David is now alone, for Jonathan who really loved him, has chosen the place of present ease and comfort, rather than of suffering with the rejected one. The Lord could say to His disciples,
"Behold the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave Me alone, and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with. Me," John 16:32,32Behold, the hour cometh, yea, is now come, that ye shall be scattered, every man to his own, and shall leave me alone: and yet I am not alone, because the Father is with me. (John 16:32) and when seized by Judas and his band in the garden of Gethsemane He said,
"If therefore ye seek Me, let these go their way."
But in our chapter David fails altogether of being an advance picture of Jesus. He misrepresents himself to the priest in order to get food and a sword, and presently seeking shelter with a king of the Philistines, resorts to the pretense of insanity, fearing for his life. Expressive of this time are Psalms 34 and 56.
Though David sadly failed here, utterly discouraged as he was, God had not forsaken him, and if we turn to Matthew 12:3-4,3But he said unto them, Have ye not read what David did, when he was an hungred, and they that were with him; 4How he entered into the house of God, and did eat the showbread, which was not lawful for him to eat, neither for them which were with him, but only for the priests? (Matthew 12:3‑4) we shall find the Lord Jesus referring in no disapproval td the incident of the priest's giving the rejected one the holy bread to eat. When God and the testimony He gives (in Samuel as well as David, here; in Christ in the Gospel of Matthew) are rejected, the ordinances lose their power, their meaning. The important thing was to give David, the true king, food; he was of more value to God than the bread of the tabernacle. Everything centered now in God's sight, in the rejection of His anointed.
With the food so obtained, and the sword of Goliath, David went to Achish, king of Gath of the Philistines for protection. But he is recognized; fear deepens in his breast, and he professes to be insane in order to save his life, fearing that the Philistines will kill him.
Poor David! He was indeed deeply tried. It was one thing to be used of God in overcoming the wicked one, typified by Goliath of Gath; it was quite a different thing to be the causeless object of the malignity of the king, while himself designed by God to occupy the throne. 'David should not have gone among the Philistines, the enemies of God, and he must leave them, to be wholly cast on God, the true resource of those that are His by faith.