1 Samuel 27
David the raider
David moves to Philistine Gath
1David said to himself, “One of these days, Saul is going to catch me and kill me. I think the best chance I have is to move into Philistine territory. Then maybe Saul will stop hunting me all over Israel, like he has been doing.” 2David took his 600 men and their families with him to the king of Gath: Achish, son of Maoch.3All David’s men and their families moved to Gath. David and his two wives stayed with the king. At the time, David was still married to just two women: [1] Ahinoam from the town of Jezreel along with Nabal’s widow, Abigail from Carmel. 4When Saul found out David moved to Gath, he stopped hunting him.
Philistine king gives David a city
5Sometime later, David told King Achish, “If it’s okay with you, I’d like to live in one of your outlying towns. I don’t want to impose on you any longer by continuing to live with you in your capital city.” 6That same day, Achish gave David the town of Ziklag, [2] which has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since—as it does today. 7David lived in Philistine territory for one year and four months.David, raider showing no mercy
8During that time, David and his men made a living as raiders. They raided enemies of Israel and friends of the Philistines. They raided people from Geshur, Gezer, and Amalek who had settled in the southern territory between Telam and Shur, near Egypt. [3]9When David and his men attacked a community, they killed all the people. But they kept the livestock and gave it to King Achish: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels. They gave him stolen clothing as well. 10King Achish would respond to the gifts by asking, “Who’d you raid today?” David would lie and say he raided Israel or their allies: “We raided the Negev [4] land in Judah.” “We raided the Jerahmeel families in the Negev.” “We raided Kenites in the Negev.”
11No victims could dispute David. He killed them all. David kept pitching his lies to the king, one raid after another. He did this for as long as he lived among the Philistines.
12Achish thought he had a solid ally in David—someone who would never move away. The king figured that after all those raids David made on his own people in Israel, they must hate his guts.
Footnotes
127:3
David married at least eight women, and likely more. But only eight are mentioned in the Bible: Michal Ahinoam, Abigail, Maachah, Haggith, Abital, Eglah, Bathsheba (2 Samuel 3:2-5). He also married women in Jerusalem, but we don’t know who or how many (2 Samuel 5:13).
227:6
Ziklag’s location is unknown. There are more than a dozen contenders. It was likely close to Gath, which was one of five major Philistine city-state kingdoms. King Achish ruled from Gath and controlled villages and communities in the surrounding territory.
327:8
Locations uncertain, but apparently all off King Achish’s radar, south of Gath and south of areas where Israelites lived.
427:10
The Negev is a wasteland and desert, to a great extent. It’s mainly in the southeast tip of Israel.
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David moves in with the Philistines