Follow along with the video below to see how to install our site as a web app on your home screen.
Note: This feature may not be available in some browsers.
If we take the position that the events of ch.31 follow immediately after the events of ch.28 in the life of Saul, then the battle between Saul and the Philistines happened on the "morrow" of his visit with the medium.
The events and persons that are the focus of chs 29-30 are elsewhere (until those Philistines meet up with Saul). This is a narrative story with several strands, and sometimes things that are happening elsewhere to some first-related circumstance can only be told second for continuity.
There's some temporal back-tracking that takes place in the intervening chs, because David's entwinement with the Philistines gives rise to narrative tension, as the reader wonders if David will finally confront Saul. How would such a fight cohere with David's past refusal to lift his hand against the Lord's anointed?
Is Saul a better defender of Israel than David? What will a war of Israelites against Israelites portend? What would it do to the grand narrative to have the future king of Israel allied with the enemies of Israel? How will David get out of this mess he's created for himself? Will he stab the Philistines in the back (as some of them believe)? Is David trusting in the Lord for guidance at this time, or is this the low-ebb of his faith?
God is in control: he completely removes David from the fight, but without losing face militarily with the Philistines. David returns home to find the things that are really important to him have all been stolen. David is drawn back to God in the face of his personal crisis.
While Saul, having gone to the devil for help in his crisis when God will not speak to him, is left with only his own sword and spear to contend with overwhelming antagonists.