Single lesson
David Takes Refuge with the Philistines
1 Samuel 27:1–12
In this passage, David makes a plan to escape Saul by living with Achish in Gath. The account shows his choice, the immediate result, and the troubling actions and false report that followed.
Before you teach
These verses stay focused on David’s move to Achish king of Gath, his request to live outside the royal city, and the raids he carried out while there. The passage also records that Saul stopped searching for David and that Achish believed David’s report.
Students will be able to put the passage in order, describe David’s choices and their outcomes, and recognise that this text reports both relief from Saul and deeply troubling violence and deception.
Welcome: What problem is David trying to solve?
6 minInvite students to listen for the main problem and David’s plan. Read 1 Samuel 27:1-4 aloud. Ask them to name the sequence: David fears Saul, goes to Achish king of Gath with six hundred men, lives in Gath, and Saul stops looking for him. Note that Achish later speaks about David’s people as Israel.
1 Samuel 27:1, 1 Samuel 27:2, 1 Samuel 27:3, 1 Samuel 27:4, 1 Samuel 27:12
Read and explain: David asks for Ziklag
8 minRead 1 Samuel 27:5-7. Explain that David asks for a place in a country town rather than the royal city. Achish gives him Ziklag, and the passage says David lived in Philistine country for a full year and four months. Have students note this as the next step in the sequence.
1 Samuel 27:5, 1 Samuel 27:6, 1 Samuel 27:7
Discuss: What does the passage plainly say David did?
9 minRead 1 Samuel 27:8-9 slowly and soberly. State clearly that the passage says David and his men raided these peoples and left no survivors, while taking animals and clothing. Do not act this out. Ask students to observe the words of the text and describe the actions and their seriousness without excusing or copying them.
1 Samuel 27:8, 1 Samuel 27:9
Make and respond: Sequence and outcome chart
10 minStudents make six simple sequence cards or boxes in their books: David’s fear, move to Achish, life in Gath, request for another place, raids, Achish’s belief. In each box, they write one sentence from the passage and add one outcome, such as Saul stopping his search or Achish believing David.
1 Samuel 27:1, 1 Samuel 27:4, 1 Samuel 27:5, 1 Samuel 27:6, 1 Samuel 27:10, 1 Samuel 27:12
Closing: What can we learn from this passage?
7 minRead 1 Samuel 27:10-12. Point out that David gives Achish a different report from where he had raided, and Achish believes him. Close by summarising only what this passage shows: people can make fearful and harmful choices, Saul stopped his search, Achish believed David, and readers must pay close attention to what Scripture actually says.
1 Samuel 27:10, 1 Samuel 27:11, 1 Samuel 27:12, 1 Samuel 27:4
Questions to explore
What did David think would happen if he stayed where Saul could reach him, and what plan did he choose?
Look at David’s own words and then the action that follows in the next verse to trace his reasoning and decision.
1 Samuel 27:1, 1 Samuel 27:2
Why did David ask to live in another place instead of the royal city, and what place was given to him?
Use the request David makes to Achish and the direct answer Achish gives.
1 Samuel 27:5, 1 Samuel 27:6
What did Achish believe about David by the end of the passage, and what had David done to create that impression?
Compare David’s report to Achish with Achish’s conclusion at the end of the account.
1 Samuel 27:10, 1 Samuel 27:11, 1 Samuel 27:12
Make, think or respond
Sequence and Outcome Cards
What you’ll need
- plain paper or card
- pens or pencils
- Bible
- optional coloured markers
Try it together
- Draw six boxes or make six small cards.
- Label them with key moments from the passage in mixed order: fear of Saul, move to Achish, life in Gath, request for a country town, raids, Achish believes David.
- Read the passage again and place the cards in order using the verses.
- Under each card, write one short outcome from the text, such as Saul stopping his search or Achish believing David.
- Share your sequence with a partner and check each step against the verses.
This activity helps students follow the order of 1 Samuel 27:1-12 and connect each choice in the passage with its stated result.
Adapt for your group
- For younger or less confident readers, prepare the six event labels for them to place in order, then ask them to match each one to a verse.
- For older or more confident students, add a second column called 'What the passage says' and 'What I should be careful not to assume' to practise close reading.
An optional closing prayer
'God, please help us read your word carefully and honestly. Help us notice fear, choices, and consequences in this passage, and help us grow in wisdom as we learn from it.'
Read the Bible passage World English Bible Classic
1 Samuel 27
1 David said in his heart, “I will 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 I will escape out of his hand.”
2 David arose and passed over, he and the six hundred men who were with him, to Achish the son of Maoch, king of Gath.
3 David lived with Achish at Gath, he and his men, every man with his household, even David with his two wives, Ahinoam the Jezreelitess and Abigail the Carmelitess, Nabal’s wife.
4 Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, so he stopped looking for him.
5 David said to Achish, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, let them give me a place in one of the cities in the country, that I may dwell there. For why should your servant dwell in the royal city with you?”
6 Then Achish gave him Ziklag that day: therefore Ziklag belongs to the kings of Judah to this day.
7 The number of the days that David lived in the country of the Philistines was a full year and four months.
8 David and his men went up and raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites; for those were the inhabitants of the land who were of old, on the way to Shur, even to the land of Egypt.
9 David struck the land, and saved no man or woman alive, and took away the sheep, the cattle, the donkeys, the camels, and the clothing. Then he returned, and came to Achish.
10 Achish said, “Against whom have you made a raid today?” David said, “Against the South of Judah, against the South of the Jerahmeelites, and against the South of the Kenites.”
11 David saved neither man nor woman alive to bring them to Gath, saying, “Lest they should tell about us, saying, ‘David did this, and this has been his way all the time he has lived in the country of the Philistines.’ ”
12 Achish believed David, saying, “He has made his people Israel utterly to abhor him. Therefore he will be my servant forever.”
World English Bible Classic. Public domain.