bring the ephod and ascertain the Divine Will. _Shall I pursue after this troop?_ David enquired. The reply was favourable, and his six hundred men, accompanied by the chiefs of Manasseh, set out in the direction of the brook Besor, a wady somewhere in the extreme south of Judah. Here 200 of his forces were so spent that he was fain to leave them by the brook, while the remainder pressing on, found in a field an Egyptian at the point of death, who had neither eaten bread nor drunk water for three days and three nights. But being supplied by David’s men with food and drink he revived, revealed that he was a slave of one of the Amalekite chiefs, and on promise of his life consented to guide the avengers to their foes. On coming up with them they were found _spread abroad upon all the earth, eating, drinking, and dancing_ in honour of their late victory (1 Sam. xxx. 16). The attack was instantly made, and David smote them from the twilight of the early dawn to the evening of the next day, till none remained, save only 400 young men, who effected their escape on camels. With all the captives recovered and enormous spoil[267] the conqueror returned to Ziklag, and was now for the first time enabled to requite the kindness of many of his own tribe, who had protected him during the long period of his wanderings, and distributed of the spoil to the elders of many friendly towns (1 Sam. xxx. 26–31). Two days after his return news arrived of the utmost importance respecting the Philistine invasion. With their chariots and horses the Philistines had pressed forward towards the plain of Esdraelon and pitched their camp by Shunem[268], on the southern slope of the range now called Little Hermon, or _Jebel ed Dûhy_, while Saul encamped his forces on the opposite heights of Mount Gilboa, at _the fountain that is in Jezreel_[269], on the eastern side of the plain. As he beheld the masses of his foes passing on by hundreds and thousands, the Israelite king was filled with the utmost alarm (1 Sam. xxviii. 5). In this dreadful crisis he felt himself utterly alone. Samuel, his old adviser, had been sometime dead; the cruel massacre at Nob had alienated from him the entire priestly body; he enquired of the Lord, but _the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, nor by prophets_ (1 Sam. xxviii. 6). Alone, and distrusted even by his own army, he bade enquiry be made for a woman _that had a familiar spirit_. After diligent search it was ascertained that by going a distance of about 7 or 8 miles to Endor, he would find, in one of the dark and gloomy caverns[270] with which the mountain here is hollowed, a woman who might serve his purpose. Disguising himself, therefore, and accompanied by two of his retinue, the unhappy king set out under cover of night. It was an undertaking perilous in the extreme, and nothing but the agony of despair would have induced him to venture upon it. Stealing