Day 50 – 1 Samuel 21:10-15
Scripture Review
1 Samuel 21:10-15
"And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath."
(1 Samuel 21:10)
David is fleeing in fear. He goes, "to Achish the king of Gath." Gath is Philistine ground. This is the same world that gave Israel Goliath. David is so fearful that he runs into enemy territory.
"And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did not they sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?"
(1 Samuel 21:11)
David is recognized. He hoped to hide, but his name got there before he did. The servants remember the song. They call him "the king of the land." They know he is no ordinary man. They connect him to victory, fame, and danger. The song that once stirred Saul's jealousy now stirs Philistine suspicion.
"And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath."
(1 Samuel 21:12)
David takes their words seriously. He "laid up these words in his heart." He thought on them. He felt the weight of them. The fear has deepened. David feels trapped. Saul is behind him, and Achish is in front of him.
"And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard." (1 Samuel 21:13)
David "changed his behaviour" and "feigned himself mad." He acts like a madman to save his life. David is the same man who once said, "I come to thee in the name of the LORD of hosts," but here he is scratching at doors and letting spittle fall on his beard.
"Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him unto me?"
(1 Samuel 21:14)
Achish believes what he sees. David is spared, but not in a noble way. God delivers him, yet David's path here is still humbling.
"Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?"
(1 Samuel 21:15)
Achish rejects David with contempt. "Have I need of mad men?" He wants nothing to do with him. That rejection becomes David's escape. The very thing that looks shameful becomes the means by which he gets out alive.
These verses do not show David at his strongest. It shows him afraid, cornered, and acting beneath the dignity God had given him. But it also shows something else, the Lord did not let David be destroyed there. That is mercy. That is preserving grace.