1 Samuel 23:20-29

20 Now therefore, O king, come down, according to all the desire of your soul to come down; and our part shall be to deliver him up into the king's hand.

21 Saul said, Blessed be you of Yahweh; for you have had compassion on me

22 Plesease go make yet more sure, and know and see his place where his haunt is, [and] who has seen him there; for it is told me that he deals very subtly.

23 See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking-places where he hides himself, and come you again to me of a certainty, and I will go with you: and it shall happen, if he be in the land, that I will search him out among all the thousands of Judah.

24 They arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon, in the Arabah on the south of the desert.

25 Saul and his men went to seek him. They told David: why he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. When Saul heard [that], he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

26 Saul went on this side of the mountain, and David and his men on that side of the mountain: and David made haste to get away for fear of Saul; for Saul and his men compassed David and his men round about to take them.

27 But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, Haste you, and come; for the Philistines have made a raid on the land.

28 So Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.

29 David went up from there, and lived in the strongholds of En-gedi.

1 Samuel 23:20-29 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.