4. Thr 91 - 1 Samuel 26–27 · Acts 18 - FeedTheGoodHorse
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Day 92: 1 Samuel 26–27 · Acts 18 · Commentary · Commentary²
The Bible text is included for reading continuity; it is accurate in substance, aligned with major modern translations, and may be read alongside any Bible you prefer.1
Special Note about the following Bible text: The following translation uses the Hebrew terms tamé (טָמֵא) and tahor (טָהוֹר) instead of the traditional “unclean” and “clean.” These terms describe ritual status in relation to sanctuary access, not moral fault, shame, or physical dirtiness. A fuller explanation will follow in a dedicated article.
1 Samuel 26
Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is east of Jeshimon?”
So Saul rose and went down to the wilderness of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph.
Saul camped on the hill of Hachilah, which is beside the road east of Jeshimon. But David stayed in the wilderness. When he saw that Saul had come after him into the wilderness, David sent out spies and learned that Saul had indeed come.
Then David rose and came to the place where Saul had camped, and David saw the place where Saul lay, with Abner the son of Ner, the commander of his army. Saul was lying within the encampment, while the people were camped around him.
David answered and said to Ahimelech the Hittite and to Abishai the son of Zeruiah, Joab’s brother, “Who will go down with me into the camp to Saul?” Abishai said, “I will go down with you.”
So David and Abishai came to the people by night, and look, Saul lay sleeping within the encampment with his spear stuck in the ground by his head, and Abner and the people lay around him.
Then Abishai said to David, “God has given your enemy into your hand this day. Now please let me pin him to the earth with one stroke of the spear, and I will not strike him twice.”
But David said to Abishai, “Do not destroy him, for who can put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed and remain guiltless?”
David said, “As the Lord lives, the Lord will strike him, or his day will come to die, or he will go down into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. But now please take the spear that is by his head and the water jar, and let us go.”
So David took the spear and the water jar from beside Saul’s head, and they went away. No man saw it or knew it, nor did anyone awake, for they were all asleep, because a deep sleep from the Lord had fallen upon them.
Then David crossed over to the other side and stood on the top of the mountain far away, with a great distance between them.
David called to the people and to Abner the son of Ner, saying, “Will you not answer, Abner?” Then Abner answered, “Who are you who calls to the king?”
David said to Abner, “Are you not a man? And who is like you in Israel? Why then have you not kept watch over your lord the king? For one of the people came in to destroy the king your lord. This thing that you have done is not good. As the Lord lives, you deserve death, because you have not kept watch over your lord, the Lord’s anointed. And now see where the king’s spear is and the water jar that was by his head.”
Saul recognized David’s voice and said, “Is this your voice, my son David?” David said, “It is my voice, my lord the king.”
He said, “Why does my lord pursue his servant? For what have I done? What evil is in my hand? Now therefore let my lord the king hear the words of his servant. If the Lord has stirred you up against me, let him accept an offering. But if it is men, cursed are they before the Lord, for they have driven me out this day from sharing in the inheritance of the Lord, saying, ‘Go, serve other gods.’ Now therefore let not my blood fall to the earth away from the presence of the Lord, for the king of Israel has come out to seek a single flea, like one who hunts a partridge in the mountains.”
Then Saul said, “I have sinned. Return, my son David, for I will no longer do you harm, because my life was precious in your eyes this day. Look, I have acted foolishly and have erred greatly.”
David answered and said, “Look, here is the king’s spear. Let one of the young men come over and take it. The Lord rewards every man for his righteousness and his faithfulness, for the Lord gave you into my hand today, and I would not put out my hand against the Lord’s anointed. Look, as your life was precious this day in my eyes, so may my life be precious in the eyes of the Lord, and may he deliver me out of all trouble.”
Then Saul said to David, “Blessed be you, my son David. You will surely do many things and will surely prevail.”
So David went his way, and Saul returned to his place.
1 Samuel 27
David said in his heart, “Now I shall perish one day by the hand of Saul. There is nothing better for me than that I should escape into the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within all the territory of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”
So David rose and crossed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, and David with his two wives, Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, Nabal’s widow.
When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him.
Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the country towns, that I may live there. For why should your servant live in the royal city with you?”
So Achish gave him Ziklag that day. Therefore Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day.
The number of days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months.
Now David and his men went up and made raids against the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites, for these were the inhabitants of the land from ancient times, as far as Shur and to the land of Egypt.
David struck the land and left neither man nor woman alive, but took away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and returned and came to Achish.
When Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?” David would say, “Against the Negeb of Judah,” or “Against the Negeb of the Jerahmeelites,” or “Against the Negeb of the Kenites.”
David left neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, saying, “Otherwise they would tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’” Such was his practice all the time he lived in the country of the Philistines.
Achish trusted David, saying, “He has made himself utterly offensive to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.”
Acts 18
After these things he left Athens and went to Corinth. He found a Jew named Aquila, a native of Pontus, recently come from Italy with Priscilla his wife because Claudius had ordered all the Jews to leave Rome. He went to them, and because he practiced the same trade, he stayed with them and worked, for they were tentmakers by trade.
He was reasoning in the synagogue every Sabbath and persuading both Jews and Greek-speaking people.
When Silas and Timothy came down from Macedonia, Paul devoted himself fully to the word, testifying to the Jews that Jesus is the Messiah. But when they opposed and spoke abusively, he shook out his garments and said to them, “Your blood be on your own heads. I am clean. From now on I will go to the nations.”
Leaving there, he went into the house of a man named Titius Justus, a worshiper of God whose house was next to the synagogue. Crispus, the synagogue leader, believed in the Lord together with his whole household, and many of the Corinthians who heard believed and were immersed.
The Lord said to Paul during the night in a vision, “Do not be afraid, but keep speaking and do not be silent, because I am with you, and no one will attack you to harm you, because I have many people in this city.” So he stayed there a year and six months, teaching the word of God among them.
But while Gallio was proconsul of Achaia, the Jews rose up together against Paul and brought him before the tribunal, saying, “This man persuades people to worship God contrary to the law.”
As Paul was about to open his mouth, Gallio said to the Jews, “If it were some wrongdoing or serious crime, Jews, I would reasonably put up with you. But if it is questions about words and names and your own law, see to it yourselves. I do not want to be a judge of these things.” And he drove them away from the tribunal.
Then they all seized Sosthenes, the synagogue leader, and beat him in front of the tribunal. But Gallio paid no attention to these things.
After staying many more days, Paul said farewell to the siblings and sailed away for Syria, and with him were Priscilla and Aquila. At Cenchreae he had his hair cut, because he was under a vow. They came to Ephesus, and he left them there, but he himself entered the synagogue and reasoned with the Jews.
When they asked him to stay for a longer time, he did not agree, but said farewell and told them, “I will return to you again if God wills.” Then he set sail from Ephesus.
After landing at Caesarea, he went up and greeted the assembly, and then went down to Antioch.
After spending some time there, he departed and traveled from place to place through the region of Galatia and Phrygia, strengthening all the disciples.
Now a Jew named Apollos, a native of Alexandria, arrived in Ephesus. He was an eloquent man, well trained in the scriptures. This man had been instructed in the way of the Lord, and being fervent in spirit, he was speaking and teaching accurately the things about Jesus, though he knew only the immersion of John.
He began speaking boldly in the synagogue, but when Priscilla and Aquila heard him, they took him aside and explained the way of God to him more accurately.
When he wanted to go across to Achaia, the siblings encouraged him and wrote to the disciples to welcome him. After arriving, he greatly helped those who had believed through grace, for he powerfully refuted the Jews in public, demonstrating through the scriptures that Jesus is the Messiah.
Commentary - Day 91
1 Samuel 26–27 · Acts 18
Summary:
David again refuses to kill Saul when given the chance, taking only Saul’s spear and water jar as proof that he spared him. Saul admits wrongdoing, but the conflict still does not end. Afterward, fear begins reshaping David inwardly. He says in his heart that Saul will eventually kill him and escapes to the Philistines, where he survives through deception and divided loyalties.
In Acts 18, Paul also faces ongoing resistance, but instead of turning inward or concealing himself, he continues speaking openly in Corinth. Opposition rises, yet many still believe, and the Lord tells Paul not to be afraid or silent. Later, Priscilla and Aquila quietly correct Apollos where his understanding is incomplete. Across the readings, prolonged pressure reveals the difference between preserving oneself through fear and remaining steady enough to continue openly in truth.
1 Samuel 26, when the Ziphites again tell Saul where David is hiding, the pursuit begins once more. Saul comes with three thousand chosen men into the wilderness of Ziph. David goes down into Saul’s camp at night and finds him asleep with his spear stuck in the ground beside his head. Abishai immediately interprets the moment as permission for violence: “God has given your enemy into your hand.” But David refuses again to strike Saul. He will not put out his hand against the Lord’s anointed.
Instead, David takes the spear and water jar and leaves. The king’s life is spared, but the evidence is carried away. From a distance David calls out, not first to Saul, but to Abner, exposing the failure of the king’s protection. Only afterward does he speak directly to Saul and ask again why he is being hunted “like a flea” or “a partridge in the mountains.” Saul confesses wrongdoing again and blesses David again, but the reconciliation still does not hold. They separate once more. Saul returns home; David goes his own way.
Immediately after this, the inner pressure shifts. David says in his heart that eventually Saul will kill him and that escape among the Philistines is the only remaining path. The man who refused to seize the kingdom through violence now begins preserving himself through compromise and concealment. He goes to Achish at Gath and receives Ziklag.
In 1 Samuel 27, the situation becomes morally narrower and more unstable. David raids surrounding peoples and leaves no survivors able to report what he has done. At the same time, he tells Achish that the raids were against Judah and allied groups. Achish believes him and concludes that David has made himself hated by Israel permanently. The outward situation becomes safer, but only through deception and increasing entanglement with Philistine power.
The contrast between 1 Samuel 26 and 27 is sharp. In the wilderness David restrains his hand when violence seems justified. In Philistine territory he begins sustaining himself through secrecy, destruction, and divided loyalty. Fear does not make him attack Saul directly, but it does begin to reshape his judgment.
Acts 18 also moves through pressure, opposition, and questions of endurance. Paul arrives in Corinth and works alongside Aquila and Priscilla as a tentmaker while reasoning in the synagogue each Sabbath. When Silas and Timothy arrive, the proclamation intensifies. Opposition intensifies with it. Some resist and speak abusively, and Paul turns toward the nations instead.
Yet the separation is not total rejection. Immediately next door to the synagogue, people begin believing, including Crispus, the synagogue ruler, and many Corinthians. The boundary becomes more permeable than fixed. In the middle of this uncertainty, the Lord tells Paul in a vision not to be afraid or silent because many people in the city belong to him already. Paul remains there a year and a half teaching openly.
When accusations are eventually brought before Gallio, the expected judgment does not come. Gallio dismisses the matter as an internal dispute over words and names. Violence still occurs afterward against Sosthenes, but the attempt to turn Roman authority into a weapon against Paul fails.
Acts 18 then turns toward continuation and refinement rather than conflict alone. Priscilla and Aquila remain in Ephesus. Apollos arrives already fervent and knowledgeable, but incomplete. He knows only John’s immersion. Instead of publicly humiliating him, Priscilla and Aquila take him aside and explain the way more accurately. What is partial is not discarded; it is corrected and strengthened. Apollos then goes on to help others powerfully through the scriptures.
Across these readings, the central issue is not simply opposition from outside but what happens inwardly under prolonged pressure. David’s restraint in the wilderness is real, but fear gradually drives him toward compromise when no resolution comes. Paul also faces repeated resistance, but the direction remains open rather than concealed. Where David increasingly survives through hidden action and divided presentation, Acts 18 repeatedly brings things into speech, teaching, clarification, and public witness. The readings hold together the difference between preserving oneself through fear and remaining steady enough to continue in truth even when the outcome remains uncertain.
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