1 Samuel 27 | Wayfarer

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines.
1 Samuel 27:1

Yesterday Wendy and I, along with our backyard neighbors, hosted a backyard cookout for over one hundred people from our local gathering of Jesus’ followers. It was awesome. For the record, I still smell like a charcoal grill.

One of the many interesting conversations I had was about how God orchestrates His purposes for us even through seemingly “bad” times. I had a couple of people relate to me about how they could look back and see how God was using difficult stretches of their life journeys to orchestrate positive outcomes and divine purpose even though it wasn’t obvious at the moment.

In today’s chapter, David finally realizes that no matter what promise Saul makes, and no matter what oath he swears, Saul will never stop trying to kill him. David determines that his best option is to live among his nation’s enemy, the Philistines. David knew that Saul could not risk the diplomatic crisis of invading Philistine territory looking for David. So, David goes to Achish, King of the Philistines, and secures sanctuary for himself and his men.

The author of 1 Samuel slips in two important facts regarding the continuing development of David’s leadership and preparation for the throne in the year and four months that David lived among his enemies.

First, the author notes that David’s band of outcasts, misfits, and mercenaries is at 600. That two hundred more men that David started out with back in chapter 22. His private army is growing as David continues to develop his leadership skills, and these men are loyal to David, not to a particular nation. This will serve David well when he eventually ascends to the throne. He has a highly trained and experienced army who are fiercely loyal to him and not just tribal conscripts who will follow whoever happens to be sitting on the throne.

The second fact is easy to miss for contemporary readers. While living in Philistine territory, David and his men raid towns and people groups who were supposed to have been conquered during the conquest of the Promised Land but were never successfully defeated. For the author’s Hebrew audience, this is significant. David is finishing the job given to Joshua that the Hebrew tribes could not, or would not, finish after Joshua died. In their eyes, this makes David a successor to their hero Joshua, marking David once again as God’s man for the job of leading the nation.

In the quiet this morning, these observations reminded me of my conversations from yesterday afternoon. When David flees Saul and is forced to live among his enemies, I doubt he saw what God was doing in the grand scheme. In fact, I think it likely that David only felt like his prophesied ascension to the throne was only getting further and further away from becoming a reality.

As I enter into another day, and a new work week, I’m reminded of a lyric from Psalm 112, which may have even been penned by David himself:

“Even in darkness light dawns for the upright.”

If you know anyone who might be encouraged by today’s post, please share.

But David thought to himself, “One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.” 1 Samuel 27:1 (NIV)

Professional sports can be a funny thing. When you’re a long suffering fan of a perennial loser (in our case that would be the Cubs or the Vikings) you face the annual dilemma of who you are going to cheer for in the playoffs. All season long you’ve hated the other teams in your division for beating up on your boys of summer/winter. But, now it’s the playoffs and you know the other team well. Do you stay loyal to your division or league? Or, do you take alliance with some strange team from the other side of the country whom you’ve never watched with the hope that they will beat up on your local rivals?

I find it equally fascinating to watch players move from team to team and all of the machinations that go along with such moves. Financial considerations are, of course, the most common reasons I see for player moves. Nevertheless, there are loyalty considerations, political considerations, and personal considerations that all play into the decisions of coaches, managers, owners and players.

In David’s day, the region around Israel was made up of small towns who acted much like independent city states but were loosely tied to a larger national confederacy. It’s much like a league of teams that are part of larger divisions. David, the rabidly loyal star player and league MVP for team Israel, got cut by his headstrong coach, even though the team owner didn’t approve of the move. David is now a free agent and, in today’s chapter, he chooses to switch divisions. He negotiates a contract with the rival league to be a player/manager for team Ziklag which puts him in the Philistine division, but the remaining season schedule means he will only face teams from the Amalekite division. David doesn’t have to face his former team who is in a bitter pennant race with the other teams in his new division.

It was a shrewd move. David spends the rest of the season wiping up the new competition while biding his time. He’s guessing that his former team will lose big under it’s current manager and coach, Saul. David knows he’s a favorite of the team owner and the owner had once promised David that he would someday run the team. Nevertheless, Saul has been a fan favorite, a star in his own right, and he’s still under contract. David realizes he has to bide his time. If and when Saul goes down to defeat, David knows that the phone is going to ring and the owner will name him the new player/manager for his hometown team.