Chapter 27
David’s Flight to the Philistines.[a] 1 David thought to himself, “One of these days I will perish at Saul’s hands. I might as well escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul will give up hope of catching me anywhere in the territory of Israel, and I will escape out of his hand.”
2 David and his six hundred followers went over to Achish, the son of Maoch, the king of Gath. 3 David stayed with Achish at Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam, the Jezreelite, and Abigail, Nabal’s wife, of Carmel. 4 When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he did not go out after him anymore.
5 David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your sight, then let me be given a place in one of your country towns to live. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” 6 That day Achish gave him Ziklag. Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah up to the present. 7 David lived in the territory of the Philistines for one year and four months.
David’s Raids. 8 David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites. (From the days of old these were the people who lived in the land running from Shur down to the land of Egypt.) 9 When David attacked a place, he did not leave a man or a woman alive. He took the sheep, oxen, donkeys, camels, and clothes, and he would then return to Achish.
10 [b]When Achish would ask, “Where have you gone raiding today,” David would say to him, “To the south of Judah, or to the south of the Jerahmeelites, or to the south of the Kenites.”
11 David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring them to Gath, for he thought they might say, “This is what David did.” He did this the whole time that he was living among the Philistines. 12 Achish trusted David saying, “He has become so utterly hateful to his people, Israel, that he will be my servant forever.”
Footnotes
- 1 Samuel 27:1 The text from here to the end of the Book is clearly divided into two sections. The first relates David’s difficult situation that forces him into exile among the Philistines. The second contrasts Saul’s situation: he is mastered by fear; God abandons him.
- 1 Samuel 27:10 David’s deception seems warranted considering Achish is not a friend to Israel, and David needs someplace to hide from Saul.