The Book of Samuel 29 writes about the upcoming battle between the Hebrews and the Philistines, but with a twist. Readers follow this narrative from the perspective of the Philistine army camp, with whom David and company were embedded. Recall from an earlier chapter (Samuel 27), David escaped King Saul’s repeated attempts on his life by relocating to Gat, territory controlled by Philistines. There, David befriended Gat’s King Achish. In time, he became the king’s trusted military attaché. Actually, more than that. David and his men served as Achish’s personal bodyguards.
”Now the Philistines gathered together all their hosts to Aphek; and the Israelites pitched by the fountain which is in Jezreel.”
As for the Gat’s military formation, we read: “And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish.” The chapter, already weird because David is marching under the Philistine’s flag against the Hebrews, gets stranger. “Then said the princes of the Philistines: What do these Hebrews here?” Understandably enough, Philistine top brass felt jumpy with the newly-forged Achish/David axis. The officers’ angst centered on the long-standing animosity between David and the Philistines. Hadn’t David slayed Goliath, the Philistine strongman? Aptly, Abravanel borrows an ancient proverb to describe the ludicrousness of the situation, and I paraphrase: “To put the fox guard over the henhouse.”
For the king’s part, this unfolding scene didn’t bother him a whisker. “And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines: Is not this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days or these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away unto me unto this day?” In a word, Achish felt nonplussed, and told his officers the same.
They wouldn’t hear of it. “But the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him: Make the man return…” Facing rebellion, a reluctant regent relented. “Then Achish called David, and said unto him: As the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the host is good in my sight; for I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming unto me unto this day; nevertheless the lords favor you not.” Of course that was the understatement of the century, but David got the message. He had been relieved of duty.
Sort of. David dug in his heels. “And David said unto Achish: But what have I done? and what have you found in your servant so long as I have been before you unto this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?” Verily, the dialogue between Achish and David beggar the mind. Citing an earlier Bible commentator, Abravanel spells out just how bizarre this chapter is.
Formerly, David refused to lay a finger on King Saul (See chapters 24 and 27.). He considered Saul his lordship, not to mention God’s anointed one. Why now the shift in attitude? How could David possibly justify or rationalize fighting alongside the Philistines against Saul? Such a volte-face would be viewed as a military conspiracy, let alone represent a major moral lapse.
Abravanel continues. How could David lift up arms against his brethren, considering that they never wronged him? Moreover, David had been anointed by Above to be their king. Attacking them would be absurd, senseless.
Here’s how Abravanel makes sense of things. David, as stated, had taken refuge with King Achish and the Philistines. This comfortable set-up afforded David and his men personal and financial security. Given that, Abravanel maintains, there is simply no way that a morally upright David would stab, in a manner of speaking, his host in the back. Rather, David promised to fend off Achish’s attackers – not charge and kill them. Hence, David would never have hurt King Saul or any of the Hebrews. More broadly, Abravanel asserts, David would never have actively aided or abetted Achish and his army.
In concluding his remarks, Abravanel says that a David marching arm-in-arm with Achish served as an occasion for a desperate plea, a plea that David later inserted in Psalms. In supplication, David begs God to scrutinize his conduct (Psalms 139). “For the Leader. A Psalm of David. O LORD, You have searched me, and known me.” David asks the Maker to publicize his intentions when he rode out with Achish to “battle” the Hebrews. Was it kosher, David cries? “Search me, O God, and know my heart, try me, and know my thoughts.” David begs the Creator to clear the record, his name. “And see if there be any way in me that is grievous, and lead me in the way everlasting.”
Indeed, this Psalm bespeaks David’s fervent prayer to God, one that He accepted. Focusing on our chapter, divine aid arrived – by unlikely helpmates: Achish’s top brass. The men grew fearful of David – paranoid and distrustful. Thus, they demanded Achish to relieve David posthaste. The Philistine chieftain obliged them, and by so doing, extricated David out of a crummy pickle: “So David rose up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning, to return into the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.”