1Sa 27:1 And David said in his heart, I shall now 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.
I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul - This was a very hasty conclusion: God had so often interposed in behalf of his life, that he should have believed the reverse. God had hitherto confounded all Saul’s stratagems, and it was not at all likely that he would now abandon him: there was now no additional reason why he should withdraw from David his helping hand.
I shall perish - Unbelief is a sin that easily besets even good men. But this was certainly a very great fault in David: for this proceeded from gross distrust of God's promise and providence; and that after such repeated demonstrations of God's peculiar care over him. He forsakes the place where god had settled him, 1Sa_22:5, and given him both assurance and experience of his protection there. He voluntarily runs upon that rock, which he cursed his enemies for throwing him upon, 1Sa_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 God hereby designed to withdraw David from the Israelites, that they might fall by the hand of the Philistines, without any reproach or inconvenience to David.
David said in his heart - Within himself, and to himself; while he was pondering things in his own mind, and considering the circumstances in which he was, and things appearing, very gloomy to him, he falls into a fit of unbelief and thus addresses himself:
I should escape into the land of the Philistines - which may seem strange, when he was advised by the Prophet Gad to depart from the land of Moab, and go into the land of Judah, 1Sa_22:5, and where he had been so wonderfully preserved; and when he was in so much danger, when in the land of the Philistines before, insomuch that he was obliged to feign himself mad, 1Sa_21:13; and seeing this also was the very thing he lately dreaded, and cursed the men that should be the cause of his going out of his own land into an idolatrous one:
Saul shall despair of me - hearing that he was gone into a foreign country, would seek for him no more in any part of the land of Israel , and so despair of ever getting him into his hands, would lay aside all thoughts about him for the future:
so shall I escape out of his hand - these were the carnal reasonings of his mind, under the prevalence of doubt; and shows what poor weak creatures the best of men are, and how low their graces may sink as to exercise, when left to themselves.
1Sa 27:2 And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
David arose, and he passed over unto Achish - There is not one circumstance in this transaction that is not blameable. David joins the enemies of his God and of his country, acts a most inhuman part against the Geshurites and Amalekites, without even the pretense of a Divine authority; tells a most deliberate falsehood to Achish, his protector, relative to the people against whom he had perpetrated this cruel act; giving him to understand that he had been destroying the Israelites, his enemies.
six hundred men that were with him - having neither lost any, nor had any added to him, since he was at Keilah, 1Sa_23:13,
to Achish the son of Maoch - The circumstances of David were now very much altered from what they were when he went to Gath before; then he went secretly, now openly; then as a person unknown, now as well known; then alone, now with six hundred men; then when discovered he was seized by the princes of Gath, and brought before the king, and was driven from his presence; but now he came either at the invitation of Achish, hearing how he had been treated by Saul, or David sent an embassy to him.
Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath--The popular description of this king's family creates a presumption that he was a different king from the reigning sovereign on David's first visit to Gath . Whether David had received a special invitation from him or a mere permission to enter his territories, cannot be determined. It is probable that the former was the case. From the universal notoriety given to the feud between Saul and David, which had now become irreconcilable, it might appear to Achish good policy to harbor him as a guest, and so the better pave the way for the hostile measures against Israel which the Philistines were at this time meditating.
1Sa 27:3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.
Every man with his household - So it appears that the men who consorted with David had wives and families which they brought with them, to secure them from the malice of Saul; who in their absence might have destroyed them, as being the families of traitors and fugitives.
1Sa 27:4 And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.
1Sa 27:5 And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?
Why should thy servant dwell in the royal city - David suggests as a reason for leaving Gath that his presence was burdensome and expensive to the king. He seemed to intimate that two princely establishments in the same city were too many. Achish appears to have felt the propriety of his proposal, and therefore appoints him Ziklag.
let them give me a place in some town - he does not ask for a city or town, but a place in one of them,
let them give me a place in some town in the country--It was a prudent arrangement on the part of David; for it would prevent him being an object of jealous suspicion, or of mischievous plots among the Philistines. It would place his followers more beyond the risk of contamination by the idolatries of the court and capital; and it would give him an opportunity of making reprisals on the freebooting tribes that infested the common border of Israel and the Philistines.
1Sa 27:6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.
Achish gave him Ziklag - Ziklag was at first given to the tribe of Judah , but afterwards it was ceded to that of Simeon, Jos_15:31; Jos_19:5. The Philistines had, however, made themselves masters of it, and held it to the time here mentioned; it then fell into the tribe of Judah again, and continued to be the property of the kings of Judah . This verse is a proof that this book was written long after the days of Samuel, and that it was formed by a later hand, out of materials which had been collected by a contemporary author.
Ziklag - This was properly one of the cities of Simeon within the tribe of Judah , but it had been taken possession of by the Philistines.
Unto this day - This phrase, coupled with the title the kings of Judah , implies that this was written after the revolt of Jeroboam, and before the Babylonian captivity.
unto the kings of Judah - not to the tribe of Judah, though it originally belonged to it, but to the kings of it, it, being granted to David, who quickly after this became king of Judah; and this was annexed to the crown lands, and ever after enjoyed by the kings, of the house of Judah; for this was not given for a temporary habitation, but for perpetual possession.
1Sa 27:7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
a full year and four months - or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, Jdg_17:10; The word signifies a year; strictly speaking, a term of days which amounted to a full year.
1Sa 27:8 And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.
Geshurites - some of the old inhabitants of the land of Canaan, the remains of the Amorites, whose land was given to the half tribe of Manasseh, but could never be expelled; and therefore David had a just right to invade them, and, if he could, either expel or destroy them; Deu_3:14; these are the Geshurites which are joined with the Philistines, Jos_13:2 This is the land that still remains: all the borders of the Philistines, and all Geshuri, The Geshurites bordered upon the Philistines, and lived in the mountainous district which terminates the desert on the northeast. They were a different tribe, or, at least, a different branch of it, from the Geshurites who lived on the northeast border of Bashan , and were Arameans
The Gezrites - the inhabitants of Gezer, which place fell to the tribe of Ephraim; but that tribe could not drive out the inhabitants of it, and therefore David now fell upon them as the enemies of Israel, and seized on their country, as belonging to them, Jos_16:3,
the Amalekites - the sworn and implacable enemies of Israel , and whose memory they were laid under obligation to root out. These were such as had escaped the sword of Saul, and had fled to the more distant parts, against whom David now went; and perhaps these had fled to and mixed themselves with the people here mentioned:
David and his men went up and invaded - While David was in the land of the Philistines, he attacked some remains of the devoted nations. The people whom he cut off were long before doomed to destruction.
David and his men went up and invaded - The occasion of this attack is not mentioned, as being a matter of indifference in relation to the chief object of the history; but it is likely in retaliation for plundering incursions made by these tribes into the land of Israel . For David would hardly have entered upon such a war without some such occasion, seeing that it would be almost sure to bring him into suspicion with Achish, and endanger his safety.
1Sa 27:9 And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish.
David smote the land - Here was a complete extermination of all these people, not one being left alive. These were the old Canaanites and Amalekites, who according to the law of God were not to be spared, but utterly destroyed; though this must be understood of those who came within his reach; for it is certain there were people of these tribes after this; 1Sa_30:1 And it happened when David and his men had come to Ziklag on the third day, the Amalekites had invaded the south and Ziklag, and had struck Ziklag, and burned it with fire.
came to Achish; at Gath - to make a report of what he had been about and done; and what he brought was a good booty for the support of his men and their families.
1Sa 27:10 And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites.
The Jerahmeelites - the descendants of Jerahmeel, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah (marginal references). They were therefore a portion of the “south of Judah .”
The Kenites - the posterity of Jethro; these, at least some of them, at the first seating of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan, went with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad, Jdg_1:16 And the sons of the Kenite, Moses' father-in-law, went up out of the city of palm trees with the sons of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which is in the south of Arad. And they went and lived among the people. For their near neighborhood to Amalek, see 1Sa_15:6 And Saul said to the Kenites, Go! Depart! Get down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. For you showed kindness to all the sons of Israel when they came up out of Egypt. So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites.
Whither have ye made a road today - where had they made their excursion to fetch in the prey and booty they now brought. He had possibly been in the habit of making predatory excursions. This seems to be implied in the question of Achish.
against the south of Judah - he meant against some people that lay to the south of the land of Judah, but not in Judah; but expressed himself this way so that Achish might think he meant the southern parts of Judah within the country; which, though not a downright lie, but was made with a design to deceive.
Against - David here meant the Geshurites, and Gezrites, and Amalekites, which people occupied that part of the country which lies to the south of Judah . But Achish, as was intended, understood him in a different sense, and believed that he had attacked his own countrymen. David’s answer, therefore, though not an absolute falsehood, was certainly an equivocation intended to deceive, and therefore incompatible with that sense of truth and honor which became him as a professor of true religion. From these, and similar passages, we may observe the strict impartiality of the Sacred Scriptures. They present us with the most faithful delineation of human nature; they exhibit the frailties of kings, priests, and prophets, with equal truth; and examples of vice and frailty, as well as of piety and virtue, are held up, that we may guard against the errors to which the best men are exposed.
David - These and the following words are ambiguous, and contrary to that simplicity which became David, both as a prince, and as an eminent professor of the true religion. The fidelity of Achish to him, and the confidence he put in him, aggravates his sin in thus deceiving him, which David seems penitently to reflect on, when he prays, Remove from me the way of lying.
1Sa 27:11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.
Tidings - The word is not in the original. The sense rather is “to bring them to Gath ,” as captives and slaves. The prisoners taken would naturally have been part of the spoil, but David dared not to bring them to Gath lest his deceit should be discovered. Obviously these tribes were allies of the Philistines. The sense is, that he did not carry the captives to Gath , to be disposed of there; for they would have told from whence they came, and so have contradicted what David said; and so the words may be read "spared neither man nor woman alive to bring to Gath ": and so could tell no tales.
1Sa 27:12 And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.
saying, he hath made his people utterly to abhor him - they shall never forgive him the destruction of their cities, and the inhabitants of them, and the plunder of their goods and cattle; his name will be had in the utmost detestation and abhorrence, and he must never return thither any more:
therefore he shall be my servant for ever - would be glad to continue with him as a servant, and be obliged to serve him faithfully and truly, since his own people, and even those of his own tribe, would never more receive him; it being, as he understood it, the south of Judah that he had been plundering.
