1 Samuel 26:3

3 Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

1 Samuel 26:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 26:3

And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which [is] before
Jeshimon, by the way
To the wilderness; the very same place where the Ziphites suggested David was:

but David abode in the wilderness;
not in the hill of Hachilah, but in the wilderness of Ziph itself:

and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness;
he understood, by some information he had, that Saul had set out from Gibeah, and was coming to seek for him in the wilderness of Ziph; perhaps Jonathan had given him intelligence; however, he was not quite certain, as appears by what follows.

1 Samuel 26:3 In-Context

1 Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah and said, “Is not David hiding on the hill of Hachilah, opposite Jeshimon?”

2 So Saul, accompanied by three thousand chosen men of Israel, went down to the Wilderness of Ziph to search for David there.

3 Saul camped beside the road at the hill of Hachilah opposite Jeshimon, but David was living in the wilderness. When he realized that Saul had followed him there,

4 David sent out spies to verify that Saul had arrived.

5 Then David set out and went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw the place where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the general of his army, had lain down. Saul was lying inside the inner circle of the camp, with the troops camped around him.