168

DAVID AT ZIKLAG.

OXIX.

Pavip AT fIKLAG.

AVID now began to be
tired of wandering about
in fear of Saul. He

s thought that perhaps Saul

would forget his promise,
and come again, and try to kill him;
so he determined to go to the Phil-
istines’ country; and ask Achish,
king of Gath, to take care of him.

Then David called his family, and

his soldiers; and they all went to

Gath. Achish was very kind to

David, and gave him a city named

Ziklag, and there David lived in

safety. Saul knew where he was, but

he did not again try to kill him.
David was not idle when he lived
at Ziklag. He went out, and fought

 

 

against the Amalekites, and con-
quered, and killed them. This was
right, for God had commanded them
to be destroyed. But when David
came back to Ziklag, he did some-
thing that was very wrong. He tried
to deceive Achish. Achish asked him,
where he had been fighting. David
was afraid to say that he had de-
stroyed the Amalekites ; he thought
it might displease Achish, so he
said he had been fighting south of
Judah. Then Achish was glad, for
he thought David had forsaken his
own people Israel, and was fighting

 

against them, and that he would
come and help Achish to conquer
the Israelites.

Soon after this, Achish made his
army ready, and called David and
his men, and told him to go with |

him to fight against Israel. What
could David do now? He could
not go and fight against his own peo-
ple; and he was afraid to- tell
Achish the truth, and to confess how
deceitful he had been. So he pre-
pared to go with the army of Achish;
but he felt very sad as he stood with
the soldiers of the Philistines,
ready to fight against his own coun-
try. But God helped David in this
time of difficulty. When the lords
of the Philistines saw David and
his soldiers, they asked why those
Israelites were in the army. Achish
told them, that David, their com-
mander, was his friend, and had
lived with him a long time, and
would help him to fight against the
Israelites. But the lords of the
Philistines would not consent to this:
they would not have David in their
army, for they thought he would
not be a true friend to them, and so
they would not trust him. Achish
was sorry: but he called David and
his men, and told them what the
lords of the Philistines had said.
David pretended to be sorry, and
said, “Why may I not go to fight
the king’s enemies? Have I not
been thy faithful servant a long
time?” Achish answered, “I know
that thou art good in my sight;
but the Philistines have said, David
shall not go with us to the battle.”
So David and his men returned to
Ziklag, and the Philistines went on
to Jezreel, to fight against Israel.