1 Samuel 27--David Flees to the Philistines

1 Samuel 27
English Standard Version

David Flees to the Philistines
27 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.” 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. 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.

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.

​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. 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.” 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.”

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David returns the Philistines for safety from King Saul, but this time they greet him openly because they have become aware of how Saul (and much of Israel with him) is trying to hunt down and kill David and it is to their advantage to have David on their side if war breaks out with Israel, for they think that David will fight with them against Israel.  In fact, the king of Philistia is willing to give David and his men an entire city this time, so that they were free to come and go as they pleased without anyone really watching over them.

David took advantage of this to conduct raids against the peoples that were supposed to be destroyed in the Conquest of Moses and Joshua, but were not fully destroyed, but he would be careful to kill all the men, women, and children and take all the livestock so that there was no evidence left of the towns he attacked and no one would find out who attacked them or what happened to them.  When he returned to Philistia, he lied to the king and told him that he had been conducting raids against the inhabitants of the Negeb/Negev (the southern part of Israel that is desert between Jerusalem and Egypt).  The king of Philistia believed David and it encouraged him to think that David hated Israel and that Israel hated David, so the Philistines were pleased to let David and his men live with them for a year and four months.  For he thought, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”

In the next chapter, Achish, the king of Philistia, will try to conscript David and his men to fight with him against Israel, but we won't see how that ends until chapter 29 because there is something more important happening with Saul in chapter 28--Saul consults with a medium to once again try to hear the voice of Samuel, and the LORD will allow Samuel's spirit to come back and speak to Saul one last time, but Saul is not going to like what Samuel and the LORD have to say.