291 Now the Philistines gathered together all their armies to Aphek: and the Israelites encamped by the spring which is in Jezreel. 2 The lords of the Philistines passed on by hundreds, and by thousands; and David and his men passed on in the rearward with Achish. 3 Then said the princes of the Philistines, “What about these Hebrews?”
Achish said to the princes of the Philistines, “Isn’t this David, the servant of Saul the king of Israel, who has been with me these days, or rather these years, and I have found no fault in him since he fell away to this day?” 4 But the princes of the Philistines were angry with him; and the princes of the Philistines said to him, “Make the man return, that he may go back to his place where you have appointed him, and let him not go down with us to battle, lest in the battle he become an adversary to us. For with what should this fellow reconcile himself to his lord? Should it not be with the heads of these men? 5 Is not this David, of whom they sang one to another in dances, saying, ‘Saul has slain his thousands, David his ten thousands?’”
Matthew Henry's Commentary on 1 Samuel 29:1-5
Commentary on 1 Samuel 29:1-5
(Read 1 Samuel 29:1-5)
David waited with a secret hope that the Lord would help him out of his difficulty. But he seems to have been influenced too much by the fear of man, in consenting to attend Achish. It is hard to come near to the brink of sin, and not to fall in. God inclined the princes of the Philistines to oppose David's being employed in the battle. Thus their dislike befriended him, when no friend could do him such a kindness.