Ziklag & the Philistines

David's Decision to Leave Israel

Despite Saul's repeated promises to leave him alone, David could no longer trust the king's word. He came to a hard conclusion:

"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." — 1 Samuel 27:1

Notable: David did not consult the LORD or the ephod through Abiathar before this decision. His reasoning was practical and self-protective. The text records the decision without endorsement.

Return to Gath

David returned to Achish king of Gath — the same king before whom he had feigned madness years earlier 1 Sam 21. Circumstances had changed. David now arrived with:

• Six hundred trained fighting men
• Two wives — Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail (Nabal's widow)
• The 600 men's families and households

Achish received him. Probably calculation: a man hated by Saul might serve as a useful asset against Saul, and a 600-man trained force was no small addition to the Philistine alliance.

Settling at Ziklag

David did not want to live as a guest in the royal city. He asked Achish:

"If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" — 1 Samuel 27:5

Achish gave him Ziklag, a town on the southern border of Philistine territory.

Significance of Ziklag

Fact	Detail
Original tribal allotment	Assigned to Simeon (and earlier Judah) Josh 15:31; 19:5
At David's time	Under Philistine control
From David onward	"Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day" 1 Sam 27:6 — granted to David personally, never returned to Philistine ownership
Location	Negev region, southern Judah

Duration of the Philistine Stay

"And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months." — 1 Samuel 27:7

Sixteen months — approximately a year and four months — under Philistine protection.

The Raids

From Ziklag, David and his men conducted raids — but not against the Israelites Achish expected. Instead they struck:

Target	Identity	Reference
Geshurites	Tribe south of Philistia, near Egypt	1 Sam 27:8
Girzites	Tribe of the southern wilderness	1 Sam 27:8
Amalekites	Ancient enemies of Israel since the wilderness Ex 17	1 Sam 27:8

The Deception

David's policy on raids was deliberate and chilling:

"David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish." — 1 Samuel 27:9

Leaving no survivors prevented witnesses from reporting to Achish that David was striking peoples friendly to Philistia. When Achish asked where he had raided, David would name Israelite or Israelite-allied regions — Negev of Judah, the Negev of the Jerahmeelites, the Negev of the Kenites 1 Sam 27:10.

Achish trusted David completely. He concluded: "He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant" 1 Sam 27:12.

The Philistine Muster Against Israel

The Philistines gathered their armies for a major campaign against Saul. Achish told David: "You and your men will go out with me in the army" 1 Sam 28:1. David's response was deliberately ambiguous: "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do" 1 Sam 28:2.

Achish then promoted David: "I will make you my bodyguard for life."

Saul and the Medium of En-dor

Before continuing David's story, the text turns to Saul's parallel collapse 1 Sam 28:3–25.

Background

Samuel was dead. Saul had earlier obeyed Mosaic law by expelling mediums and necromancers from Israel Lev 19:31; 20:27. Now, facing the Philistine army and unable to get a response from the LORD by dreams, Urim, or prophets 1 Sam 28:6, Saul sought what he had outlawed.

The Visit

Saul disguised himself and went by night to a woman at En-dor. He asked her to bring up Samuel from the dead. She protested that Saul had cut off the mediums; he swore she would not be punished. She agreed.

What appeared next surprised even her. She cried out in fear when she recognized that Saul himself stood before her — and that the figure rising was Samuel:

"I see a god coming up out of the earth... An old man is coming up, and he is wrapped in a robe." — 1 Samuel 28:13–14

What Samuel Said

The figure of Samuel (whether actually Samuel raised by God or a demonic impersonation is debated — though the text presents it straightforwardly as Samuel) pronounced final judgment on Saul:

"Why have you disturbed me by bringing me up?... The LORD has turned from you and become your enemy... The LORD will give Israel also with you into the hand of the Philistines, and tomorrow you and your sons shall be with me. The LORD will give the army of Israel also into the hand of the Philistines." — 1 Samuel 28:15–19

Saul fell full-length on the ground, weak with fear and from not having eaten. The medium prepared a meal of bread and fatted calf. Saul ate and left.

David Dismissed from the Battle

Returning to David 1 Sam 29: when the Philistine lords saw David and his men marching in the rear with Achish, they objected:

"What are these Hebrews doing here?... Is not this David, of whom they sing to one another in dances, 'Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands'?" — 1 Samuel 29:3, 5

Achish defended David sincerely. The lords were unmoved: "Send the man back, that he may return to the place to which you have assigned him." Achish reluctantly dismissed David:

"As the LORD lives, you have been honest, and to me it seems right that you should march out and in with me in the campaign. For I have found nothing wrong in you from the day of your coming to me to this day. Nevertheless, the lords do not approve of you. So go back now." — 1 Samuel 29:6–7

This is one of the most extraordinary providences in the Old Testament: God used Philistine commanders' suspicion to prevent David from being forced to either fight against his own people or commit treason against his host. David and his men marched back to Ziklag while the Philistines marched on to Jezreel.

Ziklag Burned

David and his six hundred men arrived back at Ziklag on the third day of marching.

"Now the Amalekites had made a raid against the Negeb and against Ziklag. They had overcome Ziklag and burned it with fire and taken captive the women and all who were in it, both small and great. They killed no one, but carried them off and went their way. And when David and his men came to the city, they found it burned with fire, and their wives and sons and daughters taken captive. Then David and the people who were with him raised their voices and wept until they had no more strength to weep." — 1 Samuel 30:1–4

David's Wives Taken

Both of David's wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel (Nabal's widow), were among the captives.

The Crisis

The men, in their grief, turned against David:

"David was greatly distressed, for the people spoke of stoning him, because all the people were bitter in soul, each for his sons and daughters. But David strengthened himself in the LORD his God." — 1 Samuel 30:6

The phrase "David strengthened himself in the LORD his God" (vayitchazek David ba-YHWH Elohav) has become one of the touchstones of biblical leadership under crisis. With six hundred grief-stricken armed men talking about stoning him, David turned to the only place that could anchor him.

Inquiring of the Ephod

David called for Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod. He inquired of the LORD:

"Shall I pursue after this band? Shall I overtake them?" Answer: "Pursue, for you shall surely overtake and shall surely rescue." — 1 Samuel 30:8

The Pursuit

David set out with six hundred men. At the brook Besor, two hundred were too exhausted to cross. David left them with the supplies and pressed on with four hundred.

The Egyptian Slave

In a field they found an Egyptian — sick, abandoned by his Amalekite master three days earlier when he fell ill. They gave him food and water (bread, a cluster of raisins, two pieces of fig cake). When he revived, David asked him:

• "To whom do you belong?" — He was the slave of an Amalekite
• "Will you take me down to this band?" — Yes, if you swear not to kill me or hand me back to my master

The Egyptian led them to the Amalekite camp.

The Battle

"And behold, they were spread abroad over all the land, eating and drinking and dancing, because of all the great spoil they had taken from the land of the Philistines and from the land of Judah. And David struck them down from twilight until the evening of the next day, and not a man of them escaped, except four hundred young men, who mounted camels and fled." — 1 Samuel 30:16–17

Full recovery:

• All captives rescued — wives, sons, daughters
• All flocks and herds recovered
• Nothing missing, small or great
• Additional spoil taken from the Amalekites

David's Ordinance

When David returned to the two hundred who had stayed with the baggage, some of the wicked and worthless men with him said those who had not gone into battle should receive none of the spoil — only their wives and children.

David's ruling became a permanent law in Israel:

"You shall not do so, my brothers, with what the LORD has given us. He has preserved us and given into our hand the band that came against us. Who would listen to you in this matter? For as his share is who goes down into the battle, so shall his share be who stays by the baggage. They shall share alike." — 1 Samuel 30:23–24

"And he made it a statute and a rule for Israel from that day forward to this day" 1 Sam 30:25.

Distribution to Judah's Elders

David also sent portions of spoil to the elders of various Judean towns that had supported him during his fugitive years — Bethel, Ramoth of the Negeb, Jattir, Aroer, Siphmoth, Eshtemoa, Racal, the cities of the Jerahmeelites, the cities of the Kenites, Hormah, Bor-ashan, Athach, and Hebron 1 Sam 30:27–31 — thirteen named cities plus "all the places where David and his men had roamed."

This was both gratitude and strategic. The cities of Judah were the same towns that would crown him king at Hebron months later.

The Battle of Mount Gilboa

While David was destroying the Amalekites and returning to Ziklag, the Philistines and Israel met at Mount Gilboa.

The Death of Saul's Sons

The Philistines pursued Saul hard. They killed his sons:

• Jonathan
• Abinadab
• Malchi-shua

(A fourth son, Ish-bosheth, also called Esh-baal, was not at the battle — he would briefly succeed Saul over the northern tribes.)

The Death of Saul

The archers found Saul. He was severely wounded. He asked his armor-bearer to kill him so the Philistines would not abuse him. The armor-bearer refused. Saul fell upon his own sword. The armor-bearer, seeing Saul dead, fell on his own sword as well.

"Thus Saul died, and his three sons, and his armor-bearer, and all his men, on the same day together." — 1 Samuel 31:6

The Amalekite's Different Account

An Amalekite later came to David at Ziklag with Saul's crown and bracelet, claiming he had killed Saul at the king's own request 2 Sam 1:5–10. Most commentators conclude this was a fabrication — perhaps the Amalekite scavenged the items and embellished his story hoping for reward. David had him executed for the claim alone.

The Bodies at Beth-shan

The Philistines:

• Cut off Saul's head 1 Sam 31:9
• Stripped his armor
• Sent messengers throughout Philistia announcing the victory
• Put Saul's armor in the temple of Ashtaroth
• Fastened Saul's body — and his sons' bodies — to the wall of Beth-shan 1 Sam 31:10
• 1 Chronicles 10:10 adds that they "fastened his head in the temple of Dagon"

The Men of Jabesh-gilead

At the very beginning of Saul's reign, he had rescued Jabesh-gilead from Nahash the Ammonite, who had threatened to gouge out the right eye of every man 1 Sam 11. The men of Jabesh remembered.

"All the valiant men arose and went all night and took the body of Saul and the bodies of his sons from the wall of Beth-shan, and they came to Jabesh and burned them there. And they took their bones and buried them under the tamarisk tree in Jabesh and fasted seven days" 1 Sam 31:12–13.

The Defectors

1 Chronicles 12:1–22 records that throughout the Ziklag period, men kept defecting to David from various tribes:

Tribe	Count	Notes
Benjamin (Saul's own tribe)	Several named	Ambidextrous warriors, skilled with sling and bow 1 Chr 12:2
Gad	Eleven officers named	"Faces like the faces of lions, swift as gazelles on the mountains" 1 Chr 12:8
Benjamin and Judah	Many	Came to David at the stronghold 1 Chr 12:16
Manasseh	Seven captains	Came when David came with the Philistines but did not go to battle 1 Chr 12:19–20

The Spirit had moved on Amasai, who said:

"We are yours, O David, and with you, O son of Jesse! Peace, peace to you, and peace to your helpers! For your God helps you." — 1 Chronicles 12:18

Psalm 18

Psalm 18 (also preserved as 2 Samuel 22) is described as the song David sang "on the day when the LORD delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul." It is the great retrospective psalm covering the entire fugitive and Ziklag period. The closing lines:

"Great salvation he brings to his king, and shows steadfast love to his anointed, to David and his offspring forever." — Psalm 18:50

Closing of the Saul Era

The book of 1 Samuel ends with Saul dead, Jonathan dead, Israel scattered, and David — far from the battlefield — at Ziklag, not yet knowing what has happened. The man God had anointed king fifteen years before was about to learn that his persecutor was finally gone.

The throne, prophesied but never grasped, was about to open.