CHAPTER 29 Jul. 15 
David Sent Back to Ziklag by Achish
The Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, and the Israelites encamped by the spring in Jezreel. 2The lords of the Philistines marched on in units of hundreds and thousands, and David and his men marched in the rear with Achish. 3Then the lords of the Philistines said, What about these Hebrews? Achish said, Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have so far found no fault in him? 4But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him and said to him, Send the man back to the place you have appointed for him. He must not go down with us to battle, in case he turns against us during the fighting. How better could this fellow reconcile himself to his lord than with the heads of these men? 5Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, ‘Saul has slain his thousands and David his ten thousands?’. 6So Achish called David and said to him, As Yahweh lives, you have been upright and your conduct with me in the army has been good in my sight; I have not found evil in you since the day you came to me till this day. But the lords don’t approve of you. 7Therefore now return and go in peace; do not displease the lords of the Philistines. 8David said to Achish, But what have I done? What have you found against your servant all the time I have been with you to this day, that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king? 9Achish answered David, I know that you have been pleasing to me, as an angel of God, nevertheless the princes of the Philistines have said, ‘He must not go up with us to the battle’. 10Now get up early in the morning with the servants of your lord who have come with you, and depart as soon as it is light. 11So David got up early, he and his men, to depart in the morning to return to the land of the Philistines, and the Philistines went up to Jezreel.

Commentary

29:4 David was in an impossible situation; he had not been attacking Israelites as he had previously claimed to the Philistines; he had a strong conscience against killing Saul; yet he had given the impression he was willing to zealously fight against and kill his own Israelite people; it seemed there was no way out. And then, God’s gracious hand acted. Some of the Philistine army leaders objected to David’s presence on the battlefield- at the very last minute! God leads us into apparently dead end, no way out situations- and then delivers us out of them by His grace, in ways we had never considered. See on 23:26.
30:6 Yet David was innocent. Grief leads to a strong desire to blame someone for the loss, and that desire can lead to friends and brethren turning upon each other. Indeed, much harmful behaviour arises from the basic human need to find a scapegoat, someone or something upon which to place guilt. One implication of our seriously accepting that Christ on the cross was a guilt offering, the fulfilment of the Mosaic scapegoat ritual, is that we will no longer experience such a need to scapegoat and lay guilt. For all guilt, however perceived and from whatever cause, has finally been carried away into the wilderness by His unique and far reaching sacrifice there.