Even though this lesson is on our relationship with God the idea of iniquities involves what we do against our fellow man. Wrong behavior can push people to take wrong sides. We should be a refuge for the hurting. Mercy to the anointed. No mercy to fools.

— Siding with the Enemy?

When David first meets Ahimelech, Ahimelech was sore afraid. David was supposed to be on mission for Saul but Saul had created a spirit of fear and intimidation for many.

1 Sam. 21:10:: David rose and fled (bāraḥ) that day from Saul and went to Achish the king of Gath.

1 Sam. 21:12-13:: David took these words to heart and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.

So he changed his behavior before them and pretended to be insane in their hands and made marks on the doors of the gate and let his spittle run down his beard.

Psalm 34:1:: David, when he changed his behavior before Abimelech, so that he drove him out (gāraš), and he went away. Remember Abimelech means my father is king so it is more of a title than a name, David actually fled to Achish, King of Gath but originally after feigning insanity he then fled (yālaḵ) to the cave of Adullam (1 Sam. 22:1).

It is possible that Psalm 34 has an error and it should have read Achish but that does not change one idea here. Remember, Abimeleh could also be a title. David originally fled (bāraḥ) Saul to Achish, king of Gath, and then was driven out (gāraš) of his presence after feigning madness. The Psalmist says Achish drove him out (made him to leave).

gaw-rash’ (gaw-rash’) to drive out, expell, cast out which is what Ahish (or Abimelech) apparently did to David. I imagine that Abimelech did the same thing to Abraham and Sarah upon learning of the sister deception. Even Isaac spoke the same lie to Abimelech (or his son) when he visited Gerar.

We will again see David returning to Achish in another 6 chapters. But we must be cautious about who we side with. Achish at this point seemed preferrable to King Saul. As leaders we must not push our people to dispair and press them to make unwise choices. Gath, home to both Goliath and Achish, means winepress. It was probably the pressure of Saul’s assaults that pushed David to side with the enemy. The whole Psalm 34 reference probably points more to David being pressured to uproot and leave places.

The enemy, Philistines, seem to have caused much contention for David and even the Patriarchs. Today it is not much different. The modern Philistines (the Philisteanun or Palestinians) are causing much contention for the children of Judah. Gerar is said to be close to Khan Yunis, which you might recognize as being in the Gaza Strip. Israel was driven out of Gaza in 2005-2006, as part of the land for peace initiative imposed upon Israel by the UN. It is sad to me that the Palestinians do not know what role they play in fulfillment of bible prophesy.

— Giving refuge to those under threat or persecution

1 Sam. 22:2:: everyone who was in distress, and everyone who was in debt, and everyone who was bitter in soul, gathered to him. And he became commander over them. And there were with him about four hundred men.

David created a refuge which again Yeshua becomes toward us. However, in chapter 23 we see David’s men being afraid of the Phillistines at Keilah. It is likely David wrote Psalm 46 which states:
Ps. 46:1b:: God is our refuge and strength, a very present help in times of trouble.

Being afraid or having those around us fearful does not mean anything. We are human and need a place of refuge, even a city of refuge. We are normally most apt to minister to those around us for that thing for which we have also experienced. Do you think Yeshua was ever afraid? He was only human! God does not give us a spirit of fear yet we must be overcomers.

Ahimelek, the priest at Nob gave David and his men bread to eat. It was no ordinary bread but the shewbread which had be used at the temple. Afterwards Saul summoned the priest and his household.

1 Sam. 22:11:: the king sent to summon Ahimelech the priest, the son of Ahitub, and all his father’s house, the priests who were at Nob, and all of them came to the king.

Notice it is Ahimelek, not Abimelek. Ahimelek means my brother is king or melek is my brother. Saul, in his madness and anger had all of Ahimelek’s family killed except one son.

One of the sons of Ahimelech the priest named Abiathar was given refuge by David who said ‘stay with me; do not be afraid, for he who seeks my life seeks your life. With me you shall be in safekeeping’ (1 Sam. 22:23)

When we first hear of Ahimelech he was much afraid, trembling (1 Sam. 21:1). We also hear that David was much fearful when he first met Achish, King of Gath (1 Sam. 21:12). I must conclude that Saul had created an atmosphere of suspicious, fear, and intimidation after David fearlessly defeated the giant Goliath. David created a place of refuge for those fearful and under threat.

— David shows mercy to King Saul

What King David did was to respect King Saul, God’s anointed… despite obvious flaws. He spared Saul’s life in the cave going toward En Gedi and later on at the hill of Hachilah (1 Sam. 24 & 26).

Touch not my anointed and do the prophets no harm (Ps. 105:15)

We read David was in the rocks near to En-gedi which means “fount of the kid”. David was by the rocks of the wild or mountain goats (yāʿēl). These are two hebrew words: one meaning a baby goat (kid) and the out a full grown goat (yāʿēl).

Saul choose 3000 men of Israel to set out and capture David. After Saul entered a cave to go to the bathroom David snuck in after and was able to cut off a corner of Saul’s garment. David even felt guilty about that and had to restrain his servants who wanted to harm King Saul. After David revealed to Saul about the opportunity to kill him, Saul became very humble and repentant, even saying that David will be king one day.

At Hachilah David took Saul’s spear and a jug of water (1 Sam. 26:11). Now remember the spear is a carnal weapon, not like the shephard’s staff which David used.

Hacilah is a hill and it’s meaning is darkness. It is next to the wilderness of Ziph near to a place called Jeshimon which means waste, wilderness, desert, or desolate place. Saul also had 3000 men with him. Now David stayed in the wilderness of Ziph. We also read that David sent out spies just as Moses commanded from the wilderness.

Do you not get the prophetic picture here? They are both in the wilderness but Saul was also in a place of darkness, next to a waste place, something very desolate. There were 3000 of Saul’s men with him.

Death came to the children of Isael by the hands of the Levites.

Ex. 32:27-28:: Then he (Moses) said to them, “Thus says the LORD God of Israel: ‘Let every man put his sword on his side, and go in and out from entrance to entrance throughout the camp, and let every man kill his brother, every man his companion, and every man his neighbor.’ So the sons of Levi did according to the word of Moses. And about three thousand men of the people fell that day.

Yet on the Day of Pentecost about 3000 souls got saved. We see here in the mercy of King David no evil befell the 3000 soldiers with Saul. It is possible all 3000 could have died if King David had vengeance or even justice in his heart. For David respected what came before him and sought no harm to the Prophet Saul. It was an impossible decision to kill your brothers and sisters in the faith.

As best I can estimate David had about 600 men (1 Sam. 23:13) so Saul had about 5 times the men. Still, with God’s help a battle could go in either direction. This is being between ‘a rock and a hard place’. Why would David want to hurt Saul or his men? It is a quagmire, at best. Maybe that is apropos. Saul was beside an actual quagmire.

That brings up a question. What do we do when facing almost impossible circumstances as I see also very recently.

Be still, and know that I am God (Ps. 46:10) comes to mind.

Yeshua spoke this years later…
Matt. 5:7:: Blessed are the merciful, for they shall be shown mercy. Such is the case later in sitations involving Bathsheba and even later on in his life.

— Strange interlude between Saul chasing David

Between the two oppourtunities to harm King Saul, there is a very interesting story of Nabal and his wife Abigail. The Holy Spirit sometimes sandwiches in an unrelated story between to things where He is trying to teach us something very important. In this case we read that Nabal had three thousand sheep and a thousand goats. The sheep count corresponds to King Saul’s fighting men. The sheep had been led to a slaughter by a mad King, twice. Actually, if David had indeed killed Saul I highly doubt he would have to go after the 3000 soldiers, for sure even Jonathan might have interviened if around. The 1000 goats of Nabal is a bit tougher to interpret. We read that Nabal was shearing his sheep in Carmel. It is quite possible that the goats were in or around En Gedi. Just speculation on my part, but it does fit in with the narrative. The idea in 1 Sam. 24 calling it sheepfolds is a bit misleadig because that is really a wall or hedge and has been used to describe holding cattle (Num. 32:26), or in this case, goats. Additionally, Nabal was from Moan, he only had his business at Carmel (not current Mount Carmel). Moan is much south of Hebron
.
I say all of this to try to get to the spiritual lesson of King David and Nabal. We hear that Nabal lived in prosperity, in the coastal strip.

Nabal answered David’s servants, and said, “Who is David, and who is the son of Jesse? There are many servants nowadays who break away each one from his master (1 Sam. 25:10). Even his wife, Abagail realized her husband reviled David and his young servants. There is a note that none of Nabal’s things were missing while David’s men were with the shephards in Carmel. I am thinking this was months earlier since David seems to be in the wilderness during these chapters and the sheep were near to Carmel. Anyway, Nabal has come to mean fool for David and 400 of his met set out with swords to kill Nabal and his entire family. Nabal was not an anointed man and David had no regard for him or his family.

Outside of grace for the anointed, fools get no mercy. It is a wonderful that that Christ means the anointed one. Without Christ we cannot receive an anointing nor grace. It is true ‘Christ died for all’ but that should not be construed as universal grace for fools and sinners.

To the rich young farmer God said to him, ‘Fool! This night your soul will be required of you’ (Luke 12:20). Beware of covetousness. Nabal was a fool too. Abigail mean my father is joy and is also the name of David’s sister. Soon this Abigail was to be David’s wife because even though she stopped David’s pursuit of Nabal, he died 10 days later, being ‘struck’ from the Lord. King Herod in the book of Acts was also struck from the Lord and eaten by worms. We likewise can be ‘struck’ from the Lord like having a heart attack or stroke.

Remember Luke 12:15:: Take heed and beware of covetousness, for one’s life does not consist in the abundance of the things he possesses

Life is relational, both with God and with our fellow human beings. Let us remember God’s goodness and mercy.

Sources:
https://overviewbible.com/david/
https://www.gotquestions.org/Ziklag-in-the-Bible.html

During the demise of King Saul we read of David’s behavior and deception before Achish, Saul’s desperate move to consult a medium at Endor, lack of trust amongst the Philistine generals, Ziklag and a third day scenario, and how the Amalekites were the greater enemy to Israel

— More on Siding with Achish

— David deceives Achish, attacking the old enemies of Israel, not their allies (1 Sam. 27:8-10)

1 Sam. 27:8: David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites.

David did use deception here against Achish. He attacked the old enemies of Israel and told Achish that he was attacking Judah and their friends. Remember, the whole idea of David acting nuts was also a ruse in chapter 21. Deception is one strategy of warfare. I question the whole idea of lying, even to an enemy, but we are not in the same desperate sitation as was David. In verse 1 we see him reasoning to escape from Saul by living with the Philistines. Even his 600 men went with him into the land of the Philistines. We read in verse 11 that David left no man alive in the areas he raided so no word would get back to Achish of what he was actually doing. Achish fell for this deception and the bible is completely silent on the morality of this behavior.

This is where we cannot physically compare David to Yeshua. For Yeshua did not lie to the Jewish authorities or Romans about his purpose in life. However, I think the whole tapestry of Yeshua’s life did deceive the spiritually wicked forces of this world for if they had known they would not have crucified the Lord of glory (1 Cor. 2:8).

Remember Eph. 6:12:: we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places.

What David seemed to do against flesh and blood, Yeshua confined to spiritual wickedness.

However, the bible is not silent on what Saul is doing.

— Saul consults the medium at Endor (1 Sam. 28: 15-20)

Now King Saul resorted to deceipt and trickery. Saul disguised himself and put on other clothes when he went to visit the medium at Endor, one known to have a familiar spirit. The spirit, whether Samuel himself or a representation of Samuel ends up rebuking King Saul. By this time Saul was fearful, and even moreso after seeing the spirt called Samuel. The spirit of Samuel rebukes Saul. Afterwards, he could not even eat.

So why the sharp rebuke of Saul and none for David lying to Achish? We should not draw a moral story of it being acceptable to lie to our enemies, even enemies of God. This is not what Yeshua did. What David did to Achish, or even the Amalekites is not to be construed as acceptable behavior before God and his Son.

Ex. 20:16:: You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor
false (šeqer) means deception, disappointment, falsehood

We could say that Achish is not a neighbor so lying is ok in this case. The Muslim have a practice called taqiyya where it is acceptable to lie or deceive non-believers for the purpose of protection or advancement of Islam. There is another principle that Saul violated which was later spoken by the prophet Isaiah.

Is. 8:19:: when they say to you, “Seek those who are mediums and wizards, who whisper and mutter,” should not a people seek their God? Should they seek the dead on behalf of the living?

when Saul inquired of the LORD, the LORD did not answer him, either by dreams or by Urim or by the prophets (1 Sam. 28:6). Desperation calls for desperate measures!

The practice of consulting mediums had already been forbidden by Lev. 19:31, 20:6, Deut. 18:10-12. If you seek such guidance you might get truth or you could also get deceipt and even lies. The fact that Saul got truth from some spirit is amazing in itself.

— The princes of the Philisinnes did not trust David (1 Sam 29:24)

The five lords (seren = ruler or tyrant) of the Philistines passed in review by hundreds and by thousands, but David and his men passed in review at the rear with Achish. The princes (śar = military rulers: generals) of the Philistines said, “What are these Hebrews doing here? (1 Sam. 29:2-3)

Rightfully so, he had at least two occasions to kill Saul and would not! He also lied to Achish on his activities.

Achish trusted David but when the men of war went in review David was at the rear with Achish. In the parable of the workers in the vineyard the Lord Yeshua said ‘the last will be first, and the first last’. King David was preferred even though he was last. The military rulers of the Philisteans did not placed much stock in David but the Lord God of Israel did just as Achish did. If there was a parade, David was in the rear.

The Lord was also merciful to David so he should not be tested that day to see if he would fight against Israel.

We never hear much of Achish after this parade. It is too bad since he was in essence a protector of David.

— Ziklag and the third day scenario

1 Sam. 30:1:: when David and his men came to Ziklag, on the third day, that the Amalekites had invaded the South and Ziklag, attacked Ziklag and burned it with fire

We shall see that David had compassion on the weary. Taking only 400 ahead to pursue the battle.

1 Sam. 30:10:: David pursued, he and four hundred men; for two hundred stayed behind, who were so weary that they could not cross the Brook Besor

There was an unwilling helper from Egypt who helped David find the Amalekites

1 Sam. 30:13:: I am a young man from Egypt, servant of an Amalekite; and my master left me behind, because three days ago I fell sick.

Normally the third day scenario deals with redemption like Abraham looking up on the third day to see Moriah or the third day wedding at Cana (our model for Christ and his Church and the New Wine), or Yeshua rising from the dead on the third day. In this case redemption of the families of Ziklag came through an unlikely source, an egyptian.

In the case of David returning to Ziklag apparently it had been three days since the Amalekits had attacked Ziklag. Like Abraham venturing to Mt. Moriah, David also left behind men. There is nothing wrong with letting the weary or sick stay behind to guard provisions and rest.

Apparently it was the fourth day when David attacked Amalek. The fourth day is reminiscent of Lazarus being raised from the dead.

1 Sam. 30:17:: David attacked them from twilight until the evening of the next day. Not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men who rode on camels and fled.

I find it fascinating when we have numbers agree. The four hundred of David who attacked many more Amalekites but in the end let four hundred young men escape.

— The Amalekites were the greater enemy to both Israel and the Philistines

1 Sam. 30:16:: the great spoil which (the Amalekites) had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah

As bad as the Philstines were against Israel, they could not see the real enemy (the Amalekites). Amalek was a son of Esau and learnt to hate the sons of Jacob and they were the first to attack Israel when coming back to the land of Canaan. It was also Saul’s job to rid the land of Amalek which he failed to do. The Philistines, however, were sea people, possibly from the island of Crete. So while the bible does not say the Amalekites were enemies to the Philistines, it does not say they were allies either.

Yet David knew about this rift and lied to Achish about who he had been attacking. I submit to you that like the Jews and Palestinians of today, there is a greater enemy. We could call it Hamas or the Muslim Brotherhood or ISIS or Islamic Jihad, or even Al Qeida. It does not matter, in the end it is what is driven by Lucifer himself.

1 Sam. 30:25:: So it was, from that day forward; he made it a statute and an ordinance for Israel to this day.

What was this ruling? One, he wanted to share spoils with the 200 weary who stayed behind with the supplies. He also shared some of the spoils with the elders of Judah and his friends (1 Sam. 30:26). He declared the Amalekites the enemy of the LORD. This is not unlike Yeshua, who gave us a new commandment.

John 13:33-34:: A new command I give you: Love one another. As I have loved you, so you must love one another. By this everyone will know that you are my disciples, if you love one another.

This was not really a new commandment but a propetic interpretation of what the LORD had already given to the children of Israel (Deut. 6:5 & Lev. 19:18).

Lev. 19:18:: You shall not take vengeance, nor bear any grudge against the children of your people, but you shall love your neighbor as yourself: I am the LORD.

Of course in the time of King David the idea of neighbor extended to to that of Judah and his friends.

Friends included the Jerahmeelites (descendants of great grandson of Judah), and Kenites (the tribe of Moses’ father-in-law). This is what David told Achish he had raided during the time of deception (1 Sam. 27:10). The list at the end of 1 Sam. 30 actually shows he shared the spoils with 11 other places and probably other places where David and his men roved.

We are not told what happened to King Achish. Presumably he was reprimanded by the Philistean lords and put in his place.

Sources:
https://www.neverthirsty.org/bible-qa/qa-archives/question/what-do-the-terms-rod-and-staff-mean-in-the-23rd-psalm/