Facing the shadowy side of our character (1 Samuel 27)

After the high point of David’s trust in the Lord (1 Sam 26:9-10, 23-24), our reading opens puzzlingly with David’s fears that he might die at Saul’s hands (1 Sam 27:1). Has he lost faith? The subsequent narrative of staying with the Philistines, his ruthless killing of local peoples and his subterfuge practised on Achish raises uncomfortable questions. Given our heightened sensitivities regarding acts of genocide today, the picture that emerges through this story is troubling. Moreover, the narrator gives us no clue as to how to assess this chapter.

David’s decision to leave the land and his craftiness

This Philistine episode will lead to Saul’s death, so David would have been on the run for years by now,[1] constantly in danger, betrayed by his own tribe (Keilah – 1 Sam 23:12; Ziph – 1 Sam 23:19-20; 26:1),[2] and refused help by a fellow Judahite (Nabal – 1 Sam 25:10-11). Thus, his concern that Saul will sooner or later kill him, if he remains in Israel, is a realistic assessment, not necessarily a loss of faith (though it may be read that way). God’s protection of him does not preclude human action, so David has to make choices about where he hides. Was it wrong of him to move to Philistia? It is hard to tell, though the silence about inquiring of the Lord leaves us uncertain even though his shrewd appraisal is proved right (1 Sam 27:3-4).

David’s craftiness in outwitting the Philistines would have pleased an Israelite audience and not necessarily have been seen as reprehensible. Nevertheless, such deceptive tendencies sound a warning, especially as David ends up in serious trouble as a result (1 Sam 28:1-2). Who is to say that such duplicity will not be used in the wrong cause one day? In fact, David will practice such in the cover-up of his adultery (1 Samuel 11).

The killing of the local inhabitants

David’s raids can likewise be read in two ways. Fighting the local inhabitants is reminiscent of Israel’s battles with the local Canaanite population, whom they failed to subdue (1 Sam 27:8; Judg 1:27-36),[3] while the mention of the Amalekites (v.8) reminds us of God’s command to Saul to destroy them (1 Sam 15:1-3) and his failure to do so.[4] Thus, David may be seen here as fighting on behalf of Israel as its rightful king. That he did not change sides and become a mercenary for the Philistines against his own people is remarkable, given the persecution and betrayals he had suffered. This is unlike those today who have been hurt by God’s people, the Church, and become her most ferocious enemies. The difference for David, no doubt, is due to his primary allegiance to the Lord rather than to people. In working for the good of his people who hurt and betrayed him, David also foreshadows Jesus in a small way. On the other hand, the massacre of survivors is brutal even though it is a political necessity if David wants to evade Philistine exposure (1 Sam 27:11). David’s potential for violence (observed in Nabal’s story) emerges again. While warfare was an inevitable reality for kings in the ancient world, David’s ruthlessness here is worrying. Indeed, it will come to the surface again when David will use violence for his selfish ends by having Uriah murdered (2 Sam 11:14-15).

Our only hope for a godly life

David’s character, then, is not easily classified in black-and-white terms. Yet, the absence of any mention of God (by David or the narrator) is a warning. Even in what is positive, there is the potential for evil if not in the present, then in the future. Yet, if we compare David and Saul and wonder why the one was accepted and the other rejected, we come back to the one big difference, David’s relationship with the Lord. This is what reasserts itself even after terrible sins and tragic mistakes and makes him a man after God’s own heart. Thinking of ourselves, we all have shadowy aspects to our personalities and when we act without submitting ourselves fully to the Lord, sin is crouching at the door with its desire for us (Gen 4:7). That is why our only hope for a godly life is looking to the Lord and surrendering our impulses, thoughts and actions to Him.

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[1] When David fights Goliath, he has not joined his brothers in Saul’s army but only comes to bring provisions to them (1 Sam 17:17). This suggests that he was not quite twenty, i.e. of fighting age (Num 1:3). David becomes king at thirty (2 Sam 5:4). Allowing time for him to establish himself in court, marry Saul’s daughter and face increasing hostility from Saul until he must flee, there is still likely quite a number of years left for him to be on the run.

[2] Both Keilah and Ziph are in Judah and so is Nabal’s city, Maon. See Josh 15:44, 55.

[3] Geshur was a region south of Judah that Israel failed to conquer (Josh 13:1-2).The Girzites are only mentioned here so we know nothing more about them. The Amalekites were a nomadic group living south of Judah at the time they first attacked the Israelites fresh out of Egypt (Exod 17:8-16.) They are described as a vicious enemy targeting the weak and stragglers (Deut 25:17-19).

[4] On the moral dilemma around dealing with the Amalekites, see my earlier post about Saul who failed to destroy them (The destruction of the Amalekites [1 Sam 15:1-3]). For the larger question of ‘utterly destroying’ the local inhabitants in Canaan as commanded in Deut 7:1-2, see Paul Copan, Is God a Moral Monster? Making Sense of the Old Testament God (Grand Rapids: Baker, 2011), chapters 15-17. Copan argues that Israel’s wars of conquest were like other ancient warfare and the language of ‘no survivors left’ (e.g. Josh 10:29-35) was a stock phrase to indicate a decisive victory rather than literal extermination. This also concurs with archaeological evidence that shows no signs of the wholesale wiping out of local peoples. That the phrase is hyperbole seems to be confirmed in Saul’s case where he has supposedly destroyed the Amalekites utterly (except for Agag; 1 Sam 15:8-9), yet this people group continued to remain a threat as in our reading and in 1 Sam 30:1.

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