1 Samuel 23:1-14--David Saves the City of Keilah

1 Samuel 23:1-14
English Standard Version

David Saves the City of Keilah
23 Now they told David, “Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and are robbing the threshing floors.” 2 Therefore David inquired of the LORD, “Shall I go and attack these Philistines?” And the LORD said to David, “Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah.” 3 But David's men said to him, “Behold, we are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” 4 Then David inquired of the LORD again. And the LORD answered him, “Arise, go down to Keilah, for I will give the Philistines into your hand.” 5 And David and his men went to Keilah and fought with the Philistines and brought away their livestock and struck them with a great blow. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.

​6 When Abiathar the son of Ahimelech had fled to David to Keilah, he had come down with an ephod in his hand. 7 Now it was told Saul that David had come to Keilah. And Saul said, “God has given him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars.” 8 And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men. 9 David knew that Saul was plotting harm against him. And he said to Abiathar the priest, “Bring the ephod here.” 10 Then David said, “O LORD, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city on my account. 11 Will the men of Keilah surrender me into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O LORD, the God of Israel, please tell your servant.” And the LORD said, “He will come down.” 12 Then David said, “Will the men of Keilah surrender me and my men into the hand of Saul?” And the LORD said, “They will surrender you.” 13 Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed from Keilah, and they went wherever they could go. When Saul was told that David had escaped from Keilah, he gave up the expedition. 14 And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God did not give him into his hand.

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The Philistines are still up to their old tricks--letting everyone else around them farm and grow grain, and they swoop in at the time of harvest and steal the grain that they have not sown or worked to grow.  This is so much a pattern in the Old Testament that it seems like it was just part of their culture to try to benefit off of the hard work of others without putting in a lot of effort themselves (other than going to war, which they knew they were good at).

David inquired of the LORD whether he and his men should go to war against these Philistine raiding parties, and the LORD told David that he should attack the Philistines and save the city of Keilah.  The men who were with David though were pretty cowardly as they were even scared living in their caves in secret while among their own people, but now David (and the LORD) are asking them to go out in public in full view of the other tribes and expose themselves to attack by Saul and his army and anyone allied with Saul.  David goes back tot the LORD and the LORD repeats Himself for the benefit of these cowardly men.  The direction is clear and the LORD promises that the victory is sure--He has already given the Philistines into their hands.  So David and his men struck down the Philistines at Keilah and took their livestock and saved all the inhabitants of Keilah.

It is here at Keilah that Abiathar the priest, the son of Ahimelech the priest (the one who gave David and his men the holy bread so that Saul killed Ahimelech and all of the other priests at Nob save Abiathar who was able to escape) met up with David and his men.  Abiathar came with his ephod in his hand.

Saul then hears that David was at Keilah and that he and his men are inside the walled city with the gates closed and barred for the night for protection, so Saul immediately thinks that God has given Saul the opportunity to take captive (and probably kill) David and his men.  Notice that Saul attributes to God the evil things that are in his own heart and mind, for he will no longer listen to the voice of the LORD.  Saul marches to Keilah with his troops to attempt to make a blockade around the city so that no one may enter or leave without going through Saul and his army and in so doing hoped to make the city give David and his men up for their own survival or they would let David, his men, and all the inhabitants of the city starve as they would be cut off from all necessary supplies.

Remember thought that Israel has no standing army, so when the king wanted to go to war, he had to blow the trumpets throughout the land to summon the people to come and gather for war.  David hears the signal and knows that the king intends to make war against him and his men there at Keilah, so that David tells Abiathar to come with he ephod so that he can make inquiry before the LORD (probably by casting lots with the white stone and black stone that are in the ephod, for this was a way that the LORD designated for the priests to be able to divine the will of the LORD because the LORD would manipulate the laws of probability so that the white stone would be chosen for an answer of "yes" and the black stone would be chosen for an answer of "no," but this limited the kinds of questions that could be asked to be binary in nature so that they could be answered by lots with a white stone and black stone).

David asked the LORD if Saul was coming against David and his men and the inhabitants of Keilah, and the LORD told David that Saul was coming after them to attack the city because David was there.  Then David asked if the people of the city would give David and his men into Saul's hand, and the LORD replied that they would (if given the opportunity to do so), for the LORD knew the heart of the people.

So David and his 600 men with him fled in all directions to make it harder for Saul to pursue them.  When Saul got to the city and heard that David and his men had already escaped, he did not give chase.  David returned to living in the strongholds (probably caves) in the wilderness of Ziph.  Saul sought David every day, but the LORD did not give David into Saul's hand.

Now imagine being David....you hear your people are in trouble and you want to go save them (for David needs to act like the king even though Saul won't give up his throne).  Saul isn't interested in saving the people of Keilah, but only in using them to get to David, and Saul is willing to destroy the city (more than the Philistines were going to do) in order to get to David--yet Saul thought somehow this was the LORD's plan because he imagined the LORD to have a heart like his own.  David inquires if he should lead this ragtag group of misfits into battle and the LORD says twice that he should go save the city and then tells them that their victory against the Philistines is sure, yet, this opens the door for Saul to try to capture (and probably attempt to kill) David so that he has to escape, seemingly under the cover of darkness.  David is once again living in strongholds (again, probably caves in the wilderness) when he was already anointed and told that he was destined to live in the palace--the same palace where he had grown up almost like a son to Saul and brother to Jonathan, but Saul is bent on keeping the throne for himself now that he knows that Jonathan has his will aligned with David and would give the throne over to David.  In fact, we will see Jonathan make this covenant with David in the very next passage we will study together.