Gath at sunset seen from the last low hills: far off on the edge of the coastal plain, a great city mound with a thick plain mud-brick wall and one gate, a dusty road winding down to it through olive groves, under a calm amber sky.

The Book of

1 Samuel 27

Twice David spared the king who hunted him. Now he runs to the enemy’s city.

12 verses≈ 3 min2 peopleBSB

Images are artistic interpretations.

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In this chapter

Where we are

1–7SamuelA boy who listened
8–15SaulA king like the nations
16–20David risesThe LORD looks at the heart
21–27David huntedThe anointed one waitsChapter 27
28–31Saul fallsEndor and Gilboa

David and the Philistines

David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will 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 stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”

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Late afternoon at the gate of Gath: a long column of David’s men with their wives, children, laden donkeys and goats passing in through the wide gateway of a mud-brick wall, Philistine guards with feathered headdresses watching, David at the front beside a Philistine official.

So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath. David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

0:21

Narrated by Bob Souer · BSB audio, public domain

Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”

That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah. And the time that David lived in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.

Reflect

“Said to himself”

After rescue upon rescue, David “said to himself” that Saul would get him one day, and he made his plan alone. Fear talked louder than God’s promises. What fear have you been listening to more than God’s word this week? What would it look like to bring it to Him instead?

Stylised map · locations approximate

On the map

Gath, Ziklag and the south

David went “to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath,” and Achish gave him Ziklag in the Negev. From there David raided the desert peoples who lived toward “Shur and Egypt,” and told Achish he had raided the Negev of Judah, of the Jerahmeelites and of the Kenites. Ziklag’s site is uncertain, and so are the lands of the desert peoples.

Achish

who would ask him, “What have you raided today?”

David

And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”

David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory.

So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

Question

Quick question

David asked Achish for a place of his own, away from the royal city of Gath.

Which town did Achish give David to live in?

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1 Samuel 27

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A verse to carry with you

And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.

1 Samuel 27:4

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