David goes back to the Philistines
27
📚And David said in his heart, “I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape quickly to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any more in any territory of Israel. So I will escape out of his hands”.27:1 David had no reason to trust Saul, but he had much reason to trust God more than he did. This was a failure of faith, and was contrary to what David had written and believed (Ps 54:4, 7; 56:3-4; 57:2-3, 7). Even men of great faith may sometimes waver under continual pressure and depressing circumstances. And do not all of us have reason to use words such as are found in Mark 9:24?⚜
2 📚And David arose and crossed over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
27:2 Achish had once driven David away (1 Sam 21:10-15). Now he receives him, thinking to use him for his own purposes (v 12; 1 Sam 28:1).⚜
3 📚And David stayed with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, David with his two wives, Ahinoam from Jezreel and Abigail from Carmel, Nabal’s wife.
27:3 This flight of David to the land of the Philistines and his attaching himself to Achish were completely unnecessary, and involved David in further difficulties.⚜
4 📚And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath and he did not search any more for him.
5 📚And David said to Achish, “If I have now found favour in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, so that I can live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
27:5 David did not want to be under Achish’s control. He well knew Achish would direct him to do things he would not wish to do.⚜
6 📚Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 📚And the time that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
8 📚And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Gezrites and the Amalekites 📖, for in former times those nations were the inhabitants of the land as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt.
27:8 David and his men had raided common enemies of the Philistines and Israel.⚜
9 📚And David attacked the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep and the oxen and the donkeys and the camels and the clothing, and turned back and came to Achish.
10 📚And Achish said, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David said, “Against the south of Judah and against the south of the Jerahmeelites and against the south of the Kenites”.
27:10 One failure (v 1) leads to another. Even though Achish was an idolatrous king of an enemy people, David was wrong to practice this deception.⚜
11 📚And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, saying, “Or they will tell about us, saying, ‘This is the way David acted, and this will be his way all the time he lives in the country of the Philistines.’ ”
12 📚And Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel to utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever”.