1 Samuel 23
April 12, 2017
1 Samuel 23
1 Samuel 23
Shawn Bumpers / General
1 Samuel / David; Rescue; Philistines; Israel; Keilah (town)
David resuces the city of Keilah
Introduction
In the previous chapter, we saw the fruit of David’s scheming when he was relying on himself.
Doeg the Edomite told blood-thirsty King Saul that he had seen David with Ahimelech the priest at Nob.
(The midrash is early Rabbinical commentary and interpretation of both the written and oral Torah.)
What is interesting about this, and something we could miss if we were not going verse by verse through the Bible:
Is that even though the human component of all this was flawed with sin …. ultimately, God brings His plan out of it.
For one thing, this slaughter of the priests goes all the way back to Eli and chapter 2.
For another thing, David has learned a valuable lesson about trusting in God rather than in himself.
Booker T. Washington wrote, “I have learned that success is to be measured not so much by the position that one has reached in life as by the obstacles which he has overcome while trying to succeed.”
Given this observation …. David was a very successful man.
But in the midst of it, he fought the Lord’s battles and delivered Israel from her enemies.
Saul’s rule of Israel had been disastrous … even his own son, Jonathan, had said so.
One might say that Israel was groaning for God’s chosen king, David to come to the throne.
We continue into chapter 23 tonight.
Early in his reign, King Saul had aggressively attacked the Philistines, but in his madness, he turned to persecuting the people of God.
Keilah was one of the lowland towns located in the lot of the tribe of Judah as described in Joshua 15.
V1-5
This is reminiscent of the Midianites and the Amalekites raiding Israel’s harvest in the time of Gideon.
Then, the Angel of the Lord gave Israel a savior in Gideon.
This was God’s anointed king for Israel, and though he has already come against the enemies of Israel, we have a picture of the beginning of a ministry of rescue beginning with the wilderness.
Back to the text, situated so close to the enemy, Keilah was vulnerable, especially during the harvest season when the Philistine army was searching for food.
Had King Saul should have sent a detachment of soldiers to protect Keilah, but he was obsessed with finding David and killing him.
As we see from verse 6, David had a priest with him who had an ephod, and he had Gad, the prophet.
So then, unlike when David was with Ahimelech at Nob, this time David paused to determine the will of God.
This was a dangerous situation for David and his 400 men to get involved in … verse 3 tells us that his men expressed to him that they were afraid.
So, in verse 4 we see that David inquired of the Lord a second time … perhaps one time was through the prophet Gad and the second time was through Abiether the priest.
AND God kept His promise.
He not only enabled David and his men to defeat the invading Philistines but also to take a great amount of spoil from them.
v6
It may have been that Abiather didn’t arrive into David’s presence until David was in Keilah.
It’s a little hard to determine because the end of chapter 22 seems to put Abiather with David prior to that.
That being said, the original Hebrew easily reads as a reminder that Abiather, who was with David, had an Ephod … something that chapter 22 had not informed us of.
He probably had the Ephod of the High Priest, which is important because it had the breastplate of judgment (Exodus 28:15) attached to it (Exodus 28:28).
The names Urim and Thummim mean “Lights and Perfections.”
Whatever the case … these were tools given to Israel by God.
V7-13
But Saul’s spies were at work and he learned that David was now in Keilah.
The ephod gives affirmative answers to both David’s questions: Saul is coming, and the people of Keilah will surrender David.
It would be the obvious way to avoid the destruction of their city.
v14-18
With the constant pressure from Saul, David and his men were forced to hide in the hostile areas of the mountains of Judah, to the south and south-east of Hebron.
Ziph was a town fifteen miles southeast of Keilah in “the wilderness of Ziph” which was part of “the wilderness of Judah.”
Psalm 18:2 NKJV
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
Verse 16 tells us that David’s beloved friend Jonathan visited him in the wilderness here and “helped him find strength in God.”
Jonathan took a big risk … in fact he risked his life in doing this.
What a great friend Jonathan was.
And Jonathan was correct … though not entirely correct.
Jonathan isn’t mentioned again in 1 Samuel until 31:2 where we’re told he died on the battlefield.
Before we move on to the next group of verses, we should note that the inhabitants of Ziph remained loyal to Saul, despite the fact that David was of their tribe, Judah.
They will betray David … No doubt hoping to profit in some way from their betrayal.
v19-29
The Ziphites weren’t interested in following God’s plan.
Their great concern was to protect themselves from the rage of King Saul and maybe find some personal gain from betraying David.
They didn’t want anyone to think they thought David was the rightful king.
Saul’s character was deteriorating very quickly, while the Lord was molding David into a courageous man of God.
Saul was excited to know where David was, but he knew that he couldn’t find David in the wilderness of Judah without some good directions.
So he asked the Ziphites to send him exact details.
Saul didn’t realize how close he was to David.
They were on the same mountain, separated by a ridge.
This should have meant total defeat for David and his 600 soldiers.
But the Lord was in control.
He brought the Philistines to attack somewhere in Judah.
It was a very close call for David, but God kept His promises.
To commemorate this great escape, the Jews called the place “Sela Hammahlekoth,” which means “The Rock of Escape.”
It is interesting that the Hebrew carries the connotation of both a slippery rock and a rock that divides.
But He was saved by The Rock …
Psalm 18:2 NKJV
The Lord is my rock and my fortress and my deliverer; My God, my strength, in whom I will trust; My shield and the horn of my salvation, my stronghold.
1 Peter 2:8 NKJV
and “A stone of stumbling And a rock of offense.” They stumble, being disobedient to the word, to which they also were appointed.
Isaiah 8:14 NKJV
He will be as a sanctuary, But a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense To both the houses of Israel, As a trap and a snare to the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
Back to our text, David quickly moved from Maon to Engedi, next to the Dead Sea and nearby Masadah.
Engedi is a place of safety with an ample water supply.
Psalm 54:1 NKJV
Save me, O God, by Your name, And vindicate me by Your strength.
Psalm 54:3 NKJV
For strangers have risen up against me, And oppressors have sought after my life; They have not set God before them. Selah
Psalm 54:4 NKJV
Behold, God is my helper; The Lord is with those who uphold my life.
Psalm 54:6 NKJV
I will freely sacrifice to You; I will praise Your name, O Lord, for it is good.
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