27:1 David thought to himself, “One of these days I’m going to be swept away by the hand of Saul! There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of searching for me through all the territory of Israel and I will escape from his hand.”
David placed no confidence in Saul’s prior blessing. David sought refuge from Saul outside of Israelite territory. David decided that for his own safety, he would give up his fugitive life and live among the Philistines.
2 So David left and crossed over to King Achish son of Maoch of Gath accompanied by his six hundred men.
During one of David’s earlier flights from Saul, David visited King Achish. David had to feign madness in order to escape death. King Achish heard of David’s split with Saul and gladly welcomed David and his army of 600 men. Achish was hoping that David would help him fight against Saul.
3 David settled with Achish in Gath, along with his men and their families. David had with him his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelite and Abigail the Carmelite, Nabal’s widow.
David took his two wives and lived in the Philistine city of Gath. David had previously spent a short time with Achish at Gath, feigning insanity
4 When Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he did not mount a new search for him.
Saul no longer saw David as a threat to his throne. He did not want to travel into Philistine territory and risk war against David and the Philistines.
5 David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the country towns so that I can live there. Why should your servant settle in the royal city with you?”
David asked for his own city. This move was probably motivated by David’s desire to be free from Philistine surveillance and to avoid pagan influence. King Achish and David entered into a Lord-vassal relationship. King Achish was the feudal Lord. David would pay tribute to him as his vassal.
6 So Achish gave him Ziklag on that day. (For that reason Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah until this very day.)
The city of Ziklag was in Judah’s territory, but it was still controlled by pagan tribes. By destroying these cities, David was fulfilling God’s command to Joshua, but also allying himself with Achish.
7 The length of time that David lived in the Philistine countryside was a year and four months.
David lived among the Philistines for sixteen months.
8 Then David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (They had been living in that land for a long time, from the approach to Shur as far as the land of Egypt.)
David used Ziklag as a base for his raids on the northern Sinai desert tribes. All of these tribes were enemies of Judah. Notice that Saul did not exterminate all of the Amalekites. There were still pockets of stragglers living within the land.
9 When David would attack a district, he would leave neither man nor woman alive. He would take sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, and clothing and would then go back to Achish.
David killed all of the men and women, but he did take livestock as plunder.
10 When Achish would ask, “Where did you raid today?” David would say, “The Negev of Judah” or “The Negev of Jeharmeel” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
David fabricated a lie. He made King Achish think that he was attacking Jewish settlements, but they were all non-Jewish settlements and enemies of Israel.
11 Neither man nor woman would David leave alive so as to bring them back to Gath. He was thinking, “This way they can’t tell on us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’ ” Such was his practice the entire time that he lived in the country of the Philistines.
Since all of the men and women were killed, there was no one left alive who could tell King Achish who David was actually attacking and plundering.
12 So Achish trusted David, thinking to himself, “He is really hated among his own people in Israel! From now on he will be my servant.”
King Achish thought that Israel hated David because of these falsified attacks.