Saul Pursues David

Continuing a chronological Bible study:

(1 Samuel 23:14) And David abode in the wilderness in strong holds and remained in a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not deliver him into his hand.

David had come out of hiding to fight the Philistines in Keilah, but when God told him that the men of Keilah would turn him over to Saul, he fled again.  He hid out in the strong rocks and caves of a mountain in the wilderness of Ziph, a city in the southern part of Judah.  Saul sought him every day, but God did not allow him to find him.

(15) And David saw that Saul had come out to seek his life, and David was in the wilderness of Ziph in a wood.

It appears that David may have heard or seen Saul coming near to where he was, and he hid out in the woods of Ziph.  He had 600 men with him; perhaps the forest was a better place for them to hide.

(16) And Jonathan Saul's son arose and went to David in the wood and strengthened his hand in God. (17) And he said to him, "Fear not, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you, and you shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you, and that also Saul my father knows."

Saul's son, Jonathan, came to David in the woods.  He encouraged and strengthened David's faith in the Lord.  That is what good Christian friends are supposed to do, lift each other up in times of trouble and build them up spiritually.  He told David not to fear Saul because he would not find him, that he would be king over Israel.  Whether Jonathan received a revelation that that would indeed happen, or he had faith that it would happen, he was sure that David would be king, and that he, Jonathan, would always be next to him, not wishing to be the next king which would have naturally been the case as the son of Saul, but next to David, God's chosen king and his best friend, to aid him in whatever was needed.  And his father knew that to be the case, also.

(18) And they two made a covenant before the Lord, and David abode in the wood, and Jonathan went to his house.

Jonathan and David renewed their covenant of friendship and loyalty, and David stayed there in the woods while Jonathan went back to his home.

(19) Then the Ziphites came up to Saul at Gibeah, saying, "Does not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the woods in the hill of Hachilah which is on the south of Jeshimon? (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 into the king's hand."

Saul had returned to his usual residence in Gibeah, and the people of Ziph came to him there and informed him that David was hiding in the woods there, specifically in a hill called Hachilah, south of Jeshimon in Judah.  These were men of David's own tribe of Judah who were turning him in.  It's just as David had said in the last post in Psalm 31:11, he was a reproach even to his neighbors.  The Ziphites encouraged the king to go down to Ziph, and they would deliver David to him.

(21) And Saul said, "Blessed are you of the Lord, for you have compassion on me. (22) Go, I pray you, prepare yet and know and see his place where his haunt is, who has seen him there, for it is told me that he deals very subtly."

Saul commended the Ziphites for telling him where David was hiding and considered them blessed of the Lord because they had compassion on him on account of his troubles with David.  It always turns my stomach when evil people call on God to help them in their evil schemes, as if God wanted Saul to kill His anointed.  Talk about using God's name in vain!  I suppose as Saul was once a follower of God, perhaps he didn't even realize how far he had dropped out of God's favor.  He told the Ziphites to go back and make sure they knew exactly where David was, as he knew him to be quite crafty in his hiding.

(23) "See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places where he hides himself, and come again to me with the certainty, and I will go with you, and it shall come to pass, if he is in the land, that I will search him out throughout all the thousands of Judah."

Saul continued, telling the Ziphites to go and learn all of David's hideouts, and when they returned to him with certainty, he would then go with them to Ziph, and he would search him out throughout all the thousands of people in Judah.  This delay of Saul's may have actually been of the Lord to give David time to get away.

(24) And they arose and went to Ziph before Saul, but David and his men were in the wilderness of Maon in the plain on the south of Jeshimon.

The Ziphites returned to their land, but David and his men had moved to the wilderness of Maon in the plain rather than on the hill where he had been; he was now even further south of Jeshimon.

(25) Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David; therefore he came down to a rock and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

Saul and his men then went to seek David, perhaps because the Ziphites had returned and informed him of where David was, or maybe because he got impatient, we aren't told.  Then it was told to David that Saul and his men had come down to get him, and he went to a rock, probably a rocky cave, to hide in the wilderness of Maon.  Then Saul heard David was there and pursued him there.

(26) And 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 surrounded David and his men to take them.

Saul and his men went to the very mountain where David was hiding.  They were on one side of the mountain, and David was on the other.  David ran to get away from Saul, but by then Saul and his men had him and his men surrounded.

(27) But there came a messenger to Saul, saying, "Hurry and come, for the Philistines have invaded the land!" (28) Therefore Saul returned from pursuing after David and went against the Philistines. Therefore they called that place Sela Hammahlekoth.

At that moment, certainly designed by God in His perfect timing, a messenger came to Saul to tell him that the Philistines had invaded their land.  So Saul left off his pursuit of David and returned to fight the Philistines.  Afterward, the place was called Sela Hammahlekoth, which literally meant "rock of divisions," which I suppose referred to the fact that Saul was on one side of the rocky mountain and David on the other, with just the top of the rocky mountain between them or dividing them.

(29) And David went up from there and dwelt in strong holds at En Gedi.

So David left the wilderness of Maon and went to En Gedi which was a deserted and cavernous place at the Dead Sea, and he likely dwelt in the caves there.