1 Samuel 27

1 Samuel 27

Even though Saul had once again given up on trying to find and kill David, at the beginning of 1 Samuel 27, David is not sure that there war is over. It is obvious that David still does not trust Saul, and why would he? Saul had been known for breaking his promises, and David was not sure that he would keep this latest promise. So David decided to leave Israel altogether and go into the land of the Philistines. He knew that if was with the Philistines, then Saul would give up for the Philistines were the enemies of Saul.


Saul did give up on his pursuits, which shows that even though he had once again promised to quit trying to kill David in 1 Samuel 26, he had reverted back to his old ways. Although these last several chapters have really focused on Saul’s mistakes, we can relate to his struggles. I would guess that most of us do not struggle with the desire of killing someone we know. However, we all have our problems, and we all have sin in our lives that we find it tough to overcome. So even if it is not murder, we all have to learn how to overcome the sin in our lives. Saul showed us the first step, confession. He had previously recognized his sin and confessed it before God and before David. However, his problem was that he did not let that change his life. His actions did not back up his words. To overcome the sin in our lives, we have to be willing to give it up to God so that He can work in us. Then, we have to let Him work, even if it hurts, even if it means that we have to give up something (sacrifice). So while it is easy to be hard on Saul, we all have our struggles. The difference is how we overcome them.

While David was with the Philistines, he asked for a place of his own. The leader of the Philistines gave David a home in Ziklag, and after his departure, that place became part of the nation of Israel. During the almost year and a half that David lived among the Philistines, he went around conquering lands for them. He did this in order to gain their trust. He had victory in all the battles that he fought, and some of the Philistines felt like David had ultimately turned his back on Israel. Now while it is not clear at this point in the story, I believe David probably had something else in mind. He knew that he was next in line for the throne of Israel, and who better to make friends with than your enemies? When Israel entered the Promised Land, they failed to conquer all of it. David would later win many battles and add a lot of land to Israel, actually conquering some of the land that they should have already possessed. So I think that these battles in 1 Samuel 27 and his alignment with the Philistines may have been the start of some of David’s future victories.

Matt