I Samuel Chapter 23
Please read: I Samuel 23 –
Someone sent word to David that the Philistines were attacking Israelites at Keilah and stealing from their threshing floors. It’s interesting that they sent word to David and not to their king. This is more evidence that God was preparing David to be a great leader while Saul was not the leader that the people needed. The first thing that David did was take the situation to God in prayer. David wanted to rescue these people, but he also knew that he needed God’s help. The men who were with David did not like this idea. They were scared as it was since the king was hunting David’s life and now David is suggesting that this small band of down and out men assist him in fighting the Philistines.
God called David a man after God’s own heart. We will read many examples in scripture when David prayed for wisdom and for divine help in his life. His reliance on God made him a great leader and a great future king of Israel.
Let's Reflect
1. What did David do when his men tried to counsel him against going to rescue Keilah?
2. Note we do not read that David and his men had victory over the Philistines. We can only assume that because God told him to go that they were victorious. And we can also assume it because they were able to escape from there when they got word that Saul was coming to attack them. David asked God for wisdom in this precarious position once again. What did he ask of God concerning the people of Keilah?
3. David and his 600 men left to go and hide somewhere else. Saul heard that they left that town which he felt would have been the perfect spot to trap David. What did Saul then do?
4. Verse 14 tells us that David and his men went to the wilderness and hill country of Ziph. Ziph was a small city at the southern tip of the Dead Sea. This place would have been a good stronghold (a place that offered some defense because of the land and hills), but it would not last for long. David’s best friend Jonathan came out to the wilderness and met up with David. He strengthened David in the Lord, and he said what about David’s future kingdom?
5. But there were some “rats” among the people of Ziph. They told Saul that David was hiding in their hills. What did Saul say about their message to him?
6. Saul didn’t want to waste time just chasing David in the wilderness, so what did he do?
7. When Saul and his men came after David, they had hidden behind a huge mountain made of rock. How close did David and his men come to being attacked by Saul’s army?
8. Saul got called away on a mission. “Mysteriously” he had to go and fight the real enemies of Israel. According to verse 28 what did David call the place where God had helped him escape?
