1 Samuel 23

because he was too old, and they didn’t want his sons to succeed him because they accepted bribes and perverted justice (8:3). But King Saul was guilty of disobeying God’s clear commandments and also of lying about what he had done, and because of these sins, he had forfeited his throne. He was still in office and yet was unfit to lead the nation, and Samuel had broken fellowship with him (15:34–35). In his grief, Samuel must have felt like a dismal failure as a father, a spiritual leader, and a mentor to the new king. The word translated “mourn” means “to mourn for the dead” and reveals the depths of Samuel’s sorrow.

There is a time to mourn (Eccl. 3:4), but there is also a time to act (Josh. 7:10), and for Samuel, that time had arrived. In spite of how he felt about himself, Samuel’s work wasn’t over yet, for God wanted him to anoint the new king, David, the son of Jesse. If Saul was “the people’s king,” then David was God’s king, and the events recorded in these two chapters indicate clearly that God’s hand was unquestionably on David, the leader of His choice.

In the second chapter of his book Up from Slavery, Booker T. Washington wrote, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.” Measured by this standard—and it’s a valid one— David was a very successful man. For ten years he was considered an outlaw, yet he fought the Lord’s battles and delivered Israel from her enemies. He lived with his faithful men in the forsaken places of the land and often had to flee for his life, yet he knew that the Lord would finally deliver him and give him the promised throne. David’s coronation was not only important to the people of Israel; it was important to all the people of God of every age. For out of David’s family the Redeemer would ultimately come, Jesus of Nazareth, the Son of David, the Son of God.

Keilah was a border town in Judah, about twelve miles from the Philistine city of Gath and some ten miles west of the forest of Hereth where David and his men were camping (22:5). Situated that close to the enemy, Keilah was extremely vulnerable, especially during the harvest season when the Philistine army was searching for food. Had King Saul been concerned about defending his people instead, he would have sent a detachment of soldiers to protect Keilah, but he was obsessed with finding David and killing him.

The spies of both David and Saul were active in the land, and David’s spies reported that the Philistines were attacking Keilah. David paused to determine the will of God, a practice every leader needs to imitate, for it’s easy for our own personal interests to get in the way of God’s will. How did David discover God’s will when Abiathar the priest hadn’t yet arrived in the camp (23:6)? The prophet Gad was with David (22:5), and it’s likely that he prayed to the Lord for direction. Once Abiathar arrived with the ephod, David had him inquire of the Lord when there were important decisions to make (v. 9; 25:32; 26:11, 23).

Once David got the go-ahead signal from the Lord, he mobilized his men, but they weren’t too enthusiastic about his plans. It was acceptable to fight the Philistines, Israel’s long-time enemies, but they didn’t want to fight their own Jewish brothers. What if Saul turned against David and his men? The band of 600 men would then be caught between two armies! Unwilling to impose his own ideas on his men, David sought the Lord’s will a second time, and once again he was told to go rescue the people of Keilah. It wasn’t David’s unbelief that created the problem, because he had faith in the Lord, but the fear in the hearts of his men made them unprepared for battle.

God more than kept His promise because He not only helped David slaughter the invading Philistines but also take a great amount of spoil from them. David moved into Keilah, which was a walled city, and it was there that Abiathar went when he fled from Nob carrying the precious ephod (22:20–23; 23:6). But Saul’s spies were at work and learned that David was now in Keilah, a walled city with gates. Saul told his troops they were going to Keilah to rescue the city, but his real purpose was to capture David, and he was certain that David could not escape. Saul was not only willing to slaughter the priests of Nob, but he would have destroyed his own people in the city of Keilah just to lay hands on David. People who are controlled by malice and hatred quickly lose their perspective and begin to abuse their authority.

While serving on Saul’s staff, David had dodged the king’s spears, thwarted an attempted kidnapping, and escaped the intended violence of three companies of soldiers and of Saul himself. Now that he was a fugitive with a price on his head and had over six hundred people to care for, David had to be very careful what he did and where he went. There might be another Doeg hiding in the shadows.

From Keilah to the wilderness of Ziph (vv. 7–18). David’s spies quickly let him know that Saul was planning to come to Keilah, so with Abiathar’s help, David sought the Lord’s guidance. His great concern was whether the people of Keilah would turn him and his men over to Saul. Since David had rescued the city from the Philistines, you would have expected the citizens to be grateful and to protect David, but such was not the case. The Lord warned David to get out of the city because the people were prepared to turn him over to the king. No doubt the people of Keilah were afraid that if they didn’t cooperate with Saul, he would massacre them as he did the people in Nob. David recalled how pained he was because of the tragedy at Nob, and he didn’t want another city wiped out because of him. He led his men out and they “kept moving from place to place” (v. 13 niv) until they settled in the wilderness of Ziph (v. 14).

When Saul got the word that David had left Keilah, he called off the attack, but he still sought him day after day and neglected the important affairs of the kingdom. However, the Lord was on David’s side and made sure that Saul was never successful in his quest. Ziph was a town fifteen miles southeast of Keilah in “the wilderness of Ziph” which was part of “the wilderness of Judah.” This is a destitute area adjacent to the Dead Sea where David’s faith and courage were greatly tested. When visitors to the Holy Land see this wilderness area, they often express amazement that David could ever survive living there.

David’s beloved friend Jonathan risked his life to visit David in the wilderness and “helped him find strength in God” (v. 16 niv). This was their last recorded meeting. Jonathan isn’t mentioned again in 1 Samuel until 31: where we’re told he died on the battlefield. Jonathan had no idea that he would be slain before David became king, because he talked with David about their future coregency and renewed with him the covenant they had made (18:8; 20:31). He assured David that God would surely make him king in His good time, and that David would always be delivered from Saul’s schemes to capture him. Jonathan admitted that his father knew all these plans.

From Ziph to the wilderness of Maon (vv. 19–28). The Ziphites weren’t interested in following God’s plan; their great concern was to protect themselves from the rage of King Saul. They knew where David was hiding so they conveyed this important information to Saul, carefully addressing him as “king.” This was their way of assuring him that they were loyal to him and not to David. Saul was still manipulating people by making them feel sorry for him (v. 21; 22:8), and this combination of building personal pity and wielding ruthless power seemed to be working. But Saul’s character was deteriorating very quickly, while the Lord was molding David into a courageous man of God.

Saul was a good enough warrior to know that he couldn’t find David in the wilderness of Judah without some specific directions, so he asked the Ziphites to send him exact details. He wanted to know the hiding places in the rocks and caves that David frequented and the hidden paths that he took. Once he had the map, Saul could search out the area and quickly find his enemy. But David also had his spies working and knew what Saul was doing, and the Lord was watching over the future king. David moved out of the area of Ziph and three miles south into the wilderness of Maon.

But Saul wasn’t about to give up, so he followed David into the wilderness of Maon, and the two armies met at “the rock,” a well-known mountain in the area. Saul divided his army and sent half around one side of the mountain and half around the other side, a pincers movement that would have meant total defeat for David and his 600 soldiers. But the Lord was in control and brought the Philistines to attack somewhere in Judah, and Saul and his men had to abandon the attack. It was a close call for David, but God kept His promises. To commemorate this great escape, the Jews called the place “Sela Hammahlekoth,” which means “the rock of parting.” The Hebrew carries the idea of “a smooth rock” and therefore “a slippery rock,” in other words, “the rock of slipping away.” David quickly moved from Maon to Engedi, next to the Dead Sea, a place of safety with an ample water supply.

David wrote Psalm 54 on this occasion and in it prayed for salvation and vindication from the Lord. David knew that the flatterers in Saul’s official circle, people like Doeg, were telling lies about him and making it look as though David wanted to kill the king. These fawning toadies were hoping to be rewarded by Saul, but they only went down in defeat because they gave allegiance to the wrong king. Leaders who enjoy flattery and praise, and who encourage and reward associates who seek only to gratify their leader’s ego, can never build other leaders or accomplish the will of God to the glory of God. David developed officers who were “mighty men” (1 Chron. 21; 2 Sam. 24), but Saul attracted officers who were moral weaklings. “Therefore by their fruits you will know them” (Matt. 7:20).