News of Saul's Death in David's Camp

By Mary Vee
II Samuel 1

David's Thoughts

Mount Gilboa, site of Saul's last battle

We had returned to our homes with our wives and children. The Amalekites now know the consequences of burning our city and kidnapping our wives and children. 


Death.


My men were exhausted after the battle, they needed a break. A time to heal and be with their families. I must admit, I enjoyed watching the men play with their families and fixing their homes. Such happiness.


Three days after we returned to our homes in Ziklag a messenger arrived. He looked terrible. His clothes were torn and he had dust on his head. The men brought him to me, saying he had urgent news.


I invited him into my home. He immediately fell to the ground in respect.


I said, "Where did you come from?"


He answered, "I escaped from the camp of Israel."


"How did the battle go? Please tell me all you know."


"The soldiers fled from the battle, many...injured or dead. Saul, Jonathan, and the other sons,...I'm sorry to say are all dead."


I didn't know if I could trust this stranger's word. He didn't look like an Israelite. Maybe he wanted to trick me into going with him. "How do you know that Saul, Jonathan, and his other sons are dead?"


"I, uh, happened, by chance, to be on Mount Gilboa where the Israelite soldiers camped. I found Saul, leaning on his spear. I looked in every direction and saw Philistine chariots and horsemen chasing after him. 


"Saul turned to me. His frightened face showed he knew the Philistines would soon reach him. He called to me, 'Who are you?' I said, 'I am an Amalekite.' He said to me, 'Please stand over me and kill me. I can't stand the pain any longer, yet my life continues.' He looked back toward the approaching Philistines and shouted, 'Hurry!'


"I stood over him and killed him, because I was sure he could not live after he had fallen. I took his crown and the kingly bracelet and brought them here to you, my lord."


The agony of Saul's death hit me like a fierce wind. I grabbed hold of my clothes and ripped them, and at the same time released a cry from deep in heart. All the men from my army did the same. Our cries of agony filled the air. The king of Israel had died.


We wept all that day, refusing to eat anything. All we did was mourn our loss of Saul, Jonathan, and his other sons, also for the people of the Lord and for the house of Israel, because they had fallen by the sword.


Late that night I called the man back to speak with me. He had acted a bit suspicious. Maybe he wanted to receive a reward for killing the king. "Where are you from?"


"I am an Amalekite."


My men raised their eyebrows. Did we not just attack a band of Amalekites for burning our city and kidnapping our wives and children? He definitely was not to be trusted.


"How was it you weren't afraid to kill the Lord's anointed?"


The man didn't answer. Fine with me. I turned to the young men in my army and ordered them to execute the Amalekite for killing the king of Israel, the Lord's anointed. 


He had no right.


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Photo courtesy of visualbiblealive.com


1. Who had attacked the Ziklag, the city where David, his men, and their families lived?
2.  What did the messenger tell David?
3.  Who killed Saul?
4.  Who all did David and his men morn for?
5. Where was the messenger from?
6. Why did David think that was suspicious?
7. What did David do and why?

Do We HAVE to Share?

By Mary Vee
I Samuel 30

David's Thoughts

We saved the Egyptian slave who had been left in a field to starve. 


A group of Amalekites had taken him as slave, but when he became ill, they tossed him aside like garbage.


This same group of Amalekites waited until we left our city, robbed everything they could, and kidnapped our wives and children. The cowards. They didn't attempt to fight us, the men...the soldiers. No they had to pick on our helpless families. 


After we fed the Egyptian, he agreed to show us where the Amalekites went if we promised not to turn him back over to the Amalekites. No problem. I had plans, directed by God, to conquer the cowards.


He took us to a hill where we could see the invaders camped. My men and I crouched low and watched the Amalekites party. Dancing. Drinking. Eating. They had our animals, and yes I saw our wives and children. Ooooo, I couldn't wait to get them.


I called my men together and discussed our plan of attack. We had to be careful. None of our families could get injured in our rescue. We crept to their camp in the shadows of the evening and attacked.


The battle lasted from twilight to evening of the next day. Not a man among them escaped except four hundred young men who escaped by camel. We chose not to chase them. 


Instead, we searched and found our wives...and our children...huddled in corners. We hugged them, and squeezed them, and held them. We cried. They cried.


Our families were safe in our arms.


We packed the things stolen by the Amalekites, everything. Not even a cooking pot remained missing. 


The older boys helped gather our flocks and herds. With our families, our stolen items, and our herds, we left for home.


As we approached the Brook Besor, the two hundred men who had been left behind to rest and get well came out to meet us. I greeted them as always. All my men deserved to be treated special. They ran to their wives and children weeping and hugging and squeezing them.


It seems there are always a few jealous people in every group. I had a few men who sacrificed their lives in the Amalekite battle bitten by the jealous bug. They banned together and came to me saying, "David, these men who stayed behind with the supplies didn't fight. Because they didn't sacrifice their lives like we did we will not give them anything we recovered except their wives and children."


Okay. I could see why they felt that way, but it was wrong. Those men didn't feel well. Didn't we just help the Egyptian man who had been tossed away? 


This called for a kind understanding voice. "My brothers, these things won't profit you. Isn't the one who stays back and guards our supplies just as important as the man who goes to battle? What good can it be to win a battle but lose our supplies? We will share, and share alike. We need each other."


From that day forward I made it a law that all men involved in a battle share.


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1. Who did David save?
2. How did this person help David in return?
3. Who did David and his men fight and why?
4. How long did the battle win?
5. Not all of David's men fought in this battle. How did the soldiers treat the men who stayed behind with the supplies? What did they ask David?
6. What did David answer. 
7. What was the new law David made?

David-Hunting The Murderers

Mary Vee
I Samuel 30

David's Thoughts

We escaped the Philistine army, truly by the grace of God. Achish requested we serve with his unit in the Philistine army in the battle against the Israelites. 


We were in a terrible situation. 


Achish believed we wanted to serve the Philistines and seemed truly sad that he had to send us back to his city, Ziklag where we'd made our home.


He didn't know we only hid there, we had no intentions of serving the Philistines. Kill them, yes, help them, no.


We walked for three days back to our city. At the hill overlooking the town we stopped, frozen in our steps. The entire city had been burned.


The men and I ran furiously to the city gate. Did the invaders kill our wives and children? If they did, revenge would be the only solution. We searched through the rubble and found no bodies. That news seemed good, but we didn't know where our families were. Did they escape? Did some invading army capture them?


We lifted our voices and wept as never before. All we loved had been taken. Our homes destroyed. My men turned against me. Their sorrow robbed them of all their senses.They grabbed stones and flung them at me, I'm sure they would have killed me if I hadn't acted right away. 


Oh God my strength, my hope, give me words to say, Your will to be done at this time. Let me, oh blessed Lord, serve you by helping these men in a time of great sadness.


I called for Abiathar the priest. "Please bring the ephod here to me." He returned a few moments later with it. 


With the ephod there, I asked the Lord, "Should I go after the army that attacked our homes and families? Should I overtake them?"


The Lord God answered, "Yes. Go  after the attacking army. You will overtake them and without fail recover all your families."


The six hundred men with me returned to the Brook Besor where we'd left some of our army guarding supplies. Two hundred of them had become too weary to move. I allowed them to stay with the supplies as well. The remaining four hundred went with me to overtake our enemy and rescue our families. 


After we traveled a ways we found an Egyptian man in the field. The poor man had not eaten in three days. We gave him bread, figs, raisins, and drink. I sat by him. "Who do you belong to and where are you from?"


"I am an Egyptian taken as a slave for the Amalekites. When I became sick, my master left me in this field. We invaded the southern area of Judah, and Caleb, and we burned Ziklag to the ground."


I handed him more to drink. "Do you feel well enough to take us to this army?"


"If you promise not to hurt me or to hand me over to my former master, I will take you to them."


I handed him more fruit. "I agree."


I waited for him to gain his strength then prepared for our journey.


Come back next time read what happens.


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1.  What did David and his men discover when they returned to their homes at Ziklag?
2.  What was their greatest concern?
3.  Who blamed David and why?
4.  David left some of his men to rest, how many men did he take with him?
5.  Who did David meet in a field.
6. What did the man's owner do to him?
7.  What did David do for him?
8. What did David need from the man?
9.  What did David promise the man?

The Powerful Amalekites

By Mary Vee
Exodus 17:8-13


Today's story is told from Aaron's (Moses' brother) point of view.

Keeping track of a younger brother can be difficult at times.  God asked me to help Moses speak to Pharaoh back when we lived in Egypt, and now I help Moses by telling our people, the children of Israel, what God wants us to do. 

I get tired watching Moses. He gets up early every morning to spend time alone with God, I'm not sure when he's up, but it's before the donkeys bray.  When I stepped outside my tent this morning, I noticed guards speaking with him.  I thought there might be a problem. Maybe he needed my help. "Moses, what's going on?"

"Amalek's army is near. The spies report Amalek is prepared for battle. I've sent for Joshua."


I knew I shouldn't have slept in this morning. 

Joshua arrived a few minutes later. Moses pointed to the other side of the valley, "Amalek has an army prepared for battle. Choose some men for battle. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of that hill over there with the rod of God in my hand."


Throughout the day the whole camp chattered about the up coming battle.  We all knew Joshua was the best choice to lead our army, but Amalek's army had tall, mighty warriors. Would we win or would the Amalikites force us to be slaves?


No one slept in the next morning. Joshua marched the army toward the valley while Hur and I walked with Moses to the top of a hill overlooking the valley. We watched for a few minutes as the armies came together.  Our soldiers looked like boys fighting giants. I honestly didn't know what would happen.


Moses gripped his rod and pounded it on the ground. "Our men are falling to those Amelikites already. We need God's help."  He raised his rod into the air like he did the day the Red Sea waters parted.  We looked back at the armies and saw the Amelikites draw back a little.  Our soldiers ran forward and attacked with power.


After a while, Moses's arms grew tired. "God is with us in this battle." He lowered his rod and set it in his lap.  Hur rubbed Moses's shoulders and laughed.  "The Amelikites will never win this battle.  God is fighting for us. Maybe you should rest."  

Moses and I nodded to each other. "God blessed our army."  We scanned the battlefield again expecting to see Joshua and our soldiers winning.  But they weren't.  Moses quickly pushed the rod of God in the air.  "Look, our soldiers are winning! I need to keep the rod of God raised." 

Every time Moses' arms sagged the Joshua and our army lost ground.  I found a rock nearby and rolled it near Moses. "Here, sit down.  That should help."


Moses plopped down on the rock. "My arms are sore, Aaron." Sweat poured down his forehead and his eyes showed his pain.


I ran to his side. "Hur, stand on that side and hold up his arm. I'll stand on this side." We hurried to support Moses' arms and stayed beside him, holding up his arms the entire day. When the sun set, the battle was over. The Amalikites lost..


We climbed down the hill to join the army back at camp.  Our families kindled fires and brought out instruments to celebrate.  I watched the people sing and dance in praise to God and realized what God did for us today. Who are we but a small nation with an untrained army?  Yet God used our soldiers, His chosen prophet, and a rod raised in the air to win a battle. 

We would not have won without God.


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  1.  Who attacked the Israelites?
  2.  Who did Moses ask to lead the soldiers?
  3.  Where did Moses go to watch the battle? Who went with him?
  4.  What did God want Moses to do to help the Israelites win?
  5.  Could Moses do this by himself?  If not, who helped?