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vid, 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.

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

DAVID'S EXTREME DISTRESS, WHEN THE AMALEKITES HAD INVADED THE SOUTH.

1 SAM. XXX. 1—5.

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.

DAVID ENCOURAGETH HIMSELF IN THE LORD HIS GOD.

1 SAM. XXX. 6—8.

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.

1 SAM. XXX. 9-10.

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 so faint that they could not go over the brook Besor.

THE LORD'S

GRACIOUS INTERPOSI-
TION.

1 SAM. XXX. 11-19.

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 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 any thing that they had taken to them: David recovered all.

DAVID'S LAMENTATION OVER SAUL, AND OVER JONATHAN HIS BELOVED FRIEND.

2 SAM. i. 12.

And they mourned, and wept, and fasted until even, for Saul, and for Jonathan his son, and for the people of the Lord, and for the house of Israel; because they were fallen by the sword.

2 SAM. i. 17, 19-27.

And David lamented with this lamentation over Saul and over Jonathan his son :

The beauty of Israel is slain upon thy high places: how are the mighty fallen! Tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of Askelon: lest the daughters of the Philistines rejoice, lest the daughters

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