Unintentionally Humorous Texts: When David Played The Fool!

Introduction: David was known for many things: Saul’s minstrel, the champion against Goliath, and a man after God’s own Heart, among others. But there was an unintentionally humorous incident that didn’t put David in a very good light!

Text: 1 Samuel 21:10-15, KJV: 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? 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 behaviour 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. 14 Then said Achish unto his servants, Lo, ye see the man is mad: wherefore then have ye brought him to me? 15 Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?

The history

1 Samuel 17 is one of the greatest chapters in the Bible. There’s of course the account of the battle, such as it was, between Goliath and David, but there’s also some other pictures of warfare during those days. Nobody wanted to fight, and nobody wanted to die, especially when the enemy was nearly twice the size of most Israelite soldiers!

But after this battle, Saul, the king, seemed to have a complete change of heart towards David. 1 Samuel 18-20 contain that sad story how Saul wanted to have David put to death by any means necessary. Jonathan, Saul’s son, even took extra pains to inform David of Saul’s plans. To say the least, this was a very dangerous time for David.

Aware of what Saul wanted to do, David fled for his life, stopping in Nob, where, apparently, the Tabernacle was located. At any rate, David sought food and weapons. The priest gave David both, not aware that he had signed his own death warrant (compare 1 Samuel 21:7 with 22:6 and following). Then David went on his way to Gath, a city of the Philistines, and ironically, the very home of Goliath, the Philistine champion whom David had defeated and killed!

Several commentators have given their opinions as to why David would flee his own country and try to live or dwell in a foreign country. Gath was a good ways away from Nob but not too far from the Israel/Philistine border; exact distance is a guess but there may have been about 30 miles. According to the map at Bibleatlas.org (https://bibleatlas.org/full/nob.htm) Gath was literally downhill from Nob, going through the Valley of Elah and leveling out close to the plains near the Mediterranean Sea.

Anyway, David (alone?) was in a foreign land, not invited, not expected, anf there is no record he inquired of the LORD what to do, so I’m sure that you and I could expect things to go wrong.

And sure enough, things did go wrong. Quickly.

The humor

David went to Achish, king of Gath but what David expected to get from a foreign king, and the whole Philistine nation at war with Israel, is something I’ve never figured out. Was it refuge? Was it protection? We’re never told what David had in mind when he headed for Gath.

He didn’t expect, I’m sure, but maybe he should have guessed, that people (the king’s servants here) remembered the little song, “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his ten thousands”! This event, based on the contest between David and Goliath, never seemed to have faded away among these people of Gath. And for these people, their enemy was right there among them.

Well, now, what was David going to do? Could he escape a wrathful king—Saul—only to fall into the hands of a wrathful city like Gath? Was there any way out?

David, by now, must have figured he wasn’t going to get any help from Achish; in fact, verse 12 says David was “sore afraid” of him. True, David had gone to Achish (verse 10) but it’s anybody’s guess what, if anything, took place at that first “interview”, as it were.

But now David decided to do some acting. He pretended to go mad or insane! Verse 13 tells how David first “changed his behavior”. So now he’s acting much different than he had been before. He then “feigned” himself mad and gave a very convincing portrayal when he “scrabbled” or made marks on the door and then let his spittle fall on his beard. At least one commentator thinks David had seen something like this happen to Saul, foaming at the mouth, at various times.

We’re not told how long this “act” went on, but it was apparently enough for Achish to think David had indeed gone crazy. He then asked his servants (maybe the same ones who had chanted or sung the victory song before?), “He’s mad, so why did you bring him to me? Do I even need any madmen in my house or anywhere else?(paraphrased)”

The humor in this passage is bit more abstract than in some other passages. The most humorous thing I found is that David pretended to be crazy in order to get out of a bad situation! What warrior would ever act like that? Granted, he ought not to have fled to the Philistines at all, but in all likelihood he had not asked the LORD’s direction in this matter. The same LORD Who had kept David alive after fighting Goliath would have kept David alive even if Saul had put out an all-points bulletin (APB) on him.

David ran away, but was sent right back where he started from. Somewhere I remember a little saying, something like, “I have no need in fear to be, when God my Father is with me!”

Scripture quotations taken from the King James Version of the Bible (KJV).