problems with blog...

well, it seems as if my last post never posted... so, i'm going to double check this one and try to recover yesterday's stuff. anywho... here is the list of readings for this week, just in case you weren't able to get them:

1 samuel 27:1-13
1 samuel 28:1-25
1 samuel 29:1-11
1 samuel 30:8-25
1 samuel 31:1-13

FROM MONDAY (RECOVERED)
SCRIPTURE; 1 samuel 28:1-25 (i've pasted the message version in)

1 David thought to himself, "Sooner or later, Saul's going to get me. The best thing I can do is escape to Philistine country. Saul will count me a lost cause and quit hunting me down in every nook and cranny of Israel. I'll be out of his reach for good."
2-4 So David left; he and his six hundred men went to Achish son of Maoch, king of Gath. They moved in and settled down in Gath, with Achish. Each man brought his household; David brought his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail, widow of Nabal of Carmel. When Saul was told that David had escaped to Gath, he called off the hunt.

5 Then David said to Achish, "If it's agreeable to you, assign me a place in one of the rural villages. It doesn't seem right that I, your mere servant, should be taking up space in the royal city."

6-7 So Achish assigned him Ziklag. (This is how Ziklag got to be what it is now, a city of the kings of Judah.) David lived in Philistine country a year and four months.

8-9 From time to time David and his men raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites—these people were longtime inhabitants of the land stretching toward Shur and on to Egypt. When David raided an area he left no one alive, neither man nor woman, but took everything else: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, clothing—the works. Then he'd return to Achish.

10-11 Achish would ask, "And whom did you raid today?"

David would tell him, "Oh, the Negev of Judah," or "The Negev of Jerahmeel," or "The Negev of the Kenites." He never left a single person alive lest one show up in Gath and report what David had really been doing. This is the way David operated all the time he lived in Philistine country.

12 Achish came to trust David completely. He thought, "He's made himself so repugnant to his people that he'll be in my camp forever."

OBSERVATIONS:
-remember the philistines are the enemy. david is thinking that saul will search all over his home country... living in enemy territory will really limit david's movement and freedom, but he is willing to do it to survive.

-it seems that 600 is the average number of men that david had with him at any one time.

-saul is not going to try to nab david in gath.

-interesting... goliath was from gath... david killed goliath. now david in verse five is calling himself a servant to achish.

-david stays in ziklag for a year and four months... interesting, that is about the exact time that i have been at the vineyard.

-i wiki-ed gath and here is a paragraph that i found interesting:
Recent excavations at the site (The Tell es-Safi/Gath Archaeological Project [1]), directed by Aren Maeir of Bar-Ilan University, appear to confirm this identification, due to abundant finds from the relevant Late Bronze and Iron Age periods — roughly when Gath is mentioned as existing in the various Biblical and other historical sources. Similarly, after the 9th century BC, the volume of archaeological finds from the site recedes, and a stronger cultural connection with the Judean region is felt (as opposed to the coastal/Philistine cultural orientation before hand). This seems to mirror the fact that Gath is rarely mentioned in post-9th century biblical narratives (and historical texts) and apparently loses its status as one of the main Philistine cities.
In 2005, an inscription dating to the Iron Age IIA (ca. 10th-9th century BC), mentioning names very similar to the name Goliath was discovered at the site.

so, those of you who doubt the truth of the bible... this is a small city mentioned, but it existed... it's not fictions.

-so, david becomes a modern day tony soprano. he makes his living in an "organized crime sort-of-way.

-achish is pleased to have david living in his city. he's like the kings island to mason. he's business keeps everyone rich and the city in good standing. notice that an enemy is trusting david. david is learning political skills... remember, he's training to be a leader.

APPLICATION:
i don't quite know yet. still figuring it out.