Charles Ellicott Commentary 1 Samuel 27:1

"And David said in his heart, I shall now 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; and Saul will despair of me, to seek me any more in all the borders of Israel: so shall I escape out of his hand." — 1 Samuel 27:1 (ASV)

And David said in his heart. —David’s position seems to have grown more and more untenable during the later days of Saul’s reign. Probably the paroxysms of the king’s fatal illness grew sharper and more frequent. Consequently, his leaders and favourites—whom, as we have already seen (1 Samuel 26:0), he had chosen mostly from the one small tribe of Benjamin—feared David’s coming to the throne. They saw this as imminent, and with good reason, if Saul died or was permanently disqualified to rule.

These men, whose bitter hostility to David is more than hinted at in several places, no doubt taking advantage of the king’s state of mind, incited him against David. The words and persuasions of men such as Cush the Benjamite , Doeg the Edomite, probably Abner the captain of the army, the men of Ziph, and others, quickly erased from Saul’s memory such scenes as we have witnessed in the En-gedi cave and, still more recently, on the hill of Hachilah. Indeed, these influences more than counterbalanced the devotion and powerful friendship of true warriors like Jonathan, who loved and admired David.

In David’s words, after he had taken the spear and cruse from the side of the sleeping Saul, we see something of what was going through his mind—his constant fear of a violent death; his knowledge that powerful and wicked men were constantly plotting against him; and his determination to seek a home in another land, where, however, he expected to find a grave far away from the chosen race, among the idolaters and enemies of Jehovah of Israel. He now realises a part of these sorrowful forebodings. But in this determination of the son of Jesse, we never hear of prayer or of consultation with prophet or priest. A dull despair seems at this time to have deprived David of both faith and hope.

Into the land of the Philistines. —David chose to seek refuge among these warlike people, for he believed he would be in greater security there than among his friendly relatives, the Moabites, where, in former days, he had found such a kindly welcome for his family during the first period of Saul’s enmity. He probably doubted Moab’s power to protect him.