Aug 30, 2020. I Samuel 27

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DOUBLE AGENT IN PHILISTIA. I Samuel 27. 8/30/20. #78.

I Samuel 27 [New King James Version]

¹ And David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines; and Saul will [a]despair of me, to seek me anymore in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.” ² Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. ³ So David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow. ⁴ And it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath; so he sought him no more. ⁵ Then David said to Achish, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” ⁶ So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. ⁷ Now [b]the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was one full year and four months. ⁸ And David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the [c]Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from [d]of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. ⁹ Whenever David [e]attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. ¹⁰ Then Achish would say, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David would say, “Against the southern area of Judah, or against the southern area of the Jerahmeelites, or against the southern area of the Kenites.” ¹¹ David would save neither man nor woman alive, to bring news to Gath, saying, “Lest they should inform on us, saying, ‘Thus David did.’ ” And thus was his behavior all the time he dwelt in the country of the Philistines. ¹² So Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him; therefore he will be my servant forever.”

• Exit strategy
  • David realizes that as long as he stays in Judah, Saul will pursue him to kill him
    • David also realizes that Saul’s spies are everywhere
    • David decides that he must leave Judah
  • David has only one choice, which is Philistia
    • David wants to stay hear Judah
    • Edom and Moab are trans-Jordan and Egypt is far away
  • David had killed many Philistines
    • David must play the traitor to gain trust
    • Ironically, Gath was home of Goliath
    • King Achish accepts David’s ruse since Saul seeks to kill him, not realizing that Saul and not Israel is David’s enemy
  • By the grace of God, David is accepted by a former enemy
    • David is now out of Saul’s reach and so Saul ceases pursuing him (David is behind a Philistine wall)
    • Saul figures that David can do no harm to him now
• David, the marauder
  • David asks for a town for his men to call home (Ziklag)
    • Ziklag = on border of Philistia and Judah
    • David moves to Ziklag with his family and men plus their families (approximately 1000 people)
      • It is interested that Ahinoam is mentioned before Abigail
      • David settles in for a long stay
    • David stays for 16 months
    • David’s location 25 miles SW of Gath protects Achish’s southern flank from raiders
  • David ends up raiding non-Philistine villages within Philistine territory
    • He kills all the inhabitants so no one could report of David’s deeds to King Achish
    • David kills men, women, and children and then takes away their livestock and possessions
      • Amazingly, no one catches David
      • Whole villages are wiped out in rural areas
  • Moral issues abound in this action
    • No indication that God directed David to do this
    • David murders people who have done him no harm
    • David uses these raids to support his followers
  • David could have justified his actions several ways
    • Israel was supposed to have destroyed these people when they entered Canaan (Josiah 1)
    • David is eliminating threats to him and Judah
• Achish is duped
  • David tells Achish that he has been raiding southern Judah
    • Achish is pleased, since Judah would hate David
    • Achish believes that he has made David as servant
  • Several moral puzzles in old testament that we have no answer to:
    • Was God pleased with David’s genocidal actions?
    • Did God condone Ezra commanding Judah to put away their foreign wives (Malachi 2:14)?
    • Why did God use Jacob’s 2 wives and 2 concubines to produce the 12 tribes of Israel (Genesis 2:25)?
    • Why was Solomon chosen to succeed David?
  • There were many acts God allowed fallen man to do (Deuteronomy 24)

If God gives no explanation of immoral acts, we don’t also