Verse-by-Verse Commentary
The Book of 1 Samuel
Chapter 27: David Said in His Heart
Weary of the long chase, David reasons in his heart, 'I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul,' and does the very thing he once refused: he flees to enemy Gath. A step taken in fear leads to a season of compromise, raiding and deceiving, even as God's protecting hand still holds him. It is the low ebb of David's faith, and a mirror for our own.
About This Commentary
This is a verse-by-verse study of 1 Samuel chapter 27. For each section you will find the KJV text, the Hebrew words that sharpen the meaning, plain explanation, and a Gospel Focus. Chapter 27 is a candid record of David at his lowest in faith, teaching us as much by his failure as by his triumphs. Every Scripture quotation is from the King James Version.
David Flees to Gath (1 Samuel 27:1-4)
Worn down by the endless pursuit, David concludes he will die by Saul's hand and seeks refuge among the Philistines.
I Shall Now Perish One Day by the Hand of Saul
"And David said in his heart, I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul: there is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines; and Saul shall despair of me, to seek me any more in any coast of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand. And David arose, and he passed over with the six hundred men that were with him unto Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. And David dwelt with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess, and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. And it was told Saul that David was fled to Gath: and he sought no more again for him."
Word Study
"said in his heart," Hebrew amar el-libbo (אָמַר אֶל־לִבּוֹ), "said within himself, reasoned inwardly." The chapter turns on what David "said in his heart." Twice already God had marvelously delivered him from Saul, and God had promised him the throne; yet here David does not enquire of the LORD or seek the priest and the ephod. He simply reasons within himself, in the language of fear and unbelief, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul." The very man who cried, "the battle is the LORD's," now concludes there is "nothing better" than to run to the enemy. It is a sobering lesson in the danger of counsel taken in the heart apart from God. The heart, left to itself under pressure, will often argue us straight out of faith, "he that trusteth in his own heart is a fool" (Proverbs 28:26). David does not consult God; he consults his fears, and his fears lie to him, for God had no intention of letting him perish by Saul.
Explanation
The relentless strain of being hunted wears David down. Though God has twice delivered him and Saul has twice confessed his wrong, David reasons that it is only a matter of time before he falls to Saul, and that the safest course is to flee to Philistia, out of Saul's reach. So he goes to Achish, king of Gath, the same city he had fled from in terror in chapter 21, only now he comes as a defector with an army of six hundred and their families. The plan "works" in worldly terms: Saul stops hunting him. But notice what is missing, there is no prayer, no enquiring of the LORD, no word from God directing this move. David acts entirely on his own reasoning, driven by fear rather than faith. He gains earthly safety at the cost of spiritual compromise, dwelling among the uncircumcised enemies of God's people, far from the tabernacle and the worship of the LORD he had so recently grieved to lose.
Gospel Focus
David's flight to Gath is a warning that even great faith can falter under long trial. The man of many psalms of trust, in a weary hour, walked by sight and not by faith. Fear whispered, "I shall now perish," and unbelief answered, "there is nothing better than to run", and both were false, for the God who had kept him would keep him still. How often we, worn by prolonged difficulty, stop enquiring of God and start scheming in our hearts, seeking safety in the world's ways, in compromise, in the camp of the enemy. "Fear thou not; for I am with thee" (Isaiah 41:10) was as true for David as ever; he simply stopped believing it for a season. Yet here is grace: David's lapse did not cancel God's promise, and it will not cancel yours. The Lord does not cast off His own for a failure of faith, but he who walks by fear will taste the bitterness of the far country. Better to trust and stay than to scheme and stray.
A Home Among the Philistines (1 Samuel 27:5-7)
David asks for a country town of his own, and Achish gives him Ziklag, where he dwells sixteen months.
Then Achish Gave Him Ziklag
"And David said unto Achish, If I have now found grace in thine eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there: for why should thy servant dwell in the royal city with thee? Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: wherefore Ziklag pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day. And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months."
Word Study
"Ziklag," Hebrew Tsiqlag (צִקְלַג), a border town in the south, later reckoned to Judah. David asks for a town of his own, away from the royal city, and Achish grants him Ziklag, and the writer notes it "pertaineth unto the kings of Judah unto this day." Even in David's compromise, God is quietly weaving providence: this Philistine gift becomes a lasting possession of the house of David, and it is to Ziklag that David will return to face his darkest hour and greatest recovery (chapter 30). David's request for his own town shows both prudence, keeping his men out of Achish's direct sight, and the awkward double life he must now live. "A full year and four months" he dwells there, sixteen long months in the land of the enemy. It is not a brief slip but a settled season of living outside the place of blessing, a reminder that a single step of unbelief can stretch into a long and entangling detour.
Explanation
David, unwilling to live under Achish's constant eye in the capital, tactfully requests a country town, and Achish grants him Ziklag. The arrangement suits David: it gives him and his six hundred families room and a measure of independence, and it keeps his true activities hidden from the king. He remains there sixteen months. The chronicler's aside, that Ziklag belonged to the kings of Judah ever after, signals God's overruling hand: what David gained by a compromised path God would fold into the inheritance of David's royal house. Yet the plain fact remains that God's anointed king spent well over a year dwelling among the Philistines, the sworn enemies of Israel, cut off from the tabernacle, the sacrifices, and the fellowship of God's people. Safety was purchased, but at a spiritual price.
Gospel Focus
Two truths meet in Ziklag. First, God's providence is at work even in the detours of His wandering children; David's compromised refuge becomes, by grace, a possession of Judah's kings and the very place of his future restoration. God is able to bring good even out of our missteps, "all things work together for good to them that love God" (Romans 8:28), though this is His mercy, never a license to stray. Second, the sixteen months warn how long a season of drifting can last. One decision made in fear settled David far from the house of God for well over a year. Sin and compromise rarely announce their length; a step becomes a stay. If you find yourself in a Ziklag, dwelling where you know you ought not, do not presume on time. The God who preserved David there is calling you home, and the sooner the return, the less the loss.
Raiding and Deceiving Achish (1 Samuel 27:8-12)
David raids Israel's ancient enemies but hides it from Achish with ruthless deception, and the Philistine king trusts him completely.
Achish Believed David
"And David and his men went up, and invaded the Geshurites, and the Gezrites, and the Amalekites: for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as thou goest to Shur, even unto the land of Egypt. And David smote the land, and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, and the oxen, and the asses, and the camels, and the apparel, and returned, and came to Achish. And Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to day? And David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites. And David saved neither man nor woman alive, to bring tidings to Gath, saying, Lest they should tell on us, saying, So did David, and so will be his manner all the while he dwelleth in the country of the Philistines. And Achish believed David, saying, He hath made his people Israel utterly to abhor him; therefore he shall be my servant for ever."
Word Study
"Achish believed David," Hebrew aman (אָמַן), "to trust, believe, rely on." The irony is bitter: Achish "believed" (aman) David, that is, put his full confidence in a lie. David lets the Philistine king think he has been raiding his own people, the south of Judah, when in fact he has been striking Israel's ancient foes. To keep the deception airtight, David leaves no survivors who might carry the true report back to Gath. The tangle of the far country is on full display: one step of fear has led to a double life sustained by slaughter and falsehood. It is a hard example of how a single move out of God's will breeds ongoing compromise, for a lie must be guarded by more lies, and safety bought with deceit demands ever more deceit to keep it. This is not held up for imitation. Scripture records David's failings as honestly as his faith, so that we would learn, "let him that thinketh he standeth take heed lest he fall" (1 Corinthians 10:12).
Explanation
From Ziklag, David raids the Geshurites, Gezrites, and Amalekites, old enemies of Israel whom God had long before marked for judgment, and he takes their livestock and goods. But he reports to Achish that he has been raiding Judah and its allies, the very people he is secretly protecting. To keep the truth from ever reaching Gath, he wipes out every raided settlement, leaving no witnesses. The strategy is grimly effective: Achish concludes that David has made himself so odious to his own nation that he can never go back, and so will be a loyal Philistine vassal "for ever." David has bought the king's total trust with a web of deception and blood. The narrative reports all this plainly, without comment or approval, letting the reader feel the moral shadow that has fallen over the LORD's anointed during his self-chosen exile.
Gospel Focus
This dark chapter of David's life preaches by warning. The man of faith, having stepped aside in fear, is now entangled in deception he must feed with more deception. This is ever the way of compromise: the far country never stays simple. A choice made to save ourselves draws us into a life of pretense, and the deeper in, the more it costs to maintain. Yet the honesty of Scripture is itself a mercy. It does not airbrush its heroes; it shows David the deceiver as plainly as David the giant-killer, so that we neither idolize the man nor despair at our own falls. Our hope was never in David's flawless walk but in the greater Son of David, "who did no sin, neither was guile found in his mouth" (1 Peter 2:22). Where David wove guile in Gath, Christ walked in perfect truth to the cross. Learn from David's failure to keep enquiring of God, to walk by faith, and to come home quickly; and rest your soul on the sinless Saviour to whom David could only point.
Chapter 27 in Review
1 Samuel 27 is the candid record of David's low ebb. Worn down by the endless chase, he reasons "in his heart", not before the LORD, that "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul," and flees to Achish of Gath, the very enemy he once fled in terror. He settles his six hundred and their families, secures the town of Ziklag, and dwells among the Philistines a full sixteen months. There he raids Israel's ancient foes while deceiving Achish into thinking he has turned against his own people, leaving no survivors to expose the lie, until the Philistine king trusts him utterly. Safety is gained, but at the cost of prayerlessness, exile, and deception.
For the Apostolic reader, the chapter is a mirror and a warning. Even the man after God's own heart faltered when he stopped enquiring of the LORD and walked by fear; a single step of unbelief stretched into a long, entangling detour sustained by falsehood. Yet God's promise did not fail, and His providence quietly turned even Ziklag to good. Above all, David's flaws send us to the flawless One, the Son of David in whose mouth no guile was found. Walk by faith, come home quickly, and rest on Christ alone.
- David "said in his heart" instead of enquiring of God; fear, unconsulted by faith, will lie to us.
- One step of unbelief became a sixteen-month exile; compromise rarely announces how long it will last.
- Deception in Gath had to be fed with more deception; the far country never stays simple.
- Scripture's honesty about David sends us to the sinless Son of David, in whom no guile was found.
Questions for Reflection
- When under long pressure, do you enquire of God, or reason in your heart toward the world's safety?
- Is there a "Ziklag" you have dwelt in too long? What would it take to come home?
- How does David's failure deepen your gratitude for the sinless Saviour to whom he points?
References & Sources
Scripture is quoted from the King James Version (KJV). The Hebrew terms are standard and can be checked in any Hebrew lexicon. Supporting passages are listed so every claim can be verified in its own setting. If anything here does not look right, a verse, a reference, or a wording, please tell us at info@FruitBearers.net. Thank you for helping us keep Bible Learning error free.
- David's fear-driven flight; walking by fear not faith: 1 Samuel 27:1-4; Proverbs 28:26; Isaiah 41:10.
- Ziklag and the long detour; God's providence and the length of compromise: 1 Samuel 27:5-7; Romans 8:28.
- Raiding and deceiving Achish; the tangle of the far country; the sinless Son of David: 1 Samuel 27:8-12; 1 Corinthians 10:12; 1 Peter 2:22.