1 Samuel 23:19-23

David’s escape from the wilderness of Ziph 23:19-23

Again the writer directed our attention back to Saul. Psalms 54 tells us what David was thinking and praying during this experience. He trusted in God.

Evidently the Ziphites thought that they would be better off if they informed Saul of David’s presence in their area than if the king discovered that he was there. He might have blamed them for sheltering David and taken revenge on them as he had on the people of Nob.

Again Saul spoke piously (cf. 1 Samuel 23:7) and praised the Ziphites for having compassion on him. Really it was David who was in need of compassion from these people, but he found none. Saul proceeded to seek human help in finding David from his allies ("go," "make more sure," "investigate," "see," "look," "learn;" 1 Samuel 23:22-23). However there is no mention of his seeking divine help in prayer (cf. 1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Samuel 23:4; 1 Samuel 23:11-12). He attributed cunning to David, but Saul was really the cunning hunter in this story. Herod the Great was another cunning ruler, who also was not worthy to be king, who tried to execute the Lord’s anointed, Jesus Christ (cf. Matthew 2:1-12). Saul was projecting his own deceitful behavior onto David. Whereas God promised to go with David and deliver the Philistines into his hands (1 Samuel 23:2; 1 Samuel 23:4), Saul promised to go with the Ziphites to destroy David among the Judahites (1 Samuel 23:23).