Saul, hearing David to be in Gath, seeks no more for him, 1-4. David asks Achish for Ziklag, 5-7. He, invading other countries, persuades Achish he fought against Judah, 8-12.
1 And David said in his heart, "I shall now perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should speedily escape into the land of the Philistines. And Saul will despair of me, to seek me anymore in any border of Israel, and I shall escape from his hand." 2 And David arose and he passed over with the six hundred men who were with him to Achish, the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And David dwelt with Achish at Gath—he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal's wife. 4 And it was told to Saul that David had fled to Gath. And he no longer sought for him again.
5 And David said to Achish, "If I have now found grace in your eyes, let them give me a place in some town in the country so that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?" 6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore, Ziklag pertains to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 And the time that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
8 And David and his men went up and invaded the Geshurites, the Gezrites, and the Amalekites, for those nations were of old the inhabitants of the land, as far as to Shur, even to the land of Egypt. 9 And David smote the land and left neither man nor woman alive, and took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the apparel, and returned and came to Achish. 10 And Achish said, "Where have you made a road today?" And David said, "Against the south of Judah, against the south of the Jerahmeelites, and against the south of the Kenites." 11 And David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring tidings to Gath, saying, "Lest they should inform against us, saying, 'Thus David did, and so will be his manner all the time he dwells in the country of the Philistines.'" 12 And Achish believed David, saying, "He has made himself utterly abhorred among his people in Israel; therefore, he shall be my servant forever."
Matthew Henry Commentary - 1st Samuel, Chapter 27[➚]