Outline of Chapter 29:

Prologue (1Samuel 28:1–2)

       vv.    1–2        The Philistine Armies Initially Gather at Aphek

       vv.    3–5        The Philistine Generals Object to David Joining Them

       vv.    6–9        Achish Tells David the Decision of the Philistine Generals

       vv.   10–11      David’s Departure from the Philistine Armies

Charts, Short Doctrines and Maps:

       v.      6           Theories About Achish Taking an Oath by Jehovah

       v.      6           “As Jehovah Lives” in the Book of 1Samuel

I ntroduction: 1Sam. 29 is an interesting chapter. David has allied himself with the Philistines and the Philistines are about to attack Israel. We have already talked about Saul and his army and how God is going to remove Saul and his sons from this life. We already know about Saul in great detail; however, his army has gone along with him as well. Saul would say, “Where’s David?” and someone would try to locate him for Saul. Saul would say, “Saddle up, let’s ride; let’s find David and kill him” and they would all move out with Saul in pursuit of David, who had done them no wrong, had done Saul no wrong and had done Israel no wrong. However, God works out these events so that David and his men would not be fighting against Saul and his men; David and his men are not going to fight against the army which represents Israel. God works out these events so that there is no confusion in what David should or should not do.

What we have in this chapter is the initial gathering of the Philistines forces. They will all assemble in Aphek and first take stock of their forces before moving onto Shunem (vv. 1–2). Achish has asked David to join him as his personal bodyguard, along with his army (1Sam. 28:1–2). The Philistine generals recognize David and object to his joining their ranks to fight against Israel, despite the high recommendation of Achish (vv. 3–5). Achish apologetically tells David that he must leave, making it clear that he trusts him implicitly (vv. 6–9). Achish suggests to David that he leave first thing in the morning, which David does (vv. 10–11a). While David is proceeding south, the Philistine army advances to the north (v 11) to Shunem.

The key cities of these final chapters of 1Samuel are all well known to us. Jamieson, Fausset and Brown tell us: Gilboa, Jezreel, Shunem, En-dor, are all found [today], still bearing the same names. They lie within sight of each other. Aphek is the only one of the cluster not yet identified [however, we do have a good idea where it is]. Jezreel on the northern slope of Gilboa, and at the distance of twenty minutes to the east, is a large fountain, and a smaller one still nearer; just the position which a chieftain would select, both on account of its elevation and the supply of water needed for his troops.

At least one exegete, Matthew Henry, talks about how David is close to God, in contrast to Saul, who is far from God, and he notes the difference in results. The problem is, David is not in fellowship; he is in the wrong place; he does not belong with the Philistines; he should not be going to war against Israel. We have gone into great detail in 1Sam. 27 just how far out of bounds David is. Furthermore, in 1Sam. 30, we will see David and his men disciplined as well as David turning back to God (1Sam. 30:6). There is a contrast between Saul and David in these two chapters; but it is a contrast between a believer about to die the sin unto death as versus a believer who can and will recover from his own reversionism.

McGee gives us a more accurate summary of the events leading to this: David has become so discouraged and despondent because of Saul’s determination to kill him that he left the land of Israel. God had not told him to leave any more than He told Abraham to leave the land. On the part of both these men it was a lapse of faith. So David stepped out of the land and moved over into the country of Philistia.

Prologue (1Samuel 28:1–2)

Because 1Sam. 28:3–25 were obviously inserted, I am going to briefly cover 1Sam. 28:1–2, which, chronologically, belong with this chapter of 1Samuel. 1Sam. 28:3–25 chronologically follow 1Sam. 29 in time. What you will notice is, how smoothly 1Sam. 28:1–2 fit together with 1Sam. 29. I would guess in the source material, these were found together, written by the same author (who is probably David).

If I were teaching this to a congregation, we would go in this order: 1Sam. 28:1–2 1Sam. 29:1–11 1Sam. 28:3–25 1Sam. 30–31. This is roughly the chronological order; however, what is really happening is some of these narratives follow Saul (1Sam. 28:3–25 1Sam. 31) and some of them follow David (1Sam. 28:1–2 1Sam. 29–30). Many of these events are occurring simultaneously, about 70 miles apart.

A complete exegesis of the following two verses can be found with the exegesis of 1Sam. 28.

What is the gist of this verse? The Philistines decided to make another move against Israel. Achish tells David that he is expected to be allied with the Philistine army.

The listing of the various translations along with the Hebrew exegesis is to be found with our examination of 1Sam. 28.

Translation: And it happened [or, and it came to pass; lit., and it was] in those days the Philistines congregated their camps for war to fight against Israel. The Philistines and the Jews had an ongoing hatred for each other going back to the time of the judges. God had given the land of the Philistines to Israel and the Philistines were forever looking to take bites out of the land that Israel occupied. I don’t know how things are during the time that you are reading this, but as I write this, we have almost the exact same situation occurring between the Israelis and the Palestinians (the name Palestine, by the way, has its roots in the word Philistine). Israel did not seem to make any inroads over the years on Philistine territory (if we limit their territory to their five cities and the immediate surrounding area), but the Philistines seemed to be continually driving a wedge between Israel and Judah, as well as encroaching upon Judah’s territory. Being heathen and not understanding that God had given this land to the Jews, the Philistines certainly believed that they had more rights to this land than Israel did. Therefore, the Philistines would gather their armies periodically to attack Israel, which is what was occurring at this point in time. David, because he is a brilliant man, should have been able to foresee that this would be a possibility during the year and a quarter that he lived in the land of the Philistines.

I have mentioned just how messy the border between Israel and Philistia was. The Philistines apparently had owned Beth shan for much of its history, even though that is right in the midst of Manasseh. We have a hard time grasping that, as our borders tend to be quite clear, well-marked, and contiguous. However, what we find here is not unlike Israel in modern history. There are a few streets which are considered Palestinian, a few which are considered Israeli; and there are people of the wrong type living in each. The borders of Israel at the time of this writing are relatively fluid, and so it was in the days of Saul and before. In fact, there were apparently whole cities within Israel’s borders which were essentially controlled by heathen (Judges 1:27, for instance).

You will also notice that there will be an occasional alliance (like David and Achish) and there will be a lot of animosity as well. We have the same thing today. I have an acquaintance who is a Palestinian who said that when she lived in Israel/Palestine, that those who had lived there (Israelis and Palestinians) essentially got along well, and the newer settlers were the ones who often stirred up trouble. My point is, what we find today as I write this is not altogether different from the time of David and Saul; except that they engaged in more direct warfare.

Translation: ...Furthermore [lit., and], Achish said to David, “You fully understand that you will go out with me in the camps—you and your soldiers.” Achish calls David in and tells him, “You understand that, as a part of this country, you must take part in our military excursions.” The idea is, it did not matter whether these attacks were against Israel or anyone else. This was a well-understood principal in the ancient world. Any man who was a part of a country, also had a responsibility to serve his country in the military. Even though there were exceptions (Saul did not draft every single male), an exception would not be made for David, who is a military man (it is highly unlikely that Achish had any idea that David was once a shepherd boy). David is beholden to Achish; and, as an adult male, he has an obligation to defend the country in which he has chosen to live.

Gill writes: David, and whereby he was like to be drawn into a dilemma; either to fight against his country, which he could not do conscientiously; or be guilty of ingratitude to Achish, and incur his displeasure, and be liable to be turned out of his country, or treated in a worse manner, even he and his men, to be seized on and cut to pieces by the forces of the Philistines, should he refuse. Do you see the moral dilemmas which result when you move a little out of God’s will and direction for your life? David went to Philistia originally just to escape Saul’s constant hounding; now he finds himself in the compromised position of being expected to go to war against his own country.

By the way, it is not just David that Achish expect to join him; he certainly expects for David to bring his army with him. They are also beneficiaries of life in Philistia, so they are also subject to conscription. Achish believes that they have all been making raids against southern Judah, so the idea of expecting them to fight against Israel is reasonable. Recall the last thing that Achish said about David at the end of 1Sam. 27: “He has made himself odious among his people Israel; therefore, he will become my servant forever.” The same verse tells us that Achish trusts David. Achish has no reason to think that there is any problem at all with his request (which is, for all intents and purposes, a royal command).

Again, the Hebrew exegesis of this verse along with the various English translations can be found in the exegesis of 1Sam. 28.

What is the gist of this verse? David appears to agree to join forces with Achish against the Jews. Achish makes David his permanent bodyguard.

Translation: David answered Achish, “Certainly you [even] you will know that which your servant will [can?] do.” David’s answer appears to be vague and somewhat ambiguous; I assume that this allows the listener to take it in whatever way he chooses to take it. “You certainly know what your servant does.” Now, I base my assessment on this sentence alone. It is my opinion that David really does not know exactly what he will do; he is being plunged further and further into this morally ambiguous situation. Furthermore, consider this: David came to Philistia to escape Saul and his army—the Philistines are mobilizing a huge army right at this point in time. How wise would it be for David to tell Achish, “Okay, I have been lying to you all along. I have not made any raids against Judah. Furthermore, I am not taking my army into battle against Israel.” David has an army of 600; the Philistines have thousands of men mobilized for war. If David says the wrong thing, he and his army and their wives and children could be wiped out (remember, David is out of fellowship, so he is not really clinging to the promises of God).

Now Achish does not take this response as vague or noncommital, regardless of the way that David meant it. Achish takes this as an unqualified affirmative response. Achish now has great trust in David, which will be made clear by what he says next.

Translation: ...Then Achish said to David, “Certainly I will make you my bodyguard [lit., a guard with reference to my head] perpetually.” Achish was apparently satisfied with David’s response, even though it sounds noncommital to me; and assigns David probably the most important job he could assign him: he made David his personal bodyguard. This indicates that Achish had great trust in David. Achish will be one of the leaders in this war against Israel (it is not clear if he is the head of this attack or not). We also know that the Philistines have before been routed when their leader is killed (as with Goliath). So Achish has a tremendous amount of trust in David. He is trusting David with his very life. It is unlikely that he suspects David of anything, given the position which he awards him.

You have got to think that this gets David to thinking. He is out of God’s geographical will. He is often out of fellowship. His anointment to become king of Israel was a long, long time ago. This man Achish is putting a great deal of trust in him. He treats David in he way that Saul should have treated him. He trusts David in the way that Saul should have trusted him. Perhaps David is thinking to himself, “Maybe this is where I should be.” David’s ambiguous response may not have been an attempt on his part to do anything but to think this situation through while talking to Achish. One can only imagine the confusion that must be in David’s soul. Saul could have trusted him completely, yet did not; here is a traditional enemy of the Jew, and he trusts David implicitly—with his very own life.

The Philistine Armies Initially Gather at Aphek

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And so gather Philistines all their camps [in] Aphek; and Israel is camping in the spring which [is] in Jezreel.

Septuagint                             And the Philistines gather all their armies to Aphek and Israel encamped in Aendor, which is in Jezrael.

Significant differences:          The Septuagint version I have has Israel in Aendor and the MT has them camping near a spring (and the Hebrew here could not be transliterated Aendor). The Peshitta is in agreement with the MT. 1Sam. 29 did not survive as part of the Dead Sea Scrolls. None of the ancient manuscripts which I have support the REB or the NAB, including the Latin (not even by transliteration). My guess is, the Alexandrian LXX reads Harod. The only footnote offered by any of my sources is in the REB, which unhelpfully footnotes En-harod with: probable reading; Hebrew: at the spring.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The Philistines had brought their whole army to Aphek, while Israel's army was camping near Jezreel Spring.

The Message                         The Philistines mustered all their troops at Aphek. Meanwhile Israel had made camp at the spring at Jezreel.

NAB                                       Now the Philistines had mustered all their forces in the spring of Harod near Jezreel.

NLT                                The entire Philistine army now mobilized at Aphek, and the Israelites camped at the spring in Jezreel.

REB                                       The Philistines mustered their entire army in Aphek; the Israelites encamped at En-harod in Jezreel.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         The Philistines assembled their whole army at Aphek, and Israel camped at the spring in Jezreel.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

HSBC                                    The Philistines brought all their military units together at Aphek while Israel was camped by the spring in Jezreel.

Young's Literal Translation    And the Philistines gather all their camps to Aphek, and the Israelites are encamping at a fountain which is in Jezreel..

What is the gist of this verse? The Philistines muster their forces in Aphek; and the Israelites camp by a fountain or spring in Jezreel.

Translation: The Philistines gathered all their forces [or, camps] [in] Aphek;... I’ve covered the Doctrine of Aphek in Joshua 12:18; now might be a good time to refer to it. There are several Aphek’s in Scripture, and here we are probably speaking of Aphek in Ephraim, which was probably where the Philistines camped when they fought against Israel in I Sam. 4:1. At this time, Aphek would have been on the northern rim of Philistine territory. This would likely be near, but not on, the northern coast of the Mediterranean. Although this could be the Aphek listed in the point above in the southern portion of Judah, it is more likely that this is located in Ephraim. Given that the Philistines control the territory of Dan around this time, moving eastward into Ephraim would make the most sense. Recall that when the Philistines camped here before, the Israelites went back to get the Ark of God for good luck, which would have been located in the Tabernacle of God which was at Shiloh in Ephraim.

Recall from the previous chapter (vv. 1–2) that these are Philistines from the 5 cities of Philistia. Therefore, if Achish of Gath is there, then we would expect the four rulers of the other city-states to be there as well. Only one commentary that I use seems to think that Achish is the supreme ruler here subject to some checks and balances by his generals.

This was, by the way, an initial gathering of the Philistine armies. They are not going to necessarily make this their main camp from which to attack. Once they gather and number their troops in relative peace, then they will move northward toward Jezreel. This tells us that this incident that we will study in 1Sam. 29 actually precedes 1Sam. 28:1–4. Several Philistine battalions move through Aphek up to the valley of Jezreel to Shunem (1Sam. 28:4). There is no way that they would move from Shunem and backtrack to Aphek. Furthermore, David is going to be kept from going anywhere close to Shunem, which will be the final stop of the Philistine armies prior to their attack against Israel. This makes this verse occur previous in time to 1Sam. 28:4, where the Philistines are gathering in Shunem. Also in that verse, I gave you a chronological chart of these two chapters, which I will expand upon in 1Sam. 31.

Now, the only thing I have a problem with is, 1Sam. 28:1–2 seem to be properly placed at the beginning of this chapter and 1Sam. 28 should have consisted of vv. 3–25. Furthermore, the eyewitness to the events of 1Sam. 28:3–25 would be different than the eyewitness of the events of 1Sam. 28:1–2 and 1Sam. 29. This tells us that the bulk of 1Sam. 28 was inserted by an editor and written by someone entirely different. This does not mean that it is a phoney account, or anything like that; it simply means that the source material is different and its insertion into Scripture as a part of Scripture was something which occurred later. We do not know who wrote the book of Samuel (it is one book in the Hebrew)—like the book of Genesis, I believe there were several original authors: Samuel, David, Jonathan (for at least 1Sam. 14) and the author of 1Sam. 28 (which actually could have been the same man who recorded 1Sam. 14—Jonathan’s armor bearer). It is my opinion that David was the final author/editor of Samuel (given that his death is not recorded until Kings). Since he was an eyewitness to most of the events of 1Sam. 16–2Sam. 24, and since he was closely associated with Jonathan, who was an eyewitness to 1Sam. 9–15 (and Samuel was also an eyewitness to some of these events) as well as with Samuel (who would have been an eyewitness to most of 1Sam. 1–10), David would be the likely person to have written and edited the entire book of Samuel.

I want you to recognize that there is an invisible hero here—someone observed the events of 1Sam. 28, and yet, we do not even know him by name. He is probably one of the two men who accompanied Saul, but we don’t know his name and we won’t know his name until we slip from this life into eternity. However, if you look around your church, you are going to see a lot of invisible heroes—people who you might even think are too far beneath you to associate with, people who might even be praying quietly on your behalf day after day.

The question in the back of my mind is, why the slopping editing job? That is, why not have 1Sam. 28:3–25 follow 1Sam. 29? That would give us a better chronological order and it would place 1Sam. 28:1–2 where they belong, with 1Sam. 29. After putting in several months of study on these two chapters, this question jumps out at me, as does the odd editing job, and I don’t know if I have a satisfactory explanation as to why it is done this way. Maybe, for those of us who are curious about authorship, this is God the Holy Spirit’s way of making it clear that this is an insertion, a narrative by a different author, which narrative stands out because it requires a different eyewitness and is obviously just stuck right smack dab in the middle of another narrative. Apart from this, I do not know why the history of Saul and the witch of Endor was placed where it is.

I should make two points at this time: first of all, I will try to record all of my questions and concerns, whether or not I have an answer. Part of this reason is, as I continue to study the passage, the answer will become clear to me. Given my age and forgetfulness, it is a good idea to write these questions down, as I could otherwise easily forget them. Furthermore, I am not embarrassed to record a question for which I do not have a satisfactory answer. I have no idea who will read this study of Samuel in the future, but I doubt that it will be the casual believer or the new believer. I pose these questions for the person who does read and study what I have written so that they will have questions of their own to answer which I could not.

Secondly, by introducing a question like this, by indicating that 1Sam. 28:3–25 is from a difference source and obviously inserted, I am not questioning in any way the inspiration of the Word of God. I am not questioning the inspiration of that portion of God’s Word nor am I questioning that this is the Word of God. Just because the final book is written by several authors that one editor wove together, this does not in any way indicate that the narrative lacks divine inspiration and guidance. Our understanding of divine inspiration should not be altered simple because David, for instance, took what Samuel wrote, appended to it what he personally witnessed, and then inserted some narratives from sources which he trusted. After all, if David had not included the account of Saul and the witch of Endor, then that statement of 1Chron. 10:13–14 would make no sense, as it would reference something which Saul did that we would not have a record of (Chronicles was recorded long after the books of Samuel and Kings).

Another question: could the final editor of the book of Chronicles have inserted 1Sam. 28:3–25 into the book of Samuel, so that he had something to refer back to? I doubt it. Believers in the Old Testament, particularly those closely associated with the plan of God, were not in the habit of appending lengthy narratives to the Word of God. The manuscripts which we have of Scripture which are separated by as much as a millennium show little if any change. What is most likely is, David saw this as important to include about Saul. David did not denigrate Saul to bring himself up—David is very honest in presenting himself as well. We see David’s warts as well as his good points. Saul’s choices, the depths to which he sank, as a dog returning to his vomit, is important for us to see.

Translation: ...and Israel was bivouacking by the spring which [is] near Jezreel. The bêyth preposition has a number of meanings; however, here, I have rendered it near instead of in. The reason is, if this spring were in Jezreel, this would simply read by the spring of Jezreel (spring would be in the construct).

Keil and Delitzsch give us a description of this fountain: This fountain is the present Ain Jalûd (or Ain Jalût, i.e., Goliath's fountain, probably so called because it was regarded as the scene of the defeat of Goliath), a very large fountain, which issues from a cleft in the rock at the foot of the mountain on the north-eastern border of Gilboa, forming a beautifully limpid pool of about forty or fifty feet in diameter, and then flowing in a brook through the valley (Rob. Pal. iii. p. 168). I don’t know if this is the correct one, but they paint a vivid picture of it.

Jezreel of Issachar was the summer residence of Ahab and his house (1Kings 18:45, 46). Jezreel was situated on a mountain, with an extensive and splendid prospect over the large plain that was called by its name. It was afterwards called Esdraela. Jezreel is situated between Scythopolis and Legio and can be found in the present-day Zerîn, situated in the northwest mountains of Gilboa

There is a tributary on my map which runs by Jezreel and feeds into the Jordan River. This location is in Issachar, and puts us reasonably close to Endor. My original problem with this location is, we are about 40 miles northeast of Aphek, which is quite a distance away for two armies to be. However, this makes sense, as this is not actually where the Israelites and the Philistines will do battle. The Philistines are initially gathering their troops to go to war. They are not ready to move against Israel, so they first gather some distance away from Saul and his army. They will advance as a group to Shunem when they are ready to go to war. (1Sam. 28:4).

It is interesting the order in which this occurs. Saul gathers his army far north of the Philistine army, recognizing that there will be a conflict soon. More than likely, Saul had men who relayed to him that the Philistines were mustering their forces. I don’t know exactly how he chose to go to this particular area; maybe Saul is choosing the battleground. In any case, he chooses a choice place for his troops to cool their heels; near a natural spring, which is a necessity for a large army.

Saul is quite fearful of what will happen. This is not Saul the great leader and warrior of his early years; but this is Saul, the coward, the reversionist, a man who had become an enemy of God. He fears dying at the hand of the Philistines; he fears dying under discipline from God; he fears the pain and suffering of war.

Here is how others have translated this verse:

Ancient texts:

Masoretic Text                       And warlords of Philistines are passing over to hundreds and to thousands and David and his men were passing over in the coming after with Achish.

Septuagint                             And the lords of the Philistines went on by hundreds and thousands, and David and his men went on in the rear with Anchus.

Significant differences:          None.

Thought-for-thought translations; paraphrases:

CEV                                       The Philistine rulers and their troops were marching past the Philistine army commanders in groups of a hundred and a thousand. When David and his men marched by at the end with Achish,...

NLT                                As the Philistine rulers were leading out their troops in groups of one hundred and one thousand, David and his men marched at the rear with King Achish.

Mostly literal renderings (with some occasional paraphrasing):

God’s Word™                         The Philistine leaders were marching by with their companies and regiments. David and his men were marching in the rear with Achish.

JPS (Tanakh)                        The Philistine lords came marching, each with his units of hundreds and of thousands; and David and his men came marching last, with Achish.

Literal, almost word-for-word, renderings:

HCSB                                    As the Philistine leaders were passing in review with their units of hundreds and thousands, David and his men were passing in review behind them with Achish.

Young's Updated LT              And the princes of the Philistines are passing on by hundreds, and by thousands, and David and his men are passing on in the rear with Achish.

What is the gist of this verse? The Philistines had their army organized in units of 100 or 1000. David was in the rear with Achish, as his personal guard.