Prepare
Opening Prayer
Thank God for the day, time together, and his Word, and ask for understanding of what Scripture says, means, and means for our lives.
Read
Scripture Passage
David Allied with the Philistines
27 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 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 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 Girzites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. 9 Whenever David 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.”
The New King James Version (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1982), 1 Samuel 27.
A — About
What Is This Passage About?
Fearing Saul, David flees with his men to the Philistine king Achish and receives Ziklag. David raids Israel's enemies but deceives Achish about his targets and kills every witness, creating a morally troubling alliance and strategy that Achish believes has permanently alienated David from Israel.
B — Best Verse
Which Verse Best Summarizes the Passage?
1 Samuel 27:1; 1 Samuel 27:9
Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. ... Whenever David attacked the land, he left neither man nor woman alive. but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel
Bryan explicitly selects verses 1 and 9. They frame the fear that drives David to Philistine territory and the deadly, deceptive strategy he adopts there.
C — Called or Christ
C — Called to Do & Christ Connection
Seek God's wisdom instead of trying to solve threatening situations through morally compromised strategy. Read biblical history discerning description from prescription, and fix the heart on Jesus, the perfectly righteous King, Priest, and Prophet whom believers can follow wholeheartedly.
Additional Notes
Devotional Study
Transcript of the devotion. Minor transcription errors may remain.
Hey, hey, good morning, good morning. Welcome to Coffee and Devotions. This morning we are at 1 Samuel chapter 27. We're going to find out David decides, I guess, something like the enemy of my enemy is my friend. He allies himself. It's a weird part of the book. Let's have some coffee. We'll pray. And we'll find out more about this odd thing David decides to do. It's pretty warm. Nope, okay, let's pray.
God, we thank you so much for this day. Thank you for time that we get to spend together. Thank you for your word. God, we pray that as we read the scriptures this morning, that you would help us to understand them, that we would know what they say, what they mean, and what they mean for our lives.
In Jesus' name, amen. All right, 1 Samuel chapter 27. And David said in his heart, Now I shall perish someday by the hand of Saul. Who is Saul? The king. The king, yeah. There's nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape to the land of the Philistines. And Saul will despair of me to seek me any more in any part of Israel. So I shall escape out of his hand.
Then David arose and went over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish the son of Mauch, king of Gath. 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, and it was told the soul that David had fled to Gath.
So he saw him no more. Gath is worth. Goliath is from. The Philistine territory. He killed their hero. Why would David go there? I think because he's scared of Saul. Yeah. So I'm going to chase him into Philistine, Philistine territory. Oh, OK, I guess he's going to maybe. Well, let's find out more. You read the next paragraph.
Then David said to Achish, 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? So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the king of Judah to this day. Now the time that David dwell in the country of the Philistines was one full year of four months. All right, so what does David say to the king of Zikla or the king of Gath? Oh, could you get me out like a spy? Yeah, right. I don't want to live here in the royal city. You're too great for me.
Well, and David and his men went up and raided the Gesherites, the Gerizites, and the Amalekites. For those nations were the inhabitants of the land from of old, as you go to Shur, even as far as the land of Egypt. Whenever David 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. Then Achish would say, where have you made a raid today? And David would say, against the southern area of Judah, and against the southern area of the Jeremites, Jeremalites, or against the southern king's area of the Kenites. 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. So Achish believed David, saying, He has made his people Israel utterly abhor him. Therefore, he will be my servant forever.
So what? Man, this is like, really? What does David do? David is like, he went from the good side to the bad side. Like in Star Wars. Anakin turns into the dark side. Oh, so he's like killing not just the men either, the women and the children too. All of them.
Yeah, no, David is, he's going on raids, right? But he keeps telling the King Achish that he's going and plundering Judah, right? The southern cities of Judah. But in reality, where is he going? To the other side. Actually, he's fighting the enemies that God had said were his enemies, the Amalekites and the Kenites and other people like that. But he's like, I should lie and say I'm... Why would he lie and then kill all the men and the women? Because then none of them could say he actually destroyed this area. Yeah, this is one of those huge areas where we don't really want to justify David too much. But I guess this is still part of the era in which there's a lot of Canaanites still living in the land. And so This is 400 years after Joshua. And there's still Canaanites in the land. And so is David continuing that purging out of the Canaanites?
That's how some people have justified this. But either way, he's purposely lying to the king. It's like warfare and he's kind of sending out false messages. And the king of Achish, what's he think about David? He's the one who killed the Goliath, so he should be a really good person. Well, even worse than that, right? Well, not worse, but even more than that, he thinks like, oh, he's been raiding Saul's own people. He's turned against his own people, so would they ever want him back? Nope. So where does he have anywhere to go then? Nope. Nope.
That's what he thinks. But David's like, David is a guy who's strategy. He's playing the pieces, doing all the stuff. What do you think, if you had one sentence to summarize all this, what would you say this is about? A. What is it about? I think it's about David. It's trying to free Saul. Okay. And then him trying to trick Akish. Akish. He's trying to trick him. Okay. What do you think is the B best verse to summarize this? I would probably underline verse 1 and verse 9. Like he attacks at different stuff and then he lied to him. Good.
Alright, what do you think this calls you to do? Right, you're mad at your brother and you count him as your enemy and so you start fleeing to Debra's room instead and make an alliance with Debra, your archnemesis, but then you attack Debra's stuff and then tell her that you're attacking Nathan? So you play the strategy game in our home? Yeah, but then dad would look behind and look at it.
So what, okay, so that's not what you're called to do. So what are you called to do? I think it's you're called to do is pray to God and pray to him that Saul wouldn't kill David instead of David fleeing to the Yeah, right, so we can pray to God to help us give us wisdom in these times. Interestingly, he didn't pray to the Lord about this.
He came up with a strategy. He's trying to preserve his life, and he's trying to preserve the life of his men. He's kind of playing a backwards chess game. Yeah, right. He's just kind of talking to somebody about stuff like this like it's a really scary thing in life when we start playing Moral chess games Especially with people who are hell-bent on ruining our lives Check game Yeah, right. Like David, David had been nothing but loyal to Saul and he finds Saul trying to murder him. And so David finds himself in a catch 22, no win situation, but then starts doing some things that are like, whoa, this is too far. I'm convinced that this is the type of thing why God would tell David he wasn't allowed to build the temple because he was a man of blood. But it's hunger. Yeah, Solomon was allowed to.
But who was a king that had no blood on his hands and... Jesus. Yeah, and ministers in a heavenly, perfect tabernacle? Well... Jesus. At the resurrection, it says Jesus will have blood all over. That's true. He'll come and judge his enemies. But the point is that Jesus is righteous. He doesn't have the moral conundrums of this. Thank God that we have a King that is perfect and that isn't a man of blood like this. But yet knows perfect righteousness and justice.
Lord, we thank you so much for giving us This lesson in the Scriptures, Lord, warfare and these types of situations are just ugly ethical type situations, and we can't just read historical things and say, oh, this is right because it's in the Bible. Lord, it's just more complicated than that. So we pray that in our hearts and in our lives you would please help us to see when things are describing things versus when things are prescribing, telling us what to do. Lord, we pray that you would please let us fix our minds and our hearts on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith.
And we thank you for all your good gifts to us. Thank you for giving us a king and a priest and a prophet who we could follow wholeheartedly. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen. May God bless you. May you walk in the joy and peace of Jesus, and we'll see you next time. Bye.