David has already begun to serve as ruler. He had a small army, and accepted food and support from the local population. Objectively, he appears to be a rebel warlord, a guerilla freedom fighter. Except, he uses his army to protect those in distress from invasion, and offers absolutely no threat to the established king.
1 Samuel 23:1-5 -- While living in forest of Chereth and usually basing himself from the cave at Adullam, David gets word of a Philistine raid on Keilah. While mostly ruins today, there are ancient terraces that were clearly used for growning grain. That the Philistines are robbing the threshing floor indicates we are again at harvest time. David has been on the run for the better part of a year. David inquires of the Lord whether he should deliver Keilah. The answer is yes, but his men are frankly fearful of adding to their enemies. David double checks with God and is assured yet more strongly that it's right to attack the Philistines. Not only did he rescue the wheat harvest, but captured all the livestock the Philistines had brought to feed their troops.
23:6-8 -- David would naturally have stayed in the city awhile. Having delivered them, it was customary that the city feed and house them awhile. It was all too likely the Philistines would come back. Saul eventually got word of David's location. Rather than being grateful that his people were spared from a Philistine raid, he felt he had David trapped and summoned troops. The city had a wall, with a single gate which they would have kept barred. If Saul could approach the city unobserved, David would not get his men out in time. Saul planned to lay seige to the city.
23:9-13 -- There was no shortage of messengers running for both sides; it's the nature of politics that various citizens in the countryside would support one or the other. David heard of the call-up, and inquired of God whether to stay and fight or flee. His question centered on just how grateful the city would be under such pressure. The Lord warned David they would capitulate and hand him over to Saul. By now the small army was 600 men. They left the city and scattered, becoming less of a target for Saul. The mobilization was called off.
23:14-18 -- If we draw a line east and west through Hebron, and another one north and south, we would find that the southeastern quadrant of our grid is wide open territory, with precious few towns. Recall that this region was given to Caleb's daughter Achsah (Judges 1:15), and was so dry as to warrant an additional gift of springs that were not geographically part of the grant. This area is also rocky limestone, shot through with caves, and would have had some dry forest cover in places. Saul kept sending patrols, but they never spotted David and his men. Nonetheless, Jonathan was able to find him this one last time. Jonathan encouraged David to be ready to rule soon, and asked that he be allowed to serve in David's court.
23:19-23 -- The City of Ziph is on the edge of this desolate area. Most likely David was demanding feudal tribute in exchange for protection. However, some would naturally see it as stealing and drawing unwanted attention. They sent a report that located David's camp in a natural fortress in the craggy forest area. Saul was very pleased, but not quite satisfied with the report. He sent the messengers back to obtain more details. Also, he wanted to muster an invasion force and have them in position, with a fresh report when they were near the target.
23:24-26 -- As his troops arrived, they were met with a report of a pinpoint location five miles (8km) south of Ziph, in Maon. As the expedition approached, David was warned, so he left the town and moved out into the hills, placing a particular landmark hill between himself and Saul. As Saul's troops bore down on David's little army, circling in from both sides, there would be no escape, as they were backed against a bluff. Even with fast climbing, some contact could not be avoided.
23:27-29 -- At the last possible moment, Saul received a report of Philistine invasion. Without having actually seen David's troops, he called off the pursuit and immediately turned north to deal with the invaders. From then on, the place was known as the Rock of Escape. David decided to move to a more remote location, down on the shore of the Dead Sea, En Gedi.
24:1-7 -- En Gedi sits in a wadi, on a shelf well above the Dead Sea, and was watered by a spring from above. The flow splashes down the steep drop in several waterfalls. The caves are numerous as ever. After successfully dispatching the Philistines, Saul was notified that David was in that area. Of the force with him, Saul selected 3000 to return to their original mission of chasing David. We note that virtually every cave in this area today has a stacked stone wall in front of it for use as a sheep pen, to keep out predators. Many of the caves were merely small chambers in the face of the rock. A few hid large a network of rooms behind the initial opening. Most would have been up a ways from any valleys.
The best road wound down through the wadi. As Saul was marching down this road, it passed several of these walled openings above him in one place. He decided to take a break. While subject to debate, it was most likely he simply wanted to relieve himself. He would have removed his robe and armor for this, leaving it near the entrance, and looked for a spot that had been used for the same purpose he had in mind. David, hiding unnoticed by Saul in the same cave, managed to steal close to the royal robe and cut off a section of the hem. He restrained his buddies from killing Saul in the cave, where it would have been easy.
24:8-15 -- As soon as Saul had redressed himself and climbed down from the entrance, David came out of the cave and stood behind the enclosure wall. Calling out to Saul, he made it clear that, had he wanted, Saul could have been easily killed. To prove it, he waved the section of robe in the wind. His remonstrance was in terms of God's judgment. Clearly Saul was in sin, and perhaps Jehovah would judge him for it, but David was certainly not going to play that role. "Let God punish you, but I will not touch you."
24:16-22 -- Saul was stung by guilt, to the point he wept. He agreed that David was indeed more righteous, and clearly was not his enemy. Further, it was obvious to all that David would soon be king, for he was not only more noble, but stood in God's favor. He asked the David not deal harshly with his household when it finally happened. David had no trouble swearing an oath before God to do this. Saul turned back to Gibeah, and David went back up into the caves. Clearly, though wracked with guilt, Saul had not repented. This was not over yet.
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Ed Hurst
22 May 2004
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