Then David and his men, [which were] about six hundred, arose and departed out of Keilah, and went whithersoever they could go. And it was told Saul that David was escaped from Keilah; and he forbare to go forth.
Ver. 13. Which were about six hundred.] Not four hundred only, as Josephus here misreckoneth. Indeed, they were but four hundred, 1Sa 22:2 but now they are become more. Persecution doth not diminish, but increase the number of good people. The lily grows and spreads by the juice that floweth from itself: a so the Church. Plures efficimur quoties metimur, saith Tertullian.
And went whithersoever they could go.] But knew not well whither to go to be in safety. Luther, when excommunicated by the Pope, and proscribed by the Emperor, being asked by one where he would shelter himself, answered, Sub caelo; somewhere under the vault of heaven, where God shall please to cast me. b
a Plin.
b Scultet., Annal., p. 28.