1 Samuel 29:6–11

Then Achish called David and said to him, “Surely, as the LORD lives, you have been upright, and your going out and your coming in with me in the army is good in my sight. For to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Nevertheless the lords do not favor you. Therefore return now, and go in peace, that you may not displease the lords of the Philistines.”

So David said to Achish, “But what have I done? And to this day what have you found in your servant as long as I have been with you, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?”

Then Achish answered and said to David, “I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God; nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He shall not go up with us to the battle.’ Now therefore, rise early in the morning with your master’s servants who have come with you. And as soon as you are up early in the morning and have light, depart.”

So David and his men rose early to depart in the morning, to return to the land of the Philistines. And the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

The Philistine princes are right and Achish is wrong—to an amazing extent. How did David manage to fool him so completely? Was it David’s brilliance or Achish’s foolishness? Or was it so bizarre that only the LORD’s intervention can explain it?

Rewinding back to the beginning of David fleeing to Achish in 1 Samuel 27:5—Then David said to Achish, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”

Well, that rules out any brilliant argument by David. He’s obsequious, but makes no argument at all. Achish’s instant trust of David makes no sense. So that leaves Achish’s foolishness and the LORD’s intervention as possible explanations.

But Achish taking his princes’ recommendation here is wise. It’s definitely not the behavior of a fool.

So, it looks like this is the LORD’s doing. Achish is blinded to what everyone else can see.

Achish’s main error was a failure of due diligence. He trusted David from the get-go and never even had someone check up on him.

When David raided city after city, Achish never found out that they were Philistine cities, not Judean ones. There are many ways that Achish could have learned of the totally destroyed Philistine cities (e.g. from travelers). It’s curious that he never did. He seemed to deliberately avoid learning the truth.

Many churches have learned this lesson the hard way. No matter what you hope is true, due diligence is an absolute. Never slack on security. Never slack on running background checks.

Anyone who is offended by this practice is simply wrong.

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These weekday DEEPs are written by Mike Slay. The Saturday ones are written by Matt Richardson. To subscribe to the DEEP click here: https://www.ailbe.org/resources/community

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Except as indicated, Scripture taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. ESV stands for the English Standard Version. © Copyright 2001 by Crossway. Used by permission. All rights reserved. NIV stands for The Holy Bible, New International Version®. © Copyright 1973 by International Bible Society. Used by permission. All rights reserved. KJV stands for the King James Version.