The “Madness” of Exile

Provisioned with “holy bread” and armed with Goliath’s sword, David now takes his flight. Thinking that nowhere in Israel is safe, he heads for the border and goes, of all places, to Philistia. These two decisions both serve to illustrate the depth of David’s fearful desperation. First, he is willing to accept exile from the Land of Promise if it will preserve his life. But David surely knows that the Scriptures depict exile as a curse (Deut. 28:64; Jer. 16:10–13). The land of Canaan is an object of God’s covenant promise, and no Israelite is to abandon it. Second, he is willing to go to the archenemies of his people. And he goes, not just to Philistia, but to the city of Gath, the hometown of Goliath, whose sword he now wears at his side. Surely this is a decision of a man who is not thinking clearly. Matthew Henry can only speculate that the king of Gath, Achish, has a certain admiration for David’s military abilities, and that perhaps he is secretly glad that David eliminated Goliath, a potential rival.

Unfortunately, others in Gath are not so pleased by David’s arrival. They can remember that David’s victory over Goliath led to an Israelite victory over the Philistines, and that the people of Israel celebrated David in song for killing Philistines by the “ten thousands.” Curiously, they also seem to know that David has been anointed as the next king of Israel. Achish’s counselors use these facts to urge him not to harbor David, and David, apparently fearing that Achish will heed their words, becomes very afraid again. Thus, he finds that he has fled from the danger of one king to the danger of another.

But David still does not see that it is his self-guided flight that has landed him in hotter water, so he still does not turn to God in his need. Instead, he adopts another pretense, feigning madness in the presence of the Philistines by scratching at the doors and drooling on his beard. This behavior probably confirms Philistine suspicions as to why David, perhaps public enemy number one in Philistia, would walk openly into Gath. But it also makes David loathsome to Achish, and the king drives him out of Gath (see the title of Ps. 34).

Then, perhaps deciding at last to trust God to preserve him, David returns to Israel. In truth, he will be safer in the land while trusting God than outside the land while relying on his own schemes.