1 Samuel 27: Kingdom Advancement in Exile.

Then 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 to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.” 2 So David arose and went over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath. 3 And 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. 4 And when it was told Saul that David had fled to Gath, he no longer sought him. 
 
5 Then David said to Achish, “If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be given me in one of the country towns, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?” 6 So that day Achish gave him Ziklag. Therefore, Ziklag has belonged to the kings of Judah to this day. 7 And the number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a year and four months. 
 
8 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 of old, as far as Shur, to the land of Egypt. 9 And David would strike the land and would leave neither man nor woman alive, but would take away the sheep, the oxen, the donkeys, the camels, and the garments, and come back to Achish. 10 When Achish asked, “Where 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.” 11 And David would leave neither man nor woman alive to bring news to Gath, thinking, “lest they should tell about us and say, ‘So David has done.’ ” Such was his custom all the while he lived in the country of the Philistines. 12 And Achish trusted David, thinking, “He has made himself an utter stench to his people Israel; therefore he shall always be my servant.” 
 
 
Meditation
Christians rightly celebrate Jeremiah’s call to “seek the welfare” of where the Lord has positioned us (Jeremiah 29). We are “elect exiles” (1 Peter 1:1) sojourning in a world that is not (yet) our home. Yet while in exile, we still advance Jesus’ kingdom.
 
David’s sojourned into enemy territory for protection from Saul, “no longer within the borders of Israel” to “escape out of his hand” (1). David’s journey echoes God’s journey in exile through the Philistine capturing the ark (1 Samuel 4) and serves as a precursor to Jesus’s journey into exile for His protection from Herod’s hate (Matthew 2). 
 
With peace in exile, David advances God’s purposes. The king of the Philistines, Achish, gives David the city of Ziklag to possess without a battle, a city that remained under the rule of Judah’s kings (5-6). David plundered the Philistines by making raids against regions marked for destruction by Joshua (8, see Joshua 13:1-13), though David did not follow divine direction perfectly by allowing his men to take spoil. David’s deceit dug a deep hole that will prove to be tough to climb out of (chapters 29-30), but here we see David advancing Israel’s purposes even during exile in enemy territory.
 
Jesus entered the hands of the enemy to plunder Satan and take the Church as His possession. Jesus teaches, “the gates of hell will not prevail” against the advancement of His kingdom through the Church (Matthew 16:18). While in exile, we must seek the welfare of where God has positioned us as we possess and plunder enemy territory for the glory of King Jesus.
 
Richly Dwelling
-What stands out to you from today’s reading, especially in regards to David’s work in enemy territory?
 
-How does the work of Jesus who went into exile for us, to plunder the enemy by taking His people as His possession, fuel your faith?
 
-Where do you need to seek to advance the kingdom of Jesus, plundering the enemy, by seeking the welfare of the people and place where you have been positioned by God?
 
Key Verse
1 Then 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 to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will despair of seeking me any longer within the borders of Israel, and I shall escape out of his hand.”