(KJV) 1 Samuel 271

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⥃David and the Philistines

[1] And David2 said in his heart, I shall3 now perish4 one day by the hand of Saul: [there is] nothing5 better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land6 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.7 [2] And David8 arose, and he passed over with the six9 hundred men that [were] with him unto Achish10, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. [3] And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, [even] David with his two11 wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife. [4] And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought12 no more again for him.

[5] [¶]And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town13 in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? [6] Then Achish gave him Ziklag14 that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. [7] And the time15 that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year16 and four months.

[8] And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites17, and the Gezrites18, and the Amalekites19: for those [nations were] of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest20 to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt.21 [9] And David smote the land, and left neither22 man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels23, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. [10] And Achish said, Whither24 have ye made a road to day? And David25 said, Against26 the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites27, and against the south of the Kenites28. [11] And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring [tidings] to Gath, saying, Lest29 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. [12] And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor30 him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.

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  1. 1Sam 27:1, Saul, hearing David to be in Gath, seeks no more for him; 1Sam 27:5, David begs Ziklag of Achish; 1Sam 27:8, He, invading other countries, persuades Achish he fought against Judah. ↩

  2. 1Sam 16:1, 1Sam 16:13, 1Sam 23:17, 1Sam 25:30; Ps 116:11; Prov 13:12; Isa 40:27-31, Isa 51:12; Matt 14:31; Mark 4:40; 2Cor 7:5 ↩

  3. This was a rash conclusion: God had caused him to be anointed king of Israel, and promised his accession to the throne, and had so often interposed in his behalf, that he was authorised to believe the very reverse. ↩

  4. Heb. be consumed ↩

  5. 1Sam 22:5; Exod 14:12; Num 14:3; Prov 3:5-6; Isa 30:15-16; Lam 3:26-27 ↩

  6. 1Sam 27:10-11, 1Sam 21:10-15, 1Sam 28:1-2, 1Sam 29:2-11, 1Sam 30:1-3 ↩

  7. am 2946, bc 1058, An, Ex, Is 433 ↩

  8. This measure of David's, in uniting himself to the enemies of his God and people, was highly blameable; was calculated to alienate the affections of the Israelites; and led to equivocation, if not downright falsehood. ↩

  9. 1Sam 25:13, 1Sam 30:8 ↩

  10. 1Sam 21:10; 1Kgs 2:40 ↩

  11. 1Sam 25:3, 1Sam 25:18-35, 1Sam 25:42-43, 1Sam 30:5 ↩

  12. 1Sam 26:21 ↩

  13. Gen 46:34; 2Cor 6:17 ↩

  14. Ziklag was at first given to the tribe of Judah, but was afterwards ceded to that of Simeon; but as it bordered on the Philistines, if they had ever been expelled, they had retaken it. Eusebius simply says it was situated in the south of Canaan. 1Sam 30:1, 1Sam 30:14, 1Sam 19:5; 2Sam 1:1; 1Chr 4:30, 1Chr 12:1, 1Chr 12:20; Neh 11:28 ↩

  15. Heb. the number of days ↩

  16. Heb. a year of days, 1Sam 29:3 ↩

  17. Josh 13:2, Josh 13:13; 2Sam 13:37-38, 2Sam 14:23, 2Sam 14:32, 2Sam 15:8; 1Chr 2:23 ↩

  18. or, Gerzites, These people seem to be the Gerrhenians (2Macc 13:24) whose chief city, Gerrha, is mentioned by Strabo as lying between Gaza and Pelusium in Egypt. ↩

  19. Josh 16:10; Judg 1:29; 1Kgs 9:15-17 ↩

  20. 1Sam 15:7-8, 1Sam 30:1; Exod 17:14-16 ↩

  21. am 2948, bc 1056, An, Ex, Is, 435 ↩

  22. 1Sam 15:7; Gen 16:7, Gen 25:18; Exod 15:22 ↩

  23. 1Sam 15:3; Deut 25:17-19; Josh 6:21 ↩

  24. etc. or, Did you not make a road ↩

  25. 1Sam 21:2; Gen 27:19-20, Gen 27:24; Josh 2:4-6; 2Sam 17:20; Ps 119:29, Ps 119:163; Prov 29:25; Gal 2:11-13; Eph 4:25 ↩

  26. 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 honour which became him as a prince, and 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. ↩

  27. 1Chr 2:9, 1Chr 2:25 ↩

  28. 1Sam 15:6; Num 24:21; Judg 1:16, Judg 4:11, Judg 5:24 ↩

  29. 1Sam 22:22; Prov 12:19, Prov 29:25 ↩

  30. Heb. to stink, 1Sam 13:4; Gen 34:30 ↩