“Not-So-Successful Deception” – FBC Morning Light (4/9/2024)

David’s Deception and Achish’s False Confidence

Well a good Tuesday morning to you. Today in our Bible reading we're in 1st Samuel again, chapters 29 and 30. I'm gonna read a few verses in 1st Chronicles 12 and then Psalms 12 and 13. I want to focus on 1st Samuel chapters 29 and 30.

They follow up on chapter 28. How's that for a no-brainer, right? And in chapter 27. Remember in chapter 27 we pointed out how David had started off with a faulty premise. That is that he was going to die at the hand of Saul.

That led him to flee to the land of the Philistines, get protection, he thought, from Achish the king of Gath. Achish gave him a village and from that village, Ziklag, David went out and he killed people in villages, slaughtered villages, plundered them and pillaged them.

And then he went back, back home and Achish said, where have you been? What you been up to? And David lied. David said he went to some areas of southern Judah and some of the other places. And he, and it says at the end of chapter 27 that he specifically left nobody alive so that no one would be able to tell what David had done.

And it says that in verse 11. And at the end of verse 12 it says, in verse 12 of chapter 27, Achish believed David. So David was deceiving Achish all this time, and it seems his deception is very effective when we get to chapter 29.

Achish’s Repeated Praise of David

Three different times Achish basically says in effect, David you've been perfect. You've been incredibly helpful and perfect for me. Listen to what he says in verse 3 of chapter 29. Well, let's lay a little background here.

So the Philistines are going to go in battle against Saul and the Israelites, and David joins the side of the Philistines. Well, you know, Achish has brought him along because Achish sees David as being such a loyal guy, and is just confident he's going to be a great warrior for the sake of the Philistines.

Well, the rest of the Philistine leadership is not so keen on that idea, and so they confront Achish about that, and in verse 3, Achish says, is this not David, the servant of Saul, king of Israel, who has been with me these days or these years?

And this is what he says next, and I want you to catch this, because he repeats the idea three times. He says, to this day I have found no fault in him since he defected to me. Oh, David's been very effective in his deception, hasn't he?

And in verse 6, you know, the rest of the Philistine leaders say, send him home. We don't want this Hebrew fighting on our side because in the middle of the battle he'll turn colors, he'll go fight on the other side and fight against us.

And so Achish is forced to send David home, and he comes to David and he says, you got to go home. The rest of the Philistine leaders don't want you to go into the battle. But this is what Achish says to David.

He says, for to this day I have not found evil in you since the day of your coming to me. Yeah, David's deception has been very effective. And again, in verse 9, Achish expresses the same idea. Achish says to David, I know that you are as good in my sight as an angel of God.

Question, is he? Has David been without fault? Well, in his deception to Achish, it sure seems that way. But you and I know the rest of the story, right? We know how he's been lying to Achish and deceiving him and all the rest of that.

Is he really going to get away with it? Well, it sure seems that he has. But then we come to chapter 30, and when David is sent home, back to Ziklag, what happens when he gets there? He comes over the crest of a hill and sees the village of Ziklag lying before him, and the village has been sacked, it's been plundered, it's been burned, all the family members of David's men have been taken captive, and all their stuff has been plundered.

The Consequences of Deception and David Strengthening Himself in the Lord

I would suggest that this is kind of the consequence for his deception, the consequence of his deception. As he had done deceptively toward others, so has it happened to him. Now, does that mean David is cast off forever?

No, there's a solution to his deception, and that solution is found at the end of verses 6 and 7. What did David do? Even his men wanted to attack him because of what happened. Verse 6 says, David strengthened himself in the Lord.

He renewed his commitment and relationship to the Lord, and in verse 7, he said to Abiathar the priest, please bring the ephod here to me. Essentially, this is a way of David making things right with the Lord.

A Warning from David’s Failure and the Need to Keep a Short Account

Now, by the way, let's step back and get a huge bird's-eye view of the life of David, and we don't see a ton of this, but what you see happen in chapter 27, in his successful deception, and thinking he's getting away with it by Achish's conviction that David has been stellar, is something that's going to be repeated in 2 Samuel chapter 11 with the whole account of Bathsheba.

David goes to extreme measures to deceive and cover his tracks, and he's not going to get away with it then either, just as he doesn't get away with it here. Let's learn something here. Let's realize that we may think that our deception, our methods and tactics of trying to get away with stuff will succeed.

It may for a while, but in the end, if we don't get things right with God, we don't deal with our deception before the Lord, it'll catch up to us sooner or later. So, let's keep a short account, shall we?

Father in Heaven, we do thank you today for this challenge from your Word, and we realize that David was just a man like any of us, and prone to failure like any of us, and from his failure we can learn.

I pray that we shall. In Jesus' name, amen. All right, listen, have a good rest of your Tuesday. I trust the Lord will bless you in it. Good day.