1 Samuel 29--The Philistines Reject David

1 Samuel 29
English Standard Version

The Philistines Reject David
29 Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. 2 As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, 3 the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.” 4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances,

‘Saul has struck down his thousands,
    and David his ten thousands’?”

​6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.” 8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” 9 And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10 Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.” 11 So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

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We are nearly to the end of 1 Samuel now.  Last time we saw the LORD convey a final message to Saul by way of the spirit of Samuel.  Samuel and all of his sons will die, and David will certainly rein as king instead.  There is nothing that Saul can do about it.

The scene now shifts back to David who has been living in hiding among the Philistines, and the king of the Philistines has just conscripted David and his men to fight for the Philistine army and has charged David with being the king's personal bodyguard.  We now pick up the story there with the Philistines camped for war at Aphek and the Israelites camped for ware at Jezreel (a very important battlefield in Israel), both in the past and for the future.  The text also tells us that it was Spring which is usually when the kings went to war....it's what they typically did after being cooped up for the winter.

The Philistines paraded their men with the commanders of hundreds and thousands all showing off their troops, and David's men were in the rear, near Achish (the king of the Philistines), for they were his personal protection detail like the Secret Service.  The other commanders questioned the king's judgment in letting David and his men join the battle and tasking them with the king's safety.  The king was convinced that David was on his side (we know he was not), but all of the other commanders feared that David and his men would switch sides in the battle and attack them from the rear so that they would be fighting Israelites (the Philistines called them Hebrews here) on two fronts and it would likely mean that David could kill the king who would be trying to keep safe in the rear where he and his men would be guarding him (this was most likely exactly what David's plan was).  They told the king that he needed to send David and his men back to the city they had been given and not let them fight in this war, for they figured that David would try to reconcile himself to Saul by killing many Philistines and offering Saul their heads as proof of his loyalty to Israel and to the kingship of Saul--clearly they didn't know who the real king was or what was really going on in Israel, for the LORD had kept those details from them so that David could be kept safe.

They had however heard of the song that the Israelite women sung of David to say that Saul had killed his thousands, but David his tens of thousands.  They knew David was a mighty warrior, but they knew that he had killed tens of thousands of their Philistine brothers in battle and they could not be convinced so easily that David had switched sides.   The king is forced to make a hard choice and calls David in for a meeting to tell him that while the king fully trusts him, the other lords and commanders of the Philistines do not trust David, and the king needs all of them right now in this battle more than he needs David and his small group of men (in his mind).  He even swears by the name of the LORD to make this statement, which I find interesting.

When David asks what he has done wrong to be sent away from the battle like this, the king gives a very strange answer for a pagan, Gentile king.  The king says that David was as blameless in the kings sight as an angel of God.  Nevertheless, he commanded David and his men to return to their city. and the Philistines continued their march towards Jezreel where this final battle of the book of 1 Samuel will occur.  My own personal thoughts on this are that the LORD kept David from being involved in this battle because David would have wanted to fight against the Philistines, and the LORD just told Saul that He wanted the Philistines to win and conquer the Land so that all the people that have rejected the LORD and His servant David would be punished.  The only other option would be that David actually would defect and fight against Saul and his men and it would look like he allied himself with the Philistines to try to usurp the throne (and the Philistines might think this too and might try to take credit for establishing David as king).  The LORD wanted David and his men out of and away from this battle as there was no good outcome for them.  The LORD wants to be the one to deliver the judgment on Saul and his family just as David promised he would let happen both times we've seen him spare Saul's life.  Now the LORD will kill Saul and his sons by the hands of the Philistines without any assistance from David so that it is obvious to the people that the LORD is not with them and that they need to repent.