“So Akhish summoned David and said to him, ‘As Adonai lives, you have been upright; and I myself would be more than pleased to have you go on campaign with me; because I haven’t found anything wrong with you between the day you arrived and now. However, the chiefs don’t trust you.'”-1 Samuel 29:6
The Philistine kings are begging Achish to come to his senses and NOT let David participate in the battle against Israel.
They remind him of who David is.
This was the man who defeated their greatest warrior, Goliath.
This was the warrior celebrated in poems and songs by Hebrew women.
This was the leader whose soldiers were ten times more loyal than those of Saul.
The bottom line was that David was not your average Israelite.
He epitomized Philistia’s worst enemy.
Achish realized there was no point in arguing anymore.
He turned to David and sadly gave him the bad news.
Achish felt bad.
He knew David had been honest and good, and he would have loved to have David fight alongside him.
But, the other Philistine lords didn’t trust David.
So David and his men would have to head back to Ziklag.
What’s interesting is that Achish got so emotional, that he even used the name of David’s God.
“As Yehoveh lives you have been upright.”
This shows how much Achish trusted David.
But what’s even more surprising is David’s response in verse 8:
“‘But what have I done? What have you found in your servant during the time I’ve been with you that disqualifies me from going and fighting against the enemies of my lord the king?'”
So I have a question for you.
Do you think David was being deliberately misleading here?
A lot of scholars interpret David’s answer as nothing but a statement of deception.
They argue that when David asked what disqualified him from fighting against the enemies of “my lord the king,” he was actually referring to Saul.
Personally, knowing what I know about human nature, I do believe David would’ve remained loyal to Achish and fought against Saul and his army.
Now, what would’ve happened if David came face to face with Saul again?
I can’t say for sure, but David wouldn’t have had a problem killing his men.
He’d done it before.
So again, when scholars claim that David was secretly plotting to suddenly betray the Philistines and Achish on the battlefield, I think it’s a bunch of BS projection again.
There’s no evidence to indicate David was going to betray the man who had saved his butt from Saul.
But what do you think?
David definitely fooled Achish into believing that he could be trusted.
When David’s men went on a raid, he told Achish that it was against Israel, but it was really against the enemies of Israel, and David made sure there were no witnesses left alive to contradict him.
I have no doubt that David knew the other kings would not trust him, and expected to be rejected. What he didn’t expect was what happened to his encampment while he was gone!
I believe that if David had not been rejected by the other Philistine kings, he would have gone to battle, convinced Achish to let him protect a flank, then off to the side, out of sight of the main army, he would have killed every Philistine he came across, and tell Achish he was upset that he didn’t get to fight more Israelites than he did.
That’s the David I know!
Don’t forget how he schemeed against Uriah, a trusted firned- more than that, one of the 30! So, if david was able to murder one of his most trusted, and most loyal friends, how much more so would he fool and turn against a Philistine?
Thanks for sharing your thoughts. I guess we’ll have to ask David when we meet him in the world to come.
In the last sentence, I believe the word “befriend” is an error. I think it should be “unfriend.”
Thanks for the head’s up. I actually meant to say “betray.” Will fix it now. Thanks again!
david was a man after GODs own heart, david would NOT of gone back on his word
Amen to that.