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

78 Y. Shemesh / Vetus Testamentum 57 (2007) 73-90
David said to himself, “Some day I shall certainly perish at the hands of Saul.
Th e best thing for me is to flee to the land of the Philistines; Saul will then give
up hunting me throughout the territory of Israel, and I will escape him”. 14
Jobling attributes great importance to the fact that David says this only to
himself (lit. to his heart). He takes this as a sign of its trustworthiness, because
David would not be lying to himself. I agree with Jobling that the internal
monologue provides reliable information about David’s thoughts, but it contains
no more than it states: David decided to flee to Philistia in order to
escape from Saul. We cannot infer from it that either David or the narrator
has given up the vision that David and his descendants will rule Israel, and
certainly not that David may later be willing to fight on the side of the Philistines
against his own people. Another argument put forward by Robinson
and Jobling in support of their readings that David was sincere about serving
Achish ( Jobling) or faced a harsh dilemma (Robinson) is that the broader
context is at variance with the idea that David would defect to the Israelite
side during the battle. Had Saul and David survived the battle, asks Jobling,
“where could the story go then?”. 15 Robinson even argues that if David had
deserted to the Israelites during the battle, ensuring the defeat of the Philistines,
Samuel’s doom of Saul (1 Sam. xv 26-28; xxviii 16-19) would not have
been realized. 16
We must distinguish, however, between David’s intentions and those of
the story about him, as well as between David’s intentions and the consequences
of his actions. David could have been totally sincere in his intention
to desert to the Israelite camp during the battle, whether motivated by deepseated
loyalty to Israel and Saul or by other reasons, some of them utilitarian.
Samuel’s announcement to Saul of his and Israel’s doom in the impending
battle, of which David is not aware, cannot be part of David’s considerations
about his conduct during the battle. Nevertheless, the logic of the story does
mandate that David be removed from the battlefield. Th is is precisely what
happens, in accordance with the divine plan and in total isolation from
David’s intentions and desires. “Many designs are in a man’s mind, but it is
the Lord’s plan that is accomplished” (Prov. xix 21).
14) Jobling, 1 Samuel, pp. 234, 238; idem, “David and the Philistines”, p. 83.
15) Ibid., p. 82.
16) G. Robinson, Let Us Be Like the Nations: A Commentary on the Books of 1 and 2 Samuel
(Grand Rapids, 1993), p. 145.