God Saves David from His own Deisions

1 Samuel 27:1–3 KJV 1900

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. 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. 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.

1 Samuel 28:1–2 KJV 1900

1 And it came to pass in those days, that the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. And Achish said unto David, Know thou assuredly, that thou shalt go out with me to battle, thou and thy men. 2 And David said to Achish, Surely thou shalt know what thy servant can do. And Achish said to David, Therefore will I make thee keeper of mine head for ever.

1 Samuel 29:1–11 KJV 1900

1 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel. 2 And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands: but David and his men passed on in the rereward with Achish. 3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, which hath been with me these days, or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day? 4 And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return, that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us: for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? should it not be with the heads of these men? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? 6 Then Achish called David, and said unto him, Surely, as the Lord liveth, thou hast been upright, and thy going out and thy coming in with me in the host is good in my sight: for I have not found evil in thee since the day of thy coming unto me unto this day: nevertheless the lords favour thee not. 7 Wherefore now return, and go in peace, that thou displease not the lords of the Philistines. 8 And David said unto Achish, But what have I done? and what hast thou found in thy servant so long as I have been with thee unto this day, that I may not go fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9 And Achish answered and said to David, I know that thou art good in my sight, as an angel of God: notwithstanding the princes of the Philistines have said, He shall not go up with us to the battle. 10 Wherefore now rise up early in the morning with thy master’s servants that are come with thee: and as soon as ye be up early in the morning, and have light, depart. 11 So David and his men rose up early to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Introduction

David seeks shelter among the Philistines.

This isn’t the first time he’s done this.

Back in chapter 21, David had sought shelter among the Philistines early on in his life as a fugitive.

He had fled from Saul to the city of Gath.

Why Gath?

You would think, of all the cities of the Philistines, Gath would be the last place you would want to be if you were David.

David had killed the hometown hero of Gath.

Goliath had 4 brothers that probably wouldn’t have been too happy to see David.

The first time David had gone to Gath, he had gotten scared when people started asking questions about him.

So, he had acted insane in order to calm everyone’s nerves.

It had worked, Achish had disregarded David’s presence.

David decided to leave soon after that.

But, now he is going back to Gath.

He is driven by fear or weariness of Saul’s pursuits.

Ch. 27 gives us insight into David’s thoughts.

We see that he had an assumption that one day his “luck” would run out.

Eventually, Saul would catch him and kill him.

Despite all that God had done to protect David over the course of several years, David believes a lie.

He then convinces himself that the best thing for him to do is to go back to the Philistines and hide among them.

This. Is. A. Mistake.

We cannot operate in faith; when we are operating by fear.

This is what Davi is doing.

He endears himself to the king of Gath.

Think about that last statement.

We see this in ch 28.

David has received a city from Achish for his men and their families to live in.

Achish thinks it’s awesome that Saul’s son in law has defected to him.

This blinds Achish.

He invites David to join the Philistines in a march against Israel.

David agrees and says to Achish, “now you will see what I can do.”

Some commentators think that David is being cagey with Achish.

A little deceitful.

I think they’re right.

There is almost certainly no way that David intended to go to war with Israel.

Achish is convinced though.

He buys into David’s charm without hesitation.

He even goes so far to make David and his men his personal bodyguards.

It seems like David is being drawn into a battle he should not be in.

The Philistines gather their armies to go to battle with Saul.

David and his 600 men gather with them.

They have a new role to play.

They join the Philistine army at Aphek.

Aphek was an important military outpost.

Here the hundreds and thousands of Philistine soldiers could rendezvous and shore up their strategies.

Remember there are 5 lords/kings of the Philistines.

He stays in the back with the king of Gath.

Perhaps the soldiers of Gath made up the rear guard for the unified armies of Philistia.

Maybe as the kings bodyguards, David and his men stayed towards the rear with the rest of the Lords and generals.

If this is the case, then it makes sense why they would all start to recognize and feel uneasy about Achish’s new bodyguard.

The Philistine commanders begin to feel uneasy about the presence of David and his men.

They bring up several concerns regarding David’s presence.

Why are there Hebrews in our camp as we are gathered to go fight the Hebrews???

The other generals probably remembered what had happened the last time they had gone to battle with Hebrews in their army.

Back in ch 14:21, Hebrews had joined the Philistines in a fight against Saul.

When the tide battle began to change away from the Philistines, the Hebrew mercenaries had switched sides and began fighting the Philistines.

The other commanders beg Achish to send David home.

They are afraid that he will betray them in an effort to make peace with Saul.

The Philistines and some commentators think that David would have waited until the battle was fierce and then he would have turned on them.

Finally, they recall how the songs used to be sung in Israel about David’s battle prowess.

Saul had been a successful military for.

The philistines had heard, however how David had surpassed even the victories of Saul

Achish protests and vouches for David.

He had been watching David for over a year.

He trusted him.

He had witnessed no fault or reason not to trust him.

I mean, besides the time he walked around town like a lunatic with drool hanging off his beard.

Achish relents to the Philistines’ concerns.

He goes to talk to David, to tell him to leave.

You can see that Achish feels bad to have to tell David to leave the gathering.

He’s so apologetic throughout the whole conversation.

He tells David...

Thou hast been upright.

Your company has been good for me.

I have not found any evil in you.

The other Lord’s don’t feel comfortable with you around.

Why don’t you just head back home.

The whole thing just sounds so normal.

David protests the decision.

Maybe he feigns disappointment.

He says that he wants to fight against the enemies of his lord the king.

Who is his king though?

Achish?

Saul?

Jehovah?

He gets up the next morning and leaves.

Achish acknowledges David’s loyalty and goodness.

He again asks him to go home.

David agrees.

He gets up the next morning and returns to the city that Achish had given him.

Whether David realizes it or not, he has just been providentially spared by God.

The battle that Achish and the Philistines are marching towards is the battle where Saul and Jonathan would be killed.

David would face enough trouble uniting Israel under his reign after Saul’s death.

How would it have looked for him to be on the enemies’ lines during the battle where his predecessor fell?

There is a biblical principle that we are not only to avoid evil but also the appearance of evil.

David’s presence on the field of this battle would have been a horrible blow to his future.

Some want to give David the benefit of the doubt.

He had a plan.

He wouldn’t have gone through with fighting his own people.

We don’t know that.

He had already proven to not be thinking clearly by acting in fear.

God saved David from a situation that he should not have been a part of in the first place.

This is a demonstration of God’s grace and mercy in David’s life.

God even used people who were not his own to accomplish His purpose.

The Lord was gracious to deliver David, but He is not obligated to do this every time.

God is not bound to step in and extricate His people from situations caused by their own decisions.

Application

Have you ever been pulled from a situation that you shouldn’t have been in?

It’s so important for us to try to walk by faith.

It will keep us from these situations.

Do you pray that God would protect you from the things you don’t even know you need protection from?

Do you pray that God would protect your loved ones from things they don’t realize they need protection from?