1 Samuel 23

Keilah is linked to a ruin called Khirbet Qila, in the Judean foothills on the border between Philistine land on the coast and Israel in the hills. The ruin is about a half-day walk east of the nearest major Philistine city, Gath—about 10 miles (16 km). It was also about 14 miles (22 km) southwest of David’s hometown of Bethlehem.

Farmers used flat ground or flat rock as a threshing platform to beat grain kernels free from the stalks.

“Apron” is a guess. Scholars aren’t sure what an ephod looked like. Several centuries before Samuel, in the time of Moses, an ephod was an apron or vest worn by the high priest. Some scholars describe it as a skirt or a shift-like garment that covered the body from about the waist to the mid-thigh. Inside the ephod the priest carried the Urim and Thummim, objects described as meaning “lights” and “perfection.” These were two objects never described in the Bible. They show up first in Exodus 28:30. They might have been stones, marked or colored in different ways. The high priest used them to answer questions with a “yes” or “no” or “wait.” It might have worked a bit like tossing two coins in the air and seeing how they land. Two heads for “yes.” Two tails for “no.” One of each for “wait.” It might seem foolish to make an important decision that way, such as whether to go to war. But the people of Israel seemed to believe that God controlled these sacred objects that the priests used.

See note for 23:6 about the objects in the ephod that gave yes or no answers for God.

Ziph is usually linked to a ruin called Tell Ziph, roughly 15-miles southeast of Keilah—less than a day’s walk. The Desert of Ziph, or Wilderness of Ziph as some translations say, was the wasteland around the city.

David apparently looked for campsites with cliffs and caves and large rocks to provide cover and protection in an attack.

Horesh might mean woods, woody hills, lumberjack. Some associate it with a ruin called Khirbet Khoreisa, about two miles (3 km) south of Ziph.

It’s a fair guess that this is when David agreed to protect Jonathan’s family. It was common for a new king coming in and ending a family dynasty to kill anyone with a claim to the throne. Any descendants of Saul would have had a claim to the throne. David later protected Jonathan’s son, Mephibosheth, from execution (2 Samuel 21:7-14).

Locations unknown for Hachilah and Jeshimon, sites also reported in 1 Samuel 26:1, 3.

Maon is linked to the ruins of Khirbet Ma ‘in, about 20 miles (32 km) south of David’s hometown of Bethlehem—a day’s walk.

Well, it could have been. The Hebrew word is sela, which means something involving rocks: rock canyon, rocky place, stones, cliffs.

This is even more of a stretch. The Hebrew words are sela hammaḥlᵉqôt. The second term is little more than a mystery. Some Bible translators don’t bother. They just spell it phonetically as they pronounce it in Hebrew: Sela Hammahlekoth (SAY luh HAHM uh lay koth).

En Gedi is a small oasis near the western banks of the Dead Sea. It’s nearly surrounded by cliffs and rocks about 25 miles (40 km) south of Jerusalem and beside the Dead Sea. David hid in the caves there when King Saul, jealous of the giant-killer’s popularity, was hunting him in hopes of killing him. En Gedi is a park today. A waterfall collects into a pool about 200 meters above the lowest dry spot on earth, the beach of the Dead Sea (423 meters below sea level, about -1,400 feet). Anyone attacking a camp there had to charge uphill against defenders hiding behind huge and towering rocks. It would have been a bit like charging toward a walled city on a hilltop.