David serves Achish of Gath; deceives him about his raids

David's own assessment of his position is bleak, and it is the reason for everything that follows: 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.

So he goes back to Gath, the city he once escaped by pretending to be mad, and this time he arrives with six hundred men and their families and offers his services. Achish accepts him as a vassal and the arrangement works, because Saul stops hunting him the moment he crosses the border.

He asks for a town of his own rather than living in the royal city, and is given Ziklag, on the southern edge of Philistine territory. That gives him a base, a garrison and independence, and it is a long way from anyone who might report what he actually does.

What he actually does is raid the Geshurites, Girzites and Amalekites, peoples of the southern desert who had been in that country from ancient times, and then kill every man and woman in each raid so that nobody can carry the news back to Gath. He takes the sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels and clothes, and when Achish asks where he has been raiding, he says the Negev of Judah, or of the Jerahmeelites, or of the Kenites, which are all Israelite or Israelite-allied districts. Achish believes him completely and concludes that David has made himself so obnoxious to his own people that he will be his servant for life.

Ziklag matters beyond this episode. It was granted to him by a Philistine king and it stayed in the possession of the kings of Judah from then on, which is stated as a fact still true when this was written down. A town given to a mercenary captain by a foreign overlord became crown property for four centuries.

The moral situation here is as ugly as it looks and nothing is done to improve it. He is protecting Judah by raiding its enemies, and covering the deception by leaving no survivors. Sixteen months of this are recorded without comment of any kind.

It ends when the Philistines muster against Israel for what will be the battle at Gilboa. Achish tells David he and his men will accompany him, and David's reply is a masterpiece of ambiguity: then you will see for yourself what your servant can do.

The other Philistine commanders refuse to have him. They know exactly who he is and quote the same song about tens of thousands, and ask how better this fellow could regain his master's favour than by taking the heads of their own men. Achish defends him and is overruled.

He protests to Achish, apparently sincerely, about being sent away, and is told to leave in the morning.

Whether he would have fought against Israel is a question that cannot be answered, because he is spared having to decide by the suspicion of five Philistine commanders. He rides south, and while the armies close at Gilboa he arrives at Ziklag to find it burned to the ground.