Keil & Delitzsch Commentary on the Old Testament · 1 Samuel Capitolo 23

For this treachery Saul blessed them: “ Be blessed of the Lord, that ye have compassion upon me.” In his evil conscience he suspected David of seeking to become his murderer, and therefore thanked God in his delusion that the Ziphites had had compassion upon him, and shown him David's hiding-place.

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In his anxiety, however, lest David should escape him after all, he charged them, “ Go, and give still further heed ( הכין without לב , as in Judges 12:6), and reconnoitre and look at his place where his foot cometh (this simply serves as a more precise definition of the nominal suffix in מקומו , his place), who hath seen him there (sc., let them inquire into this, that they may not be deceived by uncertain or false reports): for it is told me that he dealeth very subtilly.”

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They were to search him out in every corner (the object to דּעוּ must be supplied from the context). “ And come ye again to me with the certainty (i.e., when you have got some certain intelligence concerning his hiding-place), that I may go with you; and if he is in the land, I will search him out among all the thousands (i.e., families) of Judah.”

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With this answer the Ziphites arose and “ went to Ziph before Saul ” (who would speedily follow with his warriors); but David had gone farther in the meantime, and was with his men “ in the desert of Maon, in the steppe to the south of the wilderness.” Maon, now Maïn, is about three hours and three-quarters S.S.E. of Hebron (see at Joshua 15:55), and therefore only two hours from Ziph, from which it is visible. “The table-land appears to terminate here; nevertheless the principal ridge of the southern mountains runs for a considerable distance towards the south-west, whereas towards the south-east the land falls off more and more into a lower table-land.” This is the Arabah or steppe on the right of the wilderness (v. de Velde, ii. pp. 107-8).

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Having been informed of the arrival of Saul and his men (warriors), David went down the rock, and remained in the desert of Maon. “ The rock ” is probably the conical mountain of Main ( Maon), the top of which is now surrounded with ruins, probably remains of a tower ( Robinson, Pal. ii. p. 194), as the rock from which David came down can only have been the mountain (1 Samuel 23:26), along one side of which David went with his men whilst Saul and his warriors went on the other, namely when Saul pursued him into the desert of Maon.

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