1 Samuel 28:1

SAUL SOUGHT GUIDANCE FROM THE WITCH OF ENDOR; DAVID WAS CALLED TO GO TO WAR AGAINST ISRAEL

"In those days the Philistines gathered their forces for war, to fight against Israel. And Achish said to David, "Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army." David said to Achish, "Very well, you shall know what your servant can do." And Achish said to David, "Very well, I will make you my bodyguard for life."

"Philistines gathered their forces ... to fight against Israel" (1 Samuel 28:1). This was far more than an ordinary mobilization for war, because, "On this occasion they sent to all their confederates that they would go along with them to the war."[1]

"Understand that you and your men are to go out with me in the army" (1 Samuel 28:1). This order from the king of Gath was addressed to David, whose duplicity and deception finally caught up with him; and he found himself in the position of being ordered to go to war against Israel. It was the providential help of God himself, and that only, which got David out of the dilemma that confronted him.

We cannot presume to justify David's actions during those years he was with Achish; but, "He was living in highly perilous circumstances; the Bible gives the record but pronounces no judgment."[2]

"Very well, you shall know what your servant can do" (1 Samuel 28:2). This was David's reply to the king's order; but, "This reply was ambiguous. There was no promise that David would assist in the war against Israel ... Judging from his previous actions, it would have been against his conscience to fight against his own people."[3] It was a special providence that caused Achish to accept David's words here as a pledge of loyalty to the Philistine king. The second special providence was in the fact that the contemporaries of Achish overruled his order for David to accompany them (1 Samuel 29:3-5).