I SAMUEL 27 lesson # 27
UNDERSTANDING HEROES
I. Introduction: An Overview of Chapter 27.
Note: Today’s lesson is an odd one. It does not seem to inspire faith or encourage virtue. In fact, Dale Davis says it is “God-less text” (Davis, pp. 137-145). You might even wonder why this passage is here. So let us do something different. Let us read the whole chapter at one time. It is not very long; it is only 12 verses.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 27:1-12.
Q What strikes you about this text? What jumps out at you and what do you think is being said here?
Q What is the story line?
An The chapter could easily be summarized in two parts: Seeking Refuge in Philistia: Leaving Israel (27:1-4) and Life in Philistine Territory (27:5-12). In the first part: David leaves Israel to escape Saul (27:1), and it appears to be successful (27:4). In the second part: David seeks distance from Achish (27:5-6), raids Israel’s enemies (27:8-11), and it appears to be successful (27:12).
Q As you read this chapter what do you dislike or feel uncomfortable with?
An = The Bible does not mind if you feel uncomfortable with part of a story. The Bible is well crafted literature and it knows when it is upsetting to you. It does it deliberately at times. I call it looking for the “disturbing part”. Sometimes finding it and pondering it is the key to finding out a key message of the passage before you?
Q So, what is the most disturbing thing about this little episode?
An = It is that David has left the promised land and has seemingly gone over to the enemy? Is it the brutal elimination of entire villages? Is it the bold face lying by David to Achish? Or is that David’s actions seem to be so successful: he is now safe (27:4) and deceitfully raiding and getting away with it? Why is our hero involved with seemingly disreputable practices, when he is the anointed one of God?
Q Does the text tell us God’s attitude towards David’s actions?
An = Curiously and carefully the narrator does not comment on either the correctness or incorrectness of David’s action. Let us go back in look more carefully into our passage and see what we can learn.
II. David in Philistia. I Samuel 27:1-28:2.
A. Leaving Israel and Seeking Refuge in Philistine Territory. I Samuel 27:1-4.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 27:1-4.
Q Is David leaving the faith?
An = Israel is the promised land, just as the church is the proper place for the believer. It seems like David is going to live with the “pagan Philistines” who are enemies of Israel. He has left the promised land. His great, great grandmother did just the opposite. Turn to the book of Ruth and have someone Read Ruth 1:16 and then 2:12. Ruth courageously came to Israel (to church) and now her great, great grandson is deliberately leaving it.
Note: David predicted he would probably have to leave Israelite territory just to survive. Turn with me to chapter 26:19-20 and let me read those two verses to you.
Note: Twice in 2 b and 3 b-e David is said to take others with him. When poor leadership drives someone from the church, others are hurt as well: they often take their families and their associates with them.
Note: Notice also that Saul truly did lie in chapter 26:21 when he promised he would stop his harassing of David. According to 27:4, it was only after David left Israelite territory that David got some relief from the hunting.
Q What is David’s motive for leaving Israel in 27:1 and going to Philistine territory?
An = He believed that eventually Saul would get him.
Q Do even good Christians get weary?
Q Who did David talk this over with according to 27:1?
An = He talked it over with “himself”. We all do this. We all think things out. Maybe David should have talked it over with good advisors. However, Samuel is dead, and Jonathan is seemingly unavailable.
Q Who was available and was not asked for advice?
An = The Lord and the priest Abiathar through whom David could have enquired of the Lord for information. Sometimes we will ask the Lord to guide us on risky adventures, like the deliverance of Keilah in chapter 23, but often when we are in pinch and “we see a way out” we just act without consulting the Lord. We do not intend to disobey the Lord, we are just reacting to pressure (C.f. Davis pp. 142-143 and his comment on Proverbs 14:12).
B. David Seeks Distance from Achish. I Samuel 27:5-7.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 27:5-7.
Note: David thinks out his moves. The story has a quoted speech in 27:1 and 27:5 each time before David moves, indicating that he is thinking out his moves. He seems to want to get some distance between himself and Achish. He wants the best of both worlds: be in Philistine territory and therefore safe from Saul and be free enough to operate without being under the constant eye of the pagan king. This seems to last about 16 months.
C. David’s Activity in Philistia: Raiding the Raiders. I Samuel 27:8-12.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 27:8-12.
Note: David never raided with brutality until he left Israel. If we saw Israel as a representative of the believing community of that time then Israel is an example of the church (the present believing community).
Q Are people prone to make greater mistakes when they are outside of the church’s influence?
Note: Those David is attacking are the enemies of Israel. There is some irony here in that David also attacks the Amalekites (Saul was commanded to fight this group in I Samuel 15 and had no doubt greatly reduced it) and he takes spoil. He is not fighting a holy war as Saul was commanded to fight (in a holy war no spoil was to be taken). David does take spoil and he leaves no survivors. Our author tells us about David’s brutal method twice: 27:9 and 27:11.
Q According to I Samuel 27:11 what is David’s reason for killing everyone in his raids?
An = So survivors will not tell on David. He lies to Achish in 27:10. Achish thinks David is raiding Israelites or Israelite allies, whereas David is fighting the enemies of Israel. David is lying so that he can have his cake and eat it too! He is getting in good with Israelites, and at the same time he is getting Achish to think that he is trustworthy. He can help his image back home while he stays in Philistine territory and stays safe from Saul.
Q Is the author trying to show us how perfect David is and that he makes no mistakes?
An = He certainly is not. David is shown to basically crack under the pressure of Saul’s relentless persecution, despite the many times David did the right thing. David is not perfect in these chapters. He does great things, but he also shows some abilities to make wrong choices. He lied to Ahimelech and that cost Ahimelech his life. He tried to join the Philistines earlier in chapter 21 and that backfired and David saved his life by making a fool out of himself and acting like a madman. Now, he commits brutalities against Israelite enemies and lies to the Philistines. David did great things in chapters 24-26, but he also made some blunders. The Bible does not portray its great men as perfect. However, back to our story….
Q Does Achish believe David?
An = Yes! He does believe David. It appears that David’s cunning seems to pay off. What is missing is that there is nothing said from God or by the narrator. It almost seems like David is operating in a vacuum. He is crafty and deceptive and it seems to be paying off. There is nothing said about faith or trust in God.
Q Does it often appear that human shrewdness helps us out of “tight spots” more than faith does?
An = It certainly appears so. However, before we go let us read six more verses.
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 28:1-2.
Q What happens to David’s little game of pretending to be loyal to Achish?
An = It backfires on him. Achish has so much confidence in David that he invites him to fight in the next war. The problem is that the next war is against David’s own people.
Note: Our author leaves us hanging as to what will happen to David. David is in a pickle of great proportions as the text switches back to an episode about Saul. It is almost like the author shows how well David’s deceitful and brutal game was going and then begins to show us how it is beginning to all unravel. David lied to Achish and now he is going to have to either live up to his lie or face an angry and even more powerful king than the Israelite Saul. It gets worse….
>>>> Have someone read I Samuel 30:1-4.
Q What seems to happen to David’s town while he was gone?
An = The nifty little arrangement of getting a village way out of reach of the Achish’s capital city and then using it as a base to raid Judah and Israel’s enemies proved costly. What he did to others was partially done to him.
Q What is the author trying to say?
An = In rough times we often crack as believers and act like we really do not believe. It never does us any good though. God does understand how hard it is when pressure is applied. Perhaps the silence in the text, without any immediate comment by the narrator, is done to help us sense God’s understanding; but as the story continues we begin to see that David’s actions were not good.