ACHISH, king of Gath. David, having resolved to withdraw from the dominions of Saul, who sought his life, retired to Gath, a city of the Philistines ; (1 Sam. xxi. 10.) but the officers of Achish having dis covered his person, and expressed their jealousy of his character, David became alarmed, and feigned madness, and by this stratagem preserved hit life.

Three or four years after this, David desired to be received, for a permanency, either into the royal city or elsewhere in the dominions of Achish. The king who knew his valor, and the animosity between him and Saul, willingly received him into Goth, with God men, and their families, and afterwards gave him Ziklag, 1 Sam. xxvii. 2, seq. See David.