12 And Achish had belief in what David said, saying, He has made himself hated by all his people Israel, and so he will be my servant for ever.
281 Now in those days the Philistines got their forces together to make war on Israel. And Achish said to David, Certainly you and your men are to go out with me to the fight. 2 And David said to Achish, You will see now what your servant will do. And Achish said to David, Then I will make you keeper of my head for ever.
3 Now Samuel was dead, and all Israel, after weeping for him, had put his body in its last resting-place in Ramah, his town. And Saul had put away from the land all those who had control of spirits and who made use of secret arts. 4 And the Philistines came together and put their forces in position in Shunem; and Saul got all Israel together and they took up their positions in Gilboa. 5 And when Saul saw the Philistine army he was troubled, and his heart was moved with fear. 6 And when Saul went for directions to the Lord, the Lord gave him no answer, by a dream or by the Urim or by the prophets.
7 Then Saul said to his servants, Get me a woman who has control of a spirit so that I may go to her and get directions. And his servants said to him, There is such a woman at En-dor. 8 So Saul, putting on other clothing, so that he might not be seen to be the king, took two men with him and went to the woman by night; and he said, Now, with the help of the spirit which you have, make the person whose name I will give you come up. 9 And the woman said to him, But you have knowledge of what Saul has done, how he has put away out of the land those who have control of spirits and the users of secret arts: why would you, by a trick, put me in danger of death? 10 And Saul made an oath to her by the Lord, saying, By the living Lord, no punishment will come to you for this. 11 Then the woman said, Who am I to let you see? And he said, Make Samuel come up for me. 12 And the woman saw that it was Saul, and she gave a loud cry, and said to Saul, Why have you made use of deceit? for you are Saul. 13 And the king said to her, Have no fear: what do you see? And the woman said to Saul, I see a god coming up out of the earth. 14 And he said to her, What is his form? And she said, It is an old man coming up covered with a robe. And Saul saw that it was Samuel, and with his face bent down to the earth he gave him honour.
15 And Samuel said to Saul, Why have you made me come up, troubling my rest? And Saul in answer said, I am in great danger; for the Philistines are making war on me, and God has gone away from me and will no longer give me any answer, by the prophets or by dreams: so I have sent for you to make clear to me what I am to do. 16 And Samuel said, Why do you put your questions to me, seeing that God has gone away from you and is on the side of him who is against you? 17 And the Lord himself has done what I said: the Lord has taken the kingdom out of your hand and given it to your neighbour David; 18 Because you did not do what the Lord said, and did not give effect to his burning wrath against Amalek. So the Lord has done this thing to you today. 19 And more than this, the Lord will give Israel up with you into the hands of the Philistines: and tomorrow you and your sons will be with me: and the Lord will give up the army of Israel into the hands of the Philistines.
20 Then Saul went down flat on the earth, and was full of fear because of Samuel's words: and there was no strength in him, for he had taken no food all that day or all that night. 21 And the woman came to Saul and saw that he was in great trouble, and said to him, See now, your servant has given ear to your words, and I have put my life in danger by doing what you said. 22 So now, give ear to the voice of your servant, and let me give you a little bread; and take some food to give you strength when you go on your way. 23 But he would not, saying, I have no desire for food. But his servants, together with the woman, made him take food, and he gave way to them. So he got up from the earth, and took his seat on the bed. 24 And the woman had in the house a young cow, made fat for food; and she put it to death straight away; and she took meal and got it mixed and made unleavened bread; 25 And she put it before Saul and his servants, and they had a meal. Then they got up and went away the same night.
291 Now the Philistines got all their army together at Aphek: and the Israelites put their forces in position by the fountain in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines went on with their hundreds and their thousands, and David and his men came after with Achish. 3 Then the rulers of the Philistines said, What are these Hebrews doing here? And Achish said to the rulers of the Philistines, Is this not David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me for a year or two, and I have never seen any wrong in him from the time when he came to me till now? 4 But the rulers of the Philistines were angry with him, and said to him, Make the man go back to the place you have given him; do not let him go down with us to the fight, or he may be turned against us and be false to us: for how will this man make peace with his lord? will it not be with the heads of these men? 5 Is this not David, who was named in their songs, when in the dance they said to one another, Saul has put to death thousands, and David tens of thousands?
6 Then Achish sent for David and said to him, By the living Lord, you are upright, and everything you have done with me in the army has been pleasing to me: I have seen no evil in you from the day when you came to me till now: but still, the lords are not pleased with you. 7 So now go back, and go in peace, so that you do not make the lords of the Philistines angry. 8 And David said to Achish, But what have I done? what have you seen in your servant while I have been with you till this day, that I may not go and take up arms against those who are now making war on my lord the king? 9 And Achish in answer said, It is true that in my eyes you are good, like an angel of God: but still, the rulers of the Philistines have said, He is not to go up with us to the fight. 10 So get up early in the morning, with the servants of your lord who are with you, and go to the place I have given you, and have no evil design in your heart, for you are good in my eyes; but when there is light enough in the morning, go away. 11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
131 Now some people who were there at that time, gave him an account of how the blood of some Galilaeans had been mixed by Pilate with their offerings. 2 And he, in answer, said to them, Are you of the opinion that these Galilaeans were worse than all other Galilaeans, because these things were done to them? 3 I say to you, It is not so: but if your hearts are not changed, you will all come to the same end. 4 Or those eighteen men who were crushed by the fall of the tower of Siloam, were they worse than all the other men living in Jerusalem? 5 I say to you, It is not so: but if your hearts are not changed, you will all come to an end in the same way.
6 And he made up this story for them: A certain man had a fig-tree in his garden, and he came to get fruit from it, and there was no fruit. 7 And he said to the gardener, See, for three years I have been looking for fruit from this tree, and I have not had any: let it be cut down; why is it taking up space? 8 And he said, Lord, let it be for this year, and I will have the earth turned up round it, and put animal waste on it, to make it fertile: 9 And if, after that, it has fruit, it is well; if not, let it be cut down.
10 And he was teaching in one of the Synagogues on the Sabbath. 11 And there was a woman who had had a disease for eighteen years; she was bent, and was not able to make herself straight. 12 And when Jesus saw her, he said to her, Woman, you are made free from your disease. 13 And he put his hands on her, and she was made straight, and gave praise to God. 14 And the ruler of the Synagogue was angry because Jesus had made her well on the Sabbath, and he said to the people, There are six days in which men may do work: so come on those days to be made well, and not on the Sabbath. 15 But the Lord gave him an answer and said, O you false men! do you not, every one of you, on the Sabbath, let loose his ox and his ass and take it to the water? 16 And is it not right for this daughter of Abraham, who has been in the power of Satan for eighteen years, to be made free on the Sabbath? 17 And when he said these things, those who were against him were shamed, and all the people were full of joy because of the great things which were done by him.
18 Then he said, What is the kingdom of God like? what comparison may I make of it? 19 It is like a grain of mustard seed which a man took and put in his garden, and it became a tree, and the birds of heaven made their resting-places in its branches.
20 And again he said, What is the kingdom of God like? 21 It is like leaven, which a woman put into three measures of meal, and it was all leavened.
22 And he went on his way, through towns and country places, teaching and journeying to Jerusalem.
(Read Luke 13:1-5)
Mention was made to Christ of the death of some Galileans. This tragical story is briefly related here, and is not met with in any historians. In Christ's reply he spoke of another event, which, like it, gave an instance of people taken away by sudden death. Towers, that are built for safety, often prove to be men's destruction. He cautioned his hearers not to blame great sufferers, as if they were therefore to be accounted great sinners. As no place or employment can secure from the stroke of death, we should consider the sudden removals of others as warnings to ourselves. On these accounts Christ founded a call to repentance. The same Jesus that bids us repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand, bids us repent, for otherwise we shall perish.
(Read Luke 13:6-9)
This parable of the barren fig-tree is intended to enforce the warning given just before: the barren tree, except it brings forth fruit, will be cut down. This parable in the first place refers to the nation and people of the Jews. Yet it is, without doubt, for awakening all that enjoy the means of grace, and the privileges of the visible church. When God has borne long, we may hope that he will bear with us yet a little longer, but we cannot expect that he will bear always.
(Read Luke 13:10-17)
Our Lord Jesus attended upon public worship on the sabbaths. Even bodily infirmities, unless very grievous, should not keep us from public worship on sabbath days. This woman came to Christ to be taught, and to get good to her soul, and then he relieved her bodily infirmity. This cure represents the work of Christ's grace upon the soul. And when crooked souls are made straight, they will show it by glorifying God. Christ knew that this ruler had a real enmity to him and to his gospel, and that he did but cloak it with a pretended zeal for the sabbath day; he really would not have them be healed any day; but if Jesus speaks the word, and puts forth his healing power, sinners are set free. This deliverance is often wrought on the Lord's day; and whatever labour tends to put men in the way of receiving the blessing, agrees with the design of that day.
(Read Luke 13:18-22)
Here is the progress of the gospel foretold in two parables, as in Matthew 13. The kingdom of the Messiah is the kingdom of God. May grace grow in our hearts; may our faith and love grow exceedingly, so as to give undoubted evidence of their reality. May the example of God's saints be blessed to those among whom they live; and may his grace flow from heart to heart, until the little one becomes a thousand.
