“Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.”
– 1 Samuel 27:9
Hi James and Ellen,
What do you do when you do not want to do something? What do you do when you know that you have been caught in an untenable situation? How do you respond to what is taking place around you when what is happening is personally affecting you? How ready are you to face every life challenge? What do you do to temper unpredictable, negative dramas in your lives? How quickly do you run from a conflict? What is your defense mechanism against personal attacks? Have you ever compromised your life ideals to escape from the consequences of something that you should not have said or done? Does your faith in God ever falter? Have you ever pulled a David? When David was still a young guy, David was anointed by Samuel – a God-sent prophet, to be the second king to rule over the guys and gals who were living in the country of Israel. At the time that David was anointed to be king over God’s specially chosen guys and gals – the Israelite people guys and gals, David was a shepherd. David cared for his dad’s sheep. David learned while shepherding his dad’s sheep that he could survive being alone weeks at a time, that he could kill bears and lions with his bare hands and that God was always inviting him into His presence through the magnificent marvels that He created on and above planet Earth. Your grandpaa is convinced that it was during the time that David was shepherding his dad’s sheep that David became enamored with God and with God’s handiwork. David was hardwired by God to scribe psalm songs that thanked, praised and adored Him. David was hardwired by God with a voice to sing melodiously the psalm songs that he scribed and an ear to play harmoniously these psalm songs on musical instruments. David’s legacy is that he was a ‘man of God’.
What does it take for a guy, gal or even a kid to leave a legacy that has guys, gals and kids calling him or her a ‘man or woman of God’? Because the legacy of David calls him a ‘man of God’, there can be the assumption that David must have lived his entire life in an honorable, God-fearing way – which he did not at times. What do you think that Samuel was thinking and/or feeling when he capsulated in 1 Samuel 27 sixteen months of David’s life? These sixteen months of David’s life starts out with David deciding that he can no longer take the chance of being killed by Saul. David’s solution to staying alive was to take off again for the Philistine people group territory to seek refuge from being killed Saul. David went to the king – who was Achish, of the city of Gath, Philistia, to ask him for his okay to stay in his area. Along with his two wives – Ahinoam and Abigail, David had 600 loyal guys and their families go with him to the city of Gath. Because Achish knew that David was a formidable adversary to Saul – who was the king over the Israelite people group’s guys and gals at this time, Achish was fine with having David around. Because David knew that if he settled in the city of Gath that Achish would very likely ask him and his guys to go with him and his Philistine army on battle incursions against his family clan compatriots – the Israelite people group guy and gals, David knew that he needed to live someplace outside of the city of Gath. After David stroked Achish by telling Achish how so much more important and powerful that Achish was compared to him and that living in the same place with Achish would just not be right, Achish told David that he, David’s two wives, the 600 guys who were devoted to him and their families could go to Ziklag – which was another town located in the Philistine people group land area, to live. Because Saul did not have the military strength available to him to go after David in the Philistine people group land area, David no longer had to worry about Saul coming after him to . . .
Instead of living a hunkered down life in the city of Ziklag with his 600 stanch dissenters, David and his guys made regular forays against Geshurite, Girzite and Amalekite people group settlements that were located from the town of Shur to the country of Egypt south of the country of Philistia. Verse 9 is Samuel’s account of what David did to settlements that he and his guys overran, “Whenever David attacked an area, he did not leave a man or woman alive, but took sheep and cattle, donkeys and camels, and clothes. Then he returned to Achish.” Your grandpaa thinks that David would give Achish a portion of their confiscated loot. Because David would tell Achish that he and his guys had gone into the ‘Negev of Judah’ or into the ‘Negev of Jeahmeel’ or into the ‘Negev of the Kenites’, Achish thought that David and his guys were killing Israelite people group guys and gals and that all the booty was coming from the places where David and his guys . . . David tricked Achish into thinking that he had become odious to his own people group – the Israelite people group guys and gals, and that because of that, that he would always be in servitude to him. What do you think happened to the Geshurite, Girsite and Amalekite people groups kids who saw their dads and mas killed by David and his guys? There are going to be times when you will do something that will not be the right thing for you to do, when you will be in untenable situations that will have you making wrong decisions and when you will not react appropriately to what is said or done to you? David sinned. You will sin. Sin is endemic in every guy, gal or kid who has lived, is living and will live on planet Earth. Because God knew that David’s heart yearned for Him . . . are your hearts yearning for God? God sees hearts that are hungering for him.
1 Samuel 27 (1151)