And David arose, and fled that day from before Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath.
David has just left the tabernacle with the sword of Goliath in his hand. Now he runs from Saul straight into Gath — the dead giant's own city. Commentators read this as the moment fear of a man replaced trust in God. They trace how far the fall went, and what David learned at the bottom of it.
The verse dates the flight "that day," right after a day of honour. One writer sets the two days side by side.
A day of honour may be followed at once by one of shame, and none is exempt from the need of dependence on God or His guidance. How humiliating to see David fleeing "that day" for fear of Saul to Achish the king of Gath!
Another writer links this flight to the two scenes before it. One cause runs through all three.
David flees to Achish. Here are three things so closely linked together as to be like cause and effect. Failure in trusting God is the root of all departure, now as then. There was an attempt to deceive Saul, a bolder untruth to Ahimelech, and now degradation before Achish. In this backsliding course the fear of man grows, and trust in God seems quite gone. Why else would he seek refuge with Israel's bitterest enemies? It was as if he were giving up his inheritance in Israel, forgetting his anointing, forsaking his God.
Where David went matters as much as why. He walked into the enemy camp holding the champion's sword.
Here we find David really taking himself out of the hands of God and putting himself into the hands of Achish. He leaves the place of dependence and goes into the very middle of the enemies of God and of Israel. And notice, he has in his hand the very sword of the Philistine champion.
Running from danger did not end danger. One commentator asks what led David there.
Why then is he struck with fear as he presents himself before this king? It is because he was led there by his natural wisdom and not by the Lord. Philistia should have been no more a refuge for David than Egypt was for Abraham. He thought this would let him escape Saul. Instead he exchanges one enemy for another, and finds dishonour and contempt.
The same writer follows where that choice leads.
A believer who runs into the world to escape the fear of trial is sure to increase his difficulties and sorrows. Is fear removed? No, it only takes a different form. He is now in real danger of his life, for he had no right to claim the protection of the God of Israel.
The king David turned to has a telling name.
Leaving Ahimelech, David went to Gath, where Goliath had lived! First he accepts the world's weapon, then he descends to the world's level. How easily we slip when faith begins to waver! In fact he goes to Achish, the king of Gath, whose name means "only a man." What a poor substitute for "the living God"! That is what David had called Him when Goliath challenged Israel.
David had just received help at the tabernacle. One writer draws a hard lesson: the help of others cannot replace your own trust in God.
The ministry of Ahimelech might have taught him much. Still, David learned more of God in the hands of the Philistines than in the tabernacle. And how true it is now: believers often learn more of Christ in suffering and distress than from the pulpit... When David was depending on the Lord, sure of His favour, the lion, the bear, and even Goliath were no difficulty to him.
The history records only the outward events. A psalm shows what was happening inside David in Gath.
David composed Psalm 56 "when the Philistines seized him in Gath." The weakness of his faith had made him seek refuge with Israel's enemies. What does he find there? Man, who instead of helping him oppresses him and would swallow him up. The one whom a fear born of the flesh had driven from Saul now learns what the flesh is... but he still has God. He has learned to put all his trust in God: "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
Kelly does not leave the story there:
But grace knows how to turn the low estate of the believer to its own account.
- Root — Failure to trust God starts every departure. The deception of Saul, the untruth to Ahimelech, and the flight to Gath form one chain.
- Exchange — Leaving the place of dependence removes no fear. David traded Saul for Achish, and found dishonour and contempt.
- Substitute — He left "the living God" for a king whose name means "only a man" — and carried Goliath's sword into Goliath's city.
- Lesson — Ministry is no replacement for your own trust. David learned more of God among the Philistines than at the tabernacle.
- Recovery — Grace uses even the believer's lowest moment; out of Gath came Psalm 56 and a faith that says, "When I am afraid, I put my trust in you."
And the servants of Achish said to him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul has smitten his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
The scene is Gath, Goliath's hometown, and David has come there alone, running from Saul. The king's own servants are the ones who name him — and their words raise one question: what is the king of the land doing here?
The servants of Achish looked at the fugitive and saw a king. What they could not work out was why he had come.
The Philistines recognized David's true character as "king of the land" — the man who had killed ten thousands. They imagined he could act only as their enemy. They could not understand what was going on in his soul at that strange stage of his history. They never dreamed that the man who killed Goliath had fled to them for protection from Saul. The world cannot understand the ups and downs of the life of faith.
The song they quote is a record of David's own victories. He is standing in the one place where that record counts against him.
At Gath David finds his own history against him. The glorious things God did through him become the case against him in the court of Achish. What else could he expect? Could he even want them to accept him as a man who had abandoned his convictions? Those convictions had strengthened his arm and steadied his heart only a short time before. … How inconsistent and miserable unbelief is! It is only consistent in this, that it keeps sinking to a lower level.
The same words that expose him also call him back. God sends the reminder through the last mouths you would expect.
But mercy is above all, and his great danger becomes the means of driving him back to the land he should never have left. God even uses the Philistines to remind him of two things: he was the anointed king, and that memorable fight with Goliath brought him honour. They recognise him as the "king of the land." They read his triumph over Goliath rightly, and the song that greeted him when the women of Israel met him with music and dancing. David was ten times greater than Saul. … Both Saul and the Philistines were his enemies. Saul had said that David would reign, and the Philistines now call him king. The only effect of their words is to make David greatly afraid.
Fear of Saul drove David to Gath. There the fear only found a new object.
The servants of Achish were alarmed that David was there… They recognized that David had more right to be king of Israel than Saul had… David heard what they were saying. He had been afraid of Saul. Now he becomes afraid of Achish — "only a man." Yet he had not been afraid of the giant Goliath, who came from the same city.
The verse hands David a dignity he then refuses. That refusal has a price.
Achish would never have dared call David a madman in the valley of Elah! No, nor in the cave of Adullam. But David had put himself into this stranger's power. So he had to choose: suffer for his past faithfulness, or give it all up and pretend to be a fool in their eyes. They were right to judge him the king of the land. But he was afraid of what such a high dignity would cost him. So he denied his kingship and became a fool. How often we can trace this same evil in the walk of Christians!
The story does not end in shame. The trouble David brought on himself became the thing that brought him back to God.
The title of Psalm 56 implies that this was his case: it belongs to the time "when the Philistines seized him in Gath." His unbelief brought him into greater trouble than the trouble he had fled from. But his distress, more effective than any ministry, threw him on the mercy of God — and not in vain. Brought into His presence, his faith revived; he became like the David of his early days. What did he now think of his troubles? He saw at once how powerless man was, though he had just been in such deep fear of him… And notice this: the soul values the word of God when it is in distress. The sickbed is very different from the study chair.
- Recognised. Israel's enemies name David "king of the land" while he hides among them. The world can read a believer's true character even when he is not living up to it.
- Reminded. The old song is God's mercy in a hostile mouth. He uses the Philistines to remind David of his anointing and drive him back to the land he left.
- Indicted. In Gath, past victories become the charge against him. Unbelief never adds up, and it always sinks lower.
- Reduced. Fear of Saul became fear of Achish — "only a man." The man who once faced the giant now denies his kingship and plays the fool.
- Restored. The distress he brought on himself threw him back on God's mercy. His faith revived where ministry alone had failed.
And David took to heart these words, and was much afraid of Achish the king of Gath.
David has fled Saul's court to Gath — the hometown of the giant he killed — and there the king's servants name him the slayer of ten thousands. Why does the man who once faced Goliath now shake with fear before a Philistine king?
The fear did not begin in Gath. It began in the decision that took him there.
Armed in this way, David goes to Achish, the king of Gath (vv. 10-15). Why then is he struck with fear as he presents himself before this king? His own natural wisdom led him there, not the Lord. Philistia should have been no more a refuge for David than Egypt was for Abraham. Thinking to escape Saul this way, he merely exchanges one enemy for another and finds dishonour and contempt.
Even the king's name tells the story. David left the living God for a man.
Leaving Ahimelech, David went to Gath, where Goliath had lived! First he accepts the world's weapon, then he descends to the world's level. How easily we slip when faith begins to waver! He goes to Achish, the king of Gath. That name means "only a man" — a poor substitute for "the living God" David had spoken of when Goliath challenged Israel (ch. 17:26)! It was fear of Saul that moved him — the same Saul who had once been afraid of Goliath, and was afraid of David too (ch. 18:12).
The words that frightened David were true. The Philistines had read him correctly, and that was the danger.
The Philistines recognised David's true character as "king of the land" — the slayer of ten thousands; they imagined he could not possibly act as anything but their enemy. They could not grasp the state of his soul at that strange point in his life. They never guessed that the man who killed Goliath had fled to them for protection from Saul. The world cannot understand the ups and downs of the life of faith. Who could have thought that with Goliath's sword in his hand he could tremble to admit he was Goliath's conqueror? Yet so it was.
This dread of Achish is the third link in a chain. Each link is heavier than the last.
David flees to Achish. Here are three things so closely linked together as to be like cause and effect. Indeed, failure to trust God is the root of all departure, now as then. He tried to deceive Saul, he told Ahimelech a bolder untruth, and now he sinks into degradation before Achish. In this backsliding course the fear of man grows, and trust in God seems quite gone. Why else would he seek refuge with Israel's bitterest enemies?… A saint who runs into the world to escape the fear of trial is sure to increase his troubles and sorrows. So it was with David. Is fear removed? No, it only takes a different form, and now his life is in real danger. But mercy is above all, and his great danger becomes the means of driving him back to the land he should never have left.
David's answer to the fear is to hide who he is. That instinct is not unique to him, and it never works.
When a believer's heart is not holding on to the Lord day by day, it looks for refuge in human schemes at every hard moment… Neither safety nor honour can go with a compromise of truth. A Christian in disguise is as poor and pitiful a sight as the fear-stricken king of Israel when he shamed his royal person by pretending to be mad.
The failure was not wasted. David came out of Gath with a psalm whose title points back to this very day.
David wrote Psalm 34 "when he changed his behaviour before Abimelech, so that he drove him out, and he went away." The psalm celebrates the Lord's tender care of the believer under trial… This man of God, in seeking help from Achish, had only a broken reed in his hand. Now, taught by God, he can say, "I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears" (v. 4)… What he had just been through let him encourage others: "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" (v. 8).
- Wrong refuge. David went to Gath by his own reasoning, not by God's direction, and only swapped one enemy for another.
- Growing fear. Fear of Saul became untruth to Ahimelech and then dread of Achish — fear of man grows every time you obey it.
- Smaller God. He left the living God for a king whose name means "only a man," and could no longer own the victory he had once won.
- Lost testimony. A believer in disguise, hiding who he belongs to, gains neither safety nor honour.
- Restored song. The failure drove him back. The man delivered from all his fears could then tell others to taste and see that the LORD is good.
And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scratched on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down on his beard.
David has fled Saul, and the road out of Israel takes him to Gath — the very city Goliath came from. The Philistines there know him as the man who killed their giant. To escape, he pretends to be insane until the king throws him out.
One writer traces the unbelief that carried David down to this point:
What a strange place David chose for his protection! Why should he have gone to the strongest enemies of God and of His people? He had acted in unbelief, and unbelief was dragging him down lower and lower. Instead of fleeing to God, he turned to Gath. And then, to save himself, because they had found him out, he pretended to be mad.
Notice who he is afraid of now:
He was afraid of Saul; now he becomes afraid of Achish — "only a man." Yet he had not been afraid of the giant Goliath, who came from that same city. Again, he had not depended on God to lead him. So he sinks lower still, into a humiliating deception (v.13), acting in front of everyone like an insane man.
The verse says he changed his behavior. One commentator sees in that phrase what always happens when a believer stops depending on God:
This is always what happens when a believer leaves the path of simple dependence on God and of living as a stranger in the world. The "behavior" must be "changed" and the real character given up. In its place he takes a course marked by outright deceit before God and folly before the world. This is very sad. A believer should always keep his dignity — the dignity that comes from knowing he stands in God's presence. But the moment faith gives way, his power to testify is gone, and the man of faith is despised as a "madman."
The Philistines judged him rightly. David was the one who would not stand by it:
David had put himself in this stranger's power. So he had to choose: suffer for his past faithfulness, or give it all up and play the fool in their eyes. They judged rightly that he was the king of the land. But he was afraid of what holding such high dignity would cost him, so he denied his kingship and became a fool. How often we can trace the same evil at work in the lives of Christians!
Older translations say David "scrabbled" on the doors. The word means "to make marks" (Morrish Bible Dictionary). Why act mad? The disguise worked because of what people in that region assumed about madness:
Hearing his own great deeds named makes him very afraid before Achish, king of Gath. To save himself he sinks lower still, acting the madman in front of them all. He escapes because people in that part of the world treated madness as in some sense a divine possession. So a real shame has to rescue him from a false shame, and a pretended folly has to rescue him from the results of the real one. The Lord does not step in openly. He cannot honour unbelief that way. Yet by shaming that unbelief He gives real help.
The charge of madness lands on David and, later, on Jesus. The reasons could not be more different:
Unfaithfulness brought David to a place where his enemies called him mad, and he gave them reason to say it. Faithfulness and truth brought the same insult on the Lord Jesus, mixed with blasphemy. His enemies said, "He has a demon, and is insane." Oh, what a contrast between the picture and the One it pictures! Here is the Perfect One, there the failing saint... Achish had reason for what he said; the Pharisees knew better, they blasphemed because they hated.
Psalm 34 carries a heading tying it to this episode. It turns the humiliation into teaching for others:
In seeking help from Achish, this man of God had held only a broken reed. Now, taught by God, he can say: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears" (v. 4)... He had learned the lesson that God was teaching him through His discipline. What he had just been through now let him encourage others: "Oh, taste and see that the LORD is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!" (v. 8).
Another writer ends the chapter on the same note: "But grace knows how to use the believer's low condition for its own ends" (William Kelly).
- Fear. David went to Gath because he stopped depending on God. The man who faced Goliath now feared "only a man" from Goliath's own city.
- Change. When faith gives way, a believer drops his real character. Deceit before God and folly before the world take its place.
- Denial. The Philistines called him king of the land. David feared the cost of that dignity and played the fool instead.
- Contrast. Unfaithfulness earned David the name madman, and he gave them cause. Faithfulness earned Christ the same word from men who knew better.
- Grace. God would not honour the unbelief, yet He delivered David anyway. Psalm 34 turns his worst day into an invitation: taste and see that the LORD is good.
And Achish said to his servants, Behold, ye see the man is mad why did ye bring him to me?
David fled from Saul to Gath, and this verse is the low point of that flight. The Philistine king looks at him and sees a madman — so how did David get here, and what was God doing?
Commentators trace the failure back to who was leading him.
David goes to Achish, the king of Gath (vv. 10-15). Why then is he struck with fear as he presents himself before this king? It is because he was led there by his natural wisdom and not by the Lord. No more than Egypt for Abraham should Philistia be a refuge for David. Thinking to escape Saul in this way, he merely exchanges one enemy for another and finds dishonour and contempt.
David came to Gath carrying Goliath's own sword.
What can David do with Goliath's sword in Gath? Would he even dare to show it? Association with the world and looking to it for protection too often lead to being ruled by it.
David changed his behaviour to survive Gath, and lost more than his dignity doing it.
So it must always be when a believer leaves the path of simple dependence on God and of being a stranger in the world. The "behaviour" must be "changed" and the real character abandoned. In its place comes a course marked by outright deceit before God and folly before the world. This is very sad. A believer should always keep his dignity — the dignity that flows from knowing he is in God's presence. But the moment faith gives way, the power of testimony is gone, and the man of faith is despised as a "madman."
David would not own the title his enemies gave him.
Achish would not have dared to call David by such a name in the valley of Elah! No, nor in the cave of Adullam. But David had put himself into the power of this stranger. So he had to either suffer for his past faithfulness, or give it all up and pretend to be a fool in their eyes. They rightly judged him to be the king of the land. But he was afraid of what it would cost to hold on to such a high dignity. So he denied his kingship and became a fool.
The act might not have survived a closer look.
The Philistines might have spotted the deception if they had been discerning enough. Someone is not likely to act perfectly normal, then suddenly turn totally insane, as he appeared to be. But Achish, because of his servants' words, gave David more attention. When he saw him acting like a madman, he was only disgusted. He dismissed the whole matter as of no account (vv. 14-15). David apparently wanted this result, so that he could escape with nothing stopping him.
Another writer weighs the exchange: one shame bought off another.
The mention of his own great deeds makes him deeply afraid before Achish, king of Gath. To save himself he sinks lower still, acting the madman in front of them all. He escapes under cover of what people in the East treated as a kind of divine possession. So a real shame has to rescue him from a false shame, and a pretended folly has to rescue him from the consequences of the real one. Openly the Lord does not step in: He cannot honour unbelief by doing so; yet to shame it is to give real help.
One writer sets this scene beside the Lord Jesus.
Unfaithfulness brought David into a position where his enemies called him mad, and he gave them cause for saying it. Faithfulness and truth brought the same reproach on the Lord Jesus, mixed with blasphemy. His enemies said, "He has a demon and is mad." What a contrast between the picture and the One it points to! … Achish had reason for what he said; the Pharisees knew better, and they blasphemed because they hated.
David came out of Gath with a psalm — Psalm 34.
This psalm celebrates the Lord's tender care of the believer under trial. It expresses David's confidence, because in his affliction God had taken his cause in hand. This man of God, in seeking help from Achish, had had only a broken reed in his hand. Now, taught by God, he can say: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears."
- Fear chooses. David's fear picked Gath, not the Lord. A refuge chosen by natural wisdom only swaps one enemy for another.
- Fear disguises. To survive the refuge he chose, he changed his behaviour — and lost his real character with it.
- Fear costs the crown. He would not pay the price of being king of the land, so he became a fool.
- Fear meets grace. God would not honour the unbelief. He used the Philistine's contempt to shame it instead — and that shame was real help.
- Fear ends in song. Out of the humiliation came Psalm 34. David dropped the broken reed, and the Lord answered him and delivered him from all his fears.
have I lack of madmen, that ye have brought this one to rave in my presence? shall this [man] come into my house?
David has fled from Saul and gone down to Gath, the home town of the giant he once killed. The Philistines there knew he was Israel's true king, so he saved himself by acting insane, and this verse is their king's reply: contempt, and a closed door.
The man who once faced Goliath now shakes before Goliath's neighbours. Commentators trace the fear to the way he chose his refuge.
Armed in this manner, David goes to Achish, the king of Gath (vv. 10–15). Why then is he struck with fear as he presents himself before this king? It is because he was led there by his natural wisdom and not by the Lord. Philistia should have been no more of a refuge for David than Egypt was for Abraham. Thinking to escape Saul in this way, he merely exchanges one enemy for another and finds dishonor and contempt.
The threat had got smaller, and his fear had got bigger.
He was afraid of Saul, now he becomes afraid of Achish — "only a man," though he had not been afraid of the giant Goliath who was of the same city. But again, he had not depended on God to lead him, and he finds himself descending further to the level of a humiliating deception (v.13), acting publicly like an insane man.
Achish's sneer is not simply rudeness. It is what the world says about a believer who has given up his real position to be safe.
Achish would not have dared to call David by such a name in the valley of Elah! Nor in the cave of Adullam. But sadly, David had put himself in the power of this stranger. So he had to choose: either suffer for his past faithfulness, or give it all up and pretend to be a fool in their eyes. They judged rightly that he was the king of the land. But he was afraid of what holding such a high position would cost him, so he denied his kingship and became a fool.
Notice what God does not do. No miracle rescues David — he escapes by shameful pretence. One writer reads God's restraint as deliberate.
To save himself he sinks even lower, acting the madman in front of them all, and escaping under cover of what in the East was thought to be a kind of divine possession. So a real shame had to rescue him from a false shame, and a pretended folly had to save him from the results of the real one. The Lord does not step in openly: He cannot honor unbelief by doing so. Yet to shame it is to give real help. There is still no victory over the Philistine here: the victory is on his side instead.
Psalm 34 was composed "when [David] changed his behavior before Abimelech, who drove him away, and he departed." This psalm celebrates the Lord's tender care of the believer under trial. It expresses David's confidence, which came from this: in his affliction, God had taken up his cause. When this man of God sought help from Achish, he had held nothing but a broken reed. Now, taught by God, he can say: "I sought the LORD, and He answered me, and delivered me from all my fears" (v. 4).
The chapter ends in humiliation, but not in ruin.
But grace knows how to use the believer's low condition for its own ends, as we may learn from what follows.
David was called mad because he acted mad. The same word was later thrown at Someone who had never given cause for it.
Unfaithfulness brought David into a position where his enemies called him mad, and he gave them cause for so saying. Faithfulness and truth brought upon the Lord Jesus the same reproach, mingled with blasphemy. His enemies said, "He has a devil and is mad." Oh, what a contrast between the picture and the One it pictures! ... Achish had reason for what he said; the Pharisees knew better, they blasphemed because they hated.
- Wisdom. David chose Gath by his own reasoning, not by the Lord. He took shelter in enemy land, swapped one enemy for another, and gained only contempt.
- Fear. The giant of Gath had not frightened him; "only a man" now did. Courage rises and falls with dependence on God, not with the size of the threat.
- Contempt. Achish would never have dared call him a madman in the valley of Elah. A believer who hides his true position to stay safe earns contempt, not respect.
- Shame. God sent no open rescue, because He cannot honour unbelief. But shaming it was real help: the pretended folly saved David from the real one.
- Grace. Driven out in disgrace, David was driven back to God. Psalm 34 turns the failure into a song: "I sought the LORD, and he answered me and delivered me from all my fears" (ESV).