20240427

while waiting

1 Samuel 27:1-12 (JDV)

1 Samuel 27:1 David said to himself, “One of these days I’ll be swept away by Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape immediately to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me everywhere in Israel, and I’ll escape from him.”
1 Samuel 27:2 So David set out with his six hundred men and went over to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
1 Samuel 27:3 David and his men stayed with Achish in Gath. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
1 Samuel 27:4 When it was reported to Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
1 Samuel 27:5 Now David said to Achish, “If I have found favor with you, let me be given a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
1 Samuel 27:6 That day Achish gave Ziklag to him, and it still belongs to the kings of Judah today.
1 Samuel 27:7 The number of days that David stayed in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
1 Samuel 27:8 David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. From ancient times they had been the inhabitants of the region through Shur as far as the land of Egypt.
1 Samuel 27:9 Whenever David attacked the land, he did not leave a single person alive, either man or woman, but he took flocks, herds, donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he came back to Achish,
1 Samuel 27:10 who inquired, “Where did you raid today?” David replied, “The south country of Judah,” “The south country of the Jerahmeelites,” or “The south country of the Kenites.”
1 Samuel 27:11 David did not let a man or woman live to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Or they will inform on us and say, ‘This is what David did.'” This was David’s custom during the whole time he stayed in the Philistine territory.
1 Samuel 27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself repulsive to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”

while waiting

David escapes to Gath, putting himself out of reach of Saul. This allows for Saul to be the means of his own destruction. Meanwhile, David and his six hundred men continue to raid the towns of the Philistines, and in so doing are actually completing the judgment that God commanded Joshua. In time, the king will return. For now the nation must wait.

LORD, while we wait, keep us faithful to your commands.