1 Samuel 23:1-6

David Defeats the Philistines at Keilah

1 Now they told David, "Look, [the] Philistines [are] fighting in Keilah and they [are] raiding the threshing floors."

2 So David inquired of Yahweh, saying, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines?" And Yahweh said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah."

3 But David's men said to him, "Look, we [are] afraid here in Judah. {How much more} [if] we go [to] Keilah to the battle lines of [the] Philistines?"

4 So David again inquired of Yahweh, and Yahweh answered him and said, "Get up, go down [to] Keilah, for I [am] giving [the] Philistines into your hand.

5 So David and his men went to Keilah and fought with [the] Philistines. They drove off their livestock and {dealt them a heavy blow}. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

David Flees from Saul at Keilah

6 {Now when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled} to David [at] Keilah, he went 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.

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "deliver" or "rescue"
• [b]. Literally "also for"
• [c]. Literally "he struck them with a great smiting"
• [d]. Or "delivered" or "rescued"
• [e]. Literally "And it happened [that] at the fleeing of Abiathar son of Ahimelech"