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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - 1 Samuel 23:1 - 23:13
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David's Rescue of Keilah
v. 1. Then they told David, he received information, saying, Behold, the Philistines, a strong band of their raiders, fight against Keilah, a city evidently in the lowland of Judah, near the Philistine frontier, and they rob the threshing-floors, where the grain was stacked ready for threshing.
v. 2. Therefore David enquired of the Lord, saying, Shall I go and smite these Philistines? He seems to have had reasons for considering himself the champion of the oppressed. And the Lord said unto David, through the Urim and Thummim of the high priest,
v. 6. Go, and smite the Philistines, and save Keilah. The command, "Rescue Keilah," included the promise that success would crown his efforts.
v. 3. And David's men, who at that time did not share his simple trust in Jehovah, said unto him, Behold, we be afraid here in Judah, they were apprehensive of the persecution of Saul; how much more, then, if we come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines, where they would have enemies before and behind?
v. 4. Then David inquired of the Lord yet again, in the same manner. And the Lord answered him and said, Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand. This definite promise was intended to allay the fears of David's men.
v. 5. So David and his men. went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and smote them with a great slaughter. The Philistines, instead of gaining booty, were themselves spoiled, losing their flocks and herds and suffering a very severe defeat. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.
v. 6. And it came to pass, as is here noted in explanation, when Abiathar, the son of Ahimelech, fled to David to Keilah, joining him just when the campaign to rescue the city was planned, that he came down with an ephod, the shoulder-dress of the high priest with the Urim and Thummim, in his hand. This was in David's favor, for he could now at any time ask the will of the Lord.
v. 7. And it was told Saul, who had his spies watching all the movements of David, that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, God hath delivered him into mine hand, for he tried to deceive himself into believing that David, and not himself, had been rejected by God; for he is shut in, by entering into a town that hath gates and bars. Saul thought that David had prepared a trap for himself by making a fortified city his headquarters, since escape would there be more difficult, once the city was surrounded.
v. 8. And Saul called all the people together to war, formally summoned all the soldiers of his army, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men, and thus to get him into his power.
v. 9. And David, who also had his spies in the field, knew that Saul secretly practised mischief against him, he found out about this plan to destroy him; and he said to Abiathar, the priest, Bring hither the ephod, for the purpose of getting information from the Lord.
v. 10. Then said David, in a prayer showing his trust in Jehovah, O Lord God of Israel, Thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake.
v. 11. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as Thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, I beseech Thee, tell Thy servant. The questions are not given in the wrong order, due to David's excitement, as has been said, but David feared that the men of Keilah would deliver him into Saul's hands as soon as they found out that the king had planned to come. And the Lord said, answering the last question first, He will come down.
v. 12. Then said David, repeating his first question, Will the men, the citizens, of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the Lord said, They will deliver thee up. Instead of taking the part of the man who had rescued them from their enemies, the men of Keilah would have been guided by policy.
v. 13. Then David and his men, which were about six hundred, since new men were being added to his band constantly, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go, without a definite plan, as chance and circumstance led them. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth, he abandoned his campaign. In this story also David is a type of the Son of God. For He also, while engaged in rescuing His people from the hand of their most terrible enemies, was betrayed into the hands of the unjust. Moreover, such is the lot of all those who openly take the part of the Lord.