Quick: when you think of the life of David as described in the Old Testament, what’s the first story that comes to mind?

If I were a betting man (penny-ante poker is about my speed), I’d wager you picked the story of David and Goliath.

Headline: Shepherd Boy With Slingshot Defeats Heavily Armed Giant. The popularity of the story goes far beyond its biblical context; it’s a cultural trope for daring to defy the odds.

Goliath was a warrior from the Philistine city-state of Gath, one of five such royal cities in Philistia. David’s improbable defeat of the giant (who may have been over nine feet tall) brought him to King Saul’s attention and into his household. Over time, David grew in popularity with Saul’s troops and officers, and his exploits made him the object of song and legend: “Saul has slain his thousands, and David his tens of thousands” (1 Sam 18:7). (Little did he know how that song would follow him wherever he went.)

So began the long and tortuous relationship between Saul and David. Saul was both jealous and afraid of David, and wanted to kill him, forcing David to flee alone. One of the first places he went was Gath (ironically, while carrying the sword of Goliath, their fallen champion). David’s reputation as a warrior, unfortunately, preceded him; the Philistines had heard the song. Afraid of what the king of Gath might do, he pretended to be insane, and the king left him alone (1 Sam 21:10-15). From there he fled to the cave of Adullam, where a small army of malcontents gathered to him (22:1-2).

Saul continued to pursue David and the Philistines continued to pester Saul and Israel. Eventually, David returned to Gath in Philistia (this time with his men) so that Saul would stop hunting him (1 Sam 27:1-4). He went on military raids for Achish, the king of Gath, earning his trust and even the role of the king’s bodyguard (28:2).

When the Philistines mustered their armies against Israel, David and his men marched with them, bringing up the rear with Achish and the Gittites (inhabitants of Gath). But the other Philistine commanders didn’t trust David (would you want someone who had slain tens of thousands for the enemy marching behind you?), and Achish was forced to send David back to Ziklag, the city Achish had given to him and his men (1 Sam 29).

Saul is mortally wounded in the battle with the Philistines. David is still in Ziklag when he hears the news of the death of Saul and Jonathan. “How the mighty have fallen!” (2 Sam 1:19, NIV), he wails. His lament continues:

Tell it not in Gath,
    proclaim it not in the streets of Ashkelon,
lest the daughters of the Philistines be glad,
    lest the daughters of the uncircumcised rejoice. (2 Sam 1:20)

For all the grief Saul had caused him, and despite his alliance with the Gittites, David still mourned the death of Saul and recoiled at the idea that the Philistines should rejoice in it.

What does all of this have to do with the book of Micah? As we’ve seen previously, the prophet had warned that God is coming in terrible judgment; Samaria and the northern kingdom will be destroyed because of its idolatry. Micah’s home is in the southern kingdom of Judah. As he preaches in the southern capital of Jerusalem, he mourns the disaster that will befall the south as well.

He opens his warning to Jerusalem with chilling words that the people and their king would surely recognize:

Tell it not in Gath; weep not at all. (Mic 1:10a)

A few verses later, after prophesying the downfall of numerous towns, Micah makes reference also to Adullam, where David fled after his first visit to Gath:

The nobles of Israel will flee to Adullam. (Mic 1:15b)

What Micah does, in other words, is to bookend his prophecy of the downfall of Judah with references to the story of David and Saul. There is no mention of David’s military prowess here, unless one counts his service to the Philistines. Saul, moreover, is emblematic of a tragically failed king. As the first king of a still (more or less) united Israel, he is practically the poster child for the epic failure of the whole ill-fated experiment in monarchy.

Note too that during the time of Micah, the Philistines themselves were being pressed by the Assyrians, as Israel and Judah were. Samaria would fall to the Assyrians in 722 BC, and Gath would fall 10 years later.

So tell it not in Gath. There will be no rejoicing in Israel, in Judah, even in Philistia. Don’t even bother to weep, though there will be much to mourn. And as we’ll see, Micah will get creative with his description of the calamity to come.