Why does David go back to Philistia? Because he's suffering a crisis of faith. "But David thought to himself, 'One of these days I will be destroyed by the hand of Saul. The best thing I can do is to escape to the land of the Philistines. Then Saul will give up searching for me anywhere in Israel, and I will escape out of his hand.'" (1 Samuel 27:1) The Lord has preserved David's life from the wicked king many times already. Just a few verses ago He sent a deep sleep on Saul and his three thousand soldiers so David could slip unnoticed into the king's army camp. David had the confidence to go into the camp because he knew the Lord would protect him and keep His promise that David would someday be king. David also had the confidence that he didn't need to kill King Saul, though he could have, because the Lord would deal with Saul at the right time and in the right way. In the meantime David believed the Lord would continue to protect him from Saul. What happened between the end of Chapter 26 and the beginning of Chapter 27?
The Bible doesn't tell us but I have an inkling David has just simply become exhausted. I think he's physically exhausted from continually having to move himself and all his men and all their families from place to place. I think he's mentally exhausted from his mind working overtime planning how to protect and provide for himself and all these people for whom he is responsible. I think he's emotionally exhausted by the hurt he's experienced from Saul's betrayal; Saul was once a father figure and mentor to him. He's suffering emotionally from the knowledge that his wife Michal, who loved him and was loyal to him earlier in the book, is now in the arms of another man. He can't even resort to his parents for emotional support because he had to send them to his kinsman, the king of Moab, where they are being protected far from Saul's grasp. These things are bad enough but he's been religiously disenfranchised too, as he pointed out to Saul in Chapter 26, because since he's been declared an enemy of the state he can no longer go up to worship at the house of God. I believe David could have dealt stoically with any one of these problems for quite a while longer before giving in to discouragement. I think he could even have dealt admirably with several of these problems combined. But having to deal with all of these problems at the same time for years, and not being able to avail himself of the comfort of the Lord's house and the godly encouragement of the priests there, has caused him to temporarily become dispirited. He's fallen prey to doubt, telling himself that if he doesn't get out of Israel he will end up dead by the hand of Saul.
We have to keep in mind that it's not just his own life he's worried about. The six hundred men and their families who have joined up with him have been a comfort to him, I am sure, but they are a liability to him. It's a lot harder for hundreds of people to hide from the king than for just one man to hide from him. If Saul's soldiers ever manage to surround and capture David and the people with him, Saul will have them all put to death as enemies of the crown---including the women and children. If Saul didn't have a problem with the women and children being put to death at Nob when he falsely declared all the priests there guilty of treason, he'd be even less bothered by the idea of killing the people who are openly showing their support for David by following him wherever he goes.
David is tired. He's tired in every way a person can be tired. It's natural that he would be tired. The problem is that he doesn't handle his exhaustion in the right way, by calling upon the One about whom it is said: "He gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak. Even youths grow tired and weary, and young men stumble and fall; but those who hope in the Lord will renew their strength. They will soar on wings like eagles; they will run and not grow weary, they will walk and not be faint." (Isaiah 40:29-31) I believe the Lord would have answered David by giving him the boost to his energy and his faith that he needs, keeping him from teaming up with the heathen enemies of Israel. But I can't really criticize David for handling his exhaustion in the wrong way because there have been times when I've handled my exhaustion in the wrong way, when I have become discouraged because a big problem has lingered on and on with no resolution in sight or when I'm constantly being beset by a series of smaller problems. Things like that can really wear us down in our human strength, and if we don't get alone with the Lord enough to let Him refresh us in spirit we can easily start saying discouraging things to ourselves like David is saying to himself. When we start saying discouraging things, we start believing discouraging things. And when we start believing discouraging things, we start making bad choices.
David makes a choice in his discouraged state that he would not have made at any other time. "So David and the six hundred men with him left and went over to Achish son of Maok king of Gath. David and his men settled in Gath with Achish. Each man had his family with him, and David had his two wives: Ahinoam of Jezreel and Abigail of Carmel, the widow of Nabal. When Saul was told that David had fled to Gath, he no longer searched for him." (1 Samuel 27:2-4) David's decision has had the desired effect on Saul, but at what cost? He was correct in thinking Saul won't seek him by bringing his army into Philistia to engage the enemy in battle on their own home turf. But living in Philistia means living among people who have rejected the one true God. It means residing among idolaters and witnessing all manner of pagan religious rituals and unrighteous modes of living. This cannot have had a positive effect on anyone, spiritually speaking. It cannot have set a good example for them to have David, their leader, falling into such doubt that he'd team up with an enemy of Israel.
Achish, who threw David out of town in Chapter 21, is more than pleased to have him come back. David was once a very powerful and effective warrior for King Saul. But now that King Saul has made himself David's mortal enemy, Achish expects David to become a very powerful and effective warrior for him. David knows Achish is pleased to have him and his men as allies so he asks for a place where they and their families can make their home. "Then David said to Achish, 'If I have found favor in your eyes, let a place be assigned to me in one of the country towns, that I may live there. Why should your servant live in the royal city with you?' So on that day Achish gave him Ziklag, and it has belonged to the kings of Judah ever since. David lived in Philistine territory a year and four months." (1 Samuel 27:5-7) David says, "Why should we be a bother to you in the royal city? It is kind of you to offer us lodging here, but we are your servants and not people of your own nation. We don't ask for or expect any special treatment. We will be perfectly happy to reside in some out-of-the-way place."
David is being deceptive, as we will learn later on. He wants to live far enough from the king that the king can't keep close tabs on what he is doing. But Achish takes his words at face value and is happy to give him and his people a place to dwell outside of the royal city of Gath---a place called Ziklag. Having Ziklag bestowed upon him will at first seem like a blessing to David. Later it will seem like a curse when a terribly upsetting thing happens there. But that upsetting thing will serve to put David back into the right spiritual frame of mind. He will, at that time, encourage himself in the Lord as he should have done at the beginning of our current chapter. The situation at Ziklag will be so devastating that the Lord will be the only one in whom he can encourage himself because David's own men will turn on him. What seems like one of the worst things that could have happened will turn out to be one of the best things that could have happened. The One who "gives strength to the weary and increases the power of the weak" will come through for David and his men in a mighty way, restoring their energy just as the Scriptures say He can.
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