Chapter Twenty-Seven
David Flees to the Philistines
27:1 Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
David continuing feeling the pressure from Saul, begins to fret that he is going to die in the hands of Saul, that he needed to leave Israel and go live among the Philistines. An interesting choice since the last time he went to hide among the Philistines it didn’t go well for him, as he had to fake insanity to break free (see 1 Samuel 21:10-15). He believes that once Saul knows he is out of Israel he will stop pursuing him.
27:2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
David and his men go to Achish, the same king he visited earlier, but this time without the clawing or drooling.
27:3 And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel, and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow. 4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
When Saul found out that David was in Gath, he stopped pursuing him, just as David had predicted. He and all of his men were there along with their wives and children. Which would make it impossible for Saul to threaten any family member left behind. With everyone having their families with them also promoted the idea that they were mercenaries and would be willing to fight for the Philistines.
27:5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6 So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
At some point David asks Achish if there was a town that he would allow them to stay instead of crowding the royal city. Achish then gave David the city of Ziklag. This would allow David more freedom to do what they needed to do in order to keep up the appearance that they were fighting for the Philistines. Apparently with the wording about belonging to the kings of Judah the land was officially given to David, not just a place to stay for a limited time.
David does his best to avoid actually helping the Philistines at the expense of his own people; at the same time, he uses the Philistines to protect himself from Saul’s attacks. Persuading Achish to post him in Ziklag, at some distance from Gath, would allow him to secretly aid his own people in the guise of working for Achish.[1]
We are told by the author that David lived in the country of the Philistines for one year and four months. The Septuagint records that they stayed for only four months.
27:8 Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish.
David and his men made raids against the Geshurites (while absent from the list of nations that God promised Abraham, see Genesis 15:18-21, they were on the list after most of Canaan was conquered that still needed to defeat, see Joshua 13:2, but still were unable to purge, see Joshua 13:13), the Girzites (believed to be the Canaanites that lived in Gezer, see Joshua 16:10, but were not driven out by the people of Ephraim, see Judges 1:29), and the Amalekites (descendants of Esau were long-time enemies of the Israelites, Saul drove them out as far as Shur, see 1 Samuel 15:7), because they occupied “the land from of old,” from Shur to Egypt. When they attacked they would leave no one alive, but would take the livestock and working animals and bring them back to Achish. David and his men were continuing the process of purging the Canaanite and other pagan inhabitants from the Promised Land that Joshua and the tribal leaders were unable to remove many years earlier.
27:10 When Achish asked, “Where have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or, “Against the Negeb of the Kenites.”
When asked where they raided, David would reply either the Negeb of Judah (the southern desert region of Judah), the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites (the southern desert region of descendants of Jerahmeel, the grandson of Judah), or the Kenites (a people group that was on the list of nations too be purged from Canaan, see Genesis 15:18-21, but later we read about families living among the Israelites, Moses’ father-in-law is considered a Kenite, see Judges 1:16), making Achish think that they were truly on their side of the Israelite-Philistine conflict.
27:11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’ ” Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. 12 And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”
David made sure that no one was left alive after their raids to prevent anyone from leaking the news back to the Philistines. And the ploy worked as Achish trusted David, thinking that these raids made him “an utter stench” to his own people and that he will continue to serve him.
Considerations
Why did David go and live among the Philistines?
David had been on the run for a long time, even though he spared Saul’s life twice, he certainly could not trust Saul, who being haunted by an evil harmful spirit (see 1 Samuel 16:14; 18:10) was jealous of David. Having to move six hundred men and their families around without being seen, as many of the citizens have been willing to report, would not have been an easy task. Perhaps David thought going outside Judah and Israel would be the only way to bide time safely. But one thing was lacking in the telling of this event, there is no mention of David seeking God, some believe that David gave up trusting God and instead left everything behind and sought protection with the Philistines. While David approached Achish posing as an ally against Saul, he did everything he could to keep up the appearance that he was against Saul, all while he and his men were attacking Israel’s enemies. Did he lose faith in God? Possibly, we don’t know, but he was doing God’s work in purging the pagan nations from the Promised Land that Joshua and others never finished.
Is deception acceptable if used in conjunction with God’s work?
The Bible clearly teaches that lying is unacceptable before God, that deception is wrong (see Exodus 20:16; John 8:44; Colossians 3:9; 1 Timothy 1:9-11; Revelation 21:8). But we also see where deception was used, for example: Rebekah’s and Jacob’s deception of Isaac (see Genesis 27:5-29); Joshua’s plan to ambush the men of Ai (see Joshua 8:1-29); and Ehud’s deception to in order to gain access to king Eglon (see Judges 3:12-30). To answer the question is deception acceptable if used in conjunction with God’s work? No, in the story of Jacob fooling his father to obtain a blessing, their plans did not include God, even though His will was done, they did not seek the will of God first. Regarding the use of deception in war, this is often considered a tactic, one that has won many battles found in the Bible and elsewhere. Success in warfare often relies on misdirection and surprise tactics, and as such becomes unavoidable components of war. Perhaps deception in a war-time scenario is acceptable and should not be considered unethical. Even though we are engaged in a spiritual battle (see Ephesians 6:10-18), Christians should not lie even when we think we are doing it for Jesus.
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[1] Hoffner, H. A., Jr. (2015). 1 & 2 Samuel (Vol. 1, p. 871). Lexham Press.