About 1 Samuel

1 Samuel records the transition from judges to monarchy, including Samuel's ministry, Saul's rise and fall, and David's anointing.

Author: Samuel, Nathan, GadWritten: c. 1050-900 BCReading time: ~2 minVerses: 12
TransitionKingshipObedienceRejectionGod's SovereigntyHeart

Places in This Chapter

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Carmel 1(Settlement)Egypt(Region)Gath 1(Settlement)Jezreel 3(Settlement)Negeb(Region)Shur(Region)Ziklag(Settlement)

King James Version

1 Samuel 27

12 verses with commentary

David Lives Among the Philistines

1

And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand. perish: Heb. be consumed

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KJV Study Commentary

David's internal reasoning reveals a crisis of faith after years of relentless persecution: 'I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul.' Despite repeated deliverances and divine promises, exhaustion produces despair. The Hebrew 'saphah 'espeh' (I shall surely be destroyed) expresses the certainty David feels in this moment of weakness. His solution, seeking refuge among Israel's enemies, repr...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(1) **And David said in his heart.**—David’s position seems to have grown more and more untenable during the latter days of Saul’s reign. Probably the paroxysms of the king’s fatal malady grew sharper and more frequent, and his chieftains and favourites, whom, as we have already seen (1 Samuel 26), he had chosen mostly out of the one small tribe of Benjamin, feared—and with good reason—the advent ...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**49. smote the Philistine in his forehead--**At the opening for the eyes--that was the only exposed part of his body.
2

And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.

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KJV Study Commentary

David's flight to Achish of Gath with six hundred men represents a significant escalation from his earlier desperate visit. The Hebrew 'wayya'abor' (passed over) suggests crossing a boundary, both geographical and spiritual. David's band now included families, transforming from a guerrilla force into a community requiring permanent settlement. This move placed the future king of Israel in service ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(2) **The six hundred men.**—This was the original number. They still formed the nucleus of the force, but the total number was now far larger. These “six hundred” had each their households, besides which, many a group of warriors, large and small, had already joined the now renowned standard of the future king. **Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath.**—The same, we believe, as that Achish to wh...
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3

And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife.

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KJV Study Commentary

The domestic details reveal the human cost of David's wilderness years: his household now included two wives, Ahinoam and Abigail, each with her own story of how she came to David. Every man with David similarly brought a household, transforming the fugitive band into a refugee community. The phrase 'every man with his household' (Hebrew: 'ish u-veto') emphasizes the scope of responsibility David ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(3) **And David dwelt with Achish at Gath.**—His reception by the Philistines seems to have been most kindly. There was a wide difference between the circumstances of this and his former visit to Gath. *Then *he was a fugitive, almost unattended; *now *he was at the head of an army of trained and devoted soldiers. Such a guest might be of the greatest service to the Philistines in their perpetual ...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**51. cut off his head--**not as an evidence of the giant's death, for his slaughter had been effected in presence of the whole army, but as a trophy to be borne to Saul. The heads of slain enemies are always regarded in the East as the most welcome tokens of victory.
4

And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him.

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KJV Study Commentary

The narrative tersely reports the end of Saul's pursuit: 'he sought no more again for him.' The Hebrew 'yasaph' (continued) with negative implies permanent cessation. David's strategy achieved its immediate goal: safety from Saul. Yet this safety came at the cost of exile from the promised land, service to pagans, and moral compromise. The verse marks a turning point in the narrative; Saul's energ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(4) **And it was told Saul.**—This short statement tells us plainly that up to the moment when Saul heard that David had crossed the frontier, he had not ceased to pursue after him and to seek his life. Ewald considers that it was during the residence at Gath that David exercised himself as a musician in the Gittite—i.e., the Philistine—style, which he afterwards transferred from there to Judah an...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**52. Shaaraim--**(See Jos 15:36).
5

And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?

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KJV Study Commentary

David's request for 'a place in some town in the country' reveals strategic thinking within moral complexity. By leaving Gath itself, David would gain freedom from constant surveillance while creating a base for independent operations. His humble self-designation ('thy servant') and rhetorical question ('why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?') employ the language of submission ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(5) **Why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee?**—The real reason why David wished a separate residence was that he might conduct his forays and other affairs apart from the supervision of his Philistine friends. *They *had one purpose in welcoming him and his band, *he *had quite another. Achish trusted that through David’s assistance powerful military demonstrations in the southe...
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6

Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day.

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KJV Study Commentary

Achish's gift of Ziklag to David establishes an ironic reversal: the future king of Israel receives his first territorial possession from a Philistine lord. The editorial note that 'Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day' indicates this city remained crown property for generations. The Hebrew 'lacen' (therefore, on account of this) suggests Ziklag's status resulted directly from t...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(6) **Ziklag.**—In the days of Joshua this place fell to the lot of Simeon (Joshua 19:5). It was afterwards captured by the Philistines, not long before the time of David, and Keil thinks was left without inhabitants in consequence of this conquest. Its exact situation has never been clearly ascertained; it certainly lay far south, near the Amalekite borders. **Wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**54. tent--**the sacred tabernacle. David dedicated the sword of Goliath as a votive offering to the Lord.
7

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months. the time: Heb. the number of days a full year: Heb. a year of days

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KJV Study Commentary

The timeframe 'a full year and four months' (Hebrew: 'yamim arba'ah chodashim,' literally 'days and four months,' where 'days' idiomatically means a year) establishes the extent of David's exile. This period roughly corresponds to the final sixteen months of Saul's reign, during which David operated independently while nominally under Philistine authority. The specificity suggests an accurate hist...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(7) **A full year and four months.**—Keil calls attention to the exact statement of time here as a proof of the historical character of the whole narrative. The Hebrew expression, translated “a year,” is a singular one: *yamim*—literally, *days*—a collective term, used in Leviticus 25:29, 1Samuel 1:3; 1Samuel 2:19, &c., to signify a term or period of days which amounted to a full year. This year a...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**55-58. Saul ... said unto Abner ... whose son is this youth?--**A young man is more spoken of in many Eastern countries by his father's name than his own. The growth of the beard, and other changes on a now full-grown youth, prevented the king from recognizing his former favorite minstrel [1Sa 16:23].
8

And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. Gezrites: or, Gerzites

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KJV Study Commentary

David's raids against the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites reveal his complex moral position during this period. These peoples were ancient enemies of Israel, populations that should have been dispossessed during the conquest. The phrase 'of old the inhabitants of the land' (Hebrew: 'me'olam yoshevei ha'aretz') connects David's actions to Israel's unfulfilled mandate. David thus continued Isra...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(8) **Went up.**—The expression is strictly accurate. The nomad tribes against whom his expeditions were directed dwelt on higher ground than David’s home at Ziklag, apparently on the wide extent of the mountain plateau, that high table-land at the north-east of the desert of Paran. **The Geshurites, and the Gezerites, and the Amalekites.**—These were all “Bedaween” tribes, the scourge of the Isra...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**55-58. Saul ... said unto Abner ... whose son is this youth?--**A young man is more spoken of in many Eastern countries by his father's name than his own. The growth of the beard, and other changes on a now full-grown youth, prevented the king from recognizing his former favorite minstrel [1Sa 16:23].
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.

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KJV Study Commentary

The brutality of David's warfare, leaving 'neither man nor woman alive,' presents modern readers with difficulty but must be understood within its ancient context and specific targets. The Hebrew 'lo yechayeh' (did not keep alive) indicates intentional elimination of witnesses. While morally complex, David's targets were peoples under divine judgment whose survival would expose his deception. The ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(9) **And left neither man nor woman alive.**—These acts of ferocious barbarity are simply without excuse; the reason for them is told us in 1Samuel 27:11. No captive was to be left alive to tell the tale to King Achish, who was under the delusion that David’s feats of arms were carried out at the expense of his own countrymen, whose lands he was harrying. At this the Philistine rejoiced when he h...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**55-58. Saul ... said unto Abner ... whose son is this youth?--**A young man is more spoken of in many Eastern countries by his father's name than his own. The growth of the beard, and other changes on a now full-grown youth, prevented the king from recognizing his former favorite minstrel [1Sa 16:23].
10

And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites. Whither: or, Did you not make a road, etc

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KJV Study Commentary

David's deception of Achish represents the moral nadir of his Philistine sojourn. When asked 'Whither have ye made a road today?' (Hebrew: 'al-mi peshatetem,' against whom did you raid), David lies, claiming to have attacked Judah, the Jerahmeelites (a southern Judean clan), and the Kenites (allies of Israel). This falsehood preserved his alliance with Achish while concealing his true activities. ...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(10) **And David said, Against the south of Judah.**—The answer of David to his sovereign lord, the King of Gath—for he was now, to all intents and purposes, a vassal prince of Achish—was simply a falsehood. He had been engaged in distant forays against the old Bedaween enemies of Israel, far away in the desert which stretched to the frontier of Egypt; and from these nomads—rich in cattle and in o...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

**55-58. Saul ... said unto Abner ... whose son is this youth?--**A young man is more spoken of in many Eastern countries by his father's name than his own. The growth of the beard, and other changes on a now full-grown youth, prevented the king from recognizing his former favorite minstrel [1Sa 16:23].
11

And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines.

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KJV Study Commentary

The grim explanation for David's thorough destruction reveals the practical necessity driving his brutality: 'Lest they should tell on us.' The Hebrew 'pen-yaggidu' (lest they report) exposes fear as the motivation. David's entire position depended on maintaining two incompatible personas: loyal vassal to Achish and faithful Israelite. Dead witnesses could not expose this contradiction. This verse...
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Ellicott’s Commentary for English Readers

(11) **And David saved neither man nor woman.**—This and the following (12th) verse gives the reason for these atrocious acts of murder. The wild and irresponsible Arab chief alone seemed represented in David in this dark portion of his career. This saddest of all the chapters in David’s life follows close upon the death of Samuel. It appears that the holy man of God had exercised, all the time th...
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12

And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever. utterly: Heb. to stink

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KJV Study Commentary

Achish's complete deception represents the success of David's strategy and its spiritual cost. The Philistine lord concludes that David 'hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him' (Hebrew: 'hivish hivish,' an emphatic double verb meaning thoroughly stink). His confidence that David 'shall be my servant for ever' reveals how completely the deception succeeded. Yet this moment of apparent tri...
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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

CHAPTER 18 1Sa 18:1-4. Jonathan Loves David. **1. the soul of Jonathan was knit with the soul of David--**They were nearly of an age. The prince had taken little interest in David as a minstrel; but his heroism and modest, manly bearing, his piety and high endowments, kindled the flame not of admiration only, but of affection, in the congenial mind of Jonathan.

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