I find it interesting that there seems to be no negative repercussions for David’s dishonesty with Achish. I don’t have anything else to say about it except that it seems odd, but it really seems odd, doesn’t it?
We do get another look at what makes David such a good leader. He has a massive victory, one for which many of his men were not present due to exhaustion. When some selfish soldiers speak up to declare the those who stayed behind would receive nothing but their own recovered families, David steps in. All of his men will receive the same share in the spoils. Those that keep watch other the camp and baggage, those that aren’t well enough to fight, those that meet in battle. They are all part of the army, they will all share in the spoils.
Meanwhile Saul is running to a witch to summon up the spirit of the dead prophet. Literally. That happens.
Can we just…I mean, Saul is such a coward. He always has been. He’s got to know that his time has come, the end he’s feared all this time. Why else would he be this desperate to make God talk to him?
Though, personally, if God went silent, I’m not sure trying to make him talk is the route I would go. I mean, you start with penance, right? Seeking his forgiveness and mercy? You don’t try to force his hand! How did Saul think this was going to work out for him? Not that Saul ever thought much of anything through very well anyway.
I wonder if was really Samuel, or if it were maybe an angel in the form of Samuel? Once again, I don’t know that it matters, but accepting that it really is Samuel is interesting. First of all, did mediums really have the power to call up the dead? Or was she so afraid because this was the first time it had actually worked? Secondly, I love picturing how irritated Samuel must have been.
There he is, existing in Paradise, free of Saul’s foolishness, when he’s called back to the world of the living for one last conversation. Oh, you have got to be kidding me?! What do you think I’m going to say, man? I’ve told you how this would play out how many times? Did you really think I’d say something different this time?
I just wish his foolishness, his cowardice, his selfishness had not cost the world the lives of his sons. Such is the pain of the broken world. One person’s sin absolutely harms many others. Directly, indirectly. We do not exist in a vacuum, and our choices have repercussions.
If only Saul had accepted correction like David did.