At the end of chapter 22, we left David in Judah, still fleeing king Saul. Chapter 23 is little different. Saul is still pursuing David as an enemy of the throne. David’s strength and reputation remain undiminished as he flees from Saul.
David’s men tell him that the Philistines are attacking and stealing from Keilah, a town in Judah. It is telling that David’s help was sought for Keilah over Saul’s help because Saul was their king. It is another sign of David’s ability to inspire loyalty in others as his actions were those of a true man of God. Even though David’s men were afraid to go to Keilah to protect it, David went to God in prayer time and again to make sure that this is what God wanted him to do. After God assures David that the Philistines will be delivered into David’s hand, David goes. David saved Keilah and stole the Philistines’ livestock.
Word gets back to Saul that Abiathar had fled to Keilah for protection from David. Saul sees this is an opportunity to trap David in the walls of Keliah so Saul goes down with men to try and cach David there. When David hears of this, he goes to God again in prayer, asking if it is true that Saul will seek him and take him at Keilah. God answers that yes, the men of Keilah will deliver David to Saul (this, even though David just saved them from the Philistines). In light of these answers to his prayers, David takes about six hundred men and flees to the wilderness. Saul also gets word of David’s fleeing so he halts his pursuit for the moment.
Eventually, Saul resumes his search for David in the wilderness and as he does, Jonathan goes and finds David. Jonathan tells David, “Do not fear, for the hand of Saul my father shall not find you. You shall be king over Israel, and I shall be next to you. Even my father Saul knows that.” With this, David is encouraged and stays hidden.
The Ziphites may have been looking for some credit or favor from king Saul when they approached him, offered up David’s position and invited Saul to come and take David. But Saul will not be so easily moved to find David, being convinced of how slippery David has been during this pursuit. So Saul tells the Ziphites to come back to him with David’s exact location.
Saul’s caution was justified, because by the time he finally did go out to locate David, David had moved to another place. Also, David was alerted to Saul’s coming and was able to evade Saul in the wilderness, at a place called the “Rock of Escape,” that was named after David evaded king Saul. After the narrow escape, David fled to strongholds at En Gedi.
David is a strong, prayerful and confident man of God in these events. This does not mean that he was not afraid. On the contrary, David was quite afraid throughout Saul hunting him. But David did not turn his back on God. He did not give up. He may have been unsure at times, and when he was, he asked God for affirmation. When God affirmed what he said previously, David went ahead with what he knew he needed to do.
David gives life to the idea of bravery. Bravery is not the absence of fear, but is the presence of right action despite fear. In David’s case, we can attribute his success in this chapter to a third, all-important factor: dependence on Almighty God. Bravery is good and is needed in a risk/reward scenario, but bravery coupled with guidance from your creator increases your chances of success exponentially.
Monday Night Bible Study 