1 Samuel 23:25

_SAUL ALSO AND HIS MEN WENT TO SEEK HIM. AND THEY TOLD DAVID: WHEREFORE HE CAME DOWN INTO A ROCK, AND ABODE IN THE WILDERNESS OF MAON. AND WHEN SAUL HEARD THAT, HE PURSUED AFTER DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF MAON._ David ... came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. Tell Ma'in, the hillock on which was situated the ancient Maon (Joshua 15:55), and from which the adjoining wilderness took its name, is one mile north, ten east, from Carmel. The mountain plateau seems here to end. It is true the summit ridge of the southern hills runs out a long way further toward the southwest; but toward the southeast the ground sinks more and more down to a table-land of a lower level, which is called 'the plain to the right hand (i:e., to the south) of the wilderness' (Van de Velde). 'On descending,' says Dr. Robinson ('Biblical Researches,' 1:, p. 275), the hills sout

19-29 In the midst of his wickedness, Saul affected to speak the language of piety. Such expressions, without suitable effects, can only amuse or deceive those who hear, and those who use them. This mountain was an emblem of the Divine Providence coming between David and the destroyer. Let us not be dismayed at the prospect of future difficulties, but stay ourselves upon Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. Sooner than his promise shall fail, he will commission Philistines to effect our escape, at the very moment when our case appears most desperate. God requires entire dependence on him, If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established, Isaiah 7:9....

Verse 1 Samuel 23:25. _THE WILDERNESS OF MAON._] Maon was a mountainous district in the most southern parts of Judah. Calmet supposes it to be the city of _Menois_, which Eusebius places in the vicinity of Gaza; and the _Maenaemi Castrum_, which the Theodosian code places near to Beersheba....

EXPOSITION SAUL'S PURSUIT OF DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH (1 Samuel 23:14-9). 1 SAMUEL 23:14, 1 SAMUEL 23:15 STRONG HOLDS. Natural fortresses in the woods and mountains are meant, and places difficult of access. THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH. This lay to the south of Hebron, upon the edge of the great desert of Judah (Joshua 15:55). Saul sought him every day.

AND SAUL ALSO AND HIS MEN WENT TO SEEK [HIM],.... Whether the Ziphites returned to him with better intelligence, or sent him word where David was, is not said, however Saul with his army came out in search of him: AND THEY TOLD DAVID; or it was told him, that Saul was come in quest of him: WHEREFORE HE CAME DOWN INTO A ROCK; either into a cave in it, or he came down from the hill Hachilah to a plain or valley, in order to go up to a rock, the same with the mountain in 1 Samuel 23:26: AND ABODE IN THE WILDERNESS OF MAON; in which was the rock or mountain he came to: AND WHEN SAUL HEARD [THAT], HE PURSUED AFTER DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF MAON; for upon the intelligence of the Ziphites, he came out to seek for him in the wilderness of Ziph, but hearing that he was removed to the wilderness of Maon, he pursued him

CHAPTER 23 _ 1. The victory over the Philistines at Keilah (1 Samuel 23:1)_ 2. In the wilderness of Ziph (1 Samuel 23:14) 3. Saul's return (1 Samuel 23:27) Keilah was about six miles southeast of Adullam. David heard of the invasion of the Philistines that they were fighting against this walled city. And he inquired of the Lord, through Abiathar, who had an ephod (verse 6). David's inquiry of the Lord shows the man of faith in his submission to the Lord. He had his lapses, but at heart he owned the Lord and wanted to glorify Him. Twice he asked the Lord; the second time evidently to quiet the fears of the six hundred men who were now with him. The Lord gave him the victory. The

1 SAMUEL 23. DAVID ESCAPES FROM SAUL (J). 1 Samuel 23:1. David hears that the Philistines are raiding the territory of Keilah (p. 31), a little S. of Adullam. He ascertains by oracles, probably using the ephod and the Urim and Thummim (pp. 100f.), that Yahweh approves of his going to the rescue; he thus overcomes the reluctance of his men. The expedition is entirely successful, but the ungrateful citizens of Keilah offered to surrender David and his men to Saul. It is quite possible that this troop of bandits, now grown to 600, had quartered themselves on Keilah, and were treating it as a conquered city. It would be interesting to hear the story from the point of view of Keilah; they may have felt that this act of treachery was the only way of getting rid of an intolerable burden. David, however, heard rumours, which were confirmed by the oracle, and left the place; so the scheme w

SEEK HIM. Some codices, with one early printed edition (margin), read "seek David". INTO. ROCK. from the rock....

The treachery of the Ziphites 19. _Then came up the Ziphites_ The title of Psalms 54. refers it to this occasion, or that recorded in 1 Samuel 26:1, and the contents agree with the situation. See especially 1 Samuel 23:3. On the relation between this narrative and that in ch. 26. see Note VII. p. 243. _in the hill of Hachilah_, &c] This hill was situated on the south of, or according to 1 Samuel 26:3, "in front of" or "facing" THE WASTE. _Jeshimon_is not a proper name, but means _the Waste_, and denotes the district on which the plateau of Ziph looks down, "with white peaks and cones of chalk and d

SAUL ALSO AND HIS MEN WENT— Saul, informed of the place where David was, went in person to invest it; and, humanly speaking, David could not possibly escape: but God heard the prayers which this holy man made to him in this extremity, and which he has so finely expressed in the 54th Psalm; all the parts whereof are applicable to the present occasion. The prayers of great men in distress, and their thanksgivings after great deliverances, have always been matter of uncommon delight to curiosity, and to persons of serious and religious spirits; nor does the glory of any great man shine out in their eyes with half the lustre, as when they behold him on his knees, lifting up his eyes, or stretching out his hands to Heaven, or, what is yet greater, prostrating himself before it, in humiliation and acknowledgment....