1 Samuel 23:15

15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest.

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, about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah and went wherever they could go. Then it was told Saul that David had escaped from Keilah; so he halted the expedition.

14 And David stayed in strongholds in the wilderness, and remained in the mountains in the Wilderness of Ziph. Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand

15 So David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life. And David was in the Wilderness of Ziph in a forest.

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

17 And he said to him, "Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that."

Footnotes

• [a]. Or in Horesh