1 Samuel 23:15

15 David saw that Sha'ul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Zif in the wood.

1 Samuel 23:15 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 23:15

And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life
Either he saw him with his bodily eyes from the top of the mountain where he was, ( 1 Samuel 23:14 ) ; or he perceived, he understood by information given him by his friends, it may be by Jonathan, or by spies he sent to observe his motions:

and David [was] in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood;
where he and his men could hide themselves among the trees in it; sometimes he was in a mountain in this wilderness, and sometimes in a wood, where he thought himself the safest; thus was this great man obliged to shift about for his safety.

1 Samuel 23:15 In-Context

13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Ke`ilah, and went wherever they could go. It was told Sha'ul that David was escaped from Ke`ilah; and he gave up going there.

14 David abode in the wilderness in the strongholds, and remained in the hill-country in the wilderness of Zif. Sha'ul sought him every day, but God didn't deliver him into his hand

15 David saw that Sha'ul had come out to seek his life: and David was in the wilderness of Zif in the wood.

16 Yonatan, Sha'ul's son, arose, and went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God.

17 He said to him, Don't be afraid; for the hand of Sha'ul my father shall not find you; and you shall be king over Yisra'el, and I shall be next to you; and that also Sha'ul my father knows.