David took note of these
remarks and became very much afraid
of Achish, king of Gath.
One wonders why was
David so afraid. According to David Roper this was David’s testing.
Just about the time I think I've got it
all together, some unsightly emotional display, some inappropriate reaction,
some other embarrassing behavior blows my cover and I have that horrible
experience of being found out. It's humiliating! But humiliation is good for
the soul. Through it God deals with our self-admiration and pride. Without it
we could never make the most of our lives. The trouble with us is that we want
to be tremendously important. It's a terrible trait, the essential vice, the
utmost evil. It's the sin that turned the devil into the demon he became. Obscurity
and humility, on the other hand, release God's greatness. It is the basis of
our life with God and our usefulness in this world. Thomas à Kempis wrote,
"The more humble a man is in himself, and the more subject unto God; so
much more prudent shall he be in all his affairs, and enjoy greater peace and
quietness of heart." Because ambition and pride is the center of our
resistance to God and the source of so much unhappiness, "God opposes the
proud" (James 4:6); he brings us to our knees, where He can then begin to
do something with us.
David fled from Saul and went to Achish
king of Gath. But the servants of Achish said to him, "Isn't this David,
the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about in their dances: 'Saul
has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands'?" David took
these words to heart and was very much afraid of Achish king of Gath. So he
pretended to be insane in their presence; and while he was in their hands he
acted like a madman, making marks on the doors of the gate and letting saliva
run down his beard. Achish said to his servants, "Look at the man! He is
insane! Why bring him to me? Am I so short of madmen that you have to bring
this fellow here to carry on like this in front of me? Must this [mad] man come
into my house?" David [then] left Gath and escaped to the cave of Adullam
(1 Samuel 21:10-22:1). David fled south from Nob — with Saul in hot pursuit —
and he made his way across the Judean hills and through the Valley of Elah
where a few years before he had engaged Goliath in combat. It was to Gath — the
home of his enemies — that David now turned for shelter from Saul. I don't know
what possessed David to flee to Gath. Perhaps he thought he wouldn't be
recognized, since this was several years after his encounter with Goliath, and
he had grown to manhood. Perhaps he disguised himself in some way. But David
was instantly recognized, and his presence was reported to king Achish of Gath:
"Isn't this David, the king of the land? Isn't he the one they sing about
in their dances: 'Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of
thousands'?" The phrase "they sing" could be translated,
"they still sing," suggesting a popular tune. David's fame was
celebrated everywhere — even in Philistia. You have to understand the
implications of this song. David had slain his ten thousands of Philistines;
his fame had been established at the expense of bereaved Philistine women and
children. Here was an opportunity to take vengeance. Furthermore, he was
considered "the king of the land [of Israel]." By some means David
became aware that he had been found out, and that he was facing imprisonment
and death, so David lost his nerve (see Psalm 34 and 56). Motivated by sheer
terror, David pretended to go mad, foaming at the mouth and scrawling crazy
slogans on the walls. According to the title of Psalm 56 the Philistines
"seized him" and brought him to Achish, who dismissed him with the contemptuous
remark: "Behold, you see a madman! Why have you brought him to me? Am I
lacking madmen that you have brought this to ply his madness against me? Must this
come into my house?" The word translated "mad man" (21:15), used
three times by Achish, suggests something other than insanity. The word in
other Near Eastern languages means "highly aggressive" — violent and
dangerous — which gives added force to the king's remark: ". . . you have
brought this to ply his madness [ravings] against me?" Achish was afraid
of David. The title to Psalm 34 supplies the conclusion of the matter: Achish
"drove him away," out of his court and out of town — David, run out
of town on a rail, utterly humiliated. David, the tough guy, the hero of
Israel, the man they celebrated in song and dance had wimped out in the face of
physical danger and made an utter fool of himself. With no place else to go,
unwelcome in both Israel and Philistia, David fled into a labyrinth of broken
ridges and rimrock about three miles from Gath and crept into a cave. The
cavern in which he found refuge was called the Cave of Adullum (Adullam means
refuge). It can't be located with certainty, but the traditional site is a dark
vault located on a shelf at the top of a near-perpendicular cliff. In that dark
place — humiliated, crushed, alone — he wrote Psalm 34 and Psalm 56. He was at
his nadir. In that dark place David cried out to God: "This poor
[humiliated] man called, and the LORD heard him." There he learned that
"The LORD is close to the brokenhearted and saves those who are crushed in
spirit" (34:6, 18). Lord Byron wrote from Reading Jail,
"How else but through a broken heart can Lord Christ enter in?" Furthermore,
David learned to boast in the Lord rather than in his own ability (34:2).
Through shame and disgrace he became a more modest man — one whom God could shape
and use.[1]
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