Chapter Twenty-Nine
The Philistine Lords Refuse David’s Participation
29:1 Now the Philistines had gathered all their forces at Aphek. And the Israelites were encamped by the spring that is in Jezreel. 2 As the lords of the Philistines were passing on by hundreds and by thousands, and David and his men were passing on in the rear with Achish, 3 the commanders of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here?” And Achish said to the commanders of the Philistines, “Is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me now for days and years, and since he deserted to me I have found no fault in him to this day.”
Meanwhile some of the Philistine commanders had marshaled their armies in Aphek before proceeding to Shunen in the Jezreel Valley area (approximately forty miles north of Aphek). After Achish’s men from Gath passed by, David and his men were seen by the Philistine commanders. They ask Achish, “What are the Hebrews doing here?” Possibly surprised by their question, Achish tells them that this is David, who once was Saul’s servant, but has deserted him and Israel and now is with him, and has been for days and years (the Septuagint states that this was his second year with him), and that so far he has not had any problems.
29:4 But the commanders of the Philistines were angry with him. And the commanders of the Philistines said to him, “Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him. He shall not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For how could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Would it not be with the heads of the men here? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, ‘Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands’?”
The commanders of the Philistines were not willing to risk having David with them, that he might become an adversary and turn against them. They ask, what better way would there be to seek reconciliation with his king, other than with the heads of the men here? They then remind Achish, is this not David, the one that his people sing praises and dance? The one the Israelites sing, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands.”
29:6 Then Achish called David and said to him, “As the LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. 7 So go back now; and go peaceably, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”
Achish tells David that even though David is trusted by Achish, the other lords do not approve of him and his men joining them in battle. He asks him to go peacefully back to Gath (some twenty miles south).
29:8 And David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found in your servant from the day I entered your service until now, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”
David feigns being hurt by the accusation and asks, “But what have I done?” And further asks what has he found in him from the first day until now, that would prevent him from joining him in this battle.
29:9 And Achish answered David and said, “I know that you are as blameless in my sight as an angel of God. Nevertheless, the commanders of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ 10 Now then rise early in the morning with the servants of your lord who came with you, and start early in the morning, and depart as soon as you have light.”
Achish replies that he knows that David is blameless, and that in his eyes he considers him to be like, “an angel of God.” He tells them to return home the next day as soon as there is light.
29:11 So David set out with his men early in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines. But the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
On the morning of the next day David and his men returned to the land of the Philistines, back to Ziklag.
Considerations
Additional Information from 1 Chronicles 12
The chronicler provides some of the names of David’s men in 1 Chronicles 12:1-7. We are also informed that there were several men that deserted David refusing to enter into a battle against Israel, they are named in 1 Chronicles 12:19-22.