making the inquiry placed the matter before God in prayer, and received an answer; but always to one particular question. For when David had asked the two questions given in 1Sa 23:11, he received the answer to the second question only, and had to ask the first again (1Sa 23:12).
Verse 13
“They went whithersoever they could go” (lit. “they wandered about where they wandered about”), i.e., wherever they could go without danger.
Verse 14
David retreated into the desert (of Judah), to the mountain heights (that were to be found there), and remained on the mountains in the desert of Ziph. The “desert of Judah” is the desert tract between the mountains of Judah and the Dead Sea, in its whole extent, from the northern boundary of the tribe of Judah to the Wady Fikreh in the south (see at Jos 15:61). Certain portions of this desert, however, received different names of their own, according to the names of different towns on the border of the mountains and desert. The desert of Ziph was that portion of the desert of Judah which was near to and surrounded the town of Ziph, the name of which has been retained in the ruins of Tell Zif, an hour and three-quarters to the south-east of Hebron (see at Jos 15:55).1Sa 23:14. “And Saul sought him all the days, but God delivered him not into his hand.” This is a general remark, intended to introduce the accounts which follow, of the various attempts made by Saul to get David into his power. “All the days,” i.e., as long as Saul lived.
Verses 15-17
David in the Deserts of Ziph and Maon. - The history of David's persecution by Saul is introduced in 1Sa 23:15-18, with the account of an attempt made by the noble-minded prince Jonathan, in a private interview with his friend David, to renew his bond of friendship with him, and strengthen David by his friendly words for the sufferings that yet awaited him. 1Sa 23:15, 1Sa 23:16 are to be connected together so as to form one period: “When David saw that Saul was come out ... and David was in the desert of Ziph, Jonathan rose up and went to David into the wood.” חרשׁה, from חרשׁ, with ה paragogic, signifies a wood or thicket; here, however, it is probably a proper name for a district in the desert of Ziph that was overgrown with wood or bushes, and where David was stopping at that time. “There is no trace of this wood now. The land lost its
