David's Dark Valley

by M.D. Macdonald, Wishaw, Scotland | Category: General | Dec 1987

David, described as a man after God's own heart, was also a man of like passions with ourselves. He knew something of life's ups and downs.

He reached heights of spiritual experience that few other saints have known. The outcome of such experiences was often seen in the rich language of his psalms. Contrariwise there were occasions when he sank to levels from which many would never have recovered. Some of David's crisis periods are well known, such as the incidents involving Bathsheba or Absalom or the numbering of Israel. Another of these valley experiences, as we might call them, took place in the land of the Philistines.

David, Goliath and Gath

During the years of his exile, David had several dealings with Achish, a Philistine king. On reflection, it may be considered that these dealings were among his greatest times of crisis.

The city of Gath apparently stood on a conspicuous hill at the foot of the Judean mountains. The archaeologists tell us that its ruins are very extensive. From their high position, the inhabitants of Gath would often make raids into Judah.

We can well imagine the interest the people of Gath would have in the outcome of the vale of Elah engagement, where their armies and Goliath

their champion, were challenging king Saul. Their interest would mount as they heard week after week that no one would dare to fight their great giant.

At the end of six weeks a great change came over their city! Their giant was dead! Who possibly could have overcome this mighty warrior? Surely one of equal stature and strength! But no, it was only a mere stripling of a shepherd lad who had accomplished the seemly impossible task. David's name would have been passed from lip to lip. They heard tell of the song of Israel's womenfolk, "Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands!"

David the Madman

How sad to read in 1 Samuel 21 of Goliath's conqueror going to Gath to escape from King Saul. For years he had lived under the "Shadow of the Almighty". He had walked by faith and not by sight, and so was snatched from time to time from the very jaws of death by the intervention of God Almighty. Perhaps those years and the experiences they provided were some of David's mountain top experiences in life. They enriched his mind, giving material for some of his exquisite meditations in the psalms.

Now, for fear of Saul, he flees into the enemy country, to Goliath's very home town. What a contrast to the youth who stood in his unique solitude a few years earlier to face the might of Goliath. Scripture says, "The fear of man bringeth a snare" (Prov. 29:25), and here David was ensnared.

David heard the things that the servants of Achish were saying to their lord concerning him - they were reminding Achish of the victory song, that was sung in earlier halcyon days, of David slaying ten thousands. They also described him as the "King of the land". To them it seems, Saul was of no account. It may be that on reflection, David realizes his mistake, and now becomes afraid of King Achish. He seeks to escape under the guise of a madman. What a sorry sight to behold! Strange behaviour indeed for the man after God's own heart! Look at the spittle running down his beard, and the king scraping marks on the door. The sad outcome of such behaviour was the raising of serious questions in the minds of the enemies of the people of God about harbouring such a madman in their midst. Well might Paul write "Give no occasion of stumbling, either to Jews, or to Greeks ..." (1 Cor. 10:32).

The Dark Valley

In 1 Samuel 26:25 we read that Saul said to David, "Blessed be thou, my son David: thou shalt both do mightily, and shalt surely prevail".

Even bearing in mind the fickleness of Saul's nature, it seems strange that the very next verse informs us of David's decision to go into the land of the Philistines to escape out of Saul's hand. David seems to have achieved his objective, for we read "Saul sought no more again for him".

The men who had given their hearts t6 David in the cave of Adullam still follow their leader, although he is now leading them into the land of the enemy. Back they go to Gath! Back to king Achish who had previously banished David as a madman! What a faithful band of men! The consequences are solemn when leaders lead the wrong way.

A significant statement is made regarding David at this point - it is said "David dwelt with Achish at Gath". So there is a sense of belonging to Gath. How sad that the man after God's own heart should settle in such a place. Surely there is a lesson here for ourselves. Are we fully persuaded that the place where we are spending our days is also the place of divine choice, and not the place of our choosing?

Scripture tells us (1 Sam. 27:7) that "the number of the days that David dwelt in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months". The expression "full" surely emphasizes the time scale of the period that the man "after God's own heart" dwelt in the land of the enemy. In reality those sixteen months were "empty" months in the calendar of divine reckoning. The hymnwriter

expresses a worthy desire:

Oh, let my life be given,

My years for Thee be spent;

World fetters all be riven,

And joy with suffering blent.

What Thou hast done for me

Demands my all for Thee.

The apostle says in Ephesians 5:16 "redeeming the time, because the days are evil", and again the prophet Joel said, "I will restore to you the years that the locust hath eaten" (Joel 2:25).

David, in order to cover up his actions against the Geshurites, the Girzites and the Amalekites, was forced to tell lies to Achish when he inquired of him as to where he had raided. David said that he had fought against Judah. So Achish felt reassured that David was utterly abhorred by Israel, and he would be his servant for ever. What a contrast we see here! The sweet Psalmist of Israel in that most beautiful psalm had averred that he would "dwell in the house of the LORD for ever" (Ps. 23:6); yet here he is deceiving the king of Gath and allowing him to think that he was a loyal ally. We see then that lies, deceit and murder lay in the pathway of this man of God who had, for a little while, forsaken the paths of righteousness.

Achish then confirmed with David that he and his men would go with the Philistines "to fight with Israel" (1 Sam. 28:1).

The Princes of the Philistines

In 1 Samuel 29 we have the battle array of the Philistine forces lined up

against King Saul for that fateful Mount Gilboa engagement. It seems that they passed in procession before the princes of the Philistines by hundreds and by thousands. But then it appears that this final band of men bringing up the rearward are suddenly noticed by the Philistine leaders, "What do these Hebrews here?" they exclaimed.

Achish vainly tries to defend David, saying that he had served him well all the time he had been with him. The Philistine princes, however, summarily dismissed Achish and his reasonings, and told him to send back the "traitor" to his own country. How better could David reconcile himself to his own people, they argued, than with the heads of the Philistines. This was the man, they said, of whom the Hebrews had sung, "Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands". It appears that the crushing defeat of the Philistines by a Judean shepherd boy would not easily be forgotten.

Achish came to David and requested the swift exit of both David and his men from the battlefield. David answered Achish with the same response that he had given to his older brother many years previously when preparing to fight Goliath, "What have I now done?" he asked. How vastly different are the two sets of circumstances in which the same question was asked. In the first instance, the shepherd youth from the Judean hills had left his sheep with a keeper, and was asked by his brother, "With whom hast thou left those few sheep in the wilderness?" David had answered, "What have I now done? Is there not a cause?" Now it is David the pseudo-Philistine commander, putting the question to Achish in a vain attempt to justify himself and his actions. Achish attempts to soften the hard answer of the Philistine princes, and so David leaves the battlefield, saved from having to march into battle in the ranks of the enemies of the Lord. Certainly this was David's dark valley!

David's Lord - and His Dark Valley

Finally, let us briefly consider another day, another conflict, another King and contrasting circumstances.

This time it is the darkest day in human history; the deepest valley ever crossed by Man; the fiercest conflict ever fought; the greatest King who ever died. This valley was not entered into in disobedience, but was entered

by One who never deviated from the pathway of obedience.

In all the majesty and perfection of His manhood, in His total submission to the divine will, the blest Man of Calvary went out to die for you and me. David's Elah experience foreshadowed this conflict. Here there was no yielding to the enemy, but rather the precious fulfilment of many prophetic utterances regarding the sufferings of the Christ.

Then let us, brother and sister alike, take heart and gladly soldier on knowing that no path or valley that may befall us in our life's experience can ever be as hard or as dark as that of our blessed Redeemer.

Up from the valley, the darkness is gone,

When Jesus brings there the beauty of dawn:

Victory, glad victory, we sing o'er the grave!

Glory to Jesus! He's "mighty to save".

M.D. Macdonald, Wishaw, Scotland | Dec 1987
General