Living Among Enemies

1 Samuel 27:1-12

Last week, John Farmer showed us a map of the places that Saul and his army chased David to kill him. Here it is for review:

Remember that David made a brief pit stop between Nob and the cave of Adullam at the Philistine city of Gath; in I Samuel 21 we read:

That day David fled from Saul and went to Achish king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, “Isn’t this David, the king of the land? Isn’t he the one they sing about in their dances: “‘Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands’?”

David took these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva run down his beard.

Achish said to his servants, “Look at the man! He is insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this man come into my house?”—I Samuel 21:10-15

Here is a map showing the extent of the Philistine held territory:

Now last week in I Samuel 26 John Farmer shared with us about how King Saul confessed that he had sinned and made a great mistake trying to kill David.   Fast forward now to I Samuel 27 and this is where our series picks up today with the message titled “Living Among Enemies.” Let’s read together:

Then David said to himself, “Now I will perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape into the land of the Philistines. Saul then will despair of searching for me anymore in all the territory of Israel, and I will escape from his hand.”

So David arose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.  And David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, each with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s widow.

Now it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, so he no longer searched for him.

Then David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your sight, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may live there; for why should your servant live in the royal city with you?” So Achish gave him Ziklag that day; therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.—I Samuel 27:1-7

Now the Bible doesn’t really tell us how David found favor in Achish’s sight, nor does it explain how David (who was once viewed as insane by Achish) now has found enough favor in Achish’s sight that Achish gives him one of the towns in the Philistine territory to live in with his men and their wives and children.

Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites and the Girzites and the Amalekites; for they were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as you come to Shur even as far as the land of Egypt. David attacked the land and did not leave a man or a woman alive, and he took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned and came to Achish.

Now Achish said, “Where have you made a raid today?” And David said, “Against the Negev of Judah and against the Negev of the Jerahmeelites and against the Negev of the Kenites.” David did not leave a man or a woman alive to bring to Gath, saying, “Otherwise they will tell about us, saying, ‘So has David done and so has been his practice all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’” So Achish believed David, saying, “He has surely made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore he will become my servant forever.”—I Samuel 27:8-12

Even in the enemy territory where he was safe from the pursuits and the attacks of King Saul, I feel fairly certain that David regretted his decision to leave the kingdom of Israel and live in the enemy’s kingdom.  He probably longed to go home to his father.

Remember that David’s life is recorded in the Bible as an imperfect type of the King that was yet to come.

The future King (Jesus) had to leave His Kingdom and His Father. He also had to live in an enemy’s Kingdom ruled by the Prince of Darkness.

Now David’s living in the enemy’s camp did not come without negative consequences and long lasting damage to his character.  

Many years later, Paul told the Corinthians the results of keeping bad company. 

Do not be misled: “Bad company corrupts good character.” Come back to your senses as you ought, and stop sinning; for there are some who are ignorant of God—I say this to your shame. –1 Corinthians 15:33-34

So what kind of damage did David’s character suffer after he crossed over into the Philistine territory?

1) David began lying on a regular basis and living a lie.

2) David and his men began killing all of the men, women in the towns and villages that he and his men raided and burned.  They did this on a regular basis and more than likely this slaughter included children because some Bible translations say that he left no one alive.

3) Later in our series we will see that David would commit adultery without regret.

4) Still even later we will see David murdering one of his own loyal men (one of the elite group that went by the name “David’s Thirty Mighty Men”).

This kind of bad behavior of lying and killing women and children and one of your loyal soldiers who risked his life in battle for you is certainly not the trademark of a person with good character.

Since David was the Lord’s anointed, had to be tormented by his bad decision to live among the ungodly.  He was not forgotten or forsaken by God, but God disciplines those He loves.

The Apostle Peter, explains how God punished sinful men in the past and how he rescued Lot even after he had made a bad decision about where to live:

For if God did not spare angels when they sinned, but sent them to hell, putting them into gloomy dungeons to be held for judgment; if he did not spare the ancient world when he brought the flood on its ungodly people, but protected Noah, a preacher of righteousness, and seven others; if he condemned the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah by burning them to ashes, and made them an example of what is going to happen to the ungodly; and if he rescued Lot, a righteous man, who was distressed by the filthy lives of lawless men (for that righteous man, living among them day after day, was tormented in his righteous soul by the lawless deeds he saw and heard) ⁹if this is so, then the Lord knows how to rescue godly men from trials and to hold the unrighteous for the day of judgment, while continuing their punishment. –2 Peter 2:4-9

David and his men lived among the lawless ungodly Philistines. They saw and committed many lawless deeds themselves, but David was God’s anointed, a man after God’s own heart, and God knew how to discipline him for his sins and his lawless deeds.  God also knew how to rescue David when he finally came back to his senses.

I recently read a book that records a true story about a prisoner of war (P.O.W.).  It was written by the P.O.W. himself.  He is actually a former Clemson graduate and he still lives here in Clemson.  The title of his book is Korea P.O.W. – A Thousand Days of Torment.  The author, Lt. William Funchess, tells how he was shot in battle in Korea in 1951 and then captured, starved and tortured for 1038 days as a prisoner of both the Chinese and the North Korean armies.

On September 5, 1953 the North Korean Army released all of the prisoners that they had not already killed or allowed to die through harsh treatment, starvation, or neglect except for one.  You guessed it, they kept Lt. Funchess a prisoner.  They drove him to another area where there were other P.O.W.s who had been brainwashed into refusing to be repatriated.  These prisoners urged Lt. Funchess to join them in refusing to be repatriated.  He told them absolutely not.  He told them that they were soldiers and that they had a responsibility to return home to their families and to their country.  They laughed at him and scorned him.

In a way, I think the North Korean commanders were a lot like the Philistine King Achish.  Whereas Achish wanted to present David to the Philistines as a trophy of a defector from the kingdom of Israel and Israel’s God, the North Koreans wanted to present Lt. Funchess and these other brainwashed P.O.W.s as examples of defectors from capitalism and democracy to communism.

There are times when we as believers living in the ungodly culture of today are like Lot, David, and Lt. Funchess in that we too are being tormented day after day in our righteous soul by the lawless deeds of this ungodly world.

Jude, one of Jesus’s brothers, gives us direction and hope for times like these.  In the book of Jude verses 20 through 25, Jude writes:

But you, dear friends, build yourselves up in your most holy faith and pray in the Holy Spirit. Keep yourselves in God’s love as you wait for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ to bring you to eternal life.

Be merciful to those who doubt; snatch others from the fire and save them; to others show mercy, mixed with fear—hating even the clothing stained by corrupted flesh.

To him who is able to keep you from falling and to present you before his glorious presence without fault and with great joy—to the only God our Savior be glory, majesty, power and authority, through Jesus Christ our Lord, before all ages, now and forevermore! Amen.—Jude 20-25

I have two take-aways from today’s message:

1) If you are in the enemy’s territory the strength of your godly character will be challenged by the enemy’s ungodly corrupt character.

2) Remember the doxology of Jude 24: Jesus is able to keep you from falling and to present you before His glorious presence without fault and with great joy.