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At first sight it may seem strange that on his further flight from Nob, David should
have sought shelter in Gath, the city of Goliath, whom he had killed in single
combat. On the other hand, not only may this have been the place most readily
accessible to him, but David may have imagined that in Gath, especially, the
defection of such a champion from the hosts of Saul would be hailed as a notable
triumph, and that accordingly he would find a welcome in seeking its protection. The
result, however, proved otherwise. The courtiers of Achish, the king, - or, to give
him his Philistine title, the Abimelech (my father king) of Gath (comp. Genesis 20:2;
26:8) - urged on him the high position which David held in popular estimation in
Israel, and his past exploits, as presumably indicating what not only his real feelings
but his true policy towards Philistia must be, however differently it might suit his
present purpose to bear himself (comp. 1 Samuel 29:3-5). The danger which now
threatened David must have been very great. In fact, to judge from Psalm 56:1, the
Philistine lords must have actually "taken" him, to bring him before Achish, with a
view to his imprisonment, if not his destruction. We are probably warranted in
inferring that it was when thus led before the king, and waiting in the court before
being admitted to the audience, that he feigned madness by scribbling^197 on the
doors of the gate, and letting his spittle fall upon his beard. The device proved
successful. The Philistine lords with true Oriental reverence for madness as a kind of
spiritual possession, dared not harm him any more; while Achish himself, however
otherwise previously disposed (comp. 27:2, 3), would not have him in his house,
under the apprehension that he might "rave against"^198 him, and in a fit of madness
endanger his life.
And as Psalm 56 described the feelings of David in the hour of his great danger, so
Psalm 34 expresses those on his deliverance therefrom. Accordingly the two should
be read in connection. Indeed the eight Psalms which date from the time of the
persecutions by Saul (59, 7, 56, 34, 57, 52, 142, 54^199 ) are closely connected, the
servant of the Lord gradually rising to full and triumphant anticipation of
deliverance.
They all express the same trustfulness in God, the same absolute committal to Him,
and the same sense of undeserved persecution. But what seems of such special
interest, regarding, as we do, the history of David in its typical aspect, is that in these
Psalms David's view is always enlarging, so that in the judgment of his enemies he
beholds a type of that of the heathen who oppose the kingdom of God and its King
(comp. for example, Psalm 56:7; 7:9; 59:5); thus showing that David himself must
have had some spiritual understanding of the prophetic bearing of his history.
And now David was once more a fugitive - the twofold lesson which he might have
learned being, that it needed no subterfuges to ensure his safety, and that his calling
(^)