“Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul?”
The full verse · 1 Samuel 23:12 · KJV
Then , Will the of me and my into the of ? And the , They will deliver thee .
The Scene
David had asked the LORD two questions about Keilah and Saul, and the LORD had answered only the second: "He will come down" (1 Samuel 23:11).
Why It Was Asked
The purpose behind the questionDavid asked again the question God had not yet answered, this time adding "and my men." Keil & Delitzsch explain that when God was consulted through the Urim and Thummim, the answer came "always to one particular question," so David had to repeat the first. Gill reports that Jewish teachers drew a rule from this passage: two things should not be asked together, and a question asked out of order should be asked again.
The question was a painful one. David had just rescued Keilah (1 Samuel 23:5). Would the town he saved hand him over? Matthew Henry notes that the men of Keilah could not have answered this themselves, "not knowing their own minds"; only God could tell David what they would do when Saul came.
The Response
What Scripture records"And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up" (1 Samuel 23:12). David did not wait to see it happen. "Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth" (1 Samuel 23:13).
The Bigger Picture
Where this fits in God's storyGod saw what was hidden in the hearts of the people of Keilah and warned David before it could happen. Matthew Henry imagines the answer this way: "how fond soever they now seem of thee, as their saviour, they will deliver thee up rather than stand the shock of Saul's fury." Gill sees in it "the great ingratitude of this people to their deliverer." Henry's reading also reminds us what Keilah had to fear: Saul had just destroyed Nob, "the city of the priests" (1 Samuel 22:19).
The answer was a warning, not a sentence. Because David left, the betrayal never took place, and Saul gave up the march (1 Samuel 23:13). The chapter sums it up: "Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand" (1 Samuel 23:14).
The Commentaries
Voices from across the centuriesGenerations of believers have studied this verse. See what they noticed.
Look Closer
What did David add when he asked the question again?
Carry the question into prayer and conversation.
Father, when people I have helped may not stand with me, how do You want me to respond without bitterness?
A prayer to carry into the day.
- David did not stay to argue with Keilah; he simply left (1 Samuel 23:13). What helps you respond to disappointment in people without growing bitter?
- Can you share about someone who stood with you when it cost them something?
For you, a small group, a friend, or the dinner table.
Sometimes the people you help will not stand with you when standing with you is costly. God's warning to David led him to act wisely, not to take revenge: he left (1 Samuel 23:13). You don't have to know what is in everyone's heart. As Matthew Henry says, "God knows all men better than they know themselves."
This doesn't mean you should expect everyone you help to turn on you. God gave David this answer for this town at this moment. The lesson is to trust God with what you cannot see, and to keep doing good, as David had done for Keilah, without making people's gratitude the reason.
Built from the biblical text and checked against trusted commentaries and lexicons. References & Sources
Keep questioning
“Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard?”
“Shall I go and smite these Philistines?”
“How much more then if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?”
“Shall I pursue after this troop? Shall I overtake them?”