Keilah was a border town, near to the country occupied by the Philistines, and these enemies were robbing the people. 'David, in communion with God, was directed to go and drive them away; his force was small (about four hundred men, in chapter 22:2), and they were already deeply conscious of their weakness (verse 3); how could they fight with any other outcome than defeat, against the armies of the Philistines? The answer given to faith and dependence was,
"Arise, go down. to Keilah; for I will deliver the Philistines into thine hand."
The word of God was enough for David, who brought away the enemy's cattle, beside smiting them with a great slaughter. So the people of Keilah were saved out of the Philistine's hands.
One purpose alone seems to have animated Saul: David must be destroyed, and it is to be noted that the people were subject to Saul, ready to do his will. Again David is taught of God not to trust in man, even under the best situation, for the people of Keilah who owed their deliverance to him, would give him up to Saul. With his followers, now numbering about six hundred (verse 13), David left Keilah for Ziph in the southeast of Judah, there to remain for a long time. Ziph means "refining place," and such it became to the sorely tried spirit of David. Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
Jonathan came there to David, and encouraged him to wait upon God (verse 16), but this was the last time they met. Jonathan's love for David was not equal to the reproach, the present loss, which it would have cost to take his place with the rejected and hated one, and he went back to his house, after seeing, as a visitor, what he might have shared as a follower of the anointed one of God.
Alas! in this day of ours are many Jonathans who really love the Lord, but are not willing to give up worldly advantages for association with Him in His present rejection. (See Rev. 3:7-137And to the angel of the church in Philadelphia write; These things saith he that is holy, he that is true, he that hath the key of David, he that openeth, and no man shutteth; and shutteth, and no man openeth; 8I know thy works: behold, I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut it: for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name. 9Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee. 10Because thou hast kept the word of my patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of temptation, which shall come upon all the world, to try them that dwell upon the earth. 11Behold, I come quickly: hold that fast which thou hast, that no man take thy crown. 12Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name. 13He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches. (Revelation 3:7‑13)).
The Ziphites, no better than the Keilahites, told Saul of David's presence among them. Saul's heart is again revealed (verses 21-23), and David is pursued to the hill of Hachilah ("drought"), on the south of Jeshimon ("desert") even to Maon ("habitation"), where he abode.
But God will not allow the enemy to do more than His own purpose permits, and when David and his men are almost captured (verse 26), Saul is recalled to fight the Philistines, and 'David finds security and refreshment in strong holds at En-gedi (fountain of Gad). God had purposes of richest blessing for His beloved servant, and in due time would manifest them; meanwhile he was to be in training of great, indeed eternal, value to his soul.