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).