1 Samuel 23
David delivers Keilah from the Philistines. Saul pursues him through the wilderness. Jonathan finds him to strengthen his hand.
Summary
Chapter 23 compresses several separate crises into a picture of David's life as an outlaw. He hears that the Philistines are attacking the threshing floors of Keilah and consults the Lord via the ephod — Abiathar, who escaped from Nob, has brought it with him. The Lord tells him to go and save Keilah. His men are reluctant: we are afraid here in Judah; how much more if we go to Keilah against the Philistine armies? David consults again and receives the same answer. They go. They attack, drive off the livestock, and inflict a great slaughter on the Philistines. David saves Keilah. Saul hears and sees an opportunity: David is in a walled city with gates and bars — the city can be laid under siege.
David consults the ephod about whether Keilah will surrender him to Saul. The answer is yes. He and his men — now six hundred — leave and go through the wilderness of Ziph. Saul searches for him daily but God does not give David into his hand. In the wilderness of Ziph, Jonathan comes to David — the last time the two friends meet in the narrative. He comes to strengthen his hand in God and speaks the clearest statement of their covenant: do not be afraid, the hand of my father shall not find you, you shall be king over Israel and I shall be next to you. They make their covenant before the Lord. Jonathan goes home. The chapter ends with Saul nearly surrounding David in the wilderness of Maon — he is on one side of the mountain, David on the other — when a messenger arrives reporting a Philistine raid. Saul abandons the chase. David goes to Engedi.
- 1 Samuel 1Chapter 1 opens at the sanctuary at Shiloh, where Elkanah of Ephraim brings his household each year to worship.
- 1 Samuel 2Chapter 2 opens with the Song of Hannah, one of the most influential poems in the Hebrew Bible — my heart exults in the Lord, the mighty brought low, the hungry fed, the barren bearing seven.
- 1 Samuel 3Chapter 3 is one of the most carefully paced call narratives in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 4Chapter 4 is the disaster that the previous chapters have been building toward.
- 1 Samuel 5Chapter 5 is the ark narrative in Philistine territory, told with something close to sardonic comedy.
- 1 Samuel 6Chapter 6 is the ark's return to Israel, engineered by Philistine priests who want to know whether their afflictions are the Lord's doing or mere coincidence.
- 1 Samuel 7Chapter 7 is the closing movement of the Samuel-as-judge arc.
- 1 Samuel 8Chapter 8 is the pivot of the entire book.
- 1 Samuel 9Chapter 9 introduces Saul, and the introduction is built on irony.
- 1 Samuel 10Chapter 10 is Saul's anointing and public selection.
- 1 Samuel 11Chapter 11 is Saul's first military action and the only chapter of his reign where he functions without any reservation or failure.
- 1 Samuel 12Chapter 12 is Samuel's formal farewell as Israel's judge, a speech that occupies the whole chapter.
- 1 Samuel 13Chapter 13 begins the decline.
- 1 Samuel 14Chapter 14 is a chapter of action and its costs.
- 1 Samuel 15Chapter 15 is the final disqualification.
- 1 Samuel 16Chapter 16 is the introduction of David and one of the most carefully constructed scenes of divine election in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 17Chapter 17 is the book's most famous chapter.
- 1 Samuel 18Chapter 18 is where the book's two great relationships crystallize.
- 1 Samuel 19Chapter 19 is the escalation from hostility to overt murderous intent.
- 1 Samuel 20Chapter 20 is the central scene of the David-Jonathan friendship and one of the great parting scenes in ancient literature.
- 1 Samuel 21Chapter 21 is a chapter of disguise and desperation.
- 1 Samuel 22Chapter 22 is one of the darkest chapters in the book.
- 1 Samuel 23Chapter 23 is a chapter of pursuit and one extraordinary meeting.
- 1 Samuel 24Chapter 24 is the first of two episodes in which David has Saul's life in his hands and refuses to take it.
- 1 Samuel 25Chapter 25 opens with Samuel's death — mourned by all Israel — and then turns to a story of David's near loss of self-control and the woman who stops it.
- 1 Samuel 26Chapter 26 is the second episode in which David refuses to kill Saul and, like chapter 24, it is structured to make the refusal as emphatic as possible.
- 1 Samuel 27Chapter 27 is the chapter of David's double game among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 28Chapter 28 is one of the strangest and most debated passages in the Hebrew Bible.
- 1 Samuel 29Chapter 29 is the resolution of a problem the narrative has been building toward: David, marching with Achish and the Philistine forces to fight against Israel.
- 1 Samuel 30Chapter 30 is the crisis of David's time among the Philistines.
- 1 Samuel 31Chapter 31 is the last chapter of 1 Samuel and the end of Saul's story.