David in the Service of King Achish of Gath: Renegade to His ...

90 Y. Shemesh / Vetus Testamentum 57 (2007) 73-90
asylum in Philistia. If so, we must read David’s complaint that Achish distrusts
him (1 Sam. xxix 8) as the pretense of someone who knows that the
decision to exclude him from the battle has already been taken and that nothing
he says will change it. 38 On the other hand, perhaps David wanted to be
present at the battle so that he could turn against the Philistines, bring victory
to Israel, and thereby restore his relations with Saul, as the Philistine
commanders maintain; 39 if so, his sincere attempt to persuade Achish to
change his mind fails.
In either case, his dismissal proved opportune, as he must have realized
when he returned to Ziklag and discovered what had happened there in his
absence (1 Sam. xxx). 40 But in addition to the short-term relief for himself
and his men—rescuing their wives and children who had been captured and
led away by the Amalekites—David’s absence from the battle was necessary
for the realization of the divine plan, as announced by Samuel to Saul: Israel’s
defeat by the Philistines and the fall of the House of Saul, on the one hand,
and the advent of the kingdom of David, on the other (1 Sam. xxviii 16-19).
Many scholars see David’s dismissal by Achish (1 Sam. xxix) and his war
against the Amalekites immediately thereaft er (1 Sam. xxx) as apologetic
tales intended to provide David with an alibi and make it clear that he had no
part in the Israelites’ defeat and Saul’s death, since he was far from the
battlefield. Perhaps, though, these incidents do just the opposite and are
meant as an apologia for David’s failure to participate in the battle against
the enemies of his lord the king, Saul, and turn against the Philistines, as the
Israelites might have hoped and as the Philistine commanders expected and
feared he would. Th ese stories make it clear that circumstances beyond
David’s control (though absolutely in the control of God, who pulls the
strings) sent him far away from the battlefield and prevented him from realizing
his plan to serve as a fift h column in the Philistine army and save Saul
and Israel.
38) Th is is the predominant view in the literature. Most scholars hold that David was relieved
because he would not have to fight against Saul and Israel or because he was freed of the
dilemma of what he should do during the battle and to whom he should be loyal. As I have
attempted to show here, this question does not exist for the biblical narrator.
39) Th is possibility is considered by McCarter, I Samuel, p. 427; Gordon, 1 & II Samuel,
p. 198.
40) As noted by Gordon, 1 & II Samuel, p. 198.