Slices
Prepare
‘Lord, my mind is busy, but right now one thing matters: to sit in your presence and to learn from your word. Help me to be still. Amen.’
Bible passage
Achish sends David back to Ziklag
29 The Philistines gathered all their forces at Aphek, and Israel camped by the spring in Jezreel. 2 As the Philistine rulers marched with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were marching at the rear with Achish. 3 The commanders of the Philistines asked, ‘What about these Hebrews?’
Achish replied, ‘Is this not David, who was an officer of Saul king of Israel? He has already been with me for over a year, and from the day he left Saul until now, I have found no fault in him.’
4 But the Philistine commanders were angry with Achish and said, ‘Send the man back, that he may return to the place you assigned him. He must not go with us into battle, or he will turn against us during the fighting. How better could he regain his master’s favour than by taking the heads of our own men? 5 Isn’t this the David they sang about in their dances:
‘“Saul has slain his thousands,
and David his tens of thousands”?’
6 So Achish called David and said to him, ‘As surely as the Lord lives, you have been reliable, and I would be pleased for you to serve with me in the army. From the day you came to me until today, I have found no fault in you, but the rulers don’t approve of you. 7 Now turn back and go in peace; do nothing to displease the Philistine rulers.’
8 ‘But what have I done?’ asked David. ‘What have you found against your servant from the day I came to you until now? Why can’t I go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?’
9 Achish answered, ‘I know that you have been as pleasing in my eyes as an angel of God; nevertheless, the Philistine commanders have said, “He must not go up with us into battle.” 10 Now get up early, along with your master’s servants who have come with you, and leave in the morning as soon as it is light.’
11 So David and his men got up early in the morning to go back to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.
Explore
I knew a girl at university who spent her first year as two different people. One version of Sara was a keen Christian, worshipping her heart out at the Christian Union, first to arrive at our hall Bible Study. The other version drank herself to oblivion most nights of the week and had slept with a significant proportion of the rugby team. She became deeply troubled and unhappy and eventually made her choice, walking away from faith.
David is in a somewhat similar predicament here. He has bedded in so well with his Philistine hosts that he is actively champing at the bit to attack his own people (v 2). He clearly had a great working relationship with Prince Achish (v 6; see 27:2). But it takes a Philistine to point out the obvious: he doesn’t belong on their side of the battlefield (v 9). He is not one of them.
Jesus didn’t give us the option of dual-citizenship. We are either in his kingdom, with undivided allegiance to him, or we are outside it, serving another master. As James put it: ‘Don’t you know that friendship with the world means enmity against God?’ (4:4).
Respond
Are there any places in your life where your heart is divided? Remind yourself which world is your true home.
Deeper Bible study
Think of a time when you found yourself in a tight corner. How did the situation get resolved? Could you see God’s hand in the events?
Paradoxically, it is David’s success in fooling Achish so completely that trips him up, when the Philistines gather for battle against Israel and David is expected to fight against his own people.1 If he sides with the Philistines, he will lose support in Israel; if he turns on the Philistine troops, he will be outnumbered. Not for the first time, David is trapped, yet once again God’s providence saves him from an impossible situation.
The chapter is deliciously ironic, as the suspicious Philistine commanders, no friends of David, end up saving him from his dilemma (v 4), while Achish asserts David’s innocence in high-sounding language that is true from Israel’s perspective, but blatantly misguided from his lips (vs 6,9). David’s protest about fighting ‘the enemies of my lord the king’ (v 8) is also nicely ambiguous, completing the picture of nothing being as it seems.
The implicit comparison between Saul and David once again highlights the difference between those faithful to God and those who are not. Saul disobeyed God’s orders about the Amalekites and will reach the end of the road in death,2 David fought them on his raids from his Philistine quarters3 and will now be delivered from his predicament. The fact that he is rescued in such a way is surely a sign of God’s amazing protection. It encourages us, believers, that when we seek to live in faithfulness to God, we can count on him every time, whether our difficulties involve a seemingly unresolvable conflict, financial needs or work problems. He will not leave us nor forsake us,4 and his solutions are often unexpected and surprising.
‘The Lord is close to the broken-hearted and saves those who are crushed in spirit. The righteous person may have many troubles, but the Lord delivers him from them all’.5
1 1 Sam 28:1 2 1 Sam 28:18,19 3 1 Sam 27:8 4 Deut 31:8 5 Ps 34:18,19
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Ezekiel 30,31; Psalms 123–125
Pray for Scripture Union
As work comes to completion on the next Faith Guide Hub collection at the end of the year, Content Developer Leanne Shepherd asks us to pray that she would be able to continue to maintain a healthy work/life balance.
