Ver. 1. Then they told David.] The men of Keilah in the land of Judah seek help of David their countryman; but having served themselves of him, they soon proved false hearted to him, and would have made him an ill requital. (1 Samuel 23:12) In trust I have found treason, said Queen Elizabeth. And they rob the threshingfloors.] Vatablus hath it, Horrea, the barns. Horreum ab hauriendo, barns and threshingfloors were without the city, as Judges 6:11, but necessary appendages to it. Camden.
Ver. 2. Therefore David inquired of the Lord.] By his prophet Gad, say most interpreters; for Abiathar was not yet come unto him, (1 Samuel 23:6) and that which is read of him in 1 Samuel 22:20 is spoken by way of anticipation. War is to be made by wise counsel, saith Solomon, (Proverbs 24:6) and, long after him, Salust, a heathen historian: surely it is fit that God be consulted—viz., by prayer and searching the Scriptures—ere war be waged; since it is matter of so great weight, and the issue thereof so uncertain. Herein Josiah was too short, and died for it.
Ver. 3. And David’s men said unto him.] See a like discouraging speech of the disciples to our Saviour, (John 11:8) and his resolute answer. (1 Samuel 23:9,10) God may be safely and must be faithfully followed, whithersoever he leads us: neither must we stand casting of perils.
Ver. 4. Then David enquired of the Lord yet again,] viz., For the confirmation and encouragement of his soldiers, whose rule should have been Nec temere, nec timide, Neither rashly nor timorously. For I will deliver.] Heb., I am delivering; illico traditurus, sc., before that Saul can set upon thee.
Ver. 5. And brought away their cattle.] Which either they found about their camp, or fetched out of their country. So David saved the inhabitants of Keilah.] And therefore deserved a corona civica of them, but met with ill measure. (1 Samuel 23:12)
Ver. 6. With an ephod in his hand.] Or, The ephod came into his hand; whence some think, that in catching up his clothes, in making up his pack to be packing, he lighted upon the high priest’s ephod, that had the Urim and Thummim in it, by chance rather than choice. But it was surely a sweet providence of God, for the comfort of his poor servant David. Hence God answered not Saul by Urim and Thummim, (1 Samuel 28:6) for it was now with David, not with Saul. This ephod thus brought was more, saith one, than if many thousand soldiers had come to David. Forte fortuna et non dedita opera secum detulerat ephod, et posuerat inter sarcinas suas -Vatab.
Ver. 7. God hath delivered him into mine hands.] Thus this “hypocrite flattereth himself in his own eyes, until his iniquity be found to be hateful,” (Psalms 36:2) and although he standeth in a posture of distance and defiance against God, yet he talketh very confidently of him, as if on his side. So did Rabshakeh, and the Pharisees: and so do the Popish persecutors, beginning their processes against the martyrs with, “In the name of God, Amen,” and taking for their posy these words of the psalmist, “Our help is in the name of the Lord.” “Thou art near in their mouth,” saith the prophet concerning such, “but far from their reins.” (Jeremiah 12:2) They are right blackamoors, white nowhere but in the teeth.
Ver. 8. To besiege David and his men.] Rather than to pursue the Philistines. So the Pope publisheth his Croysados against the Protestants; holding them greater enemies than are the Turks: witness his wars against the Waldenses in France, and the Hussites in Germany.
Ver. 9. Secretly practised mischief.] Plotted and ploughed mischief: pretending to raise an army against the Philistines, but intending the same against David.
Ver. 10. O Lord God of Israel.] He runneth to the Rock of Ages for help in this distress, as was his constant course when hardly bestead. To destroy the city for my sake.] So in the holy war, as they called it, against the Waldenses in France, the Pope’s great army took one great populous city, and put to the sword sixty thousand: among whom were many of their own Catholics. Caesar Heistorbachensis, Hist., lib. v. cap. 21.
Ver. 11. And the Lord said, He will come down,] viz., Unless thou goest hence. God knoweth future contingents: and not only those that are absolute, but those also that are conditionate: he knows a man’s “thoughts afar off,” and ofttimes judgeth them accordingly. We used to destroy hemlock in the midst of winter, because we know what it will do if allowed to grow: so the Lord doth sometimes cut off people while young, out of the foresight of the evil they would do to his Church if let alone.
Ver. 12. Will the men of Keilah.] Here is a second inquiry. God loveth to be often sought unto by his praying people, (Luke 18:1) and therefore answereth them by degrees, that he may frequently hear from them. Thus the cloud emptieth not itself at a sudden burst, but dissolveth upon the earth drop after drop. They will deliver thee up.] Trust not to them; lest upon trial they prove treacherous, how well soever thou hast deserved of them. They look upon Nob so recently razed and harassed, and fear to fare accordingly.
Ver. 13. Which were about six hundred.] Not four hundred only, as Josephus here misreckoneth. Indeed, they were but four hundred, (1 Samuel 22:2) but now they are become more. Persecution doth not diminish, but increase the number of good people. The lily grows and spreads by the juice that floweth from itself: so the Church. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, saith Tertullian. And went whithersoever they could go.] But knew not well whither to go to be in safety. Luther, when excommunicated by the Pope, and proscribed by the Emperor, being asked by one where he would shelter himself, answered, Sub caelo; somewhere under the vault of heaven, where God shall please to cast me. Plin. Scultet., Annal., p. 28.
Ver. 14. In the wilderness of Ziph.] Which was the name of a city: so called, belike, from the plenty of pitch there. Zepheth signifieth pitch. (Exodus 2:3 Isaiah 34:9) And Saul sought him every day.] So desperately bent was he to destroy him: being herein like the scorpion, whereof Pliny saith that there is not one minute of time wherein it doth not put forth the sting desirous to do harm. Or rather like the devil, whose malice to mankind is incessant and unsatisfiable.
Ver. 15. And David saw.] By his scouts and intelligence, he well perceived his present danger.
Ver. 16. Jonathan Saul’s son arose.] Jonathan could tell where to find David, though Saul could not: there being messengers still passing between them as fast friends, solicitous of each other’s welfare. And strengthened his hand in God.] By imminding him of the promises, and assuring him of God’s powerful protection. This was true friendship. Lyra.
Ver. 17. And I shall be next unto thee.] In heaven he might be, but not on earth, because prevented by death; but otherwise they might have lived together in as great unity and unanimity as did lately Frederick and John, dukes of Saxony; who as they dwelt both in one and the same house, so their mutual love grew to the last, in utriusque periculis et gravissimis deliberationibus, saith mine author, dum omnia in rep. communicatis sententiis constituebant; so that they did nothing in the commonwealth without one another’s counsel and consent. Those that say, as some do, that Jonathan is next unto David in heaven, have as little assurance of it as those that tell us—but who told them?—that John Baptist, for his humility, (Matthew 3:11) hath the same place in heaven that Lucifer lost by his pride. Exner.
Ver. 18. And they two made a covenant.] This is the second time, for more assurance; or, as Lyra reckoneth, the third: (1.) In the house; (2.) (1 Samuel 18:3) In the field; (1 Samuel 20:5) (3.) Here in the wood. Let us oft renew and reinforce our covenants with God, that we may the better observe them: all will be found little enough.
Ver. 19. Then came up the Ziphites.] Who were of David’s own tribe, and of good Caleb’s stock, (1 Chronicles 2:42) but naught and degenerate, as was likewise the churl Nabal, who came of Caleb. (1 Samuel 25:3) Doth not David hide himself with us?] This treacherous dealing of theirs drew from David—as he never was without his cordial—that sweet fifty-fourth Psalm. [See Trapp on “Ps 54:1”]
Ver. 20. And our part shall be to deliver him.] Here is their proditio atque premissio dedendi Davidem. A company of Judases they showed themselves; and David turneth them over to God, that he may take an order with them. (Psalms 54:3,5)
Ver. 21. Blessed be ye of the Lord.] God was much in this hypocrite’s mouth, but far from his reins: (Jeremiah 12:3) he abuseth that majestic and tremendous name of his, to palliate his cruel purpose of killing David. See the like done by those impudent hypocrites in Isaiah 66:5. But this blessing pronounced by Saul upon the Ziphites was not worth a button to them: nay, it came doubtless as a curse into their bowels, (Psalms 109:18) whilst thereby they were heartened and hardened in their sin. For ye have compassion on me.] A flatterer is ευιους σφακτης, saith one; that is, a kind murderer: a cur-dog, saith another, that sucketh a man’s blood only with licking.
Ver. 22. Go, I pray you, prepare yet.] Saul maketh use of these traitors, which a Roman Fabricius would have scorned to have done. For it is told me.] Or, My heart telleth me so; (Psalms 36:1) or, He hath told me, viz., David, when I have asked him sometimes how he so easily overcame his enemies, hath told me that he used subtlety and policy.
Ver. 23. See therefore, and take knowledge of all the lurking places.] Oh that we could, with like care, find out and ferret out the sin that doth so easily beset us—our dilectum delictum delightfully sweet.
Ver. 24. And went to Ziph before Saul.] As his guides and forerunners, fearing him as the heathens did their Vejoves, lest he should serve them as he had lately done the city of Nob.
Ver. 25. He pursued after David.] Hunting him up and down as a partridge in the mountains this made him so tender, as we see he was. (1 Samuel 24:5)
Ver. 26. And David made haste.] After that he had first said in his haste, “All men”—prophets and all—“are liars.” (Psalms 116:11) Peter Martyr thinks David made that psalm, as also Psalms 31 Ps 99 Ps 54. about this time. Now it was that he was almost forsaken of his hopes; but God was seen in the mount.
Ver. 27. But there came a messenger, &c.] Here was Deus ex machina, God appearing as out of an engine: where human help failed, divine came in. God sent from heaven and saved his poor servant “from the reproach of him that would have swallowed him up, Selah.” (Psalms 57:3) So he took off Sennacherib; (2 Kings 19:8,9) and Julian, by the Parthian war; and Charles V from persecuting the Protestants, by the Turks breaking into Hungary; those dogs licked Lazarus’s sores. So one Justice Gilford, in Queen Mary’s days, going up the stairs to Mrs Roberts’s chamber, to compel her, willed she, nilled she, to go to Mass, was suddenly taken with his old disease the gout, and so tormented that he swore he would never trouble her anymore. Act, and Mon., 1880.
Ver. 28. They called that place Selahammahlekoth.] Petram partitionum, the rock of Diremptions or partitions; because Saul’s forces were forced to forego David’s when they had hemmed them in.
Ver. 29. Dwelt in strong holds at Engedi.] Which was the utmost border of the country, a very rocky and craggy place, And here it is thought he penned the fifty-seventh Psalm.