1st Samuel 21:10 And David arose and fled that day for fear of Saul, and went to Achish the king of Gath. 11 And the servants of Achish said unto him, Is not this David the king of the land? did they not sing one to another of him in dances, saying, Saul hath slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands?
One of the very grave mistakes that David made, on account of his fear of Saul, is that he turned to God’s enemies for help, something that folks should never, ever do, because that will greatly compromise one’s ability to exercise living faith in God, in addition to which, dealing, and speaking truthfully could also become much more difficult, as David soon found out.
What the servants of Achish are declaring must be understood in the proper context, because they are directly referring to the slaying of Goliath by David, and the consequent routing of the Philistines, over whom Achish ruled as king. Thus, what David is hearing from the philistines as they speak to their king, is not only bad news, it is very bad news.
The gravity of the situation drove David to do the unthinkable, that which he would never ever have thought of doing and that’s because resorting to falsehood is one of the major byproducts of fear. In fact, there is not another instance in the Scripture where any prophet of God, pretended to be a mad man; no, not one.
1st Samuel 21:12 And David laid up these words in his heart, and was sore afraid of Achish the king of Gath. 13 And he changed his behavior before them, and feigned himself mad in their hands, and scrabbled on the doors of the gate, and let his spittle fall down upon his beard.
May The Lord add His blessing to the study of His word. God bless!