Then David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
David has just come through a striking victory, with God's protection proved again and again. Then, in one sentence spoken only to himself, he decides he is a dead man — and that his safety lies with the Philistines.
Failure follows the victory
This failure comes right after David's finest hour. One writer traces the collapse to what a great victory can do to a man's view of himself.
H. L. RossierIsn't it surprising to see David's weakness here after so many striking marks of divine protection? Just yesterday he had said, full of confidence: "Let my life be highly esteemed in the eyes of the LORD, that He may deliver me out of all distress!" Today his courage is gone... We must often experience that a great victory is apt to be followed by a great despondency. When God was with us, did we not happen to attribute something to ourselves?... So God leaves us to ourselves — I am not saying, of course, that He abandons us — to show us that we cannot put any confidence in the flesh.
Another points out the irony of the timing: the threat David dreaded was in fact finished.
William KellyWorn out at last by constant exposure to the king's malice, he says in his heart, "Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul." And he says it just when the danger appears to be over... The man of faith leaves God's ground and deliberately looks for shelter in enemy country.
"Said in his heart"
The verse tells us where this decision was born: in David's heart. What starts there does not stay there.
The Bible TreasuryThe heart is the birthplace of unbelief — but also the place where God creates true faith... David gives way to fear that dishonours God. Then, forgetting God, he looks around for a place of safety — and what a sad choice he makes! In his judgment it was the best: there was nothing better than to flee to the Philistines! A heart that distrusts God turns to the world, and it always makes the worst choice. Mark it well, dear reader, the evil began secretly in his heart, and ended in taking the position of an open enemy.
How unbelief does its arithmetic
David had many rescues behind him. Unbelief refuses to count them. One writer sets the two ways of reasoning side by side.
Samuel RidoutHow opposite is the arguing of unbelief to that of faith! Faith reasons, "Because You have been my help in the past, therefore I will rejoice in the shadow of Your wings." Every past mercy is a pledge for mercy to come. Unbelief treats every new danger as a bigger threat than anything before it. It forgets the mercy of God and remembers only the dangers it has passed through. We need not be hard on David. Better to ask ourselves: have we not often fallen the same way?
What the escape cost
David's plan worked, in the narrow sense: Saul stopped hunting him. The bill came in elsewhere.
The Bible TreasuryDavid's judgment about Saul was correct... But at what a price did David buy rest from the king's relentless pursuit! Deception marked him again. By accepting the town of Ziklag as a gift from Achish, he openly admitted the Philistine king's right to hand out land that belonged to God's people. A refugee from his own country, living off the bounty of Achish... he was ready to add his men to the Philistine army.
The temptation underneath
The pull here is not open wickedness. It is the longing to stop living under pressure.
Samuel RidoutWithout grace, we grow tired of attacks that come again and again. The soul loses sight of the Lord and asks: why not give up my principles for a while? Why not drop my testimony, and leave the ground I know is the heritage of God's people? Can I not let all this go for a time, just to get a little ease? Here David steps onto the very ground that all Saul's power had never been able to drive him to. It is ever true that our greatest enemy lurks in our own hearts.
God's answer to the fear
David has failed badly. What comes next is not what anyone would expect.
The Christian's FriendAt the end his faith breaks down; and he, fearing he shall one day fall by the sword of Saul, falls away to the Philistines... We might expect some rebuke or dreadful chastisement. "But He knows our frame; He remembers that we are dust." A battle takes place. David is still on the Philistine side, but God keeps him far from the battlefield. Saul is killed, and the crown comes to David... The blessing comes in the moment of failure. It displays the infirmity of the vessel and the gracious faithfulness of God.
Summary
- Heart — the ruin starts in an unspoken thought, not a public act: "the evil began secretly in his heart, and ended in taking the position of an open enemy."
- Forgetting — faith counts past mercy as a pledge of mercy to come. Unbelief remembers only the dangers.
- Timing — David breaks down right after his greatest victory, just when the danger from Saul was over.
- Cost — the escape bought rest at the price of deception, living off Achish, and readiness to march with the Philistine army.
- Grace — the crown arrives while David is still in the wrong place. His fear proved false; God's faithfulness proved larger than his failure.