1 Samuel 27: Sneaking In and Out

After another near encounter with Saul, David comes to realize he can’t play this hide and seek game anymore. Eventually, Saul will catch up to David and kill him. So David decides to run away from Saul by heading into Philistia and living with the Philistines. So Saul has all his men pack up their families and their possessions and move to Gath. David’s plan works. Sure enough, when Saul hears David moved to Gath, Saul quits his pursuit.

At this point the reader has to pause and ask “Why?” Why does David move to Philistia, after killing so many Philistines (especially Gath, the home of Goliath)? Wasn’t it wrong for David to leave his home country to live in the enemy’s territory? And what about Saul? Why did Saul stop pursuing? Really, it’s common sense. In common sense terms, David made the right decision to leave the nation of Israel and go to the Philistine country. A king only has jurisdiction in his own country. Only in rare circumstances, with permission, could a king go into a foreign nation after his adversary, but that would never happen when the two nations were enemies. David knew that and took advantage of it. Saul could only hunt David down while David was in Israel. Once David left Israel and entered Philistia, Saul could not follow him into Philistia. There was no way that King Achish would help Saul get David because Achish saw Saul as his enemy. I wouldn’t be surprised if Achish went by the old adage, “The enemy of my enemy is my friend” and thus decided to house David in his land. Saul must have already realized too that he could not pursue David into a foreign land. But it’s not like it’s going to bother Saul. Saul probably saw David only as a threat to his throne while David was in Israel. Now with David out of Israel, Saul believes there is no way for David to get the throne of Israel. So Saul ceases his search.

While David has moved into the land of Philistia, he’s not willing to fully integrate his life and his men’s lives into the Philistine society and Philistine culture. He boldly asks King Achish for a plot of land or some kind of territory for him and his men and their families to be separate from everyone else. David uses the guise of servants like himself living separate from a royal family, like Achish’s family. Achish likes the sound of David being his servant, so he grants David a whole town, called Ziklag. Ziklag is another town that borders Philistia and Israel. It’s about 15 miles northwest of Beersheba, the southern-most point of Israel. The author makes a note that this city has been in the hands of the kings of Judah since David received it. This side note makes two statements. First, it shows that this book was written during the days of the Divide Kingdoms of Israel and Judah because it separates the kings of Judah from the kings of Israel. Second, this verse demonstrates that even when David is in Philistia, he’s already gaining territory for the nation of Israel. David stays in this town for 1 year and 4 months.

So what’s a man to do while living in a foreign town for 1 year and 4 months? Invade foreign people groups of course! Verse 8 explains that the area between Egypt and Shur was occupied by 3 different people groups: the Amalekites, the Geshurites and the Girzites. The fact the author needs to explain this demonstrates a late date where the audience would not have known of these people groups, or at least would not know that these people were in that region. David’s method was simple. David would take his men to their land, kill all the men and women, and take the animals and the clothes. Then David would return to Ziklag. It’s key that David is killing all the men and women. Saul was commanded by the Lord to do the same thing. Saul failed, keeping people alive, but David succeeded.

Obviously King Achish knows David is raiding, for David keeps bringing back animals and clothes. What Achish does not know is where David is raiding or who David is raiding. Achish asks David, but all David gives is the generic answer, “Against the Negev of the [people’s name].” This explains why David killed everyone: so no one could rep ort back to Achish who David is really killing and why. King Achish has no reason to doubt David, so he believes David. His thinking: If David keeps attacking the Negev, he’ll only be seen poorly by the Israelites. According to Achish, it only helps the Philistines and hurts the Israelites.

I am going to continue to 1 Samuel 28:1,2 because I believe these two verses fit better with 1 Samuel 27 than 1 Samuel 28. The transition is much more smooth when those 2 verses are added to 1 Samuel 27. King Achish probably wants to attack because he believes that David has weakened Israel with all the attacks in Negev. But he still needs one more piece. So Achish requests that David fight with the Philistines against Israel. David replies by saying, “Then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.” Does this mean that David, the one the Lord anointed as King of Israel, will fight God’s people in Israel? Some scholars would say yes, that’s exactly what David had in mind. Other scholars disagree, claiming David is using word play and irony here. While Achish might interpret it as a “Yes,” what David means is, “You will see for yourself what your servant can do…when I turn on you in battle.” I have to stick more with the second interpretation.

Do you see what happened in the story? In the beginning, David leaves Israel for Philistia. The reader might think that, by doing so, David has disobeyed God and sinned. But instead of jumping to that conclusion, we let the narrative help us determine whether are not David’s actions are good or sinful. The narrative would lean the decision towards the good. By moving to Philistia, David gets Saul off his back, and allows his men peace and safety. Because of the move, David can focus on invading and raiding the pagan people groups still in the Promise Land. But also remember that David and his men aren’t assimilating into the culture. David insists that his Israelite men and their families have their own separate town. This town will eventually become part of the territory of Judah. In all these ways, David is helping the kingdom of Israel grow, even when he’s not in the land of Israel. David sneaks into Israel to get rid of the foreign people groups, and he sneaks out to deceive the Philistines into peace. David helps Israel, both internally and externally. Although I think God might have appreciated David more if David would have lived by faith and stayed in the land, God took David’s positions and used that to bring blessing to both David and the whole land of Israel.

So I think a good application is God can use you wherever you are in life, even if you are sinning. I want to make clear this is no permission to sin. Rather, I’m saying that no one can get so far off the path of God’s will that he or she can never be used by God ever again. David could account for this. At sometimes it would seem like David trusted the Philistines more than God for safety. Yet God used the Philistines to provide David with the safety and the town of Ziklag so David could grow the kingdom of Israel. Perhaps you too have fallen away from God’s will in your life, and you are doing your own thing, depending on yourself rather than God. Take this time to call God back into guiding you through His will. I guarantee you the first thing God will do is get you back onto His will.