1 Samuel 27:1

27:1-7 Unbelief is a sin that easily besets even good men, when without are fightings, and within are fears; and it is a hard matter to get over them. Lord, increase our faith! We may blush to think that the word of a Philistine should go further than the word of an Israelite, and that the city of Gath should be a place of refuge for a good man, when the cities of Israel refuse him a safe abode. David gained a comfortable settlement, not only at a distance from Gath, but bordering upon Israel, where he might keep up a correspondence with his own countrymen.

1 Samuel 27:1 . I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul — David, says Delaney, “weary of wandering, weary of struggling with Saul’s implacable spirit, weary of the unequal conflict between too dangerous generosity and too relentless malice, weary of subsisting by the spoils of his enemies, or bounty of his friends, resolves at last to quit his country, and throw himself once more under the protection of its enemies. This resolution is, I think, universally censured by commentators, on account of his neglecting to consult God, either by his priest or by his prophet, before he fixed upon it. God had commanded him to go into the land of Judah, 1 Samuel 22:5 . And surely he should not have left that to go into a heathen country, without a like divine command, or at least permission. Therefore most writers ascribe this resolution to want of grace, and a proper confidence in the protection of that God who had so often and so signally delivered him in the greatest exigencies.” Add to this, that David not only showed, by forming and executing this resolution, great distrust of God’s promise and providence, and that after repeated demonstrations of God’s peculiar care over him; but he voluntarily run upon that rock, which he censured his enemies for throwing him upon, 1 Samuel 26:19 , and upon many other snares and dangers, as the following history will show. And he also deprived the people of God of those succours which he might have given them in case of a battle.

Ver 1. - David said in his heart. Hebrew, "to his heart," to himself (see 1 Samuel 1:13 ). l shall perish by the hand. The verb is that used in 1 Samuel 12:25 ; 1 Samuel 26:10 , but instead of by the hand the Hebrew has into the hand. Hence the versions generally render it, "I shall some day fall into the hand." Really it is a proegnans constructio : "I shall perish by failing into the hand of Saul." It was the second treachery of the Ziphites which made David feel that, surrounded as he was by spies, there was no safety for him but in taking that course to which, as he so sorrowfully complained to Saul, his enemies were driving him ( 1 Samuel 26:19 ). His words there show that the thought of quitting Judaea was already in his mind, so that this chapter follows naturally on ch. 26, and not, as some have argued, upon ch. 24. 1 Samuel 27:1

Ch. 1 Samuel 27:1-7 . David’s flight to Achish, and residence at Ziklag 1 . into the land of the Philistines ] The result anticipated in 1 Samuel 26:19 has come to pass. David is forced to seek refuge in a heathen land. The circumstances of this flight are entirely different from those related in 1 Samuel 21:10 ff. Then the solitary fugitive, recognised as the slayer of Goliath, narrowly escaped losing his life; now the outlaw leader of a band of stalwart warriors is welcomed as an ally. He entered the king’s service as an independent chieftain, like an Italian Condottiere of the middle ages. Traces of this residence at Gath may be observed in the attachment of Ittai the Gittite to David ( 2 Samuel 15:19 ); and possibly the Gittith , mentioned in the title to Psalms 8, was an instrument or a melody brought from Gath.

And David said in his heart, I shall now {a} perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand. (a) David distrusts God's protection and therefore flees to the idolaters, who were enemies to God's people.

If the Lord have stirred thee up - The meaning is clear from the preceding history. "An evil spirit from God troubling him" was the beginning of the persecution. And this evil spirit was sent in punishment of Saul's sin 1 Samuel 16:1 , 1 Samuel 16:14 . If the continued persecution was merely the consequence of this evil spirit continuing to vex Saul, David advises Saul to seek God's pardon, and, as a consequence, the removal of the evil spirit, by offering a sacrifice. But if the persecution was the consequence of the false accusations of slanderers, then "cursed" be his enemies who, by their actions, drove David out from the only land where Yahweh was worshipped, and forced him to take refuge in the country of pagan and idolaters (compare Deuteronomy 4:27 ; Deuteronomy 28:36 ).

(1) And David said in his heart. —David’s position seems to have grown more and more untenable during the latter days of Saul’s reign. Probably the paroxysms of the king’s fatal malady grew sharper and more frequent, and his chieftains and favourites, whom, as we have already seen (1 Samuel 26), he had chosen mostly out of the one small tribe of Benjamin, feared—and with good reason—the advent of David to the throne, which they saw was imminent in the event of Saul’s dying or being permanently disqualified to rule. These men, whose bitter hostility to David is more than hinted at in several places, doubtless taking advantage of the king’s state of mind, incited him against David. The words and persuasions of such men as Cush the Benjamite (see Psalms 7), Doeg the Edomite, probably Abner the captain of the host, the men of Ziph, and others, quickly erased from the memory of Saul such scenes as we have witnessed in the En-gedi cave, and, still more recently, in the hill of Hachilah, and more than counterbalanced the devotion and powerful friendship of true warriors like Jonathan, who loved and admired David.

In David’s words, after he had taken the spear and cruse from the side of the sleeping Saul, we see something of what was passing in his mind—his constant fear of a violent death; his knowledge that powerful and wicked men were constantly plotting against him; and his determination to seek a home in another land, where, however, he expected to find a grave far away from the chosen race, among the idolators and enemies of Jehovah of Israel. He now realises a part of these sorrowful forebodings. But in this determination of the son of Jesse we never hear of prayer, or of consultation with prophet or with priest. A dull despair seems to have at this time deprived David at once of faith and hope. Into the land of the Philistines.—David chose to seek a refuge among these warlike people, for he believed he would be in greater security there than among his friendly kinsfolk, the Moabites, where, in former days, he had found such a kindly welcome for his family in the first period of Saul’s enmity. He probably doubted the power of Moab to protect him.

CHAPTER 27 1Sa 27:1-4. Saul Hearing That David Was Fled to Gath, Seeks No More for Him. 1. David said in his heart, … there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines—This resolution of David's was, in every respect, wrong: (1) It was removing him from the place where the divine oracle intimated him to remain (1Sa 22:5); (2) It was rushing into the idolatrous land, for driving him into which he had denounced an imprecation on his enemies (1Sa 26:19); (3) It was a withdrawal of his counsel and aid from God's people. It was a movement, however, overruled by Providence to detach him from his country and to let the disasters impending over Saul and his followers be brought on by the Philistines.David with his six hundred men, and all his faith, goeth to king Achish, and abideth there a while; Saul pursueth no more after him, 1 Samuel 27:1-4. He obtaineth Ziklag of Achish to dwell in, 1 Samuel 27:5-7. He invadeth neighbor nations; leaves no man alive to complain; persuadeth Achish he fought against Judah, 1 Samuel 27:8-12. I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul; I see by this late experience his restless and implacable hatred against me, and how little heed is to be given to all his pretences of repentance or friendship. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines: but this was certainly a very great mistake and fault in David; for, 1.

This proceeded from gross distrust of God’s promise and providence; and that after such repeated demonstrations of God’s peculiar care over him, which gave hint cause to conclude quite contrary to what is here said. 2. He forsakes the place where God had settled him, 1 Samuel 22:5, and given him both assurance and experience of his protection there. 3. He voluntarily runs upon that rock which he cursed his enemies for throwing him upon, 1 Samuel 26:19, and upon many other snares and dangers, as the following history will show; and withal, deprives the people of the Lord of those succours which he might have given them, in case of a battle. But it pleased God to leave David to himself in this, as well as in other particulars, that these might be sensible demonstrations of the infirmities of the best men; and of the necessity of God’s grace, and daily direction and assistance; and of the freeness and richness of God’s mercy, in passing by such great offences. And besides, God hereby designed to accomplish his own counsel, to withdraw David from the Israelites, that Saul and they might fall by the hand of the Philistines, without any reproach or inconvenience to David, whom God had put into a safe place.