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The Objections of the Philistine Princes
v. 1. Now, the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek, not far from Shunem, in the Plain of Jezreel; and the Israelites pitched by a fountain which is in Jezreel, on the northwest slope of Gilboa.
v. 2. And the lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds and by thousands, crossing the valley in full battle array, with their officers and princes at their head; but David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish, the Philistines of Gath forming the rear-guard.
v. 3. Then said the princes of the Philistines, What do these Hebrews here? They may have remembered, from an earlier campaign, that the Israelites in their own army had turned against them and helped to destroy them, 1Sa_14:21, or they may have been particularly suspicious of David. And Achish said unto the princes of the Philistines, Is not this David, the servant of Saul, the king of Israel, thereby alluding to Saul's enmity toward him, which hath been with me these days, or these years, our expression being "a year and a day," and I have found no fault in him since he fell unto me unto this day? He had found nothing which would cause him to suspect his loyalty to the Philistine cause.
v. 4. And the princes of the Philistines were wroth with him, that is, the rulers of the four other city-states; and the princes of the Philistines said unto him, Make this fellow return that he may go again to his place which thou hast appointed him, to Ziklag, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he be an adversary to us; for wherewith should he reconcile himself unto his master? Should it not be with the heads of these men? They felt that it would be the best opportunity for David and his men to reinstate themselves in the favor of Saul by defeating apart of the Philistine army.
v. 5. Is not this David of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, Saul slew his thousands, and David his ten thousands? Cf 1Sa_18:7; 1Sa_21:11. The defeat which they had suffered at the time when Goliath had been slain still rankled in their memory, and their recollection of this achievement proved the means of rescuing David from the unpleasant necessity of going into battle on their side, although their fears would probably have been realized in that event. It was an act of grace and mercy on God's part which took him out of the battle.