David lives under Achish at Ziklag
United Kingdom · Draft · BSB
Content revision: 9905b49e600ecf46 · No editorial review date recorded
Date: David’s flight · Sixteen months in Philistine territory
Fearing Saul, David takes his followers and their families to Achish of Gath, who gives him Ziklag. David conducts raids while misleading Achish about their targets, leading the Philistine king to trust him.
The chapter gives a stay of one year and four months in Philistine territory. It also says David kills men and women so they cannot report his actions. These killings and deception must remain part of the account, rather than being recast simply as clever survival.
Primary Scripture
27:1 David, however, said to himself, “One of these days now I will be swept away by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will stop searching for me all over Israel, and I will slip out of his hand.”
27:2 So David set out with his six hundred men and went to Achish son of Maoch, the king of Gath.
27:3 David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal.
27:4 And when Saul learned that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him.
27:5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let me be assigned a place in one of the outlying towns, so I can live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
27:6 That day Achish gave him Ziklag, and to this day it still belongs to the kings of Judah.
27:7 And the time that David lived in Philistine territory amounted to a year and four months.
27:8 Now David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites. (From ancient times these people had inhabited the land extending to Shur and Egypt.)
27:9 Whenever David attacked a territory, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but he took the flocks and herds, the donkeys, camels, and clothing. Then he would return to Achish,
27:10 who would ask him, “What have you raided today?” And David would reply, “The Negev of Judah,” or “The Negev of Jerahmeel,” or “The Negev of the Kenites.”
27:11 David did not leave a man or woman alive to be brought to Gath, for he said, “Otherwise they will report us, saying, ‘This is what David did.’” And this was David’s custom the whole time he lived in Philistine territory.
27:12 So Achish trusted David, thinking, “Since he has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel, he will be my servant forever.”
Related Scripture
Achish’s confidence in David later clashes with the other Philistine commanders’ distrust.
Location evidence
Tell esh-Sharia is one candidate for Ziklag among competing proposals. The marker does not establish the city’s identification or locate the raids.
Event map marker: Proposed site; [longitude, latitude] = [34.6816, 31.3912]. This is a teaching marker, not an exact event venue.
Gath: Identified site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [34.84694, 31.69972]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible.info: Gath (CC BY 4.0)
Ziklag (one proposed site): Proposed site. Coordinates [longitude, latitude]: [34.6816, 31.3912]. Classification source: editorial.
OpenBible.info: Ziklag (one proposed site) (CC BY 4.0)
OpenBible.info: Ziklag (one proposed site) (CC BY 4.0)
For the class
What does this chapter complicate about David’s conduct as the future king?
Interpretation and reuse
Narrative order is a reading arrangement, not a proven chronology. Dates retain their stated uncertainty. An identified locality does not establish the exact venue or prove an event. Region extents and routes are illustrative, not surveyed boundaries or ancient roads. Draft material has not completed editorial review.
Record source: editorial (content/authored/united-kingdom.json)
Place coordinates from OpenBible.info Bible Geocoding Data, CC BY 4.0.
Teaching stops, summaries and regional extents are original editorial content of this atlas.
Berean Standard Bible (BSB), public domain. https://berean.bible/licensing.htm