Reader’s Guide: “The Word for Today” Tuesday, November 6, 2012 Read – 1 Samuel 29, 30 & 31 The last three chapters of 1 Samuel bring three issues that have been lingering within this story to a conclusion. We may have been wondering about how the relationship between David and the Philistines will work out – is David really united with the Philistines or not? The story makes it clear that David is not united with the Philistines. Actually the Philistines themselves resolve the issue. They do not allow David to join them in the battle against Saul. They do not trust David and in the process David is freed from what might have become a tough decision. While this resolves the story on one level, we are still left wondering what David would have done had the Philistines welcomed him to join in the battle – was it all a ruse? The story certainly implies that David would have turned on the Philistines. The second issue that is resolved has to do with David and the city of Ziglag. While David is pretending to be faithful to Achish, Ziglag is attacked and all of David’s wives and the wives of the rest of his men are taken captive by the dreaded Amalekites – the very people Saul was supposed to destroy. Once again human choices seem to have made God’s actions more complicated. Then again, we are challenged with the idea of wiping out whole groups of people in God’s name. One way or the other this story is a challenging one. David defeats the Amalekites and restores the city of Ziglag and his stronghold from which he will emerge as the leader of the southern tribes following the death of Saul. The final issue to be resolved is the death of Saul – and tragically his son Jonathan. We might have hoped that Jonathan would somehow have survived, but that does not happen. The death of Saul brings to a conclusion another phase in the story of God’s people. It is a story that does not end well. We are ready to move on to the story of David as king. While that story will have a more pleasant ending in one way – it is not a story without its challenges for us readers.