of the wilderness (v. de Velde, ii. pp. 107-8).
Verse 25
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 (1Sa 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.
Verses 26-27
“And David was anxiously concerned to escape from Saul, and Saul and his men were encircling David and his men to seize them; but a messenger came to Saul ... . Then Saul turned from pursuing David.” The two clauses, “for Saul and his men” (1Sa 23:26), and “there came a messenger” (1Sa 23:27), are the circumstantial clauses by which the situation is more clearly defined: the apodosis to דּוד ויהי does not follow till ויּשׁב in 1Sa 23:28. The apodosis cannot begin with וּמלאך because the verb does not stand at the head. David had thus almost inextricably fallen into the hands of Saul; but God saved him by the fact that at that very moment a messenger arrived with the intelligence, “Hasten and go (come), for Philistines have fallen into the land,” and thus called Saul away from any further pursuit of David.
Verse 28
From this occurrence the place received the name of Sela-hammahlekoth, “rock of smoothnesses,” i.e., of slipping away or escaping, from חלק, in the sense of being smooth. This explanation is at any rate better supported than “rock of divisions, i.e., the rock at which Saul and David were separated” (Clericus), since חלק does not mean to separate. Whilst Saul had gone against the Philistines, David left this dangerous place, and went to the mountain heights of Engedi, i.e., the present Ain-jidy (goat-fountain), in the middle of the western coats of the Dead Sea (see at Jos 15:62), which he could reach from Maon in six or seven hours. The soil of the neighbourhood consists entirely of limestone; but the rocks contain a considerable admixture of chalk and flint. Round about there rise bare conical mountains, and
