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David now began to be tired of
wandering about in fear of Saul. He thought that perhaps Saul would
forget his promise, and come again, and try to kill him; so he determined
to go to the Philistines' country; and ask Achish, king of Gath, to take
care of him. Then David called his family, and his soldiers; and
they all went to Gath. Achish was very kind to David, and gave him a
city named Ziklag, and there David lived in safety. Saul knew where
he was, but he did not again try to kill him. David
was not idle when he lived at Ziklag. He went out, and fought
against the Amalekites, and conquered, and killed them. This was
right, for God had commanded them to be destroyed. But when David
came back to Ziklag, he did something that was very wrong. He tried
to deceive Achish. Achish asked him, where he had been
fighting. David was afraid to say that he had destroyed the
Amalekites; he thought it might displease Achish, so he said he had been
fighting south of Judah. Then Achish was glad, for he thought David
had forsaken his own people Israel, and was fighting against them, and
that he would come and help Achish to conquer the Israelites. Soon
after this, Achish made his army ready, and called David and his men, and
told him to go with him to fight against Israel. What could David do
now? He could not go and fight against his own people; and he was
afraid to tell Achish the truth, and to confess how deceitful he had
been. So he prepared to go with the army of Achish; but he felt very
sad as he stood with the soldiers of the Philistines, ready to fight
against his own country. But God helped David in this time of
difficulty. When the lords of the Philistines saw David and his
soldiers, they asked why those Israelites were in the army. Achish
told them, that David, their commander, was his friend, and had lived with
him a long time, and would help him to fight against the Israelites.
But the lords of the Philistines would not consent to this: they
would not have David in their army, for they thought he would not be a
true friend to them, and so they would not trust him. Achish was
sorry: but he called David and his men, and told them what the lords
of the Philistines had said. David pretended to be sorry, and said,
"Why may I not go to fight the king's enemies? Have I not been
thy faithful servant a long time?" Achish answered, "I
know that thou art good in my sight; but the Philistines have said, David
shall not go with us to the battle." So David and his men
returned to Ziklag, and the Philistines went on to Jezreel, to fight
against Israel.
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