I Samuel 27:10

Whither have ye made a road today? - He had probably been in the habit of making predatory excursions. This seems to be implied in the question of Achish.

Achish said, Whither have ye made a road to-day?--that is, raid, a hostile excursion for seizing cattle and other booty. David said, Against the south of Judah, and against the south of the Jerahmeelites--Jerahmeel was the great-grandson of Judah, and his posterity occupied the southern portion of that tribal domain. the south of the Kenites--the posterity of Jethro, who occupied the south of Judah (Jdg 1:16; Num 24:21). The deceit practised upon his royal host and the indiscriminate slaughter committed, lest any one should escape to tell the tale, exhibit an unfavorable view of this part of David's history. Next: 1 Samuel Chapter 28

And Achish said, whither have ye made a road today?.... Or whither had they rushed in, or poured in and spread themselves? or where had they made their excursion to fetch in the prey and booty they now brought? and David said, against the south of Judah; he meant against some people that lay to the south of the land of Judah, without it; but expressed himself so, that Achish might think he meant the southern parts of Judah within the country; which, though not a downright lie, was an equivocation, and made with a design to deceive; and was by no means agreeably to the character of David, nor to be defended nor imitated: and against the south of the Jerahmeelites; these were the descendants of Jerahmeel, the son of Hezron, the grandson of Judah, and so inhabited in the tribe of Judah, and very probably in the southern part of it, Ch1 2:9, and against the south of the Kenites; the posterity of Jethro; these, at least some of them, at the first seating of the children of Israel in the land of Canaan, went with the children of Judah into the wilderness of Judah, which lieth in the south of Arad, Jdg 1:16.

Achish said, "Ye have not made an invasion to-day, have ye?" אל, like μὴ, is an interrogative sense; the ה has dropped out: vid., Ewald, 324, b. David replied, "Against the south of Judah, and the south of the Jerahmeelites, and into the south of the Kenites," sc., we have made an incursion. This reply shows that the Geshurites, Gerzites, and Amalekites dwelt close to the southern boundary of Judah, so that David was able to represent the march against these tribes to Achish as a march against the south of Judah, to make him believe that he had been making an attack upon the southern territory of Judah and its dependencies. The Negeb of Judah is the land between the mountains of Judah and the desert of Arabia (see at Jos 15:21). The Jerahmeelites are the descendants of Jerahmeel, the first-born of Hezron (Ch1 2:9, Ch1 2:25-26), and therefore one of the three large families of Judah who sprang from Hezron. They probably dwelt on the southern frontier of the tribe of Judah (vid., Sa1 30:29). The Kenites were protgs of Judah (see at Sa1 15:6, and Jdg 1:16). In Sa1 27:11 the writer introduces the remark, that in his raid David left neither man nor woman of his enemies alive, to take them to Gath, because he thought "they might report against us, and say, Thus hath David done." There ought to be a major point under דּוד עשׂה, as the following clause does not contain the words of the slaughtered enemies, but is a clause appended by the historian himself, to the effect that David continued to act in that manner as long as he dwelt in the land of the Philistines. משׁפּט, the mode of procedure; lit. the right which he exercised (see Sa1 8:9).

David was a man after God's own heart, and yet he had his faults, which are recorded, not for our imitation, but for our admonition; witness the story of this chapter, in which, though, I. We find, to his praise, that he prudently took care of his own safety and his family's (Sa1 27:2-4) and valiantly fought Israel's battles against the Canaanites (Sa1 27:8-9), yet, II. We find, to his dishonour, 1. That he began to despair of his deliverance (Sa1 27:1). 2. That he deserted his own country, and went to dwell in the land of the Philistines (Sa1 27:1, Sa1 27:5-7). 3. That he imposed upon Achish with an equivocation, if not a lie, concerning his expedition (Sa1 27:10-12).

27:10 David misled Achish by claiming his attacks were against his own people of Judah and two other related groups. The text does not commend David for lying to the foreign king, but neither does it condemn him. • The Jerahmeelites were a Semitic tribe in southern Judah (1 Chr 2:9, 25-27, 33, 42). • Kenites: Moses’ father-in-law was a Kenite (Judg 1:16; 4:11; see also study note on 1 Sam 15:6).