1 Samuel 23:7

7 When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, "God has handed him over to me now because he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars!"

1 Samuel 23:7 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 23:7

And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah
No doubt it was told him what he came thither for, to relieve it, and deliver it out of the hands of the Philistines, and what success he had; which one would have thought would have reconciled his mind to him, and made him think well of them; but instead of that, it only led him to contrive mischief against him:

and Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand;
as if the success he had given to David was against, him, and in favour of Saul:

for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars;
while he betook himself to caves, and fields, and woods, he had no great hopes of finding him out, and coming up with him, and seizing him; but now he had got into a fortified place, enclosed with walls, and that had gates to it, kept bolted and barred; when he brought his army against it, and surrounded it, he imagined he would not be able to get out, and escape his hands.

1 Samuel 23:7 In-Context

5 Then David and his soldiers went to Keilah and fought the Philistines, driving off their cattle and defeating them decisively. And that's how David saved the residents of Keilah.

6 Now after Abiathar, Ahimelech's son, fled to David, he had accompanied David to Keilah, bringing a priestly vest with him.

7 When Saul was told that David had gone to Keilah, he said, "God has handed him over to me now because he has trapped himself by entering a town with gates and bars!"

8 So Saul called up all his troops for war, to go down to Keilah and attack David and his soldiers.

9 When David learned that Saul was planning to harm him, he told the priest Abiathar, "Bring the priestly vest now."

Footnotes

• [a]. LXX, Targ; MT made a stranger of him