1 Samuel 23:20

20 King Saul, come down when it pleases you to come. It will be our duty to hand David over to you."

1 Samuel 23:20 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 23:20

Now therefore, O king, come down
From Gibeah to Ziph, and the wilderness of it, where David was:

according to all the desires of thy soul to come down;
to seize such a prey which he was greatly desirous of, and of nothing more so than of that according to Abarbinel, the sense is, that the thing was ready in whatever way he should desire it; if he chose to come down himself, and lay hold on him, they invite him to come down; but if he did not choose to come down himself, they would seize him, and bring him to him, and deliver him up into his hand, and so he would be under no necessity of going down after him:

and our part [shall be] to deliver him into the king's hand;
this we will take upon us to do, and save the king the trouble of coming down.

1 Samuel 23:20 In-Context

18 The two of them made a covenant in the sight of the Lord. Then Jonathan went home. But David remained at Horesh.

19 The people of Ziph went up to Saul at Gibeah. They said, "David is hiding among us. He's hiding in places of safety at Horesh. Horesh is south of Jeshimon on the hill of Hakilah

20 King Saul, come down when it pleases you to come. It will be our duty to hand David over to you."

21 Saul replied, "May the LORD bless you because you were concerned about me

22 Make sure you are right. Go and check things out again. Find out where David usually goes. Find out who has seen him there. People tell me he's very tricky.