1Sa 27 | TNotes | STEP | Summary for 1Sam 27:1-12: 27:1-12 David fled to the Philistines to get away from Saul for good. Rather than killing Saul, David chose the dangerous life of a fugitive.

Summary for 1Sam 27:1-12: 27:1-12 ^a David fled to the Philistines to get away from Saul for good. Rather than killing Saul, David chose the dangerous life of a fugitive.
27:2 ^b This was David’s second sojourn with Achish, the Philistine king (see 21:10-15 ^c). On both occasions, David lied to him (see 27:10 ^d).
27:6 ^e Ziklag was about twenty-two miles southwest of Gath.

• still belongs to the kings of Judah: This note was written between Solomon’s death (931 BC) and the start of the Babylonian exile (586 BC).
27:8 ^f Geshurites ... Girzites ... Amalekites: These groups, who lived on the edges of the southern desert, had been troublesome to both Philistines and Israelites. (On the Amalekites, see 14:48 ^g; ch 15 ^h; on the Geshurites, see Josh 13:2 ⁱ, 13 ^j; 2 Sam 3:3 ^k.)

• Shur was somewhere east of Egypt (1 Sam 15:7 ^l; Gen 16:7 ^m; 20:1 ⁿ; 25:18 ^o).
27:9 ^p David did not leave one person alive: At least some of these people were among those whom God had commanded Israel to destroy (see 15:3 ^q; 28:18 ^r; Deut 25:17-19 ^s; Josh 13:13 ^t).
27:10 ^u David misled Achish by claiming his attacks were against his own people of Judah and two other related groups. The text does not commend David for lying to the foreign king, but neither does it condemn him.

• The Jerahmeelites were a Semitic tribe in southern Judah (1 Chr 2:9 ^v, 25-27 ^w, 33 ^x, 42 ^y).

• Kenites: Moses’ father-in-law was a Kenite (Judg 1:16 ^z; 4:11 ^aa; see also study note on 1 Sam 15:6).