Why does David leave Ceila after saving it, and what ends Saul’s later close pursuit?

Atlas of Saints · Chapter summary

The Lord answers that Saul will come down and Ceila’s men will deliver David up, so David and about six hundred men leave. Later Saul surrounds them near Maon, but a messenger reports a Philistine invasion; Saul abandons the pursuit to meet the Philistines.

Chapter breakdown

David hears that the Philistines fight Ceila and rob its barns. He asks the Lord whether to go and strike them. The Lord tells him to go, strike them and save Ceila. His men say they are afraid already in Judea and ask how much more if they go against the Philistine bands. David consults again; the Lord tells him to rise and go because he will deliver the Philistines into David’s hand. David and his men fight them, bring away their cattle, make a great slaughter and save Ceila’s inhabitants. At the time Abiathar, son of Achimelech, flees to David at Ceila, he comes with an ephod. Challoner separately says an ephod or the ephod is the high priest’s vestment with the urim and thummim by which the Lord gave his oracle.

Saul hears David is in Ceila and says the Lord has delivered him into his hands: he is shut up in a city with gates and bars. Saul commands all the people to fight Ceila and besiege David and his men. Understanding Saul secretly prepares evil against him, David tells Abiathar the priest to bring the ephod. He tells the Lord God of Israel that he has heard Saul plans to come and destroy Ceila for his sake. He asks whether Ceila’s men will deliver him into Saul’s hands and whether Saul will come as reported, asking the Lord to tell his servant. The Lord answers that Saul will come down. David asks whether they will deliver him and his men into Saul’s hands; the Lord says they will deliver him up. David and about six hundred men leave and wander, uncertain where to stay. Saul hears David fled and escaped, and refrains from going out. The warning is given before departure; the chapter does not narrate Ceila actually handing David over.

David stays in desert strongholds and on a mountain in Ziph’s desert, a woody hill. Saul continually seeks him, but the Lord does not deliver him into Saul’s hands. David sees Saul has come to seek his life while he is in Ziph’s wood. Jonathan, Saul’s son, comes there and strengthens David’s hands in God. He tells him not to fear: his father’s hand will not find him, David will reign over Israel, Jonathan will be next to him, and Saul knows this. These are Jonathan’s words. They make a covenant before the Lord. David remains in the wood and Jonathan goes home.

The Ziphites go to Saul in Gabaa and ask whether David is hidden with them in the wood’s strongholds at Mount Hachila, on the right hand of the desert. They invite Saul down as he has desired and promise to deliver David into his hands. Saul blesses them in the Lord’s name because they pity his case. He asks them to use diligence, inquire carefully where David’s foot is and who has seen him there, saying David thinks Saul waits craftily for him. They must inspect all his hiding holes and return with certainty so Saul may go with them. He says even if David goes down into the earth to hide, he will search him among all Juda’s thousands.

The Ziphites go to Ziph ahead of Saul. David and his men are in Maon’s desert, in the plain on the right hand of Jesimon. Saul’s men go to seek him. Told this, David immediately goes down to the rock and stays in Maon’s wilderness; hearing it, Saul pursues there. Saul goes on one side of the mountain, David and his men on the other. David despairs of escape, and Saul’s men surround him and his men to take them. A messenger tells Saul to hurry because the Philistines have poured into the land. Saul returns, leaving David’s pursuit, and goes to meet them. For this reason the place is called the rock of division.

The story inside

The report about Ceila’s barns leads to two consultations, with the men’s fear between them. David rescues the inhabitants, and the account names Abiathar’s ephod. Saul’s gates-and-bars statement and siege order lead David to request the ephod and ask about Saul’s coming and Ceila’s surrender. The answers precede departure, uncertain wandering and Saul’s decision not to go out. In Ziph, Jonathan brings encouragement and a covenant, then returns home. The Ziphites offer David’s hiding place and their help; Saul requests certain information. Pursuit in Maon reaches opposite mountain sides and an encirclement while David despairs. The invasion report makes Saul turn away and gives the place its name.

Lessons worth keeping

1
The inquiry changes with the reported danger. First David asks about striking the Philistines and repeats the inquiry after his men express fear. Later he asks whether Saul will come and whether Ceila will surrender him; the chapter names the ephod in that later request.
2
The warning is distinct from a completed surrender. David leaves after the Lord’s answer and Saul refrains from the expedition. No motive of ingratitude, fear or favour-seeking is supplied for Ceila’s men.
3
The final diversion has a stated cause. Saul surrounds David, but the messenger reports Philistines in the land and Saul leaves to meet them. The account names the rock of division for this turn without adding a galloping courier or claiming permanent safety.

Test your recall

How do the two Ceila consultations lead to rescue, what later answers cause David’s departure, what does Jonathan say in the wood, and how does the invasion report end the Maon pursuit?

Source edition and notes

Douay–Rheims, revised by Richard Challoner (1749–1752). Project Gutenberg no. 1581. Locators refer to lines in the admitted pg1581.txt edition. Source notes may include Challoner commentary.

Lines 30749–30779
1 Kings Chapter 23 David relieveth Ceila, besieged by the Philistines. He fleeth into the desert of Ziph. Jonathan and he confirm their former covenant. The Ziphites discover him to Saul, who pursuing close after him, is called away by an invasion from the Philistines. 23:1. And they told David, saying: Behold the Philistines fight against Ceila, and they rob the barns. 23:2. Therefore David consulted the Lord, saying: Shall I go and smite these Philistines? And the Lord said to David: Go, and thou shalt smite the Philistines, and shalt save Ceila. 23:3. And the men that were with David, said to him: Behold we are in fear here in Judea, how much more if we go to Ceila against the bands of the Philistines? 23:4. Therefore David consulted the Lord again. And he answered and said to him: Arise, and go to Ceila: for I will deliver the Philistines into thy hand. 23:5. David, therefore, and his men, went to Ceila, and fought against the Philistines, and brought away their cattle, and made a great slaughter of them: and David saved the inhabitants of Ceila. 23:6. Now at that time, when Abiathar, the son of Achimelech, fled to David, to Ceila, he came down, having an ephod with him. An ephod.... Or the ephod. That is, the vestment of the high priest, with the urim and thummim, by which the Lord gave his oracle.
Lines 30781–30805
23:7. And it was told Saul that David was come to Ceila: and Saul said: The Lord hath delivered him into my hands, and he is shut up, being come into a city that hath gates and bars. 23:8. And Saul commanded all the people to go down to fight against Ceila, and to besiege David and his men. 23:9. Now when David understood that Saul secretly prepared evil against him, he said to Abiathar, the priest: Bring hither the ephod. 23:10. And David said: O Lord God of Israel, thy servant hath heard a report, that Saul designeth to come to Ceila, to destroy the city for my sake: 23:11. Will the men of Ceila deliver me into his hands? and will Saul come down, as thy servant hath heard? O Lord God of Israel, tell thy servant. And the Lord said: He will come down. 23:12. And David said: Will the men of Ceila deliver me and my men into the hands of Saul? And the Lord said: They will deliver thee up. 23:13. Then David and his men, who were about six hundred, arose, and departing from Ceila, wandered up and down, uncertain where they should stay: and it was told Saul that David was fled from Ceila, and had escaped: wherefore he forbore to go out.
Lines 30807–30822
23:14. But David abode in the desert in strong holds, and he remained in a mountain of the desert of Ziph, in a woody hill. And Saul sought him always: but the Lord delivered him not into his hands. 23:15. And David saw that Saul was come out to seek his life. And David was in the desert of Ziph, in a wood. 23:16. And Jonathan, the son of Saul, arose, and went to David, into the wood, and strengthened his hands in God: and he said to him: 23:17. Fear not: for the hand of my father, Saul, shall not find thee, and thou shalt reign over Israel, and I shall be next to thee; yea and my father knoweth this. 23:18. And they two made a covenant before the Lord: and David abode in the wood: but Jonathan returned to his house.
Lines 30824–30841
23:19. And the Ziphites went up to Saul, in Gabaa, saying: Lo, doth not David lie hid with us in the strong holds of the wood, in mount Hachila, which is on the right hand of the desert. 23:20. Now therefore come down, as thy soul hath desired to come down: and it shall be our business to deliver him into the king’s hands. 23:21. And Saul said: Blessed be ye of the Lord, for you have pitied my case. 23:22. Go, therefore, I pray you, and use all diligence, and curiously inquire, and consider the place where his foot is, and who hath seen him there: for he thinketh of me, that I lie craftily in wait for him. 23:23. Consider, and see all his lurking holes, wherein he is hid, and return to me with the certainty of the thing, that I may go with you. And if he should even go down into the earth to hide himself, I will search him out in all the thousands of Juda.
Lines 30843–30864
23:24. And they arose, and went to Ziph before Saul: and David and his men were in the desert of Maon, in the plain at the right hand of Jesimon. 23:25. Then Saul and his men went to seek him: and it was told David, and forthwith he went down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon: and when Saul had heard of it, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon. 23:26. And Saul went on this side of the mountain: and David and his men were on the other side of the mountain: and David despaired of being able to escape from the face of Saul: and Saul and his men encompassed David and his men round about, to take them. 23:27. And a messenger came to Saul, saying: Make haste to come, for the Philistines have poured in themselves upon the land. 23:28. Wherefore Saul returned, leaving the pursuit of David, and went to meet the Philistines. For this cause they called that place the rock of division.