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?
Consequently Achish was willing for David and his men to live in Philistia, apparently as mercenaries (cf. 2 Samuel 10:6; 2 Samuel 15:18-22). Gath stood about 27 miles west-northwest of Ziph. Achish appears to have treated David as a vassal ruler and given him the town of Ziklag as a fiefdom. [Note: Merrill, "1 Samuel," p. 222.] David’s move was a fairly major relocation of his forces and his family (1 Samuel 27:3). He evidently planned to stay in Philistia until God disposed of Saul. Since David now enjoyed Philistine protection, Saul no longer searched for him. Saul would have had to take on the Philistines to get to David, and Saul would not have wanted to do that. David must have looked like the frustrated leader of an ineffective coup d’état to Achish. Anyone who was the enemy of Saul was the friend of Achish. But David pretended to be more of a servant to Achish than he really was (1 Samuel 27:5).