1 Samuel 23:3-13

3 But David’s men said unto him, Behold, we are afraid here in Judah, how much more than if we go to Keilah against the army of the Philistines?

4 Then David enquired of the LORD yet again. And the LORD answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand.

5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and smote them with a great slaughter. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

6 And it came to pass when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David to Keilah that the ephod came in his hand.

7 And it was told Saul how David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in by entering into a town that has gates and bars.

8 And Saul called all the people together to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.

9 But David understood that Saul devised evil against him, and he said to Abiathar, the priest, Bring here the ephod.

10 Then David said, O LORD God of Israel, thy slave has certainly heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.

11 Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down as thy slave has heard? O LORD God of Israel, I beseech thee, tell thy slave. And the LORD said, He will come down.

12 Then David said, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.

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.

1 Samuel 23:3-13 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.