1 Samuel 29 · a question people ask
David asked why he couldn't "fight against the enemies of my lord the king" (29:8). Would he have fought against Israel?
The chapter doesn't say, and it never shows what David would have done in the battle. It gives his words. When Achish told him, "Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men" (28:1), David answered, "Therefore you will know what your servant can do" (28:2). Here he asks what Achish has found in him "that I may not go and fight against the enemies of my lord the king?" (29:8). He doesn't name the king. Chronicles speaks of the same day, "when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle", and says "the lords of the Philistines sent him away after consultation" (1 Chronicles 12:19). Christians read David's words in two main ways, each resting on its verses. Both agree that the chapter doesn't tell what David meant to do, and that he was sent back before the battle (29:9-11).
How Christians read it
Where Christians differ, Favor sets out the main views side by side and doesn't pick one.
Ready to go with Achish
Those who read it this way take David's words at their plain sense. He was speaking to Achish, before whom he had been "to this day" (29:8), so "my lord the king" (29:8) was Achish. David had marched "in the rear with Achish" (29:2), Achish had told him, "I will make you my bodyguard forever" (28:2), and Chronicles says he "came with the Philistines against Saul to battle" (1 Chronicles 12:19). On this reading David was ready to fight in Achish's army, and the princes' decision kept him out of a battle he was on his way to (29:4, 29:9).
1 Samuel 29:2 · 1 Samuel 28:2 · 1 Samuel 29:4 · 1 Samuel 29:8-9 · 1 Chronicles 12:19
Words Achish would take one way
Those who read it this way note that David had already hidden from Achish what he was doing, telling him he had raided the South of Judah (27:10-12), and that twice he would not harm Saul: "who can stretch out his hand against the LORD’s anointed, and be guiltless?" (26:9; also 24:6). They note that David calls Saul "my lord the king" (26:19; also 24:8), and that the princes spoke of David's "lord" (29:4), whom Chronicles names as "his master Saul" (1 Chronicles 12:19), so they hear "my lord the king" (29:8) as words Achish would take of himself and David could mean of Saul. On this reading David would not have fought against Israel. The princes feared he might turn: "lest in the battle he become an adversary to us" (29:4).
1 Samuel 27:10-12 · 1 Samuel 26:9 · 1 Samuel 24:6 · 1 Samuel 26:19 · 1 Samuel 24:8 · 1 Samuel 29:3-4 · 1 Samuel 29:8 · 1 Chronicles 12:19
The verses
“In those days, the Philistines gathered their armies together for warfare, to fight with Israel. Achish said to David, “Know assuredly that you will go out with me in the army, you and your men.” David said to Achish, “Therefore you will know what your servant can do.” Achish said to David, “Therefore I will make you my bodyguard forever.””
“Some of Manasseh also joined David when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle, but they didn’t help them, for the lords of the Philistines sent him away after consultation, saying, “He will desert to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.””