Tanak Foundations-Concepts in First Samuel-Part 21

In 1 Sam 26.1-23 David has another chance to kill Saul. David goes and hides in the same place as 1 Sam 23.19 (wilderness of Ziph) and the Ziphites betray David again, and Saul goes after him and has gone back on his previous “teshuvah” in 1 Sam 24.16-21. Saul has a 5-1 advantage, so David sent out spies to watch Saul. David saw where Saul had camped and David took it upon himself to go into the camp. He sees where Saul was sleeping, with Abner (“my father is a lamp”) the commander of the army, the son of Ner (“light”), lying near him in the circle of the camp.

So David and his nephew Abishai (“father of a gift”) sneak into the camp. Abishai is the son of David’s sister. Saul is vulnerable and Abishai thinks God has delivered Saul into David’s hands again. However, David is not going to touch God’s anointed and Abishai wasn’t going to be allowed to touch him either. David knows that the Lord will do it in his own time and in his own way.

Another thing to point out here is David and Abishai did not sneak into the camp due to some “skill.” Yehovah led them and protected them (v 12). The Lord anointed Saul and it was the Lord who would take him out, but it won’t be by David’s power. David did take the spear of Saul that was by Saul’s head, the one used to try and kill David (1 Sam 18.10-11, 19.9-10) and the jug of water he had, as evidence that he was there, and then left. The spear of Saul is symbolic of his authority, like a scepter. He crosses over to the other side and stood on top of the mountain at a distance with a large area between them.

David calls out to the people and to Abner and says, “Will you not answer, Abner?” The Abner answered and asks who it is that is calling. David said to Abner, “Are you not a man (of great fame for courage)? And who is like you in Israel (with such a high office)? Why then have you not guarded your lord the king? For one of the people came to destroy the king your lord. This thing you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, all of you must surely die, because you did not guard your lord, the Lord’s anointed. And now, see where the king’s spear is, and the jug of water that was in his hand.”

Saul recognized David’s voice and David asks him why he is still pursuing him. He wants to know what he has done or what evil intent he has. He then says, “If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering, but if it is men (if people have turned you against me), cursed are they before the Lord, for they have driven me out today that I should have no attachment with the inheritance of the Lord (the land of Canaan), saying ‘Go serve other gods (corrupted in the land by heathen enticements). Now then, do not let my blood fall to the ground away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to search for a flea (weak, small), just as one hunts a partridge (impossible to catch) in the mountains” (1 Sam 26.19-20).

Saul says that he has sinned but he had no true sense of it. He had a guilty conscience for his present condition, like Pharaoh in Exo 9.27. David gave back the spear of Saul because it was like a scepter and he had no right to keep it. David puts his life into the hand of the Lord (v 24) because he did not expect justice from Saul, nor could he depend upon it in the future.

So in 1 Sam 27.1-12 we learn that David flees to the Philistines again because he was discouraged and feared Saul in his heart, and now he knows he is never going to reconcile with Saul, so he moves his army and the families out of the camp to Gath of the Philistines because he thinks “there is nothing better.” Before David trusted the Lord to protect him from Saul, now he gives up on trusting the Lord and decided he is safer with his pagan enemies. He decides to go to King Achish (“I will terrify”) of the Philistines again, and he was welcomed this time, not like before. He had to act insane to get out of there, but now he returned with some leverage. He had an army to help King Achish. At first, David stays in Gath but David wants a place of his own. He had a large group, so the king gave him a place called Ziklag (“winding”). This city was taken from Israel so it had Hebrews already there.

Achish was one of five Philistine kings. The other four kings will be suspicious of David, however. He is a bandit as far as they were concerned and couldn’t be trusted. Even his own king wanted him dead so why should they trust him. David was now deep into Philistine territory so he did not fear Saul, and he was in the country so Achish would not know what he was up to either.

Once Achish trusted David, David began to attack nearby tribes to make a living. They learned about Philistine military tactics and methods, and this knowledge would be very useful later on. 1 Sam 27.8 says that David raided the Geshurites (“proud beholder”), the Girzites (“a piece) and the Amalekites (“people of lapping”) and he was ruthless and killed everyone. He took away the livestock and the clothing, then returned to Achish. The Geshurites were allied with the Amalekites (or at peace) and David felt justified to kill them along with the Amalekites. It does not say that David was under God’s direction here with the Geshurites and the Girzites, but he did have a mandate from the Lord to exterminate the Amalekites (Exo 17.8-16).

David is working both sides here and he is attacking the enemies of Israel, which will make him a hero with Judah, but those who he is attacking were not friends of the Philistines either, so they thought he was helping the Philistines (not a good idea according to 2 Chr 19.2). Achish got the spoil (at least some of it) and David is gaining the trust of the Philistines and making them wealthier. But David is being secretive about all of this. The king does not tell David who to raid (v 10) but he does ask what David has been raiding. David tells him “The Negev of Judah” and “against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites” (“may God have compassion”) or the “Negev of the Kenites” (“smiths”). At this time, the “Negev” meant “south” and Saul’s influence was to the north of these places.

In 1 Sam 27.11 it says that David did not report the details of his raids to Achish and “dead men tell no tales.” David’s purpose for these killings had little to do with God’s general command to destroy Amalek, although it was part of it. Achish only knew about the treasure David decided to tell him about and most likely kept some back, including weapons and money. Also, the Philistines were not pitiless pagans and they probably would have never approved of David’s tactics, but David did not want any witnesses, especially when he was being ambiguous.

Since David was operating in the Negev of Judah, he figured David was hated by his own people. He figured David had burned all his bridges with the people of Israel and King Saul. The topic about David’s actions here is avoided by many, and some do not even know he did this. It can be uncomfortable discussing what David was doing. However, heroes (and biblical heroes) are flawed people by nature. Sometimes these flaws actually help them become heroes.

David is a type of Messiah, but that doesn’t mean everything he did was the exact representation of what the Messiah would do in all cases. He is just a man who was picked by Yehovah to be the next king. That is an important concept to remember. He failed, was tempted, he could be moral, faithful, commit injustices, loved beautiful women no matter what their marital status was, he was courageous, fearful and would do anything to survive, just like we would. Now he is joining in with Israel’s enemy for protection. Unless God intervenes, David may have stayed there. We see at this point that David had no plans to go back to Israel.

David had a heart for the Lord, but he also wanted to survive. He would right moral wrongs, show mercy, but he would also take a life if he needed to, and not bat an eye. We have also seen David as a bit impulsive, like with Naval in 1 Sam 25. And even after all this, God still loved him and that should encourage us. This should give us a deeper feeling of hope for our future. We have all had moments that we would love to take back, do over, and above all, not want anyone else to know.

God reveals the flaws of the biblical characters and “heroes” so that we can see ourselves and see how God deals with the repentant attitudes some of them had. But we all have a little “Saul” in us, too. Only Yeshua is perfect. Saul went down the wrong road and went against God. David went down the wrong road, but repented and wanted God’s forgiveness. Now he is a wandering bandit.

In Part 22 we will pick up here.

Posted in All Teachings, Articles, Idioms, Phrases and Concepts, Prophecy/Eschatology, The Festivals of the Lord, The Tanak, Tying into the New Testament

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

*