1 Samuel 23: David Becomes a Savior of His People- Israel
1Then they told David, saying, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 Therefore David inquired of Yahweh, saying, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And Yahweh said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.” 3 But David’s men said to him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of Yahweh once again. And Yahweh answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” 5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines, struck them with a mighty blow, and took away their livestock. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah. 6 Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand.
“David and his men were now outlaws and every man’s hand was at least theoretically against them.” (Peter Pett)
But for this "and like duties the prophet Gad (1 Sam 22:5) had summoned David to return with his armed band to Judah... Saul was becoming more and more neglectful of his higher duty—that of protecting his people; as time went on and his malady increased, his whole thoughts were concentrated on David’s imaginary crimes, and the history of the latter part of his reign is little more than a recital of his sad, bewildered efforts to compass the young hero’s destruction.” (C. J. Ellicott)
“Then they told David,” —
“David‘s growing importance, fugitive as he was, is marked by this appeal to him for deliverance from the Philistines. (Albert Barnes) “David considered himself the protector of the land. Thus did the Saviour Jesus, and left us an example. Those are unlike David, who sullenly decline to do good, if they are not rewarded for services.” (Matthew Henry) “Had not David loved his country, and been above all motives of private and personal revenge, he would have rejoiced in this invasion of Judah as producing a strong diversion in his favor, and embroiling his inveterate enemy. In most cases a man with David's wrongs would have joined with the enemies of his country, and avenged himself on the author of his adversities; but he thinks of nothing but succouring Keilah, and using his power and influence in behalf of his brethren!” (Adam Clarke)
saying “‘Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors.’— The threshing-floors usually were without the cities, in places open to the wind. See Jude 6:11 Ruth 3:2, etc.” (Matthew Poole) “This was an ancient custom of the Philistines, Midianites, and others. See Judges 6:4. When the corn was ripe and fit to be threshed, and they had collected it at the threshing-floors, which were always in the open field, then their enemies came upon them and spoiled them of the fruits of their harvest.” (Adam Clarke)
“Therefore David inquired of Yahweh etc." — perhaps directly by prayer -- or “by his prophet Gad, say most interpreters; for Abiathar was not yet come unto him, [1 Samuel 23:6] and that which is read of him in 1 Samuel 22:20 is spoken by way of anticipation. War is to be made by wise counsel, saith Solomon [Proverbs 24:6].” (John Trapp) And Ya hweh said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines, and save Keilah.”
But David’s men said unto him, “Look, we are afraid here in Judah. How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” “If we come to Keilah; when we shall have a potent enemy before us, the Philistines, and, it may be, another behind us, even Saul, who probably will come forth, either to resist the Philistines, or to intercept us.” (Matthew Poole) So, then “David enquired of the LORD yet again for the confirmation and encouragement of his soldiers…” (John Trapp) And Yahweh answered him and said, “Arise, go down to Keilah. For I will deliver the Philistines into your hand.” So, they went and defeated them.
“So David”— by supplication and subsequent service to the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob— “saved the inhabitants of Keilah.” “The Philistines, instead of gaining booty, were themselves spoiled, losing their flocks and herds and suffering a very severe defeat.” (Paul E. Kretzmann)
"Now it happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David at Keilah, that he went down with an ephod in his hand." When Ahimelech and the rest of the priests went to Saul, the ephod was probably left in Abiathar’s hand. “This gave him the opportunity both of escaping, whilst Doeg the butcher was killing his brethren, and of bringing away the Ephod, which Saul now was justly deprived of.” (John Wesley)
So the sole surviving priest had been invited into the fold of Israelite outcasts by David. Thus, David and his band of outcasts, including the sole surviving priest — Abiathar, become the true house of Israel. "When Abiathar joined David he brought the ephod, which David then used in determining the will of God (1 Sm 23:6, 9-11; 30:7-8). Abiathar was one of the first persons from Saul's administration to support David. His support was formidable because he represented the priesthood of the old tribal league of the line of Eli." (Tyndale Bible Dictionary)
David was cut off from the house of the Lord but not from the Lord of the house. “The Urim and the Thummim were in the ephod: and David, no doubt, considered them as lights and perfections to instruct him.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
“Those who are called to walk in the maze of human life need to look constantly upward for direction. It is not in man that walketh to direct his steps. Our eyes need to be fixed constantly on the Lord. Lean not unto thine own understanding. In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths. We have no priestly ephod to direct us. But if we roll the responsibility of our way on God and wait for Him, the conviction of His plan will steal into our hearts, and this will be corroborated by the advice of experienced friends and the trend of circumstances.” (F.B. Meyer)
1 Samuel 23: David Warned By The Oracles of God
7 And Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah. So Saul said, “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 8 Then Saul called all the people together for war, to go down to Keilah to besiege David and his men. 9 When David knew that Saul plotted evil against him, he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “O Yahweh God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake. 11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.” And the Lord said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the Lord said, “They will deliver you.” 13 So David and his men, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.
“Then poor, blinded Saul thought David was now shut up in Keilah" a fortified city- ”and could not escape.” (Arno Gaebelein) “‘God hath delivered him into mine hands.’— "literally, 'God hath ignored him,' hath treated him as a stranger, and so let, him fall ‘into my hand.’” (The Pulpit Commentary) “Thus this ‘hypocrite flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful,’ [Psalms 36:2] and although he standeth in a posture of distance and defiance against God, yet he talketh very confidently of Him, as if on His side” (John Trapp), as Rome.
Saul plotted. He “‘called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.’—Rather than to pursue the Philistines [-the real enemies]. So the Pope publisheth his Croysados against the Protestants; holding them greater enemies than are the Turks: witness his wars against the Waldenses in France, and the Hussites in Germany.” (John Trapp) “But though a new danger has arisen, the old refuge still remains. ‘Bring hither the ephod,’ he says to Abiathar.” (Expositor's Bible Commentary) “No sooner was the ephod brought him than he made use of it. We have the Scriptures in our hands, let us take advice from them in doubtful cases. Say, Bring hither the Bible.” (Matthew Henry) “Oh! it is a very high privilege to have a God in Christ to go to, who is engaged in covenant to deliver His people; and when more likely than when they call upon Him?” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary)
Speak for Your Servant hears— God told David that Saul would come to Keilah and that the men of Keilah would deliver him to the king.—“O Yahweh God of Israel, Your servant has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah to destroy the city for my sake’—perhaps from Jonathan—’Will the men of Keilah deliver me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Your servant has heard? O Lord God of Israel, I pray, tell Your servant.’ And the Lord said, “He will come down.” “Then said David, ‘Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?’ And the LORD said, ‘They will deliver thee up.’ Trust not to them [the people of the city]; lest upon trial they prove treacherous, how well soever thou hast deserved of them. They look upon Nob so recently razed and harassed, and fear to fare accordingly… So in the holy war, as they called it, against the Waldenses in France, the Pope’s great army took one great populous city, and put to the sword sixty thousand: among whom were many of their own Catholics. [But] David runneth to the Rock of Ages for help in this distress, as was his constant course when hardly bestead.” (Trapp)
The response of the men of Keilah was likely in the natural, but it is more complicated than it appears. Saul was still the king of Israel… and neither David, nor his men, nor any righteous man of Keilah would want to fight against Yahweh’s anointed. And also clearly: “It is a very simple and a very practical question that we are about to decide, my friends, and I will put it thus in a single sentence: Is one man to perish, or the city?” (W. Aitken, M. A.) We learn that the conduct of the people when their lives were threatened by King Saul with destruction “would be like that of the men of Judah to Samson their deliverer Judges 15:10-13.” (Albert Barnes)
Moreover, this insight into future events “warns us not to trust in human safeguards, which are so liable to be broken down. The only place of absolute security is in God. Blessed are they whose life is hid with Christ in God! David knew that, and in these sad and difficult days, when he was hunted as a partridge on the mountains, he was composing some of his most helpful psalms. See Psalms 11:1-7; Psalms 54:1-7; Psalms 57:1-11…” (F.B. Meyer) teaching us to trust in Yahweh God of Israel for our safety.
Finally, there is another valuable lesson here. Our communion with Christ and obedience to His directives is vital to our eternal security. “In this short history we find an ample proof that there is such a thing as contingency in human affairs; that is, God has poised many things between a possibility of being and not being, leaving it to the will of the creature to turn the scale. In the above answers of the Lord the following conditions were evidently implied: - If thou continue in Keilah, Saul will certainly come down; and If Saul come down, the men of Keilah will deliver thee into his hands. Now though the text positively asserts that Saul would come to Keilah, yet he did not come; and that the men of Keilah would deliver David into his hand, yet David was not thus delivered to him. And why? Because David left Keilah; but had he stayed, Saul would have come down, and the men of Keilah would have betrayed David. We may observe from this that, however positive a declaration of God may appear that refers to any thing in which man is to be employed, the prediction is not intended to suspend or destroy free agency, but always comprehends in it some particular condition." (Adam Clarke)
1 Samuel 23: David Kept by Israel’s Invisible King
14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.
“We must here, commend David’s eminent virtues, his humility, modesty, fidelity to his prince, and patient attendance on the providence of his God, that he did not draw up his forces against Saul, fight him in the field, or surprise him by some stratagem or other, and so avenge his own quarrel and that of the Lord's priests upon him, and put an end to his own troubles and the calamities of the country under Saul's tyrannical government. No, he makes no such attempt; he keeps God's way, waits God's time, and is content to secure himself in woods and wildernesses...” (Matthew Henry)
“‘David stayed in the strong holds’—natural fortresses in the woods and mountains are meant, and places difficult of access— ‘in the wilderness of Ziph’— to the south of Hebron, upon the edge of the great desert of Judah (Joshua 15:55).” (Pulpit Commentaries)— “And Saul sought him every day.— So desperately bent was he to destroy him: being herein like the scorpion, whereof Pliny saith that there is not one minute of time wherein it doth not put forth the sting desirous to do harm.” (John Trapp) "As it had been from the beginning, so it was now, and will be, he that is born after the flesh persecuteth him that is born after the spirit, Galatians 4:29.” (Matthew Henry)- if not by murder, then by hatred and character assassination. Yet there is no admission of guilt: "The people answered, 'A demon is making you crazy! We are not trying to kill you.'”(John 7:20)
“‘But God did not deliver him into his hand.’ Saul confidently pronounced, when he found David had entered into Keilah, that God ‘had delivered him into his hand.’ And, therefore, to show the vanity of that ill-grounded confidence, the sacred writer makes use of the very same expression reversed, and declares ‘God delivered him not into his hand, though Saul sought him every day.’” (Joseph Benson) “Though Saul was armed with all the power of the king in Israel, he was powerless, for the invisible King of Israel declined to give this hated David into his hand.” (C. J. Ellicott)
“Such are the Lord's deliverances to all His people. Oh! how precious would it be to the souls of the faithful, if they every day lived, kept house, and feasted upon this; for the truth is certain; the Lord Himself saith, ‘I, Yahweh, do keep it; will water it every moment: lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day.’ Isaiah 27:3.” (Hawker's Poor Man's Commentary)
1 Samuel 23: A Visit From The Beloved Jonathan
15 So David became aware that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest.
So David “became aware that” Saul had come out to seek his life—“What is new about this news? Only that Saul has gotten close. The expression ‘became aware that’ is literally ‘saw.’ David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. The word for ‘saw’ is so similar to the word for ‘fear’ that some have even suggested the author must have meant to say that David was afraid. I would not favor changing the text without support, but the sense is just about the same. The full weight of Saul’s pursuit and its implications seems to bear down on him.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)
16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God. 17 And he said to him, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” 18 So the two of them made a covenant before the Lord. And David stayed in the woods, and Jonathan went to his own house.
Saul’s son "arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God;’ for the work before him of endurance; “he strengthened him in His power and in His providence, and in His promises to him; the Targum is, ‘he strengthened him in the Word of the Lord;' not only in His Word and Promise, but in Christ the essential Word of God.” (John Gill)
Jonathan strengthened David just as Moses was called by Yahweh to do so for Joshua— “But charge Joshua and encourage him and strengthen him, for he shall go across at the head of this people, and he will give them as an inheritance the land which you will see.” (Deut 3:28 ) Surely this was Jonathan’s calling of God. We are thus called repeatedly for this mission: “And let us consider how to stir up one another to love and good works, not neglecting to meet together, as is the habit of some, but encouraging one another, and all the more as you see the Day drawing near.” (Hebrews 10:24-25) “As iron sharpens iron, so a man sharpens the countenance of his friend.“ (Proverbs 27:17) “Like apples of gold in settings of silver Is a word spoken in right circumstances.” (Proverbs 25:11) “Like cold water to a weary soul, So is good news from a distant land…” (Proverbs 25:25), even Heaven.
Firstly: “If God is for us, who can be against us?” (Romans 8:31b) “Jonathan’s assurance regarding David’s safety seems based upon his confidence in God’s designation of David as the next king. [The prophet Samuel had anointed him.] If David is God’s choice for Israel’s next king, then no one, including King Saul, will be able to kill him and thwart God’s purposes and promises. Jonathan’s assurance is rooted in the sovereignty of the God whom he and David serve, whom Saul seeks to resist.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)
Secondly, the king’s son wanted the future king to know that nothing had changed the relationship between the two of them. “Jonathan seeks to encourage David by assuring him of his submission and loyal service to him as Israel’s future king. Jonathan knows that God will somehow remove his father from the throne and install David as the next king. Jonathan not only joyfully accepts this fact, but has purposed to be David’s most loyal servant and supporter. Not only will David escape from Saul’s hand and ascend to the throne, [but also God willing] he will find Jonathan sitting beside him as his helper.” (Bob Deffinbaugh)
“‘I shall be next to you.’—In heaven he might be, but not on earth, because prevented by death.” (John Trapp) Or better translated:,“‘I shall be under thee, after thee, or inferior to thee,’ as the phrase tibi secundus oft signifies. So that the whole imports thus much: ‘I do not look to be king myself, (as by my birth I might expect,) but that thou shalt be king, (God having so appointed,) and I but in a secondary place inferior to thee.’” (Matthew Poole) You must increase; I will willingly decease.
“The outcome is yet another covenant between David and Jonathan. In fact, it is more likely a repetition of the same covenant they made earlier, perhaps with a few more details. The first covenant is in 18:1-4, where the words are not supplied, but the meaning is conveyed symbolically by Jonathan’s stripping off of his armor and giving it to David. In chapter 20, David asks for Jonathan’s help, based upon the covenant they have made (v 8 ), and then Jonathan appeals to David that David spare his life and the lives of his descendants (v14-17). Again, in verses 41 and 42, David and Jonathan renew their covenant, as one that will endure throughout their descendants. There seems to be little doubt as to what the nature of the covenant is in chapter 23.” (Bob Deffinbaugh) This gave Jonathan an eternal, rather than a temporal, security. “They then parted, and never came together again, that we find, in this world.” (John Wesley)
“Jonathan is the Barnabas of the Old Testament. What great encouragers both these men are. In the Book of Acts, Barnabas starts out as the prominent leader, and Saul (the apostle Paul) is but a man whom Barnabas takes under his wing. As time passes, it becomes clear that God has chosen Paul to assume the dominant role. When this becomes evident, Barnabas joyfully accepts this fact and becomes Paul’s most loyal supporter.“ (Bob Deffinbaugh)
1 Samuel 23: Another Snare
19 Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? 20 Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.” 21 And Saul said, “Blessed are you of Yahweh, for you have compassion on me. 22 Please go and find out for sure, and see the place where his hideout is, and who has seen him there. For I am told he is very crafty. 23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides; and come back to me with certainty, and I will go with you. And it shall be, if he is in the land, that I will search for him throughout all the clans of Judah.”
David "was sheltering himself in the wilderness of Ziph, putting the more confidence in the people of that country because they were of his own tribe.“ (John Trapp) “‘Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah,’ who were of David's own tribe tho' for this their unnatural carriage to him, he calls them strangers, Psalm 54:3 saying, ‘Is David not hiding with us in strongholds in the woods, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? Now therefore, O king, come down according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him into the king’s hand.’” (John Wesley) “The treachery of the Ziphites forms a striking contrast to Jonathan's treatment of David.” (Keil & Delitzsch) Saul responded: “Blessed are you of Yahweh etc."
“Saul, notwithstanding all his injustice and cruelty to David, still supposes himself to be the injured person, and his cause the right one. Thus too often do men let their passions blind them so as to persuade themselves that the most unjust things are equitable.” (Joseph Benson) “In the midst of his wickedness, Saul affected to speak the language of piety. Such expressions, without suitable effects, can only amuse or deceive those who hear, and those who use them.” (Matthew Henry)
24 So they arose and went to Ziph before Saul. But David and his men were in the Wilderness of Maon, in the plain on the south of Jeshimon. 25 When Saul and his men went to seek him, they told David. Therefore he went down to the rock, and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued David in the Wilderness of Maon. 26 Then Saul went on one side of the mountain, and David and his men on the other side of the mountain. So David made haste to get away from Saul, for Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to take them. 27 But a messenger came to Saul, saying, “Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!” 28 Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place the Rock of Divisions. 29 Then David went up from there and dwelt in strongholds at En Gedi.
“Already did the bloody Benjamites, ‘ravening as wolves,’ (Gen 49:27) exult in their success: already did they say, ‘There is no help for him in God.’” (Joseph Sutcliffe) First against David then against the Son of David.
“But having heard what the Ziphites had undertaken, David disappointed their design by going into another place, with which, it is likely, they were not so well acquainted.” (Joseph Benson)
“We have reason to bless God for these continued exercises of David, however painful to him, they prove profitable to us. Those two precious Psalms, Ps 54 and Ps 63, were written by him upon those occasions as the Reader will perceive by consulting them in the title page.” (Hawker’s Poor Man’s Commentary) Pslam 54 reads:
“‘Save me, O God,’ the Psalmist cries, ‘by Thy name, and judge me by Thy strength.’ The danger from which he needs to be saved comes from strangers that are risen up against him, and opposers that seek after his soul; persons ‘that have not set God before them.’ To be saved by God's name is to be saved through attributes which are manifestly Divine; to be judged by God's strength, is to be vindicated, to be shown to be under God's favour and protection, by the manifest exercise of His power. The petitions are such as David might well have made after his conversation with Jonathan. The psalm is evidently the song of one whose hand had been ‘strengthened in God.’ Its great central truth is, ‘God is mine helper; Yahweh is with them who (like Jonathan) uphold my soul.’ And there comes after that a happy exercise of the spirit of trust, enabling him to say, ‘He hath delivered me out of all trouble.’“ (Expositor’s Bible)
In response to the the shepherd boy's cry:
A messenger comes to report a Philistine attack— “David and his men are almost surrounded by Saul and his army, and on the point of being taken, when a messenger arrives and informs Saul that the Philistines had invaded the land! But behold the workings of Providence!” (Adam Clarke)
“It is edifying to observe all the different ways in which the Divine protection toward David had been shown, all the time that he had been exposed to the hostility of Saul. First of all, when Saul spoke to his servants and to Jonathan that they should kill David, Jonathan was raised up to take his side, and by his friendly counsels, arrested for the time the murderous purpose of Saul. Next, when Saul hurled a javelin at David, a rapid movement saved his life. The third time, he was let down through a window by his wife, in time to escape. The fourth time, the messengers that were sent to apprehend him were filled with the Spirit of God, and even Saul, determined to make up for their lack of service, underwent the same transformation. The fifth time, when he was in Keilah, he was supernaturally warned of the unkind treachery of the men of Keilah; and thus escaped the snare. And now, a sixth escape is effected, in the very article of death, so to speak, by a Philistine invasion. Thus was illustrated that wonderful diversity of plan that characterizes the ways of God, that ‘variety in unity’ which we may trace alike in the kingdom of nature, of providence, and of grace." (Expositor’s Bible)
“They called that place [ סלע המהלקות] Sela-hammah-lekoth — That is, the rock of divisions. Because God, by this interposition of the Philistines invading the land just at this time, separated Saul from David, and in a manner pulled him away, when the latter was now almost within his reach.” (Joseph Benson)— coming between David and the destroyer.
“Let us not be dismayed at the prospect of future difficulties, but stay ourselves upon Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. Sooner than His promise shall fail, He will commission Philistines to effect our escape, at the very moment when our case appears most desperate. God requires entire dependence on him, If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established, Isaiah 7:9.” (Matthew Henry)
“Divisions in Israel are not pleasant to contemplate, no more than they are in the Church of God, but when division was forced upon David, God could yet sustain him in maintaining a right attitude toward all Israel, just as He can do for believers who by necessity are separated from others whom they love. David then finds another place of dwelling at En-gedi ‘fountain of the kid (goats)’, a place of refreshment, even though he was as a helpless, sensitive kid surrounded by beasts of prey.” (L. M. Grant)
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