FRAMEWORKS:
1 Samuel 27: David
Among the Philistines
v.1-4
David finds safety at Gath
v.5-7
David is given Ziklag by Achish
v.8-12
David becomes a Guerilla fighter
v.1-4
David finds safety at Gath
v.1
But
David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed
by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the
land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for
me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
v.2
So
David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish
son of Maok king of Gath.
v.3
David
and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family
with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and
Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
v.4
When
Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched
for him.
[Notes:
David
is a realist and knows that although he has diverted Saul twice,
Saul will eventually come back after him, so he turns south and
goes to the Philistine city of Gath for safety from Saul.]
v.5-7
David is given Ziklag by Achish
v.5
Then
David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let
a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I
may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city
with you?”
v.6
So
on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the
kings of Judah ever since.
v.7
David
lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.
[Notes:
David
manages to convince the ruler of Gath that he is not a threat
and even persuades him to give him the town of Ziklag, some twenty
miles south of Gath when he and his men could live out of the
way, and there he settles.]
v.8-12
David becomes a Guerilla fighter
v.8
Now
David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites
and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these peoples had lived
in the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
v.9
Whenever
David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive,
but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then
he returned to Achish.
v.10
When
Achish asked, “Where did you go raiding today?” David would say,
“Against the Negev of Judah” or “Against the Negev of Jerahmeel”
or “Against the Negev of the Kenites.”
v.11
He
did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for
he thought, “They might inform on us and say, ‘This is what David
did.'” And such was his practice as long as he lived in Philistine
territory.
v.12
Achish
trusted David and said to himself, “He has become so obnoxious
to his people, the Israelites, that he will be my servant for
life.”
[Notes:
All
around the area of the south were various, largely nomadic tribes,
and David spent his time with his army, wiping out any of these
he came across. In this way no one was left to tell of his actions.
Instead he told Achish that he had been fighting Israelites in
Judah. This pleased Achish who trusted him. Thus David was able
to continue doing a cleaning up operation in the far south without
harming any of his own people in Israel.]
CONTINUE
TO CHAPTER 28