1 Samuel 23:1-6. The rescue of Keilah

1. Then they told David] Simply, And they told. There is no mark of time. The appeal to David shews that he was growing to be regarded as the champion of Israel.

Keilah] A fortified city (v, 7), named in Joshua 15:44 as one of a group of cities in the Shephêlah or “Lowland,” which included the low limestone hills bordering on the Philistine plain. It was perched on a steep hill above the valley of Elah, about three miles south of Adullam, where the name Kila still survives to mark the site.

they rob the threshing floors] This indicates that the raid took place immediately after harvest, when the corn was stacked by the floors ready for threshing.

2. inquired of the Lord] Through the high-priest Abiathar. See on 1 Samuel 23:6.

3. here in Judah] Keilah belonged to the tribe of Judah (Joshua 15:44): so that Judah must here be used in a limited sense of the highlands of Judah.

the armies of the Philistines] David’s men exaggerate the marauding bands of Philistines into a regular army.

6. fled to David to Keilah] Since (a) it is implied by 1 Samuel 22:20 that Abiathar joined David before the expedition to Keilah: and (b) the inquiry in 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Samuel 23:4 implies the presence of the high-priest with the Ephod: it seems best either to strike out “to Keilah,” or to follow the Sept. in reading, “And it came to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David, that he went down with David to Keilah with the Ephod in his hand.” This note is inserted here to explain how David could inquire of God both in Judah and at Keilah.

7–15. The treachery of the Keilites

7. hath delivered him] Lit. hath rejected him and delivered him. So blind was Saul as to imagine that it was not himself but David whom God had rejected. The Sept. reads “sold.”

a town, &c.] A city. It may have been one of the old Canaanite fortresses (see on Joshua 11:13), or have been fortified as an outpost against the Philistines.

9. secretly practised] Lit. was forging. Omit “secretly.”

Bring hither the ephod] For the high-priest did not always wear it. See note on 1 Samuel 14:18, and cp. 1 Samuel 30:7.

11. the men of Keilah] Lit. “the lords,” or “masters,” i.e. the governing body of citizens, as distinguished from the mass of inhabitants (1 Samuel 23:5). The same word is used in Joshua 24:11; Jdg 9:2 ff; Jdg 20:5; 2 Samuel 21:12.

will Saul come down] The logical order of the questions is inverted, and the most important put first, indicating the anxiety of the questioner.

12. They will deliver thee up] With the cowardice and ingratitude of thorough selfishness. Cp. Jdg 15:10-13.

14. And David abode in the wilderness] David’s next resort was “the wilderness of Judah,” the wild uncultivated tract lying between the mountains of Judah and the Dead Sea. His chief abode was “the mountain (perhaps the hill of Hachilah, 1 Samuel 23:19) in the wilderness of Ziph,” a district S. E. of Hebron, where a rounded hill half way between Hebron and Carmel still bears the name Tell Zîf. Ziph is mentioned in Joshua 15:55, and was fortified by Rehoboam (2 Chronicles 11:8).

every day] Continually: not that he literally spent all his time in the pursuit of David.

15. in a wood] The word chôresh translated “wood” in 1 Samuel 23:15-16; 1 Samuel 23:18-19 does not occur again in Samuel. Lieut. Conder argues from the dry unwatered character of the district that no wood of trees can ever have flourished there, and conjectures that Chôresh was a proper name with a different signification. He found the ruin of Khoreisa and the Valley of Hiresh in the neighbourhood of Ziph. It is perhaps too bold to assert that no wood can ever have existed, and it seems best to understand Chôresh as a quasi-proper name for a district overgrown with brushwood.

16–18. Jonathan’s last meeting with David

16. strengthened his hand in God] Revived his courage by pointing him to the true ground of confidence. Cp. ch. 1 Samuel 30:6; Job 4:3.

17. Saul my father knoweth] Both that thou art destined to be king (see on 1 Samuel 18:9), and that I am ready to resign my claims in thy favour. This is the climax of Jonathan’s unselfish generosity.

18. to his house] Home to Gibeah, where Saul was (1 Samuel 23:19). It was the final parting of the friends.

19–28. The treachery of the Ziphites

19. Then came up the Ziphites] The title of Psalms 54. refers it to this occasion, or that recorded in 1 Samuel 26:1, and the contents agree with the situation. See especially 1 Samuel 23:3.

On the relation between this narrative and that in ch. 26. see Note VII. p. 243.

in the hill of Hachilah, &c] This hill was situated on the south of, or according to 1 Samuel 26:3, “in front of” or “facing” the Waste. Jeshimon is not a proper name, but means the Waste, and denotes the district on which the plateau of Ziph looks down, “with white peaks and cones of chalk and deep narrow watercourses, terminated by the great pointed cliff of Ziz above Engedi, and by the precipices over the Dead Sea, two thousand feet high.” Hachilah is not identified with any certainty. Lieut. Conder proposes to recognise it in the long ridge of El Kôlah, running out of the Ziph plateau eastwards. From Tell Zîf the Ziphites could observe the movements of David’s men over this region.

22. where his haunt is] Lit. “where his foot is.” Observe his tracks as you would those of a wild beast.

23. the thousands of Judah] i.e. the families. See on 1 Samuel 10:19.

24. in the wilderness of Maon] The district round the conical hill about seven miles south of Hebron still known as Tell Maîn. It is mentioned in Joshua 15:55 among the cities of Judah in the mountains. It was the home of Nabal (ch. 1 Samuel 25:2).

in the plain on the south of Jeshimon] In the steppe on the south of the Waste. The Arâbah or “steppe” is here the name of the district south of “the Waste,” where the plateau falls away towards the plains of Beersheba. The term Arâbah generally denotes either the depressed valley of the Jordan, or the valley between the Dead Sea and the Gulf of Akaba, but neither of these can be intended here.

25. into a rock] To the rock, or, cliff, which was afterwards called “the rock of divisions” (1 Samuel 23:28). The Sept. reads “which is in the wilderness of Maon” in place of “and abode in the wilderness of Maon,” perhaps rightly.

26. compassed … round about] i.e. encompassed, surrounded. Cp. Psalm 5:12.

27. there came a messenger, &c.] Man’s extremity is God’s opportunity. Cp. 2 Kings 19:7; 2 Kings 19:9.

28. Sela-hammahlekôth] Either (1) “Rock of escapes;” or more probably (2) “Rock of divisions,” because there Saul had to relinquish the pursuit of David.

Lieut. Conder thinks he has discovered the scene of David’s escape. Between the ridge of El Kôlah and the neighbourhood of Maon there is a great gorge called “the Valley of the Rocks:” to part of this the name Wady Malâki now applies, and there is no other place near Maon where cliffs, such as are to be inferred from the word Sela, can be found. See Tent Work, II. 91.

29. at En-gedi] En-gedi (= fountain of the kid), now Ain-Jidy, is situated about half way along the western shore of the Dead Sea. The precipitous cliffs recede from the water’s edge, and enclose a sloping plain watered by the stream which gushes copiously from the limestone rock. Here in the days of Abraham stood the Amorite city of Hazazon-tamar (= pruning of the palm). See Genesis 14:7; 2 Chronicles 20:2. It is still an oasis in the limestone desert, and though palm-trees and vineyards (Song of Solomon 1:14) have vanished, the petrified leaves of the one and the terraces cut on the hills for the other attest its ancient fertility. On all sides the country is full of caverns which might serve as lurking places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day. See Robinson, Bibl. Res. 1. 508 ff.; Tristram, Land of Israel, p. 277 ff.; Stanley, Sin. and Pal. p. 295 ff., for descriptions of this remarkable spot.

29–24:8. David spares Saul’s life in the cave at En-gedi

This narrative and that in ch. 26 are regarded by some commentators as different accounts of the same event. See Note VII. p. 243, and the notes on ch. 26.

Psalms 57, 142 are referred by their titles to the time when David fled from Saul in the cave; but whether this occasion or his sojourn in the cave of Adullam is meant, must remain uncertain.