1 Samuel 23:19

Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(19) The Ziphites.—The words of these Ziphites, and the king’s grateful reply, show that they were very warm adherents of Saul, entirely devoted to his fortunes, and well aware of his passionate desire to be rid of David.

On the south of Jeshimon.—Jeshimon is not the name of a place, but it signifies a “desert” or “solitude” (see Isaiah 43:19). It is used here for the “dreary desert which extends between the Dead Sea and the Hebron Mountains. . . . It is a plateau of white chalk, terminated on the east by cliffs, which rise vertically from the Dead Sea shore to a height of above 3,000 feet. The scenery is barren and wild beyond all description.”—Conder: Tent Life in Palestine. This is the wilderness of Judea spoken of in Matthew 3:1. David was just then encamped with some of his followers in some thickets bordering on this trackless desert. The Ziphites evidently knew the country well, not only the hills, but the solitary wastes stretching out at its base. They were willing and ready, if Saul’s trained soldiers marched into their neighbourhood, to act as their guides in the pursuit or the famous outlaw and his men. They kept their promise faithfully, and in the pursuit which followed the arrival of Saul and his forces, David was in extreme danger of capture. The news that the Philistines had invaded the territories of Saul in great force hastily summoned the king from the district, and David was thus saved from a destruction which appeared to be imminent.

Benson Commentary

1 Samuel 23:19-22. Then came the Ziphites to Saul — They were of David’s own tribe, though for this unnatural carriage to him he calls them strangers. Saul said, Blessed be ye of the Lord — Saul, notwithstanding all his injustice and cruelty to David, still supposes himself to be the injured person, and his cause the right one. Thus too often do men let their passions blind them so as to persuade themselves that the most unjust things are equitable. Go, I pray you, prepare yet — Or rather, Make yourselves more certain of this, as the words may be translated, and more agreeably to what follows.

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary

23:19-29 In the midst of his wickedness, Saul affected to speak the language of piety. Such expressions, without suitable effects, can only amuse or deceive those who hear, and those who use them. This mountain was an emblem of the Divine Providence coming between David and the destroyer. Let us not be dismayed at the prospect of future difficulties, but stay ourselves upon Him who is wonderful in counsel and excellent in working. Sooner than his promise shall fail, he will commission Philistines to effect our escape, at the very moment when our case appears most desperate. God requires entire dependence on him, If ye will not believe, surely ye shall not be established, Isa 7:9.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

(Hachilah is thought by Conder to be the long ridge called El Kolah). For Jeshimon, see the margin and Numbers 21:20.

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

1Sa 23:19-29. Saul Pursues Him.

19-23. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us?—From the tell of Ziph a panorama of the whole surrounding district is to be seen. No wonder, then, that the Ziphites saw David and his men passing to and fro in the mountains of the wilderness. Spying him at a distance when he ventured to show himself on the hill of Hachilah, "on the right hand of the wilderness," that is, the south side of Ziph, they sent in haste to Saul, to tell him of the lurking place of his enemy [Van De Velde].

Matthew Poole's Commentary

The Ziphites were of David’s own tribe, though for this their unnatural and strange carriage to him he calls them strangers, Psalm 44:3.

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah,.... Who though he had been out in quest of David, yet was now returned to Gibeah, the place of his residence, and where he kept his court; and hither came the Ziphites, the inhabitants of Ziph, in the wilderness of which David hid himself, with a proposal to deliver him to Saul; for though they were of the same tribe with David, yet being terrified with what Saul had done to Nob, they thought it best for their own security to inform Saul where he was, and make an offer to deliver him to him. Some interpreters, as Kimchi, think that this was done before Jonathan was with Saul, and should be rendered, "the Ziphites had come up to Saul"; and hence it is before said, and David saw, &c. for he had heard that the Ziphites should say to Saul, that David had hid himself there; and at this time it was that David wrote the fifty ninth psalm, Psalm 54:1,

saying, doth not David hide himself with us in the strong holds in the wood; which is in the wilderness of Ziph, in their neighbourhood; they were informed he had hid himself there, and they thought it their duty to let the king know of it: and particularly

in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon? Hachilah is by Jerom (q) called Echela; and he speaks of a village of that name seven miles from Eleutheropolis, and of Jeshimon as ten miles from Jericho to the south, near the dead sea; on the top of this hill, which was an ascent of thirty furlongs or about four miles, Jonathan the high priest built a castle, and called it Masada, often spoken of by Josephus; who says (r), that Herod built a wall around it of seven furlongs or about a mile, twelve cubits high, and eight broad, and thirty seven towers of fifty cubits stood in it.

(q) De loc. Heb. fol. 91. C. (r) De Bello Jud. l. 7. c. 8. sect. 3. Vid. Adrichom. Theatrum T. S. p. 38. 2. & 39. 1.

Geneva Study Bible

Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us in strong holds in the wood, in the hill of Hachilah, which is on the south of Jeshimon?

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

19–28. The treachery of the Ziphites

19. Then came up the Ziphites] The title of Psalms 54. refers it to this occasion, or that recorded in 1 Samuel 26:1, and the contents agree with the situation. See especially 1 Samuel 23:3.

On the relation between this narrative and that in ch. 26. see Note VII. p. 243.

in the hill of Hachilah, &c] This hill was situated on the south of, or according to 1 Samuel 26:3, “in front of” or “facing” the Waste. Jeshimon is not a proper name, but means the Waste, and denotes the district on which the plateau of Ziph looks down, “with white peaks and cones of chalk and deep narrow watercourses, terminated by the great pointed cliff of Ziz above Engedi, and by the precipices over the Dead Sea, two thousand feet high.” Hachilah is not identified with any certainty. Lieut. Conder proposes to recognise it in the long ridge of El Kôlah, running out of the Ziph plateau eastwards. From Tell Zîf the Ziphites could observe the movements of David’s men over this region.

Pulpit Commentary

Verses 19, 20. - The Ziphites. Rather, "some Ziphites," or "people of Ziph," as there is no article. They tell Saul that David was hiding in the fastnesses of the wild region in their neighbourhood, and especially in the hill of Hachilah, a ridge that ran along eastward of Maon. Conder recognises it in the long ridge called El Kolah, running out of the Ziph plateau towards the Dead Sea desert. It lay on the south of Jeshimon, or rather "on the right hand of the desert." Jeshimon is not a proper name, but means any desert (Psalm 107:4; Isaiah 43:19), though it is used specially of the desert of Sinai in Deuteronomy 32:10, and of that of Judah here and in Numbers 21:20; Numbers 23:28. Conder ('Handbook,' p. 213) calls it "the dreary desert which extends between the Dead Sea and the Hebron mountains. It is called Jeshimon, or 'Solitude,' in the Old Testament, and 'wilderness of Judea' in the New (Matthew 3:1). It is a plateau of white chalk, 2000 feet lower than the watershed, and terminated on the east by cliffs which rise vertically from the Dead Sea shore to a height of about 2000 feet. The scenery is barren and wild beyond all description. The chalky ridges are scored by innumerable torrents, and their narrow crests are separated by broad flat valleys. Peaks and knolls of fantastic forms rise suddenly from the swelling downs, and magnificent precipices of ruddy limestone stand up like fortress-walls above the sea. Not a tree nor a spring is visible in the waste, and only the desert partridge and the ibex are found ranging the solitude. It was in this pathless desert that David found refuge from Saul's persecution, and the same has been a place of retreat from the days of Christ to the present time." The Ziphites assure Saul that from their knowledge of this region they shall be able, if he come in force, so to guide him as that David must fall into his hands. 1 Samuel 23:19

Keil and Delitzsch Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament

After these encouraging words, they two made a covenant before Jehovah: i.e., they renewed the covenant which they had already made by another solemn oath; after which Jonathan returned home, but David remained in the wood.

The treachery of the Ziphites forms a striking contrast to Jonathan's treatment of David. They went up to Gibeah to betray to Saul the fact that David was concealed in the wood upon their mountain heights, and indeed "upon the hill Hachilah, which lies to the south of the waste." The hill of Ziph is a flattened hill standing by itself, of about a hundred feet in height. "There is no spot from which you can obtain a better view of David's wanderings 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" (v. de Velde, ii. pp. 104-5). Jeshimon does not refer here to the waste land on the north-eastern coast of the Dead Sea, as in Numbers 21:20; Numbers 23:28, but to the western side of that sea, which is also desert.

1 Samuel 23:20 reads literally thus: "And now, according to all the desire of thy soul, O king, to come down (from Gibeah, which stood upon higher ground), come down, and it is in us to deliver him (David) into the hand of the king."