CRITICAL AND EXPOSITORY NOTES
1 Samuel 23:19. “Then came up the Ziphites.” “There is no spot from which you can obtain a better view of David’s wandering backwards and forwards in the desert than from the hill of Ziph, which affords a true panorama. The Ziphites could see David and his men moving to and fro in the mountains of the desert of Ziph, and could also perceive how he showed himself in the distance upon the hill Hachilah, on the south side of Ziph (which lies to the right by the desert), whereupon they sent as quickly as possible to Saul, and betrayed to him the hiding-place of his enemy.” (Van de Velde.)
1 Samuel 23:24. “Desert of Maon, in the plain, on the south of Jeshimon.” Rather, “On the south or right hand of the desert. This lay farther south. The name still exists—Main, eight miles south-east of Hebron.” (Erdmann.) “The mountain plateau seems here to end. It is true the summit ridge of the southern hills runs out a long way farther towards the south-west, but towards the south-east the ground sinks more and more down to a table-land of a lower level, which is called the plain to the right hand of the wilderness.” (Van de Velde.) “On descending the hills, south-east of Maon, a wide prospect opened up before us over the country towards the Dead Sea, and on the south. The extensive tract we now overlooked had much of the general character of that around Beersheba, with which, indeed, it is connected, stretching off in that direction around the south-western termination of the long ridge which we were now crossing. This tract has apparently a lower level than the enclosed plain behind us around Carmel.” (Dr. Robinson.)
1 Samuel 23:25. “Into a rock.” Rather “He descended the rock.” “Probably the conical mountain of Main, or Maon, the top of which is now surrounded with ruins.” (Robinson.) It is evidently the same as that mentioned in the next verse, along which David was escaping on one side, while Saul was seeking him on the other.
1 Samuel 23:28. “Selah-hammahlekoth.” Keil, Gesenius, and others explain this name to signify “rock of smoothness”—from chalak, to be smooth, and hence to slip away, to escape. But the word also means to divide, and many expositors attach this meaning to it here because it separated Saul and David from each other.
1 Samuel 23:29. “Engedi.” The present Ainjiddy, or goat-fountain, from the number of chamois which are found in the district. It is on the western shore of the Dead Sea, about thirteen miles north-west of Maon. “The steep mountains are intersected by wadys running down in deep ravines to the sea.” (Keil.) “On all sides,” says Robinson, “the country is full of caverns, which now serve as lurking-places for outlaws,”
MAIN HOMILETICS OF THE PARAGRAPH.— 1 Samuel 23:19-29
THE TREACHERY OF THE ZIPHITES
I. The calamity of one man an occasion of revealing the baseness of others. There is much latent baseness in the world which only lacks a favourable opportunity to manifest itself. Fear of punishment or defeat is at the root of the outwardly virtuous conduct of many men, and they only need to have these restraints removed to show what they really are. Occasion is to men what the barometer is to the weather. This instrument only registers the state of the atmosphere, but has no part in generating either the calm or the storm—they would be the same if the indicator had no existence. These men of Ziph were not worse men when they betrayed David than they had been before, but his defenceless and straitened condition was the occasion which tested their character and revealed their baseness. If he had simply come to them as a man in distress through no fault of his own it would have been a pitiful meanness on their part to betray him. But they could not be ignorant of the debt of gratitude they, in common with the rest of their countrymen, owed to him. Since the day when he slew the Philistine whose name spread terror through all the hosts of Israel, he had again and again defeated their much-dreaded foes, and at this moment had just returned from delivering Keilah. His life since his early youth had been spent in the service of his country, and if the Ziphites had possessed a spark of gratitude they would have striven to lighten his hardships. But, far from doing this, they went out of their way to betray, not only an innocent man, but one to whom they were deeply indebted. This one act is an infallible and a sufficient revelation of their character as a community.
II. The evil purposes of evil men defeated by others of a like character. Doubtless the Ziphites thought the success of their plan was certain; and Saul must have felt assured that this time his prey would not escape. And as his enemies closed around him, David himself must have well nigh given up all hope of escape. But at this critical moment his deliverance was wrought by men who had every reason to desire his downfall, and who would have gladly taken his life if they had found an opportunity to do so. The Philistines certainly hated David as much as the Ziphites did, but at this moment they unconsciously delivered him from the danger to which the treachery of the latter had exposed him. The incident affords an example of the way in which bad men often unconsciously fulfil the purposes of God, and frustrate the plans of those who are one with them in their opposition to righteousness. Saul suddenly found himself in the hands of circumstances which compelled him to forego for this time the satisfaction of his private jealousy, and thus this bad monarch, and his equally bad subjects, were prevented from taking the blood of an innocent man by other men as bad as themselves. But behind all these human wills and purposes a Divine will and a Divine purpose were in operation, and God was using His enemies to save His servant.
OUTLINES AND SUGGESTIVE COMMENTS
At the time when David received tidings that the Ziphites had betrayed him, his soul poured itself forth in the fifty-fourth Psalm. Here he first directs his eye from the earth, where faithlessness and wickedness so much surrounded him, upwards to heaven, and prays to God that He would save and judge him (i.e. justify him), since the people of his own tribe had risen up against him as enemies, yea, like the heathen. But not less does he give utterance to his confidence, that the Lord would be his helper and would uphold his soul, and that the wickedness of his enemies would recoil upon themselves. “Cut them off in Thy truth,” he cries out; adding, “I will freely sacrifice unto Thee; I will praise Thy name, O Lord, for it is good;” and concludes with the words of joyful confidence, “For He hath delivered me out of all trouble; and mine eye hath seen His desire upon mine enemies.”—Krummacher.