Mar. 29 - 1 Samuel 25-27

It's important to share a few details from yesterday's reading before moving on to today's.  The main thing is that Saul continued to seek after David with plans to kill him.  David continued to hide, but at one point was confronted with the opportunity to kill Saul.  He then realized that this is not what the Lord wanted of him.  He didn't harm Saul and then went after him to explain himself.  Saul realized that David was a good man and was a child of the Lord and Saul stopped all of the plans to kill David. 
Today, we learn of Samuel's death.  We are also introduced to Nabal and his wife Abigail.  Nabal was another fairly nasty person.  David was residing near Nabal's land and sent some of his people to greet them.  Nabal and his people were very insulting and when this was reported back to David, he called for a fight.  Some of David's people went to warn Abigail of all of this and she immediately tried to make things right without telling Nabal.  Abigail confronted David and begged for him to blame her instead of Nabal.  David accepted her gifts and decided not to fight Nabal.  When Abigail finally told her husband of all of this, he ended up having a heart attack and was eventually struck down by the Lord.  David then called for Abigail to come and be his wife, which she did (along with a couple of other wives).
In. Ch. 26, we have another encounter between Saul and David.  David, once again, spares Saul's life and Saul wishes David the best before returning to his home.  David still believes that he will eventually be killed by Saul.  He decides it would be in his best interest to leave the Israelite tribes altogether and go live among the Philistines.  Saul wouldn't look for him there.  David lived among the Philistine's for a little over a year and gained the trust of the Philistine people.