the front slope of Hermon. Nor must "the woman, possessor of an Ob" - or spirit by which the dead can be

conjured up (Leviticus 20:27) - know it, that he who inquires of her is the one who "hath cut off those that

have familiar spirits and the wizard s out of the land."

It was night when Saul and his companions wearily reached their destination. They have roused the

wretched impostor, "the woman, possessor of an Ob," and quieted her fears by promise that her nefarious

business should not be betrayed. To her utter horror it is for once truth. God has allowed Samuel to obey

Saul's summons; and, to be unmistakable, he appears, as he was wont in life, wrapped in his prophet's meil,

or mantle. The woman sees the apparition,231 and from her description Saul h as no difficulty in recognizing

Samuel, and he falls in lowly reverence on his face.

During the whole interview between them the king remains on his knees. What a difference between the last

meeting of the two and this! But the old prophet has nothing to abate, nothing to alter. There is

inexpressible pathos in the king's cry of despair: "Make known to me what I shall do!" What he shall do! But

Samuel had all his life -time made it known to him, and Saul had resisted. The time for doing was now past. In

quick succession it comes, like thunderbolt on thunderbolt: "Jehovah thine enemy"; "Jehovah hath rent the

kingdom out of thine hand, and given it to David"; "thy sins have overtaken thee!" All this Saul knew long

ago, although he had never realized it as now. And then as to his fate: to-morrow - defeat, death, slaughter,

to Saul, to his sons, to Israel!

One by one, each stroke heavier than the other, they had pitilessly fallen on the kneeling king, weary, faint

from want of food, and smitten to the heart with awe and terror; and now he falls heavily, his gigantic length,

to the ground. The woman and Saul's companions had stood aside, nor had any heard what had passed

between the two. But the noise of his fall brought them to his side. With difficulty they persuade him to eat

ere he starts on his weary return to Jezreel. At last he yields; and, rising from his prostrate position, sits

down on the divan, while they wait on him. But he has no longer speech, or purpose, or thought. As one

driven to the slaughter, he goes back to meet his doom. It must have been early morning when once more he

reached Gilboa - the morning of the dread and decisive battle.232

The sacred narrative now turns once more to the Philistine host. The trysting-place for the contingents of

the five allied "lords" or kings of the Philistines was at Aphek, probably the same as on a previous occasion

(1 Samuel 4:1).233

As they marched past, the division of Achish formed "the rear-ward." When the Philistine leaders saw

David and his men amongst them, they not unnaturally objected to their presence. In vain Achish urged

their faithfulness since they had "fallen away" to him. As it appeared to them, one who had in the past taken

such a stand as David could never be trusted; and how better could he make his peace with his master than

by turning traitor to the Philistines in the hour of their supreme need? And so, however reluctantly, Achish

had to yield. David's remonstrance, couched in ambiguous language, was perhaps scarcely such (1 Samuel

29:8), but rather intended to make sure of the real views of Achish in regard to him. But it must have been

with the intense relief of a realized God-given deliverance, that early next morning, ere the camp was astir,

David and his men quitted its outskirts, where the rear-guard lay, to return to Ziklag.

It was the third day when the Hebrews reached their Philistine home. But what a sight greeted them here!

Broken walls, blackened ruins, and the desolateness of utter silence all around! The Amalekites had indeed

taken vengeance for David's repeated raids upon them (27:8). They had made an incursion into the Negeb,

or south country, and specially upon Ziklag. In the absence of its defenders, the place fell an easy prey.

After laying it waste, the Amalekites took with them all the women and children, as well as the cattle, and

any other booty on which they could lay hands. It was a terrible surprise, and the first effect upon David

and his men was truly Oriental (30:4). But it is both characteristic of David's followers, and indicates with

what reluctance they must have followed him to Aphek, that they actually thought of killing David, as if he

had been the author of that ill-fated expedition after Achish which had brought them such hopeless misery.

It was bitter enough to have lost his own family, and now David was in danger of his life from the mutiny of