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.”
Several things about this calculation were true. People all around him were thinking on cashing in by betraying him to Saul. David had six hundred men and their wives with him. There is no way he can travel unseen. As a leader you have to consider their welfare and safety, not just yours. It is also true that by going to the Philistines he did slip out of Saul’s hand. Now I know that some teachers consider this chapter as unbelief on David’s part. Unbelief is a great sin, we saw this with Saul and it was the reason he lost the kingdom. The wages of sin is death. So before I accept that interpretation I want to see the wages of sin.
2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 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. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
Saul no longer searching for David was his goal, so in this case he was successful. Also, Saul searching for David wasn’t just bad for David it was bad for the whole country. Now perhaps Saul can focus on keeping Israel safe and secure. So although some are tempted to judge David harshly for this choice it is relatively easy to conclude that it was a decision that in may ways was very good for those following David and for those who didn’t follow David. Too many of our political leaders make choices that are good for them while having little or no benefit to the people they represent. Here is a decision by David that will surely result in his receiving condemnation from the self righteous but is essentially good for all the people he was anointed to lead.
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?”
Once again, a child wants to be rich and famous and hang out with the king. David is clearly no longer thinking like a child. This indicates that his going to the Philistines was not the same as Demas who loved the world. He doesn’t love the world and he doesn’t love the things in the world.
6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
The New Testament says to “be not conformed to this world”. Instead of David becoming a Philistine Ziklag became part of Judah. This city was given as part of the territory of Israel, so David going to live there became a step in possessing the land. Think about this today, we are realizing that as Christians we need to be involved in all avenues of the economy and that includes politics. The reason for this turmoil in our country is because Christians have given the running of the country to the Philistines. It is time we took possession of that aspect as well. Originally Ziklag belonged to Simeon. When Jacob blessed Simeon he said “his sword is a weapon of violence” and that “Simeon and Levi were brothers”. Levi refers to the priesthood, to bureaucrats. Reuben refers to politicians and Simeon refers to the military. So this city went from being owned by the military to being owned by the kings of Judah. Judah is “the law giver”. In human history we had military dictators like Napoleon who ruled prior to constitutional government becoming the ruler.
7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.
It is nice that this is so specific, but it is also strange. We were just told that after Ziklag was given to David it became Judah’s territory. So did this process take one year and four months before it belonged to Judah?
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.) 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.
These tribes are Amalekites. Saul was told to do this, David is now making up the lack in Saul’s administration. People take verses like this and use them to condemn the Bible. So let’s examine this a little closer. This judgement was due to the heinous way in which Amalekites behaved, trying to kill off the elderly and children among the Israelites. In that day it would be considered a war crime. Later, Haman would attempt genocide against the Jews. There were norms at the time, we see this in the story about David killing Goliath. Instead of us killing each other why not just have our champion go against your champion and the winner wins. But the Amalekites are not interested in any of that, they will not be happy unless everyone else is dead. The Lord said to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, this is the standard of righteousness and it can be used to measure justice as well. “As you have done it will be done unto you”. It sounds terrible what David is doing, but it is also just. David didn’t write the rules, he merely played by them. So with Goliath, he played by Goliath’s rules. With the Amalekites he played by their rules.
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.” 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. 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.”
We see this, “undercover Christians”. Maybe you are at your job and don’t want to reveal you are a Christian. However you have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts (Amalekites) so while your colleagues at work are getting drunk on the weekend and calling in sick on monday you are more reliable. We also see this in the New Testament where Jesus has been driven out of the Church and is outside knocking on the door of Laodicea.
So what did this chapter reveal? David is the one carrying out God’s command to deal with the flesh, not Saul. David is the one who is concerned with the well being of Israel even if it results in his being despised and condemned, not Saul. David never left the good land, he merely went to a city that the Isrealites had not possessed. Prior to this Israel had given this city up to the Philistines, but David possessed it for Israel. We also see that this was a “secret mission” of God, just like David said when he first fled from Saul.
Several things about this calculation were true. People all around him were thinking on cashing in by betraying him to Saul. David had six hundred men and their wives with him. There is no way he can travel unseen. As a leader you have to consider their welfare and safety, not just yours. It is also true that by going to the Philistines he did slip out of Saul’s hand. Now I know that some teachers consider this chapter as unbelief on David’s part. Unbelief is a great sin, we saw this with Saul and it was the reason he lost the kingdom. The wages of sin is death. So before I accept that interpretation I want to see the wages of sin.
2 So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. 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. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
Saul no longer searching for David was his goal, so in this case he was successful. Also, Saul searching for David wasn’t just bad for David it was bad for the whole country. Now perhaps Saul can focus on keeping Israel safe and secure. So although some are tempted to judge David harshly for this choice it is relatively easy to conclude that it was a decision that in may ways was very good for those following David and for those who didn’t follow David. Too many of our political leaders make choices that are good for them while having little or no benefit to the people they represent. Here is a decision by David that will surely result in his receiving condemnation from the self righteous but is essentially good for all the people he was anointed to lead.
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?”
Once again, a child wants to be rich and famous and hang out with the king. David is clearly no longer thinking like a child. This indicates that his going to the Philistines was not the same as Demas who loved the world. He doesn’t love the world and he doesn’t love the things in the world.
6 So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since.
The New Testament says to “be not conformed to this world”. Instead of David becoming a Philistine Ziklag became part of Judah. This city was given as part of the territory of Israel, so David going to live there became a step in possessing the land. Think about this today, we are realizing that as Christians we need to be involved in all avenues of the economy and that includes politics. The reason for this turmoil in our country is because Christians have given the running of the country to the Philistines. It is time we took possession of that aspect as well. Originally Ziklag belonged to Simeon. When Jacob blessed Simeon he said “his sword is a weapon of violence” and that “Simeon and Levi were brothers”. Levi refers to the priesthood, to bureaucrats. Reuben refers to politicians and Simeon refers to the military. So this city went from being owned by the military to being owned by the kings of Judah. Judah is “the law giver”. In human history we had military dictators like Napoleon who ruled prior to constitutional government becoming the ruler.
7 David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months.
It is nice that this is so specific, but it is also strange. We were just told that after Ziklag was given to David it became Judah’s territory. So did this process take one year and four months before it belonged to Judah?
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.) 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.
These tribes are Amalekites. Saul was told to do this, David is now making up the lack in Saul’s administration. People take verses like this and use them to condemn the Bible. So let’s examine this a little closer. This judgement was due to the heinous way in which Amalekites behaved, trying to kill off the elderly and children among the Israelites. In that day it would be considered a war crime. Later, Haman would attempt genocide against the Jews. There were norms at the time, we see this in the story about David killing Goliath. Instead of us killing each other why not just have our champion go against your champion and the winner wins. But the Amalekites are not interested in any of that, they will not be happy unless everyone else is dead. The Lord said to “do unto others as you would have them do unto you”, this is the standard of righteousness and it can be used to measure justice as well. “As you have done it will be done unto you”. It sounds terrible what David is doing, but it is also just. David didn’t write the rules, he merely played by them. So with Goliath, he played by Goliath’s rules. With the Amalekites he played by their rules.
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.” 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. 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.”
We see this, “undercover Christians”. Maybe you are at your job and don’t want to reveal you are a Christian. However you have crucified the flesh with the passions and the lusts (Amalekites) so while your colleagues at work are getting drunk on the weekend and calling in sick on monday you are more reliable. We also see this in the New Testament where Jesus has been driven out of the Church and is outside knocking on the door of Laodicea.
So what did this chapter reveal? David is the one carrying out God’s command to deal with the flesh, not Saul. David is the one who is concerned with the well being of Israel even if it results in his being despised and condemned, not Saul. David never left the good land, he merely went to a city that the Isrealites had not possessed. Prior to this Israel had given this city up to the Philistines, but David possessed it for Israel. We also see that this was a “secret mission” of God, just like David said when he first fled from Saul.
