Drooling David

“And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands? And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. And he changed his behaviour before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard. Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?” (1 Samuel 21:11-15).

Introduction

This passage reveals that life had not become any better for David. He seems to free himself from one hole and to find himself in an even bigger one. We do not see the man of faith and courage here. David wrote eight psalms in commemoration of this episode in his life, these are 34, 52, 54, 56, 57, 59, 63 and 142.

David’s reputation

We can only imagine what the people of Gath thought as they saw David approaching the city gate. They had seen this lone warrior defeat the giant and put their army to flight. Maybe they were fearful of what he intended to do with them, for had they not promised to be Israel’s slaves? “If he be able to fight with me, and to kill me, then will we be your servants” (1 Samuel 17:9). Even the Philistines were aware of David’s many exploits, and no doubt they had a certain amount of respect for the great warrior. They had heard about the songs that were sung about his bravery in the face of fierce battles. They knew that he was to be the next king of Israel, but did he think that he was going to receive a warm welcome? John Wesley, in his notes, has the Philistines saying, “Therefore consider what to do; and now our great enemy is in thy hand, be sure thou never let him go alive.” David went there because he thought he would be safe. His trust was misguided. “It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes” (Psalm 118:8-9).

David’s concern

The words of admiration did not add anything to David’s faith, but instead they frightened him. David became even more fearful when he realised that he would be at the mercy of Achish once he entered the city. He knew that the people of Gath could kill him at will as an act of revenge for defeating Goliath. David was in a desperate situation, and because he was acting out of fear he only thought of self-preservation. People who are hitting rock-bottom often do things that are crazy and stupid. Fear brought torment into his heart. “Fear hath torment” (1 John 4:18).

David’s drooling

Instead of walking away from the obvious danger, David decides to act like a lunatic. The Septuagint suggests that David was pretending to be an epileptic. Instead of admiration and respect, he now received contempt and scorn from the people. Everyone thought that he was a mad man unworthy of any credit. Nobody wanted to be associated with the village idiot. He had lied to the priest, and now David was lying to Achish. “Achish supposed him insane, as such an indignity, whether done by another, or one's self, to the beard, is considered in the East an intolerable insult” (Jamieson, Fausset, Brown Commentary).

Conclusion

David fled to Gath because he was fearful of Saul, now he was “sore afraid” of what the Philistines were going to do to him. Achish had enough lunatics in his own city, so was not about to accept another one. David only spent a few hours in Gath. The Philistines were wise enough to make him feel unwelcome.

In Psalm 34:2 we read, “My soul shall make her boast in the LORD: the humble shall hear thereof, and be glad” (Psalm 34:2). The Hebrew word translated “humble” (anav) literally means “afflicted,” and comes from a root meaning “depressed.” So we see that David lack of faith produced fear, and his fear brought about depression. It is only when he return to God that his fear and depression disappeared. “I sought the LORD, and he heard me, and delivered me from all my fears … This poor man cried, and the LORD heard him, and saved him out of all his troubles” (Psalm 34:4,6).