Then the Ziphites came to Saul at Gibeah, saying, “Is not David hiding himself on the hill of Hachilah, which is on the east of Jeshimon?”
An earlier chapter opened the same way: men from Ziph come to Saul at Gibeah and tell him where David is hiding. Saul had already admitted David would be king, so why is the hunt on again?
Informers who chose the winning side
The men of Ziph came forward on their own. They worked out who could reward them and who could hurt them, and they sold David a second time.
H. L. RossierThe Ziphites reappear with their offers of betrayal. They do not care that the king is not righteous, or that David had shown him grace. They turn to the man who they hope will give them advantages, and whose anger could harm them. Such contempt for David's person and character is perhaps worse than Nabal's rude insult. The Ziphites are a true picture of the Christian world today. In appearance it welcomes Christ, and in reality it betrays Him. The favours it wants cannot come from Jesus, so it turns to the enemy to get them, "denying the Master who bought them" (2 Peter 2:1).
Neighbours counted as strangers
Ziph lay in Judah, David's own tribal ground. So the men who sold him were his own countrymen.
WhybrowThe Ziphites came from David's own tribe. But their godless treachery means they are counted as strangers.
A king who forgot his own words
The last time these two men met, Saul had conceded the throne to David out loud. One report from Ziph erased it.
Leslie M. GrantSaul's response looks tragically foolish. The Ziphites sent him another message: David was hiding in the hill country of Hachilah (v.1). He had told David only a short time before this, "I know that you shall surely be king" (ch. 24:20). Now he seems to have forgotten this. He has forgotten the kindness David showed him. Again he takes three thousand chosen men to hunt David like a defenseless deer.
Hatred that was only sleeping
Saul had gone home after the cave at En-gedi. The fire had not gone out; it was waiting for fuel.
The Bible TreasurySaul goes home, and it looks as if he has given up all intention of pursuing David any more. Satan waits for his time. At the right moment he finds a way to wake the sleeping hatred in Saul's heart… Without the Ziphites, Saul might never have gone after David again. Poor soul! no master of himself. Again he sets out with the same hate and the same purpose. But a deeper humiliation awaits him.
The sight that should have stopped him
David was hiding on a hill whose name may mean obscurity. The faces of the messengers carried a memory Saul should have flinched at, and he pressed on anyway.
F. W. GrantDavid is hiding himself in the hill of Hachilah ("obscurity"?), and the Ziphites once more carry the news to the king. The sight of the messengers, and the memories tied to them, should have been enough to stop Saul's pursuit. It does not. So this time he is made to declare his own shame and David's righteousness in public.
No safe place, only a safe God
A change of address had not changed David's danger.
A. PridhamRead this Psalm alongside the history its title points to (1 Sam. 23:19; 26:1), and it is full of practical value to the Christian… Here is the great point of its moral lesson. No change of circumstances can by itself give faith protection or security. The men of Ziph could be trusted as little as the men of Gath. And the wilderness of Ziph could shelter David's enemies just as well as it sheltered him. Faith holds to God alone, since He alone is able to keep His people safe.
Hachilah, where faith went further than the cave
At En-gedi, Saul stumbled into David's hands. At Hachilah, David went toward Saul — and still treated him as the Lord's anointed.
H. L. RossierFaith that feeds on difficulties grows through meeting them. At the hill of Hachilah, David goes toward Saul. That shows greater faith than the cave of En-gedi, where Saul fell into David's hands without knowing it. The circumstances faith meets may vary widely. The principles that guide faith never change. Saul stands on the edge of judgment, yet to David he is still the Lord's anointed, until God gives the final signal.
Summary
- Betrayal: Men of David's own tribe sell him for Saul's favour. Treachery like that counts a neighbour as a stranger.
- Relapse: Saul had already admitted David would be king. One message wiped out that confession and David's kindness to him.
- Occasion: The hatred was asleep, not dead. One spark from outside woke it, and the army marched again.
- Exposure: Saul would not drop the chase. It ended by making him declare his own shame and David's righteousness.
- Anchor: No change of place makes a believer safe. Faith holds to God alone, and at Hachilah David's faith reached further than at the cave.