1 Samuel 26:3

_THEN SAUL AROSE, AND WENT DOWN TO THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH, HAVING THREE THOUSAND CHOSEN MEN OF ISRAEL WITH HIM, TO SEEK DAVID IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH._ No JFB commentary on these verses....

1-12 How soon do unholy hearts lose the good impressions convictions have made upon them! How helpless were Saul and all his men! All as though disarmed and chained, yet nothing is done to them; they are only asleep. How easily can God weaken the strongest, befool the wisest, and baffle the most watchful! David still resolved to wait till God thought fit to avenge him on Saul. He will by no means force his way to the promised crown by any wrong methods. The temptation was very strong; but if he yielded, he would sin against God, therefore he resisted the temptation, and trusted God with the event....

DAVID A SECOND TIME SPARES SAUL'S LIFE (1 Samuel 26:1.). EXPOSITION SAUL, ON INFORMATION FROM THE ZIPHITES, AGAIN SEEKS TO DESTROY DAVID (1 Samuel 26:1). 1 SAMUEL 26:1 THE ZIPHITES CAME UNTO SAUL. There are so many points of similarity between this narrative and that contained in 1

AND SAUL PITCHED IN THE HILL OF HACHILAH, WHICH [IS] BEFORE JESHIMON, BY THE WAY,.... To the wilderness; the very same place where the Ziphites suggested David was: BUT DAVID ABODE IN THE WILDERNESS; not in the hill of Hachilah, but in the wilderness of Ziph itself: AND HE SAW THAT SAUL CAME AFTER HIM INTO THE WILDERNESS; he understood, by some information he had, that Saul had set out from Gibeah, and was coming to seek for him in the wilderness of Ziph; perhaps Jonathan had given him intelligence; however, he was not quite certain, as appears by what follows....

CHAPTER 26 _ 1. The Ziphites and Saul's pursuit (1 Samuel 26:1)_ 2. David again spares Saul (1 Samuel 26:5) 3. David's words to Abner (1 Samuel 26:13) 4. David's words to Saul (1 Samuel 26:17) 5. Saul's confession and David's reply (1 Samuel 26:21) Hachilah, where we find David now, was six miles east of Ziph and about halfway to En-gedi. The Ziphites once more reveal his hiding place to Saul. And Saul was rushing forward to his doom when with his three thousand chosen men he took up the

1 SAMUEL 26. DAVID SPARES SAUL IN THE WILDERNESS OF ZIPH (J). From one of the oldest sources (_cf._ on ch. 24). 1 SAMUEL 26:1 TO 1 SAMUEL 12:1 f. repeats briefly the substance and part of the wording of 1 Samuel 23:19: David is in the wilderness of Ziph, and Saul pursues him. But instead of the sequel given in 1 Samuel 23, we have another version of the story in 1 Samuel 24 of David's generous treatment of Saul. David learns that Saul is again pursuing him and is in his immediate neighbourhood: of a certainty is clearly wrong, and RVm, to a set place, is not much more likely. There may be a scribal error, and the name of a place may have stood here originally. David went to see for hims

_by the way_ Close to some well-known high road. Cp. 1 Samuel 24:3. _he saw_ i.e. perceived or learned. Cp. 1 Samuel 23:15....

_Saul Pursues David Again._ 1 Samuel 26:1-5 And the Ziphites came unto Saul to Gibeah, saying Doth not David hide himself in the hill of Hachilah, _which is_ before Jeshimon? 2 Then Saul arose, and went down to the wilderness of Ziph, having three thousand chosen men of Israel with him, to seek David in the wilderness of Ziph. 3 And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which _is_ before Jeshimon, by the way. But David abode in the wilderness, and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness. 4 David therefore sent out spies, and understood that Saul was come in very deed. 5 And David arose, and came to the place where Saul had pitched: and David beheld the place where Saul lay, and Abner the son of Ner, the captain of his host: and Saul lay in the trench, and the people pitched round about him. _1._ Did the Ziphites betray David

DAVID SPARES SAUL'S LIFE A SECOND TIME 1. Hachilah] near the wilderness of Ziph: see 1 Samuel 23:19....

ISRAEL’S FIRST KING 1 SAMUEL _HELEN POCOCK_ CHAPTER 26 DAVID AGAIN REFUSES TO KILL SAUL V1 Some men from Ziph went to visit Saul at Gibeah. They said, ‘David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah which is opposite Jeshimon’. V2 So Saul went to the desert of Ziph to search for David. Saul chose 3000 *Israelite men to go with him. V3 Saul and his men camped next to the road on the hill of Hakilah. This was opposite Jeshimon. But David stayed in the desert. Then David heard that Saul had followed him there. V4 So David sent some men to see if this was true. They discovered that Saul was at Hakilah....