1 Samuel 27 Commentary
Many people erroneously assume that every psalm in the Book of Psalms was written by David. Such is his fame as a musician! Or, who can forget David’s triumph over Goliath? It is a Sunday school story! Very few people know the David we read about in this chapter.
We cannot be too sure about his decision to join Achish at Gath. What we can definitely tell is that David is having one of his lowest moments. Faith is struggling. Our superhero is now a mercenary! He has taken to a path of survival by merciless killings.
“Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes.”
When the LORD says that David has shed too much blood (hence his disqualification for building the temple), we know about the blood of Uriah. Definitely, the blood of countless victims in this chapter should be part of the ‘too much blood’ mentioned in 1 Chronicles 22 verse 8.
These are difficult times for David. Has he given up on the multiple promises of the LORD for the kingship? How does he reconcile everything happening around him now? The conflict is very real. It’s all about faith versus the realities on the ground.
Strangely, faith doesn’t exist in a vacuum for David. Even with a vacuum, faith remains faith. The LORD God is known for creating staff out of nothing!
However, for David, we have many objects supporting his situation: the anointing and the word of the Lord through the great prophet Samuel, confirmation from a faithful and equally god-fearing friend, Jonathan, and the approval of the good and serious among the people. The LORD God is so generous!
The LORD doesn’t have our fears. He knows the end from the beginning. We don’t. Mortals don’t have the mind of the LORD. We analyze situations based on tools of reason.
David saw. David analyzed. David concluded he needed to flee. There is no evidence that David consulted the LORD! There is also no evidence that the LORD blessed this thought process.
So David finds himself as a guest in the land of the Philistines, at Gath under King Achish. He is later given Ziglag to settle there. We doubt if this is part of the script. You need to be a sinner to know the extent of God’s forgiveness!
We feel for David. The LORD’s timing isn’t always about the best for mortals. The LORD’s gears to top speed don’t always increase. This formula can leave the saint very confused. You must pray about it; otherwise, you are likely to find yourself in enemy territory with the conviction that probably the LORD meant it that way.
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