1 Samuel 27:7

7 David lived in Philistine country a year and four months.

1 Samuel 27:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 27:7

And the time that David dwelt in the country of the
Philistines
At Gath and Ziklag:

was a full year and four months;
or "days and four months"; days being sometimes put for a year, ( Judges 17:10 ) ; though some interpret it not of a year, but of some few days out of the fifth month, besides the four months; so Jarchi and Kimchi; and Josephus ^F8 makes his abode to be four months and twenty days; but, according to the Septuagint and Vulgate Latin versions, it was only four months; and so it may be rendered, "days, that is, four months"; for according to the Jewish chronology ^F9 Samuel died four months before Saul, and this flight of David was after the death of Samuel, and when Saul died he left the land of the Philistines, and took the throne of Judah; (See Gill on 1 Samuel 25:1).

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FOOTNOTES:

F8 Antiqu. l. 6. c. 13. sect. 10.
F9 Sepher Olam Rabba c. 13. p. 37.

1 Samuel 27:7 In-Context

5 Then David said to Achish, "If it's agreeable to you, assign me a place in one of the rural villages. It doesn't seem right that I, your mere servant, should be taking up space in the royal city."

6 So Achish assigned him Ziklag. (This is how Ziklag got to be what it is now, a city of the kings of Judah.)

7 David lived in Philistine country a year and four months.

8 From time to time David and his men raided the Geshurites, the Girzites, and the Amalekites - these people were longtime inhabitants of the land stretching toward Shur and on to Egypt.

9 When David raided an area he left no one alive, neither man nor woman, but took everything else: sheep, cattle, donkeys, camels, clothing - the works. Then he'd return to Achish.