1 Samuel 23:1

DAVID'S EXPERIENCES AT KEILAH AND AT ZIPH

This and the following chapters of First Samuel relate a number of David's experiences during that long period in which he was an outlaw and a fugitive, always fleeing from one place to another, ever striving to avoid the constant efforts of King Saul to bring about his death.

DAVID RESCUES KEILAH FROM THE PHILISTINES

"Now they told David, "Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors." Therefore, David inquired of the Lord, "Shall I go and attack these Philistines"? And the Lord said to David, "Go and attack the Philistines and save Keilah." But David's men said to him, "We are afraid here in Judah; how much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines"? Then David inquired of the Lord again, and the Lord answered him, "Arise, go down to Keilah; for I will give the Philistines into your hand." And David and his men went to Keilah, and fought with the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter among them. So David delivered the inhabitants of Keilah."

Keilah was located near the Philistine border. "It was a fortified city allotted to Judah (Joshua 15:44). It was mentioned in the Tel el-Amarna letters as Qilti and identified with Khirbet Qila, located eight miles northwest of Hebron overlooking the Elah Valley road to Hebron. In the times of Nehemiah, the city was reoccupied by the Israelites returning from the captivity in Babylon (Nehemiah 3:17-18)."[1]

At the time of this episode, the citizens of Keilah were harvesting their grain crops, which afforded the principal means of their livelihood. It seldom rained in the summer; and the threshing floors were loaded with the grain being threshed out by the people. The Philistines, desiring to keep Israel in subjection by starvation, came up to rob the people of their grain, even bringing along their oxen and asses for the purpose of carrying away the loot. "In the East, even today, the principal source of food supply remains - bread."[2]

The mention of "their cattle" (1 Samuel 23:5) is supposed by some scholars to mean that the Philistine raiding party had also brought with them flocks of goats and sheep which they had probably robbed from others. In any case, it must indeed have been a tremendous shock to them when David suddenly fell upon them, slaughtered a great many of them and took charge of all they left behind. "And they told David, "Behold the Philistines are fighting against Keilah" (1 Samuel 23:1). Nothing is said here about who told David this news, but it seems to have been the leaders of Keilah, hoping for assistance from David and his men.

"David inquired of the Lord" (1 Samuel 23:1). We are not told how David did this, but 1 Samuel 23:6-14, below, explains that Abiathar had joined David's forces, bringing the ephod with him.

"Arise, go down to Keilah" (1 Samuel 23:4). "The Judean hills, where David and his men were hiding, were at a higher elevation than Keilah."[3]