1 Samuel 23:1-6

David Delivers Keilah

1 Then they told David, saying, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against 1Keilah and are plundering the threshing floors."
2 So David 2inquired of the LORD, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And the LORD said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and deliver Keilah."
3 But David's men said to him, "Behold, we are afraid here in Judah. How much * more * then if we go to Keilah against the ranks of the Philistines?"
4 Then David inquired of the LORD once * more *. And the LORD answered him and said, "Arise, go down to Keilah, for 3I will give the Philistines into your hand.
5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines; and he led away their livestock and struck them with a great slaughter. Thus David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah.
6 Now it came about, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech 4fled to David at Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.

1 Samuel 23:1-6 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO FIRST SAMUEL 23

This chapter gives an account of David's relieving Keilah, when it had like to have fallen into the hands of the Philistines, 1Sa 23:1-6; and of Saul's design to surprise him there, which David having notice of, and inquiring of the Lord, departed from thence; which when Saul heard of, he forbore to come forth, 1Sa 23:7-13; and of David's being in the wilderness of Ziph, where, in a wood there, he had an interview with Jonathan, 1Sa 23:14-18; and of the Ziphites offering to deliver him up to Saul, for which he commends them, and gives them instructions how they should behave to him in that affair, 1Sa 23:19-23; and of his seeking him in the wilderness of Maon, where David and his men were in great danger of being taken; which was prevented by the news of the Philistines invading the land coming to Saul just at the nick of time, 1Sa 23:24-29.

Cross References 4

  • 1. Joshua 15:44; Nehemiah 3:17, 18
  • 2. 1 Sam 23:4, 6, 9-12; 2 Samuel 5:19, 23
  • 3. Joshua 8:7; Judges 7:7
  • 4. 1 Samuel 22:20

Footnotes 2

New American Standard Bible Copyright © 1960, 1962, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation, La Habra, California.  All rights reserved.