David Fleeing Saul For His Life
For David, the position was now clear. It was a waste of time to hope any longer that the king's court might be won over. He was now firmly established on the heights of Yahudah. Against his own will, he had become the leader of an armed band.
The adventurers he had gathered around him were always on a war footing. During this disturbed period, the farm-workers in every district needed the protection of these soldiers against the ravages of robbers, always ready for raids and plunder. Sometimes, indeed, this improvised army imposed its own services and fixed its own reward - it was, in fact, a rudimentary feudal organization. But this did not mean that these alien custodians, who secured peace in one area, might not produce chaos in another by their plundering activities.
We noticed earlier that David exercised a peculiar fascination over his comrades. His personal attractiveness, allied to a mature sense of justice most uncommon at this period, together with his unconquerable energy qualified by very human sensitivity made him a leader reverenced throughout the kingdom. His original allies were constantly being reinforced by fresh forces of a very different caliber. Veterans, famous for their exploits, were eager to submit to his command. Officers who had served under Saul were happy to serve under this leader whose qualities they had previously discerned.
On one occasion eleven Gadites (Hebrews from TransYardenia), men of legendary courage, crossed the Yarden and came to join David's little army. After them came recruits from Yahudah.
We can follow him in his wanderings through Carmel in Yahudah (not to be confused with Carmel in Jezreel), Ziph, Horesh and Maon; he became the self-styled protector of the farmers of the region who, willingly or unwillingly, had to guarantee that his men were fed.
In his native Yahudah, too, he pursued his carefully calculated policy. Saul used his son-in-law's departure as a pretext for taking back Michal and re-marrying her to a Benjaminite, Palti, the son of Laish. He intended that this should eliminate David from the throne and also insult him publicly. David, thus repudiated by his father-in-law, made two fresh marriages in the south: the first was with Ahinoam, a woman of the clan of Caleb; she bore him Amnon, his eldest son: the second was also with a Calebite, Abigail, the widow of Nabal, a wealthy landowner of the neighbourhood.
David Takes Refuge With The Philistines
In the end, in order to get beyond the reach of Saul's wrath, David, guarded by his soldiers, reluctantly found it necessary to leave the land which was set apart to YAHWEH. Accordingly, he sought refuge with Achish, the king of Gath, one of the five Philistine sovereigns. He offered him his services, and, now and then, helped him with his men. This was an astonishing reversal of positions for a man who had formerly fought the Philistines with such vigour. Achish welcomed him warmly, and gave him the town and territory of Ziklag on the frontier between Philistia and Yahudah, north-east of Beersheba.
The Philistine princeling may well have been delighted to see David anxious to strike a blow against Yisrael. He probably thought that Saul's ex-son-in-law could be counted on to give free rein to his feelings of revenge and to lay waste his lands. But David was too keen a politician to be caught in this way. He was determined to maintain good relations with his spiritual brethren, who might in time become his subjects. On returning from an expedition he went to his Philistine overlord to give him his share of the booty. Achish asked him the name of the tribe against which he had carried out his raid. But David had seen what was in his mind, and said that he had been attacking a body of Judaeans, Jerahmeelites or Kenites. Achish pretended to believe him, but everyone knew that in fact he had aimed his blow against the southern Amalekites, Yisrael's constant enemies.
Through this astute and far-seeing policy, David quickly secured the sympathy of the Hebrew leaders, who realized that he deliberately avoided bringing destruction and misery into the cities or countryside of Yisrael. In view of this, more and more of the southern Yisraelites came to join the outlaw. Indeed, people had had more than enough of the half-crazed Saul.
About this time David saw a score of Benjaminites approaching. They were Saul's relatives and warriors, and they wanted to enter the exile's service.
David's life as a rebel leader in Philistia, following his guerilla warfare in Yisrael, had fashioned his character. He became recognized as a supremely talented soldier. Evidently he was also a cunning diplomat, able to come to terms with the hereditary enemy, the Philistines, and yet maintain the admiring sympathy of the Yisraelites. And he continued to develop those moral qualities of wisdom and justice which would be so important when he finally became king.
For the moment, however, he was still an insignificant partisan, doubtless a resistance leader of genius, but so far, insignificant compared either with the head of the Yisraelite league or with the rulers of the Philistine confederation. It looked as though the former shepherd from Bethlehem had reached the highest position of which he was capable. It appeared that he would pass the rest of his life in exile, serving the Philistine prince lings.
He had been in Philistine territory for about a year. His life had been mediocre, that of a refugee, a mercenary, a vassal, a leader of a rebel band without much future. But events soon radically altered his position.
Philistine Ambitions
The Philistines were restricted to central Canaan, and for some time did not dare to renew their attacks against Saul's forces. A policy of infiltration seemed more prudent, especially in the south where their hands were freer. But becoming bolder again, they decided to make a very special effort and try to seize the whole of the plain of Jezreel.
David's Ambiguous Position
The rulers of the five Philistine cities concentrated their forces on Aphek, on the coastal plain at the foot of Mount Ephraim. As Achish's vassal, David was strictly obliged to march with the Philistine armies against 'the enemy' -in this case, against Yisrael, the men of his own blood and servants of YAHWEH. Achish had even promised to make David his 'bodyguard' on the battle-field -a tragic position for a man of integrity and a worshipper of YAHWEH.
Fortunately, however, circumstances worked in David's favour. When the Philistines met at Aphek and prepared their plan of attack, some of their leaders declared that it would be extremely foolish to put a Hebrew in such a position of trust. Would not David be tempted -especially if, in the beginning, fortune smiled on Yisrael -to fall away, join Saul's forces and turn against his Philistine masters? In previous engagements, Hebrew mercenaries, thoughtlessly recruited by the Philistines, had been observed to change sides in this way. The Philistine commanders, therefore, decided that David must go back to the district assigned to him at Ziklag. He was not needed for the battle. Achish was extremely embarrassed, but he tried to explain to David that he would not be allowed to join the Philistine army.
David was never lacking in diplomatic finesse. He at once protested that his intentions were honest and pretended to be very hurt by this lack of respect. Inwardly, he was probably most pleased by this providential solution that had saved him from a very difficult situation. If he had spilt Hebrew blood, the magnificent future he had begun to foresee would have been irremediably compromised.
He went back to Ziklag in Philistine territory, where, with his men, he meant to await quietly the result of the battle. Unfortunately, however, when he arrived, he found the place in ruins. It had been laid waste and burnt by Amalekite plunderers, taking advantage of David's temporary absence. All its inhabitants -men, women and children -had been taken away by the relentless raiders to the Negeb wilderness. Their destiny was obvious. They would be sold to the Egyptian slave merchants, for the Amalekites were their accredited suppliers. The flocks would be a most attractive proposition to these highway robbers.
Abiathar the kohen, the sole survivor from the massacre at Nob, was with David; this meant that David now possessed the ephod, the set apart oracle, and was therefore in a position to consult YAHWEH. In the present situation, for example, before setting out to follow the Amalekites it seemed wise to find out whether the counter-raid would be a success. The ephod indicated that it would; and so with a section of his men he took the road to the south. He had the good fortune to discover the robbers' tracks. Believing David to be away on a distant campaign, they had become careless about their own protection. They were scattered over the whole countryside, eating, drinking and rejoicing. David fell upon them, broke them, and began a systematic massacre. He recaptured all the prisoners and animals alive, took away a considerable quantity of war material, and went back to Ziklag a conqueror.
Out of his personal share of the booty taken from these enemies of YAHWEH -they were idolators and sworn foes of the Hebrews -he was careful to select a number of substantial gifts for the chieftains of Yahudah, the tribes of Caleb, Jerahmeel, Carmel, Hormah, Hebron, etc. He was an expert in public relations. Thereupon his praises were widely proclaimed throughout Yisrael. He had early been a renowned military leader, and in exile had shown himself very generous to his fellow- believers.
The position was briefly this: in the north, the tribes, exasperated by the moods of the unbalanced monarch, turned increasingly towards his former second in command. No one there had forgotten his striking victories, his countless triumphs. And yet now, through Saul's jealousy, he was a distant exile. He was Yisrael's obvious leader, although it was unsafe to say so openly. In the south, his homeland, the tribes looked to him with sympathy, admiration and gratitude.
Then, through a wholly unexpected prohibition, he had not been permitted by the Philistines to take part in their battle against Yisrael. He had thus been. spared from taking part in an action which would have weighed heavily against him in the years ahead.
A major part of the country would therefore have been glad to see him. But Saul, YAHWEH's anointed whom it was sacrilege to injure, still reigned, and the existence of his three sons seemed to make the future of his dynasty secure. Even so, David, for various reasons, was the chieftain whom many Hebrew leaders wanted as their leader.
The Philistines decided to take the war against Yisrael into the fertile plain of Jezreel. David, as vassal of the prince of Gath, goes up with the Philistine troops to fight against his Yisraelite brothers. Fortunately at Aphek (where all the troops gathered) he was thought to be an untrustworthy auxiliary and was sent back to Ziklag. His campaign in the south against the Amalekites At En-dor Saul consults the witch; his interview with Schmuel's spirit. The battle at the foot of Gilboa. Death of Saul and three of his sons Defeat of the Yisraelites.
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