1 Samuel 23:15

15 And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.

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 So David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah and went from one place to another. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbare to go forth.

14 And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

15 And David, seeing that Saul had come out to seek his soul, stayed in the woods in the wilderness of Ziph.

16 Then Jonathan, Saul’s son, arose and went to David in the woods and strengthened his hand in God.

17 And he said unto him, Do not fear, for the hand of Saul, my father, shall not find thee, and thou shalt be king over Israel, and I shall be next unto thee; and even my father knows this.