{"id":7828,"date":"2022-09-24T02:17:41","date_gmt":"2022-09-24T07:17:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-1-samuel-236-2\/"},"modified":"2022-09-24T02:17:41","modified_gmt":"2022-09-24T07:17:41","slug":"exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-1-samuel-236-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-1-samuel-236-2\/","title":{"rendered":"Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 23:6"},"content":{"rendered":"<h3 align='center'><b><i> And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an ephod in his hand. <\/i><\/b><\/h3>\n<p> <strong> 6<\/strong>. <em> fled to David to Keilah<\/em> ] Since ( <em> a<\/em>) it is implied by <span class='bible'>1Sa 22:20<\/span> that Abiathar joined David before the expedition to Keilah: and ( <em> b<\/em>) the inquiry in <span class='bible'><em> 1Sa 23:2<\/em><\/span> <em> ; <span class='bible'><em> 1Sa 23:4<\/em><\/span><\/em> implies the presence of the high-priest with the Ephod: it seems best either to strike out &ldquo;to Keilah,&rdquo; or to follow the Sept. in reading, &ldquo;And it came to pass when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David, that he went down with David to Keilah with the Ephod in his hand.&rdquo; This note is inserted here to explain how David could inquire of God both in Judah and at Keilah.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> Verse <span class='bible'>6<\/span>. <I><B>Came down<\/B><\/I><B> with <\/B><I><B>an ephod.<\/B><\/I>] I think this verse should come immediately after <span class='bible'>1Sa 23:1<\/span>.<\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Adam Clarke&#8217;s Commentary and Critical Notes on the Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P> Or, with <I>the ephod<\/I>, to wit, the high priests ephod, in which were the Urim and Thummim, <span class='bible'>Exo 28:30<\/span>, which when Ahimelech and the rest of the priests went to Saul, were probably left in his hand, and to his care; which gave him the opportunity both of escaping, whilst Doeg the butcher was killing his brethren, and of bringing away the ephod, which Saul had oft grossly neglected, and now was justly deprived of it. <\/P> <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: English Annotations on the Holy Bible by Matthew Poole<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><P><B>6. an ephod<\/B>in which was theUrim and Thummim (<span class='bible'>Ex 28:30<\/span>). Ithad, probably, been committed to his care, while Ahimelech and theother priests repaired to Gibeah, in obedience to the summons ofSaul. <\/P><P>     <span class='bible'>1Sa23:7-13<\/span>. SAUL&#8217;SCOMING, AND TREACHERYOF THE KEILITES.<\/P><\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Jamieson, Fausset and Brown&#8217;s Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible <\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><strong>And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah<\/strong>,&#8230;. Either when he was there, or near the place:<\/p>\n<p><strong>[that] he came down with an ephod in his hand<\/strong>; not with a linen ephod on his back, which the priests in common wore, but the ephod with the Urim and Thummim in his hand, which was peculiar to the high priest; and his father the high priest being dead, it belonged to him, and therefore he took care to bring it with him; though the words may be literally rendered, &#8220;the ephod came down in his hand&#8221; k, as it were by chance, and not with design; and so some Jewish interpreters l understand it, that in his fright and flight, among his garments and other things he took hold of to carry with him, and not minding well what he took, this happened to be, being so ordered by the providence of God; though the Targum renders it,<\/p>\n<p> &#8220;the ephod he made to descend in his hand,&#8221;<\/p>\n<p> or brought it in his hand; and so Kimchi and Abarbinel observe it may be interpreted, though they seem to incline to the other sense.<\/p>\n<p>k    &#8220;ephod descendit in manu sua&#8221;, Pagninus, Montanus; &#8220;ephod descendebat in manu sua&#8221;, Munsterus; so Tigurine version and Piscator. l Kimchi &amp; Ben Melech.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Gill&#8217;s Exposition of the Entire Bible<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>(6) <strong>With an ephod in his hand.<\/strong>The difficulty-here with the version and commentators is that they failed to understand that enquiry of the Lord could be made in any other mode than through the Urim. (See Note above on <span class='bible'>1Sa. 23:2<\/span>.) Saul in happier days, we know, enquired and received replies <em>through prophets, <\/em>for before he had recourse to forbidden arts we read how, in contrast evidently to other and earlier times, the Lord answered him not, neither by dreams, nor by Urim, <em>nor by prophets <\/em>(<span class='bible'>1Sa. 28:6<\/span>). The LXX. here must have deliberately altered the Hebrew text, with the view of escaping what seemed to these translators a grave difficulty. They render. And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David, that he came down with David to Keilah, having an ephod in his hand, thus implying that Abiathar had come down <em>with David <\/em>to Keilah, having joined him previously. The Hebrew text is, however, definite and clear, and tells us that Abiathar first joined David when he was at Keilah. But the difficulty which puzzled the LXX. and so many others vanishes when we remember that the enquiry of the Lord was not unfrequently made through the prophet; and this was evidently done by David through Gad, a famous representative of that order, in the case of the enquiry referred to in <span class='bible'>1Sa. 23:2<\/span>; <span class='bible'>1Sa. 23:4<\/span> of this chapter.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Ellicott&#8217;s Commentary for English Readers (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <strong> 6<\/strong>. <strong> <\/strong> <strong> When Abiathar fled to David to Keilah <\/strong> This does not refer to the time when Abiathar first fled to David from Nob, but to a subsequent flight from the wilderness of Judah to Keilah, after David and his men had taken possession of that city. This verse is not out of its proper place, as Houbigant supposes, but is inserted here to prepare the reader for what immediately follows. When David went forth to defend the inhabitants of Keilah, Abiathar remained in the wilderness until he heard that Saul was making preparations to besiege David and his men at Keilah; then he hastened down thither with the ephod in his hand. By means of this ephod David received communications from Jehovah which enabled him to make a timely escape from Keilah.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Whedon&#8217;s Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> <strong> Saul Learns That David And His Men Are Gathered In Keilah And Summons The Tribes So As To Capture Him (<span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:6-13<\/strong><\/span><\/strong> <strong> ). <\/p>\n<p><\/strong><\/p>\n<p> When news reached Saul that David and his men had delivered Keilah from the hands of the Philistines his first thought was not of rejoicing at the deliverance of Keilah (which should have been his responsibility), but of the fact that it might give him an opportunity to capture David. However, his fear of David was so great that he determined that he must do so with a large force, so that there was no danger of David escaping. Thus he put out the summons to all the tribes (&lsquo;all the people&rsquo;) in accordance with their treaty obligations. Had he moved with his standing army he might well have been in time to encounter David before he left Keilah, but he might well also have recognised that with David&rsquo;s skills in warfare the result might be far from certain. He dared not take the risk of attacking David and then being defeated. And he knew only too well what a skilful general David was. <\/p>\n<p> At first reading it may appear as if the inhabitants of Keilah were blameworthy. However, we must not be too hard on them. It should be noted that their leaders (&lsquo;lords&rsquo;) did not actually determine to hand over David. It was only that David learned that that was what they finally would have done, had they been put to the test. And we should recognise that they were in an impossible position. If Saul arrived with all the armies of Israel and besieged the city, demanding for David and his men to be handed over, they would have been in the parlous position of either having to do so, thus betraying David but saving their city from the fate of Nob, or of fighting their own countrymen and being branded as traitors, or even, if Judah sided with them and David (compare the Benjaminites in <span class='bible'>Judges 20<\/span>), of being responsible for the commencement of a civil war. Thus they really would have faced a hard choice (assuming of course that David and his men allowed them that choice). Fortunately for them they were saved from having to make that choice by David removing himself and his men from their midst. In fact David remaining there would have been good for no one, least of all for him. <\/p>\n<p> So we should recognise that no one in fact decided to hand David over. It was simply that YHWH knew what they would feel forced to do if the crunch came. We must face the fact that if everyone was blamed for what they would do if the temptation came none of us would stand. <\/p>\n<p><strong> Analysis. <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'> a <\/strong> And it came about that when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with the ephod in his hand (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:6<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> b <\/strong> And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, &ldquo;God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars&rdquo; (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:7<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> c <\/strong> And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:8<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> d <\/strong> And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, &ldquo;Bring the ephod here&rdquo;. (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:9<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> c <\/strong> Then David said, &ldquo;O YHWH, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O YHWH, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant.&rdquo; And YHWH said, &ldquo;He will come down&rdquo; (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:10-11<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> b <\/strong> Then David said, &ldquo;Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul?&rdquo; And YHWH said, &ldquo;They will deliver you up&rdquo; (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:12<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:3.6em'><strong> a <\/strong> Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbore going forth (<span class='bible'>1Sa 23:13<\/span>). <\/p>\n<p> Note that in &lsquo;a&rsquo; Abiathar came down to David to Keilah, and in the parallel David and his men leave Keilah. In &lsquo;b&rsquo; Saul hears that David is in Keilah and thinks that God has delivered him into his hands while in the parallel David knows this and wants to know if the people of Keilah will deliver him into his hands (and receives the answer &lsquo;yes&rsquo;). In &lsquo;c&rsquo; Saul calls out the tribes in order to go against David, and in the parallel David wants to know if Saul will come down, and learns that the answer is &lsquo;yes&rsquo;. Central in &lsquo;d&rsquo; is David&rsquo;s appeal to YHWH. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:6<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> And it came about that when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, he came down with the ephod in his hand.&rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> This note is put in with a view to explaining how David was now able to enquire of YHWH. It was because when Abiathar came, escaping the massacre of the priests, he brought with him the ephod, the special vestment of the High Priest which contained the Urim and Thummim in the breast pouch. These latter probably worked by their being tossed down, with the decision being dependent on how they fell. <\/p>\n<p> The direction &lsquo;to Keilah&rsquo; suggests that David and his men had at the time when Abiathar arrived, been hiding and operating in the local area. This would explain both why they received the news about the attack on the city of Keilah so quickly and why they were able to tackle the problem with such alacrity. <\/p>\n<p> Alternately the brevity of &lsquo;to David to Keilah&rsquo; can be seen as indicating that Abiathar came to David and then they both went to Keilah. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:7<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> And it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah. And Saul said, &ldquo;God has delivered him into my hand, for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars.&rdquo; &rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> When Saul learned that David had entered the city of Keilah, and had remained there, he was delighted. The news may have reached him through his spies, or it may have been because what most saw as glad tidings was being passed around without any thought of harming David. But to the blinkered Saul it indicated only one thing. With any luck he could have David trapped within the gates of Keilah. Of course he expressed it very piously. Literally &ldquo;God has rejected him (treated him as profane) into my hand, for he is shut in, by entering into a town that has gates and bars.&rdquo; He felt that YHWH had at last by this means rejected David. There was no need now to look for him in places where he could fade away, or even cause endless trouble by guerilla fighting. All he could hope was that he would stay there long enough for Saul to gather sufficient men to be able to surround the town and capture him. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:8<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> And Saul summoned all the people to war, to go down to Keilah, to besiege David and his men.&rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> But that was the problem, the number of men he would need. The summoning of &lsquo;all the people&rsquo; suggests a general levy of the tribes. So Saul was taking no risks, because he knew what he was up against. It is doubtful whether in making the levy he genuinely explained why he was doing it. Many probably thought that the Philistines were attacking again. But Saul&rsquo;s purpose was simply to go and besiege Keilah and trap David. And he was prepared to call the levy, seemingly at the time of harvest, in order to do it. Such was the penalty to Israel of having a king. <\/p>\n<p> Of course the one problem with the general levy was that word inevitably got around, and the gathering of the army would take some days. But as far as Saul was concerned there was no alternative, for there was no way in which he was going to risk meeting a David, trapped with four to six hundred desperate fighting men at his call, unless he had overwhelming force. They had after all proved their calibre against the Philistines. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:9<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> And David knew that Saul was devising mischief against him, and he said to Abiathar the priest, &ldquo;Bring the ephod here.&rdquo; &rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> Inevitably the news reached Keilah about Saul&rsquo;s plans so that David was alerted to them and realised that Saul was planning mischief. So he immediately called on Abiathar to bring the ephod to him. In fact had he actually thought about it he would have realised that there was nothing to be gained by staying, but both he and his men were probably enjoying their current popularity. It was a change from hiding in the forest, and sleeping in caves. It may indeed have been with the purpose of persuading his men that it was time that they were on the move that he again consulted the ephod. But it may equally well have been because he could not really believe that Saul was going to this great trouble just to capture him. Right up to the end David never really understood what Saul&rsquo;s problem with him was. He did not realise the light in which Saul saw him. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:10<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> Then David said, &ldquo;O YHWH, the God of Israel, your servant has surely heard that Saul seeks to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his hand? Will Saul come down, as your servant has heard? O YHWH, the God of Israel, I beseech you, tell your servant.&rdquo; And YHWH said, &ldquo;He will come down.&rdquo; &rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> So David did what was so typical of him. Far from being &lsquo;treated as profane&rsquo; by YHWH he got down to genuine praying, and in doing so he was bursting with questions, which poured out from him. But the ephod was not designed for dealing with multiple questions which is why only one was answered at a time. Firstly David wanted to know what the leaders of Keilah do if Saul came and besieged the city. Would they hand them over to Saul? But even before that. Was Saul coming at all? As the last was the most urgent question it was answered first. Yes, Saul was coming. <\/p>\n<p> We can understand why David was a little perplexed at the thought that Saul would destroy Keilah just to capture him. After all Keilah was an Israelite city (of the tribe of Judah) for which Saul had responsibility. But the news that had reached him would have included the fact that Saul had called up the levy. So that raised the question of what Saul&rsquo;s aims really were. Would he really have called up the levy just in order to take David? And the answer was &lsquo;yes&rsquo;. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:12<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> Then David said, &ldquo;Will the men of Keilah deliver up me and my men into the hand of Saul?&rdquo; And YHWH said, &ldquo;They will deliver you up.&rdquo; &rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> The question then was as to whether the &lsquo;leading men&rsquo; (the baalim &#8211; lords) of Keilah would hand them over to Saul. And the reply was, &lsquo;yes, they would deliver them up&rsquo;. We have only to think about it to realise that they would have had little alternative. They were in an impossible position. They were certainly grateful to David, but not to have handed him over would have been treason, and with the host of Israel surrounding them they would have had no hope of holding out for long, with the certainty of death and destruction following. Better to be in the hands of the Philistines than in the hands of a vengeful Saul. Nor would they have wanted to fight their fellow-countrymen. And besides, they would not want to start a civil war between Israel and Judah, and that was what might have been involved. It is doubtful if Judah would have just sat by and watch one of their own towns being besieged by Saul. It would have been a question of tribal loyalty. So the position was impossible. (We should, however, note that they never had to make this decision. Nor in the event did they even have to think about what they would do if Saul came. It was YHWH Who knew what they would in the end do out of concern for their town, and once David was aware of that he saved the leading men from having to face up to an impossible situation. The emphasis is thus on David&rsquo;s concern for them, not on their duplicity. <\/p>\n<p> On the other hand the fact that the question about Keilah handing him over is asked twice in the narrative points to an indication of the horror that the thought would raise in the minds of readers and hearers as the story was read out at the feasts. We should remember that what are regularly called &lsquo;duplications&rsquo; by some are often simply a way of ensuring that the audience gets the message. They are equally found in the writings of other nations. As the audience heard the words, and then heard them repeated, their hearts would say &lsquo;surely not&rsquo;, but their heads would say &lsquo;yes&rsquo;. It raised the whole question of tribal honour, and each would ask himself what he would have done. However, the aim behind it was probably in order to emphasise the straightness of all David&rsquo;s dealings in that first he saved them from having to make that decision, and secondly in that all would know what David would have done in such a circumstance (or at least they would all think that they knew). <\/p>\n<p> But as we think more deeply about this whole situation we are also made aware of how despotic Saul had become. How otherwise would he have dared to call the levy, and have risked war between Israel and Judah, simply over a personal grievance and because of his own ambitions? The truth was that David and his small band of outlaws who caused no trouble to anyone (except the Philistines) did not really warrant it. It is thus being made quite clear that his mind had become unhinged as a result of his intense hatred of David. Israel really were learning what &lsquo;having a king like the nations&rsquo; really meant. <\/p>\n<p> <span class='bible'><strong> 1Sa 23:13<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n<p style='margin-left:1.8em'><strong> &lsquo;<\/strong> Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went wherever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah, and he forbore going forth.&rsquo; <\/p>\n<p> The result was that David and his men reluctantly left Keilah with all its love and friendliness overflowing towards them and went back to hiding in the forests, wherever they could find safety. And once Saul learned that David had left Keilah and had &lsquo;disappeared&rsquo;, no one knew where, he simply stayed where he was. There was now no point in going to Keilah. (How he explained having made the levy we do not know). But we note one further point of significance. David&rsquo;s private army was growing. It now had six effective units. It was becoming a formidable fighting force. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Commentary Series on the Bible by Peter Pett<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> (6) And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p> It was no inconsiderable token this neither of the same favour, in that the priest brought with him the ephod into the wilderness: for, as David was cut off from the house of the Lord, it was pleasing, and especially in those days, to have the symbols of his worship. The Urim and the Thummim were in the ephod: and David, no doubt, considered them as lights and perfections to instruct him. But, Reader, do not overlook our superior privileges. We need no more the Urim, nor the Thummim, the ephod, nor the altar, In Christ we have all: he is the sum and substance, of which those symbols were the shadow and figure. Oh! precious Jesus! be thou my High Priest, my Ephod, my Urim and Thummim, both Altar and Sacrifice. On thee would I offer up all my poor offerings; and from thee receive all I need.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Hawker&#8217;s Poor Man&#8217;s Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p> 1Sa 23:6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an ephod in his hand.<\/p>\n<p> Ver. 6. <strong> With an ephod in his hand.<\/strong> ] 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&rsquo;s ephod, that had the Urim and Thummim in it, by chance rather than choice. <em> a<\/em> 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, 1Sa 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. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p><em> a<\/em> <em> Forte fortuna et non dedita opera secum detulerat ephod, et posuerat inter sarcinas suas<\/em> &#8211; <em> Vatab.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: John Trapp&#8217;s Complete Commentary (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>fled. Compare 1Sa 22:20. This verse is the Figure of speech Hysteresis. App-6. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Companion Bible Notes, Appendices and Graphics<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>when Abiathar: 1Sa 22:20 <\/p>\n<p>an ephod: 1Sa 14:3, 1Sa 14:18, 1Sa 14:36, 1Sa 14:37, Exo 28:30, Exo 28:31 <\/p>\n<p>Reciprocal: Exo 28:4 &#8211; ephod Jdg 17:5 &#8211; ephod 1Sa 23:2 &#8211; inquired 1Sa 23:9 &#8211; Bring 1Ki 2:26 &#8211; barest Hos 3:4 &#8211; ephod Mar 2:26 &#8211; Abiathar<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: The Treasury of Scripture Knowledge<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>1Sa 23:6. He came down with an ephod  Rather, with the ephod, namely, the high-priests ephod, wherein were the Urim and Thummim. For Abiathar, being left, it is probable, to keep the sanctuary, while his father Ahimelech and the rest of the priests went to wait upon Saul, as soon as he heard of their slaughter he took this principal vestment of the high-priest, and carried it to David. Thus God, in the course of his providence, gave him an opportunity, while Doeg, the butcher, was killing his brethren, both of escaping himself and of bringing to David the ephod, of which now Saul was justly deprived. <\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Joseph Bensons Commentary on the Old and New Testaments<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p>23:6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an {c} ephod in his hand.<\/p>\n<p>(c) By God&#8217;s providence the ephod was preserved and kept with David the true king.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Geneva Bible Notes<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight:bold\">David&rsquo;s escape from Keilah 23:6-14<\/span><\/p>\n<p>Abiathar had evidently remained in the forest of Hereth when David took his men to attack the Philistines in Keilah (cf. 1Sa 22:20-23). Now the priest joined David at Keilah (1Sa 23:6). The presence of the ephod made it possible for David to continue to obtain guidance from the Lord in answer to his prayers.<\/p>\n<p>Saul piously claimed that God had delivered David into his hands (1Sa 23:7). Obviously God had not done this since David was the Lord&rsquo;s anointed king-elect. God did not want Saul to hunt him down, much less kill him. Keilah evidently had only one gate by which people could enter and exit the town. Saul felt confident that he could control the gate and so trap David.<\/p>\n<p>Saul summoned soldiers to accompany him to Keilah (1Sa 23:7), but there is no mention that he prayed for divine guidance as David had done (1Sa 23:2; 1Sa 23:4). David prayed again and requested answers to two questions (1Sa 23:10-11). He opened and closed his prayer with an appeal to the &quot;LORD God of Israel,&quot; the ultimate ruler of His people. He also described himself as the Lord&rsquo;s &quot;servant&quot; twice. David voiced concern for his men (1Sa 23:12) as well as for himself (1Sa 23:11). God gave the answer to David&rsquo;s second question first, and then He answered his first question.<\/p>\n<p>The willingness of the people of Keilah to hand their savior over to Saul demonstrates base ingratitude for David&rsquo;s deliverance of them. It also reveals how fearful they were of Saul who had recently destroyed another town, Nob, for harboring David (1Sa 22:19).<\/p>\n<p>David left Keilah after he learned that he would be vulnerable if he stayed there (1Sa 23:13). He did not take revenge on the citizens of Keilah for telling Saul where he was. Saul had taken revenge on the citizens of Nob for not telling him where David was. The number of David&rsquo;s supporters had grown from 400 (1Sa 22:2) to 600. More people were siding with David and were turning from Saul. Saul abandoned his plans to attack Keilah, and David moved on to the wilderness near Ziph.<\/p>\n<h4 align='right'><i><b>Fuente: Expository Notes of Dr. Constable (Old and New Testaments)<\/b><\/i><\/h4>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, [that] he came down [with] an ephod in his hand. 6. fled to David to Keilah ] Since ( a) it is implied by 1Sa 22:20 that Abiathar joined David before the expedition to Keilah: and ( b) the &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/exegetical-and-hermeneutical-commentary-of-1-samuel-236-2\/\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Exegetical and Hermeneutical Commentary of 1 Samuel 23:6&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7828","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-commentary"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7828"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7828\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7828"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7828"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.biblia.work\/bible-commentary\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7828"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}