Have I need of mad men, that ye have brought this fellow to play the mad man in my presence? shall this fellow come into my house?
Have I need of mad men? Jewish writers say that the wife and daughter of Achish were both mad; and this statement, assuming the fact to be so, gives an emphatic import to the question, "Have I need of mad men ... shall this fellow come into my house?" David seems to have affected the appearance and sordid condition of a fool or a lunatic-a man whose reason had been overturned by the many serve vicissitudes he had undergone. And in his defense it has been argued that self-preservation, the first law of nature, will justify the use of any stratagem for protecting life from threatened danger. He is not the only great man who is recorded to have played the feel in critical circumstances, since Solon and L. Junius Brutus both fell on the same expedient to escape from their respective troubles. The pretended mania of David must have been exhibited in some particular phase; and the Septuagint version of this passage not only specifies that form, but deviates so remarkably from our present Hebrew text, that it may be interesting to some readers to see it in full [kai eelloioose to prosoopon autou enoopion autou kai prosepoieesato en teen heemera ekeinee, kai etumpanizen epi tais thurais tees poleoos.
Kai parefefeto en tais chersin autou. Kai epipten epi tas thuras tees pulees. And he changed his visage before him (namely, the king of Gath), and made (as though he were mad: cf. Luke 24:28) on that day, and beat upon the gates of the city, and was convulsed in his hands, and fell upon the doors of the gate (at the palace entrance, where the king was administering justice), and streams of saliva flowed rapidly down upon his beard. And Achish said unto his servants, Lo! You see that the man is epileptic. Why do you bring him to me? Do I need epileptic persons, that you have brought him to take a fit in my presence? He shall not enter in my house]. Psalms 34:1-22 and Psalms 35:1-28 are believed to refer to this incident, the remembrance of which will throw light on many of the special metaphors used in those sacred compositions.