Old Testament · History

1 Samuel chapter 29

The gathered all their forces at , while Israel was camped by the spring in .The Philistine marched past with their units of hundreds and thousands, and and his men were marching at the rear with .The Philistine said, “What are these doing here?” Achish told them, “This is David, who served Saul the king of Israel. He’s been with me for over a year now, and I haven’t found a single thing wrong with him since the day he to me.”But the Philistine commanders were with Achish. “Send this man back!” they said. “Make him go back to the place you assigned him. He is not going into battle with us — what if he turns on us during the fighting? What better way to than with the heads of our own men?”“Isn’t this the David they ? ‘Saul has his thousands, and David his tens of thousands.’”So Achish called David over and said to him, “As surely as lives, you have been with me. Having you march with me in this campaign has been good in my eyes. I haven’t found anything wrong with you from the day you came to me until now. But the other don’t trust you.”“So head back now. Go in , and don’t do anything that the Philistine rulers would see as wrong.”David said to Achish, “But what have I done? What have you found against your from the day I entered your service until now? Why can’t I go and fight against the enemies of ?”Achish answered David, “I know — you’ve been as good in my eyes as a . But the Philistine commanders have said, ‘He must not go up with us into battle.’”“So get up early tomorrow morning — you and who came with you — and leave at .”So David and his men got up early in the morning to head back to , and the Philistines went up to .