Chapter 14.
NOW SAUL UPON GOD'S NOT ANSWERING HIM CONCERNING THE FIGHT
WITH THE PHILISTINES DESIRED A NECROMANTIC WOMAN TO RAISE UP THE SOUL OF
SAMUEL TO HIM; AND HOW HE DIED, WITH HIS SONS UPON THE OVERTHROW OF THE
HEBREWS IN BATTLE,FJAJ 6.96
1. ABOUT the same time the Philistines resolved to make war against
the Israelites, and sent to all their confederates that they would go along
with them to the war to Reggan, [near the city Shunem,] whence they might
gather themselves together, and suddenly attack the Hebrews
Then did Achish,
the king of Gath, desire David to assist them with his armed men against
the Hebrews
This he readily promised; and said that the time was now come
wherein he might requite him for his kindness and hospitality
So the king
promised to make him the keeper of his body, after the victory, supposing
that the battle with the enemy succeeded to their mind; which promise of
honor and confidence he made on purpose to increase his zeal for his service.FJAJ 6.97
2. Now Saul, the king of the Hebrews, had cast out of the country the
fortune-tellers, and the necromancers, and all such as exercised the like
arts, excepting the prophets
But when he heard that the Philistines were
already come, and had pitched their camp near the city Shunem, situate
in the plain, he made haste to oppose them with his forces; and when he
was come to a certain mountain called Gilboa, he pitched his camp over-against
the enemy; but when he saw the enemy's army he was greatly troubled, because
it appeared to him to be numerous, and superior to his own; and he inquired
of God by the prophets concerning the battle, that he might know beforehand
what would be the event of it
And when God did not answer him, Saul was
under a still greater dread, and his courage fell, foreseeing, as was but
reasonable to suppose, that mischief would befall him, now God was not
there to assist him; yet did he bid his servants to inquire out for him
some woman that was a necromancer and called up the souls of the dead,
that So he might know whether his affairs would succeed to his mind; for
this sort of necromantic women that bring up the souls of the dead, do
by them foretell future events to such as desire them
And one of his servants
told him that there was such a woman in the city Endor, but was known to
nobody in the camp; hereupon Saul put off his royal apparel, and took two
of those his servants with him, whom he knew to be most faithful to him,
and came to Endor to the woman, and entreated her to act the part of a
fortune-teller, and to bring up such a soul to him as he should name to
her
But when the woman opposed his motion, and said she did not despise
the king, who had banished this sort of fortune-tellers, and that he did
not do well himself, when she had done him no harm, to endeavor to lay
a snare for her, and to discover that she exercised a forbidden art, in
order to procure her to be punished, he sware that nobody should know what
she did; and that he would not tell any one else what she foretold, but
that she should incur no danger
As soon as he had induced her by
this oath to fear no harm, he bid her bring up to him the soul of Samuel.
She, not knowing who Samuel was, called him out of Hades
When he appeared,
and the woman saw one that was venerable, and of a divine form, she was
in disorder; and being astonished at the sight, she said, "Art not
thou king Saul?" for Samuel had informed her who he was
When he had
owned that to be true, and had asked her whence her disorder arose, she
said that she saw a certain person ascend, who in his form was like to
a god
And when he bid her tell him what he resembled, in what habit he
appeared, and of what age he was, she told him he was an old man already,
and of a glorious personage, and had on a sacerdotal mantle
So the king
discovered by these signs that he was Samuel; and he fell down upon the
ground, and saluted and worshipped him
And when the soul of Samuel asked
him why he had disturbed him, and caused him to be brought up, he lamented
the necessity he was under; for he said, that his enemies pressed heavily
upon him; that he was in distress what to do in his present circumstances;
that he was forsaken of God, and could obtain no prediction of what was
coming, neither by prophets nor by dreams; and that "these were the
reasons why I have recourse to time, who always took great care of me."
But (27)
This history of Saul's consultation, not with a witch, as we render the
Hebrew word here, but with a necromancer, as the whole history shows, is
easily understood, especially if we consult the Recognitions of Clement,
B. I. ch. 5. at large, and more briefly, and nearer the days of Samuel
Ecclus. 46:20, "Samuel prophesied after his death, and showed the
king his end, and lift up his voice from the earth in prophecy," to
blot out "the wickedness of the people." Nor does the exactness
of the accomplishment of this prediction, the very next day, permit us
to suppose any imposition upon Saul in the present history; for as to all
modern hypotheses against the natural sense of such ancient and authentic
histories, I take them to be of very small value or consideration.
Samuel, seeing that the end of Saul's life was come, said, "It is
in vain for thee to desire to learn of me any thing future, when God hath
forsaken thee: however, hear what I say, that David is to be king, and
to finish this war with good success; and thou art to lose thy dominion
and thy life, because thou didst not obey God in the war with the Amalekites,
and hast not kept his commandments, as I foretold thee while I was alive.
Know, therefore, that the people shall be made subject to their enemies,
and that thou, with thy sons, shall fall in the battle tomorrow, and thou
shalt then be with me [in Hades]."FJAJ 6.98
3. When Saul heard this, he could not speak for grief, and fell down
on the floor, whether it were from the sorrow that arose upon what Samuel
had said, or from his emptiness, for he had taken no food the foregoing
day nor night, he easily fell quite down: and when with difficulty he had
recovered himself, the woman would force him to eat, begging this of him
as a favor on account of her concern in that dangerous instance of fortune-telling,
which it was not lawful for her to have done, because of the fear she was
under of the king, while she knew not who he was, yet did she undertake
it, and go through with it; on which account she entreated him to admit
that a table and food might be set before him, that he might recover his
strength, and so get safe to his own camp
And when he opposed her motion,
and entirely rejected it, by reason of his anxiety, she forced him, and
at last persuaded him to it
Now she had one calf that she was very fond
of, and one that she took a great deal of care of, and fed it herself;
for she was a woman that got her living by the labor of her own hands,
and had no other possession but that one calf; this she killed, and made
ready its flesh, and set it before his servants and himself
So Saul came
to the camp while it was yet night.FJAJ 6.99
4. Now it is but just to recommend the generosity of this woman, (28)
These great commendations of this necromantic woman of Endor, and of Saul's
martial courage, when yet he knew he should die in the battle, are somewhat
unusual digressions in Josephus. They seem to me extracted from some speeches
or declamations of his composed formerly, in the way of oratory, that lay
by him, and which he thought fit to insert upon this occasion. See before
on Antiq. B. I. ch. 6 sect. 8.
because when the king had forbidden her to use that art whence her circumstances
were bettered and improved, and when she had never seen the king before,
she still did not remember to his disadvantage that he had condemned her
sort of learning, and did not refuse him as a stranger, and one that she
had had no acquaintance with; but she had compassion upon him, and comforted
him, and exhorted him to do what he was greatly averse to, and offered
him the only creature she had, as a poor woman, and that earnestly, and
with great humanity, while she had no requital made her for her kindness,
nor hunted after any future favor from him, for she knew he was to die;
whereas men are naturally either ambitious to please those that bestow
benefits upon them, or are very ready to serve those from whom they may
receive some advantage
It would be well therefore to imitate the example
and to do kindnesses to all such as are in want and to think that nothing
is better, nor more becoming mankind, than such a general beneficence,
nor what will sooner render God favorable, and ready to bestow good things
upon us
And so far may suffice to have spoken concerning this woman
But
I shall speak further upon another subject, which will afford me all opportunity
of discoursing on what is for the advantage of cities, and people, and
nations, and suited to the taste of good men, and will encourage them all
in the prosecution of virtue; and is capable of showing them the of acquiring
glory, and an everlasting fame; and of imprinting in the kings of nations,
and the rulers of cities, great inclination and diligence of doing well;
as also of encouraging them to undergo dangers, and to die for their countries,
and of instructing them how to despise all the most terrible adversities:
and I have a fair occasion offered me to enter on such a discourse by Saul
the king of the Hebrews; for although he knew what was coming upon him,
and that he was to die immediately, by the prediction of the prophet, he
did not resolve to fly from death, nor so far to indulge the love of life
as to betray his own people to the enemy, or to bring a disgrace on his
royal dignity; but exposing himself, as well as all his family and children,
to dangers, he thought it a brave thing to fall together with them, as
he was fighting for his subjects, and that it was better his sons should
die thus, showing their courage, than to leave them to their uncertain
conduct afterward, while, instead of succession and posterity, they gained
commendation and a lasting name
Such a one alone seems to me to be a just,
a courageous, and a prudent man; and when any one has arrived at these
dispositions, or shall hereafter arrive at them, he is the man that ought
to be by all honored with the testimony of a virtuous or courageous man:
for as to those that go out to war with hopes of success, and that they
shall return safe, supposing they should have performed some glorious action,
I think those do not do well who call these valiant men, as so many historians
and other writers who treat of them are wont to do, although I confess
those do justly deserve some commendation also; but those only may be styled
courageous and bold in great undertakings, and despisers of adversities,
who imitate Saul: for as for those that do not know what the event of war
will be as to themselves, and though they do not faint in it, but deliver
themselves up to uncertain futurity, and are tossed this way and that way,
this is not so very eminent an instance of a generous mind, although they
happen to perform many great exploits; but when men's minds expect no good
event, but they know beforehand they must die, and that they must undergo
that death in the battle also, after this neither to be aftrighted, nor
to be astonished at the terrible fate that is coming, but to go directly
upon it, when they know it beforehand, this it is that I esteem the character
of a man truly courageous
Accordingly this Saul did, and thereby demonstrated
that all men who desire fame after they are dead are so to act as they
may obtain the same: this especially concerns kings, who ought not to think
it enough in their high stations that they are not wicked in the government
of their subjects, but to be no more than moderately good to them
I could
say more than this about Saul and his courage, the subject affording matter
sufficient; but that I may not appear to run out improperly in his commendation,
I return again to that history from which I made this digression.FJAJ 6.100
5. Now when the Philistines, as I said before, had pitched their camp,
and had taken an account of their forces, according to their nations, and
kingdoms, and governments, king Achish came last of all with his own army;
after whom came David with his six hundred armed men
And when the commanders
of the Philistines saw him, they asked the king whence these Hebrews came,
and at whose invitation
He answered that it was David, who was fled away
from his master Saul, and that he had entertained him when he came to him,
and that now he was willing to make him this requital for his favors, and
to avenge himself upon Saul, and so was become his confederate
The commanders
complained of this, that he had taken him for a confederate who was an
enemy; and gave him counsel to send him away, lest he should unawares do
his friends a great deal of mischief by entertaining him, for that he afforded
him an opportunity of being reconciled to his master by doing a mischief
to our army
They thereupon desired him, out of a prudent foresight of
this, to send him away, with his six hundred armed men, to the place he
had given him for his habitation; for that this was that David whom the
virgins celebrated in their hymns, as having destroyed many ten thousands
of the Philistines
When the king of Gath heard this, he thought they spake
well; so he called David, and said to him, "As for myself,
I can bear witness that thou hast shown great diligence and kindness about
me, and on that account it was that I took thee for my confederate; however,
what I have done does not please the commanders of the Philistines; go
therefore within a day's time to the place I have given thee, without suspecting
any harm, and there keep my country, lest any of our enemies should make
an incursion upon it, which will be one part of that assistance which I
expect from thee." So David came to Ziklag, as the king of Gath bade
him; but it happened, that while he was gone to the assistance of the Philistines,
the Amalekites had made an incursion, and taken Ziklag before, and had
burnt it; and when they had taken a great deal of other prey out of that
place, and out of the other parts of the Philistines' country, they departed.FJAJ 6.101
6. Now when David found that Ziklag was laid waste, and that it was
all spoiled, and that as well his own wives, who were two, as the wives
of his companions, with their children, were made captives, he presently
rent his clothes, weeping and lamenting, together with his friends; and
indeed he was so cast down with these misfortunes, that at length tears
themselves failed him
He was also in danger of being stoned to death by
his companions, who were greatly afflicted at the captivity of their wives
and children, for they laid the blame upon him of what had happened
But
when he had recovered himself out of his grief, and had raised up his mind
to God, he desired the high priest Abiathar to put on his sacerdotal garments,
and to inquire of God, and to prophesy to him, whether God would grant;
that if he pursued after the Amalekites, he should overtake them, and save
their wives and their children, and avenge himself on the enemies
And
when the high priest bade him to pursue after them, he marched apace, with
his four hundred men, after the enemy; and when he was come to a certain
brook called Besor, and had lighted upon one that was wandering about,
an Egyptian by birth, who was almost dead with want and famine, (for he
had continued wandering about without food in the wilderness three days,)
he first of all gave him sustenance, both meat and drink, and thereby refreshed
him
He then asked him to whom he belonged, and whence he came
Whereupon
the man told him he was an Egyptian by birth, and was left behind by his
master, because he was so sick and weak that he could not follow him
He
also informed him that he was one of those who had burnt and plundered,
not only other parts of Judea, but Ziklag itself also
So David made use
of him as a guide to find oat the Amalekites; and when he had overtaken
them, as they lay scattered about on the ground, some at dinner, some disordered,
and entirely drunk with wine, and in the fruition of their spoils and their
prey, he fell upon them on the sudden, and made a great slaughter among
them; for they were naked, and expected no such thing, but had betaken
themselves to drinking and feasting; and so they were all easily destroyed.
Now some of them that were overtaken as they lay at the table were slain
in that posture, and their blood brought up with it their meat and their
drink
They slew others of them as they were drinking to one another in
their cups, and some of them when their full bellies had made them fall
asleep; and for so many as had time to put on their armor, they slew them
with the sword, with no less case than they did those that were naked;
and for the partisans of David, they continued also the slaughter from
the first hour of the day to the evening, so that there were, not above
four hundred of the Amalekites left; and they only escaped by getting upon
their dromedaries and camels
Accordingly David recovered not only all
the other spoils which the enemy had carried away, but his wives also,
and the wives of his companions
But when they were come to the place where
they had left the two hundred men, which were not able to follow them,
but were left to take care of the stuff, the four hundred men did not think
fit to divide among them any other parts of what they had gotten, or of
the prey, since they did not accompany them, but pretended to be feeble,
and did not follow them in pursuit of the enemy, but said they should be
contented to have safely recovered their wives; yet did David pronounce
that this opinion of theirs was evil and unjust, and that when God had
granted them such a favor, that they had avenged themselves on their enemies,
and had recovered all that belonged to themselves, they should make an
equal distribution of what they had gotten to all, because the rest had
tarried behind to guard their stuff; and from that time this law obtained
among them, that those who guarded the stuff, should receive an equal share
with those that fought in the battle
Now when David was come to Ziklag,
he sent portions of the spoils to all that had been familiar with him,
and to his friends in the tribe of Judah
And thus ended the affairs of
the plundering of Ziklag, and of the slaughter of the Amalekites.FJAJ 6.102
7. Now upon the Philistines joining battle, there followed a sharp engagement,
and the Philistine, became the conquerors, and slew a great number of their
enemies; but Saul the king of Israel, and his sons, fought courageously,
and with the utmost alacrity, as knowing that their entire glory lay in
nothing else but dying honorably, and exposing themselves to the utmost
danger from the enemy (for they had nothing else to hope for); so they
brought upon themselves the whole power of the enemy, till they were encompassed
round and slain, but not before they had killed many of the Philistines
Now the sons of Saul were Jonathan, and Abinadab, and Malchisua; and when
these were slain the multitude of the Hebrews were put to flight, and all
was disorder, and confusion, and slaughter, upon the Philistines pressing
in upon them
But Saul himself fled, having a strong body of soldiers about
him; and upon the Philistines sending after them those that threw javelins
and shot arrows, he lost all his company except a few
As for himself,
he fought with great bravery; and when he had received so many wounds,
that he was not able to bear up nor to oppose any longer, and yet was not
able to kill himself, he bade his armor-bearer draw his sword, and run
him through, before the enemy should take him alive
But his armor-bearer
not daring to kill his master, he drew his own sword, and placing himself
over against its point, he threw himself upon it; and when he could neither
run it through him, nor, by leaning against it, make the sword pass through
him, he turned him round, and asked a certain young man that stood by who
he was; and when he understood that he was an Amalekite, he desired him
to force the sword through him, because he was not able to do it with his
own hands, and thereby to procure him such a death as he desired
This
the young man did accordingly; and he took the golden bracelet that was
on Saul's arm, and his royal crown that was on his head, and ran away.
And when Saul's armor-bearer saw that he was slain, he killed himself;
nor did any of the king's guards escape, but they all fell upon the mountain
called Gilboa
But when those Hebrews that dwelt in the valley beyond Jordan,
and those who had their cities in the plain, heard that Saul and his sons
were fallen, and that the multitude about them were destroyed, they left
their own cities, and fled to such as were the best fortified and fenced;
and the Philistines, finding those cities deserted, came and dwelt in them.FJAJ 6.103
8. On the next day, when the Philistines came to strip their enemies
that were slain, they got the bodies of Saul and of his sons, and stripped
them, and cut off their heads; and they sent messengers all about their
country, to acquaint them that their enemies were fallen; and they dedicated
their armor in the temple of Astarte, but hung their bodies on crosses
at the walls of the city Bethshun, which is now called Scythepolls
But
when the inhabitants of Jabesh-Gilead heard that they had dismembered the
dead bodies of Saul and of his sons, they deemed it so horrid a thing to
overlook this barbarity, and to suffer them to be without funeral rites,
that the most courageous and hardy among them (and indeed that city had
in it men that were very stout both in body and mind) journeyed all night,
and came to Bethshun, and approached to the enemy's wall, and taking down
the bodies of Saul and of his sons, they carried them to Jabesh, while
the enemy were not able enough nor bold enough to hinder them, because
of their great courage
So the people of Jabesh wept all in general, and
buried their bodies in the best place of their country, which was named
Areurn; and they observed a public mourning for them seven days, with their
wives and children, beating their breasts, and lamenting the king and his
sons, without either tasting meat or drink (29)
This way of speaking in Josephus, of fasting "seven days without meat
or drink," is almost like that of St. Paul, Acts 27:33, "This
day is the fourteenth day that ye have tarried, and continued fasting,
having taken nothing:" and as the nature of the thing, and the impossibility
of strictly fasting so long, require us here to understand both Josephus
and the sacred author of this history, 1 Samuel 30:13, from whom he took
it, of only fasting fill the evening; so must we understand St. Paul, either
that this was really the fourteenth day that they had taken nothing till
the evening, or else that this was the fourteenth day of their tempestuous
weather in the Adriatic Sea, as ver. 27, and that on this fourteenth day
alone they had continued fasting, and had taken nothing before that evening.
The mention of their long abstinence, ver. 21, inclines me to believe the
former explication to he the truth, and that the case was then for a fortnight
what it was here for a week, that they kept all those days entirely as
lasts till the evening, but not longer. See Judges 20:26; 21:2; 1 Samuel
14:24; 2 Samuel 1:12; Antiq. B. VII. ch. 7. sect. 4.
[till the evening.]FJAJ 6.104
9. To this his end did Saul come, according to the prophecy of Samuel,
because he disobeyed the commands of God about the Amalekites, and on the
account of his destroying the family of Ahimelech the high priest, with
Ahimelech himself, and the city of the high priests
Now Saul, when he
had reigned eighteen years while Samuel was alive, and after his death
two [and twenty], ended his life in this manner.FJAJ 6.105