1 Samuel 26-27

1 Sam 26

Saul is actually not pursuing David when the people of Ziph tell him that David is hiding around Ziph. Then, Saul leaves with his warriors to find David. I think this shows that the prior incident where David spared his life in the cave had an impact on Saul. However, Saul being the wishy-washy ruler that he is, he just needs to be reminded by people who expect him to pursue David that he goes off and pursues David.

At Ziph, Saul's army is in a deep sleep caused by God. David sneaks into Saul's camp and steals a spear and water jug near where Saul was sleeping. He sneaks back out of camp and then starts yelling at Abner, Saul's general. Saul, Abner, and the rest of the army wake up and Saul recognizes David's voice.

It seems to be late at night, so they can't see where the voice is coming from. But anyway Saul apologizes to David and tells him to go home and that Saul won't pursue David anymore.

I think this might be accurate in that there are no more pursuits by Saul to chase David.

Chapter 27

However, David does not trust this promise but rather runs off to hide among the Philistines again. All 600 of David's soldiers and David's two wives settle in the Gath region. Verse 4 says that Saul stopped chasing David because he learned that David was living with the Philistines.

The king of Gath gives David the town of Ziklag to live in. This is mutually beneficial political. David has a private army which would threaten Gath. Plus, David is the renowned slayer of Goliath of Gath. So, there probably was a lot of tension between the people of Gath and this Israelite private army.

While in Ziklag, David acts like a vassal to the king of Gath and builds up trust. He goes on raiding trips and attacks other groups of people (including the Amelekites, who I thought Saul had completely destroyed) but tells the king of Gath that he killed fellow Israelites. Since David left no one alive, no witnesses could tell the king of Gath where David actually was.

David lives among the Philistines for a year and four month and they think he is a turncoat Benedict Arnold. In chapter 28, the king of Gath tells David that he must join them in battle and that David will his personal bodyguard.