1 Samuel 21:10-22:210And David arose, and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11And 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? 12And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13And he changed his behavior 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. 14Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 15Have 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? 1David therefore departed thence, and escaped to the cave Adullam: and when his brethren and all his father's house heard it, they went down thither to him. 2And every one that was in distress, and every one that was in debt, and every one that was discontented, gathered themselves unto him; and he became a captain over them: and there were with him about four hundred men. (1 Samuel 21:10‑22:2).
David then fled to Achish, the king of Gath, for fear of Saul. Like every type of Christ, he fell short; nevertheless, there is a lesson for us in what took place here. It is always a foolish thing to turn to the ungodly, to the enemies of the Lord, when trouble comes. And yet this is often done by God’s children, causing even the unbeliever to wonder at our folly. They know a Christian should be consistent— they know how we should act and set very high standards for us. The Philistines therefore said, “Is not this David, the king of the land?” making David feel afraid and ashamed. David then acted like a madman before the Philistines. He had been foolish indeed to go there at all, and now when he acted like a madman, Achish said he did not want him in his presence. If we are not willing to be “fools for Christ’s sake,” if we are not willing to be considered foolish because of our obedience to God and His Word, the Lord in His government may allow us to be made fools, even before others, for our self-will and disobedience to Him. So it was with David.
It is sad when the world has to rebuke us for our inconsistency, as with David here, but it is a good thing when we take the rebuke and profit by it. So David left Achish and went down to the cave of Adullam. Far better to be suffering hardship there, than to be at ease among the Philistines. Far better for us too to be suffering with a rejected Christ than trying to escape suffering by mixing with the enemies of the Lord.
David, the rightful king in his rejection, hiding in the cave of Adullam, becomes such a beautiful figure of the Lord Jesus who has been rejected and cast out of this world. The world did not want Him and if we are going to follow Him we will find ourselves outcasts as He was. David’s brethren therefore went down to him in the cave. Those whom the Lord Jesus has called His brethren are to go to Him “outside the camp”—the place of rroach. The company who were with David in the cave were not, an attractive group. They were distressed ones, discontented ones, and those who were in debt. What a picture of ourselves! It is our very trouble that drives us to the Lord, and then, like these dear men, we find in Him all our souls’ need, and He becomes our Leader and our Captain. If any of these men started looking at one another they might have seen a good deal with which to find fault, and if they had looked inside they would have found still more, but that would be a poor occupation. David was their center, and their hearts were taken up with him.
Alas, how often the children of God become occupied with the failures of their brethren, or perhaps look inside at the weakness of the flesh. But this always leads to an unhappy state of soul. If any of our readers, young or old, are thus engaged, may the Lord show you the foolishness of such occupation. It always makes one sad and miserable. Let us rather think of our wonderful Leader and Captain, and of His loveliness and worthiness. This will keep us humble and happy. It is a great thing to cultivate good thinking habits. If we do, with the Lord’s help, we will grow in grace and be happy with our brethren. It is especially important that we learn to do this while we are young, for a fault-finding spirit grows on one, and fault-finders are a continual source of unhappiness among the children of God.
ML 11/21/1954