M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

David Sent Back from Battle

29 Now the Philistines mustered all their armies at Aphek, while the Israelites were camping by the spring in Jezreel. ² As the Philistine lords were proceeding ahead of their hundreds and thousands, David and his men were bringing up the rear with Achish. ³ Then the Philistine commanders said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?”

Achish said to the Philistine commanders, “No! That’s David, servant of Israel’s King Saul—he’s been with me today for over a year, and I’ve not found any fault in him since the day he defected to me until now.”

⁴ But the Philistine commanders got angry with him, and the Philistine commanders said to him, “Make this man go back—back to his place you assigned him. He must not go down with us to the battle, or in the battle he might become our adversary. For how would this fellow appease his lord? Wouldn’t it be with the heads of our men? ⁵ Isn’t this one David, about whom they were singing in dances saying: ‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?’”

⁶ So Achish called David and said to him, “As Adonai lives, you have been upright and your going out and your coming in with me, in the army are pleasing in my eyes. For I never found fault with you since the day of your coming to me up to this day. However, the other lords do not approve of you. ⁷ So now, turn around and go back in peace, and you won’t be doing anything to displease the Philistine lords.”

⁸ “But what have I done?” David said to Achish. “What have you found in your servant from the day I have been before you to this day, that I shouldn’t go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

⁹ “I know,” Achish answered saying to David. “You are as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle.’ ¹⁰ So now, rise up early in the morning, you and the servants of your lord that came with you, and as soon you rise, early in the morning, once there is light, leave.” ¹¹ So David rose up early, he and his men, leaving in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. Meanwhile, the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Raid on Amalek

30 Now it came to pass, when David and his men returned to Ziklag on the third day, that the Amalekites had made a raid on the Negev and on Ziklag, and had attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire; ² taking the women in it captive, young and old, without killing anyone, but carried them off as they went their way. ³ So when David and his men came to the town, behold, it was burned with fire—and their wives, their sons and their daughters had been taken captives. ⁴ Then David and the troops with him lifted up their voice and wept until they there was no more strength in them to weep. ⁵ Even David’s two wives were taken captive—Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.

⁶ So David was in a serious bind, for the troops were calling for his stoning, for all the troops were bitter of soul, every man for his sons and his daughters. But David strengthened himself in Adonai his God. ⁷ Then David said to Abiathar the kohen son of Ahimelech, “Please bring me the ephod.” So Abiathar brought the ephod to David. ⁸ David inquired of Adonai saying, “Should I pursue after this raiding band? Shall I overtake them?”

He answered him, “Pursue! For you will surely overtake and you will surely rescue!” ⁹ So David went, he and the 600 men with him, and came to the Wadi Besor, where those left behind remained— ¹⁰ for 200 men stayed behind because they were too exhausted to cross Wadi Besor. Yet David pursued, he and the other 400 men.

¹¹ Then they found an Egyptian in the open field and brought him to David, gave him bread to eat and water to drink, ¹² and they also gave him a piece of fig cake and two cakes of raisins. When he had eaten, his spirit came back to him, for he had eaten no bread and drunk no water for three days and three nights. ¹³ Then David asked him, “To whom do you belong? Where are you from?”

“I am a young Egyptian, the slave of an Amalekite,” he said. “My master abandoned me three days ago because I fell sick. ¹⁴ We made a raid in the Negev of the Cherethites, and on Judah, and on the Negev of Caleb; also we burned Ziklag with fire.”

¹⁵ Then David asked him, “Will you lead me to this raiding band?”

“Swear to me by God that you won’t kill me or deliver me into my master’s hands,” he said, “and I will lead you to this marauding band.” ¹⁶ So he led him down, and behold, they were scattered over all the area, eating, drinking and feasting because of all the great spoil that they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. ¹⁷ David attacked them from the twilight until the evening of the next day. None of them escaped, except 400 young men who rode on camels and fled.

¹⁸ So David recovered all that the Amalekites had taken, and rescued his two wives. ¹⁹ There was nothing of theirs missing, whether young or old, sons or daughters, spoils or anything else that had been carried off—David recovered everything. ²⁰ David took all the flocks and the herd that they had driven ahead of the other cattle, so they said, “This is David’s spoil.”

²¹ When David reached the 200 men—who had been too exhausted to follow David and were left at Wadi Besor—they came out to meet David and to meet the men with him, so David approached these people and greeted them. ²² But all the wicked men and worthless fellows among those who accompanied David said, “Because they did not accompany us, we shouldn’t give them any of the spoil that we’ve recovered, except every man may take his wife and his children and leave.”

²³ “You must not do so, my brothers with what Adonai has given us,” David said. “It is He who has protected us and gave into our hands the raiding band that attacked us. ²⁴ Who would listen to you in this matter? The share of him who went down to the battle is to be the same as that of him who remained by the baggage. They will share alike.” ²⁵ So it has been from that day forward—he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

²⁶ When David arrived at Ziklag, he sent some of the spoil to the elders of Judah, to his friends, saying, “Look, a blessing for you from the spoil of the enemies of Adonai,” ²⁷ to those in Beth-el, Ramoth-Negev, Jattir, ²⁸ Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, ²⁹ Racal, to those in the towns of Jerahmeelite, to those in the towns of the Kenites, ³⁰ Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach, ³¹ Hebron and to all the places where David and his men had roamed.

Warnings from History

10 For I do not want you to be ignorant, brothers and sisters, that our fathers were all under the cloud and all passed through the sea. ^{[a] 2} They all were immersed into Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ And all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink—for they were drinking from a spiritual rock that followed them, and the Rock was Messiah. ^{[b] 5} Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, for they were struck down in the desert.^[c]

⁶ Now these things happened as examples for us, so we wouldn’t crave evil things, just as they did. ^{[d] 7} Do not be idolaters, as some of them were. As it is written, “The people sat down to eat and drink, and rose up to play.” ^{[e] 8} And let’s not commit sexual immorality, as some of them did—and in one day 23,000 fell. ^{[f] 9} And let’s not test the Lord, as some of them did—and were destroyed by serpents. ^{[g] 10} And let’s not grumble, as some of them did—and were destroyed by the destroying angel. ^{[h] 11} Now these things happened to them as an example, and it was written down as a warning to us—on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹² Therefore let the one who thinks that he stands watch out that he doesn’t fall. ¹³ No temptation has taken hold of you except what is common to mankind. But God is faithful—He will not allow you to be tempted beyond what you can handle. But with the temptation He will also provide a way of escape, so you will be able to endure it.

Feast with the Lord—Not with Idols

¹⁴ Therefore, my dearly loved ones, flee from idolatry. ¹⁵ I speak as to sensible people—judge for yourselves what I say. ¹⁶ The cup of blessing that we bless—isn’t it a sharing of Messiah’s blood? The bread which we break—isn’t it a sharing of Messiah’s body? ¹⁷ Since there is one bread, we who are many are one body—for we all partake of the one bread. ¹⁸ Consider physical Israel. Those who eat the sacrifices—aren’t they partners in the altar?^[i]

¹⁹ What am I saying then—that an idol sacrifice is anything, or that an idol is anything? ²⁰ No, I’m saying that what the pagans sacrifice is to demons and not to God, and I don’t want you to become partners with demons. ^{[j] 21} You cannot drink the cup of the Lord and the cup of demons. You cannot partake of the table of the Lord and the table of demons. ²² Or do we provoke the Lord to jealousy?^[k] We are not stronger than He, are we?

²³ “Everything is permitted”—but not everything is helpful. “Everything is permitted”—but not everything builds up. ²⁴ Let no one seek his own good, but the good of his neighbor. ²⁵ Eat whatever is sold in the meat market, without raising questions of conscience. ²⁶ For “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.” ^{[l] 27} If an unbeliever invites you over and you want to go, eat whatever is set before you, without raising questions of conscience. ²⁸ But if anyone says to you, “This is from an idol sacrifice,” do not eat it, for the sake of the one who informed you, and for the sake of conscience— ²⁹ not your own conscience, I mean, but the other person’s. For why is my freedom judged by another’s conscience? ³⁰ If I partake with thankfulness, why am I denounced because of something I give thanks for?

³¹ Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. ³² Give no offense either to Jewish or Greek people or to God’s community— ³³ just as I also try to please everyone in everything, not seeking my own benefit but the benefit of many, so that they may be saved.

Abomination in the Temple

8 In the sixth year, on the fifth day of the sixth month, I was sitting in my house. The elders of Judah were sitting before me. There the hand of Adonai fell on me. ² I looked, and behold, a form resembling fire—from the appearance of his waist downward, fire; and from his loins and waist upward, something like the appearance of brightness, as glowing metal. ³ Something like the form of a hand stretched out, and took me by the hair of my head. The Ruach lifted me up between the earth and the heaven. He brought me in the visions of God to Jerusalem, to the door of the gate of the inner court facing north—where the idol that provokes furious jealousy was.

⁴ Behold, the glory of the God of Israel was there, like the vision that I saw in the valley. ⁵ He said to me: “Son of man, lift your eyes toward the north.” So I lifted up my eyes toward the north. Behold, north of the gate of the altar, was this image provoking jealousy in the entrance.

⁶ He said to me: “Son of man, do you see what they are doing, the great abominations that the house of Israel is committing here, that drives me far off from My own Sanctuary? But you will see even greater abominations.”

⁷ He brought me to the door of the court. When I looked, behold, a hole in the wall. ⁸ Then He said to me, “Son of man, now dig through the wall.” When I had dug through the wall, there was a door. ⁹ He said to me: “Go and see the wicked abominations that they do here.” ¹⁰ So I went in and saw, behold, every detestable image of creeping things and beasts and all the idols of the house of Israel, engraved on the surrounding walls. ¹¹ Standing there before them were 70 men of the elders of the house of Israel, Jaazaniah son of Shaphan standing in their midst, each man with his censer in his hand. A thick cloud of incense went up.

¹² Then He said to me: “Son of man, do you see what the elders of the house of Israel do in the dark, every man in his chamber of his carved idol? For they say, ‘Adonai does not see us. Adonai has forsaken the land.’”

¹³ He said further to me, “You will see still greater abominations that they are doing.” ¹⁴ He brought me to the door of the gate of Adonai’s House, which was toward the north. Behold, the women sat there weeping for Tammuz. ¹⁵ He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? You will again see even greater abominations than these.”

¹⁶ So He brought me into the inner court of Adonai’s House. Behold, at the door of the Temple of Adonai, between the porch and the altar, were about 25 men, with their backs toward the Temple of Adonai and their faces toward the east—and they were bowing in worship eastward toward the sun.

¹⁷ He said to me, “Have you seen this, son of man? Is it too light a thing to the house of Judah that they commit the abominations they practice here, that they must also fill the land with violence and provoke Me still more? Look, they are putting the twig to My nose! ¹⁸ Therefore I will indeed act in fury. My eye will not spare you nor will I have pity. Though they cry into My ears with a loud voice, I will not hear them.”

He Makes Wars Cease

Psalm 46

In Celebration of God’s Reign

Psalm 47