1 Samuele 27:7 Commento

David was a man after God's own heart, and yet he had his faults, which are recorded, not for our imitation, but for our admonition; witness the story of this chapter, in which, though, I. We find, to his praise, that he prudently took care of his own safety and his family's (Sa1 27:2-4) and valiantly fought Israel's battles against the Canaanites (Sa1 27:8-9), yet, II. We find, to his dishonour, 1. That he began to despair of his deliverance (Sa1 27:1). 2. That he deserted his own country, and went to dwell in the land of the Philistines (Sa1 27:1, Sa1 27:5-7). 3. That he imposed upon Achish with an equivocation, if not a lie, concerning his expedition (Sa1 27:10-12).

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 27 David, fearing he should perish by the hand of Saul at one time or another, went into the land of the Philistines, which Saul hearing of, sought no more after him, Sa1 27:1; and finding favour in the eyes of the king of Gath, desired a place in his country might be given him to reside in; and accordingly Ziklag was given him, Sa1 27:5; from whence he made excursions into the land of the Amalekites, and others, and utterly destroyed them; but imposed on the king of Gath, pretending he had made his road into the southern parts of Judah, Sa1 27:8.

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines,.... At Gath and Ziklag: was a full year and four months; or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, Jdg 17:10; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus (h) makes his abode to be four months and twenty days; but, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, it was only four months; and so it may be rendered, "days, that is, four months"; for according to the Jewish chronology (i) Samuel died four months before Saul, and this flight of David was after the death of Samuel, and when Saul died he left the land of the Philistines, and took the throne of Judah; See Gill on Sa1 25:1. (h) Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 10. (i) Sepher Olam Rabba c. 13. p. 37.

Now the number of days that David lived in the land of the Philistines, etc. There was, is, and will be a time of Christ's dwelling in the Church of the Gentiles, until he fills the four corners of the world with the complete light of his heavenly grace, until he pours the light of the Gospel, which is contained in the unanimous variety of the four books, into the believing hearts of the Gentiles. And note that David, coming to the Philistines, begins to dwell in Geth; but soon, with Achis' permission, he turns to Siceleg: because, coming to the Gentiles in the disciples, Christ, first pressed by the winepress of pressures by the unbelievers, finally after many grapes of the martyrs pressed, he approached to instruct those who among the dregs and wine of intellectual innkeepers, that is, those teaching various senses, knew how to judge.

David flies to Achish, king of Gath, who receives him kindly, and gives him Ziklag to dwell in, where he continues a year and four months, Sa1 27:1-7. David invades the Geshurites and Amalekites, and leaves neither man nor woman alive, Sa1 27:8, Sa1 27:9. He returns to Achish, and pretends that he had been making inroads on the Israelites, and Achish believes it, Sa1 27:10-12.

SAUL HEARING THAT DAVID WAS FLED TO GATH, SEEKS NO MORE FOR HIM. (Sa1 27:1-4) David said in his heart, . . . there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines--This resolution of David's was, in every respect, wrong: (1) It was removing him from the place where the divine oracle intimated him to remain (Sa1 22:5); (2) It was rushing into the idolatrous land, for driving him into which he had denounced an imprecation on his enemies (Sa1 26:19); (3) It was a withdrawal of his counsel and aid from God's people. It was a movement, however, overruled by Providence to detach him from his country and to let the disasters impending over Saul and his followers be brought on by the Philistines.

David at Ziklag in the Land of the Philistines - Sa1 27:1-12 In his despair of being able permanently to escape the plots of Saul in the land of Israel, David betook himself, with his attendants, to the neighbouring land of the Philistines, to king Achish of Gath, and received from him the town of Ziklag, which was assigned him at his own request as a dwelling-place (Sa1 27:1-7). From this point he made attacks upon certain tribes on the southern frontier of Canaan which were hostile to Israel, but described them to Achish as attacks upon Judah and its dependencies, that he might still retain the protection of the Philistian chief (Sa1 27:8-12). David had fled to Achish at Gath once before; but on that occasion he had been obliged to feign insanity in order to preserve his life, because he was recognised as the conqueror of Goliath. This act of David was not forgotten by the Philistines even now. But as David had been pursued by Saul for many years, Achish did not hesitate to give a place of refuge in his land to the fugitive who had been outlawed by the king of Israel, the arch-enemy of the Philistines, possibly with the hope that if a fresh war with Saul should break out, he should be able to reap some advantage from David's friendship.