1 Samuel 27:8 Commentary and Bible Study

The Geshurites, and the Gezrites were remnants of those seven Canaanite nations which Joshua had been commanded to destroy and take possession of their lands (Joshua 10:33; 13:2), and the Amaletikes were descends of Esau who opposed Israel’s entry into the land (Exodus 17:8). They were branches of those groups that dwelt in the wilderness, neighbouring the Ziklag region. The tribes allotted to these territories had failed to drive them out completely. They had been thrown out; but they had gone back. These people were no doubt carrying out regular raids against Israel, and that is one of the things that made David so popular at home with his own people: that he alone, not Saul, was dealing with these various Canaanites who kept up their incursions and their raiding attacks; he dealt with them.Mark you, he is obliged to be very harsh. It was a long way from Gath, but David wanted to make sure that Achish did not hear that he was actually attacking Israel's enemies. If you feel critical of David because of verse 9 – ‘And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish’ – it is hard to say that such criticism is not justified. David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away everything. So yes, they were the traditional enemies of Israel, but there is no quarter shown, no mercy shown, because David is afraid that word will get back to the king of Gath that he is attacking, not Israelites, but other Canaanites. When the Amalekites sack Ziklag a little later at a time when David is away, they preserve the lives of the women and children, and yet here in these chapters you get an incident where the godly seem to be less compassionate than the heathen, because the heathen preserve lives and the godly destroy them. Well, the position David had got himself into out of fear of insecurity, of it being known in Gath what he was doing; he has to be much more cruel than he would normally be, even against enemies. He is not straightforward with Achish and implies he has been dealing with Israelites, when he has been slaughtering Canaanites. So he is back into dishonesty, and his fall had led him into a sticky situation, and compromise always does. But he is in the land of the Philistines, and that means a whole number of things. What will it do for him to be surrounded by idolatry, and not in the place where God has appointed him to be? What will it do for Abigail? She came to his attention, and he married her because she was so discerning and enlightened and spiritually minded and wise. She seems to be a wonderful believing woman, and he has taken her into the land of the Philistines. Did it ever occur to him what this would do to his wives and his family, let alone the six hundred? Some of them probably had a very slender hold on the faith. Now they are in the land of the Philistines and David has lost his confidence and his faith. There is no ongoing proving of the Lord in that situation. And it involves another sin, because he has to lie to Achish concerning what he is doing. He has to conceal the fact that he has been executing Philistines, Canaanites, and he has to murder them: all so that news doesn't get back to Achish,. first lord of the Philistines, and the only one among the Philistines with the title of king. And the worst is to come, because the Philistine war against Israel is going to be organised, and Achish is going to say to David, ‘You ride with me.’ Now what is he going to do, when he is forced to be part of an onslaught against the people who he has been anointed to lead? So his compromise is going to get him into the worst situation of his life.‘And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever.’ And you could read there: ‘He shall be my slave for ever.’ Of course he doesn't tell David that, but Achish comes across in these few chapters here as a very reasonable person. He trusts David; he likes David, though David has let him down before, and turned into a madman. He receives him back again and wants to be hospitable to him. But be careful, because this same Achish is the senior lord of the Philistines, so you may be sure that when it comes to the great Philistine invasion of Israel, which takes place in the next chapters: Achish is the principal architect of it. So while he can be very reasonable, cultivated, courteous, and pleasant to David, a little bit of his bite is revealed here in these words. His private declaration: ‘Therefore, he shall be my slave forever’; I have got him.