1 Samuel 27:8 - Meaning and Application

Here is an account of David’s actions while he was living in Philistine territory. He made a hard attack on the remaining people from nations God had already marked for destruction, and he then reported the raid to Achish, the Philistine king. We can excuse David for no injustice or cruelty in the attack itself, because these were people whom God had long ago judged. The one carrying it out was the man God had chosen for rule, so it was fitting both that the task be done and that David do it.

David was not meant to sit idle, even if he thought it wise, in humility, to keep out of Saul’s way. He wanted safety from Saul only so that he could later serve Israel openly. In this way, he was carrying out God’s old quarrel with these nations, and at the same time providing food for himself and his men, since they had to live by the sword. The Amalekites were to be completely destroyed, and the Geshurites and the Gezrites were probably branches of Amalek. Saul had been rejected for sparing them, but David now made up for that lack of obedience before he became king. He struck them and left no one alive (1 Samuel 27:8, 1 Samuel 27:9). The raid supplied itself, because the spoil they took gave David’s men enough to live on.

Still, we cannot excuse David for the way he misled Achish when he told the story of this expedition. David seems to have made sure no one survived to carry the news to Gath (1 Samuel 27:11), not because he was ashamed of the raid itself, but because he feared the Philistines would see him as a threat or suspect him of danger to them and their allies, then drive him out. People could easily have reasoned, “If he has done this once, he will do it again,” so David carefully hid the truth. He was able to keep it quiet by putting everyone to death, since no neighbor was likely to report it, and news did not travel as fast then as it does now.

He also hid the truth from Achish by speaking in a way that was not worthy of his character. When asked where he had raided, he answered, “Against the south of Judah” (1 Samuel 27:13). It was true that he had attacked lands south of Judah, but he made Achish think he had attacked places in Judah itself, such as the Ziphites, who had betrayed him more than once. Achish understood it that way and concluded that David had made the people of Israel hate him, which would tie him more firmly to Achish’s side. Achish’s loyalty to David, his good opinion of him, and the trust he placed in him make David’s deception worse. David later seems to look back with sorrow on this kind of conduct when he prays, “Remove from me the way of lying.”