1 Samuel 23

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Template:Short description Template:Bible chapter 1 Samuel 23 is the twenty-third chapter of the First Book of Samuel in the Old Testament of the Christian Bible or the first part of the Books of Samuel in the Hebrew Bible.Template:Sfn Jewish tradition attributes the book to the prophet Samuel, with later additions by the prophets Gad and Nathan;[1] modern scholarship, however, regards it as a compilation of independent texts dated to Template:BCE.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This chapter contains the account of David's escape from Saul's repeated attempts to kill him.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn This is within a section comprising 1 Samuel 16 to 2 Samuel 5 which records the rise of David as the king of Israel.Template:Sfn

Text

This chapter was originally written in Biblical Hebrew, and it is divided into 29 verses.

Textual witnesses

Some early manuscripts containing the text of this chapter in Biblical Hebrew are of the Masoretic Textual tradition, which includes the Codex Cairensis (895), Aleppo Codex (10th century), and Codex Leningradensis (1008).Template:Sfn Fragments containing parts of this chapter in Hebrew were found among the Dead Sea Scrolls including 4Q52 (4QSamTemplate:Sup; 250 BCE) with extant verses 8–23.Template:Sfn[2]Template:Sfn[3]

Extant ancient manuscripts of a translation into Koine Greek known as the Septuagint (originally composed made in the last few centuries BCE) include Codex Vaticanus (B; 𝔊B; 4th century) and Codex Alexandrinus (A; 𝔊A; 5th century).Template:SfnTemplate:Efn

Places

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David falls, Ein Gedi.

David saved the city of Keilah (23:1–13)

The narrative describes how David acted as a good king, protecting Israel's territory from a foreign aggressor even while on the run from the reigning king, Saul.[4]Template:Sfn At this time, David was shown to have access to YHWH through an oracle (before the arrival of Abiathar and the ephod), so he inquired of YHWH twice—once on his own initiative and a second time to calm his men's uncertainty—because David received an encouraging response and an assurance of divine involvement (verse 5).Template:Sfn David's next inquiry to YHWH, through Abiathar and the ephod after liberating Keilah (verse 6), was twofold: "Will Saul come to Keilah?" and "Will the inhabitants betray him?"[5] Both questions were asked with an affirmative reply in mind. David and his men immediately left the city, thwarting Saul's plan to capture David easily in a closed-in town such as Keilah.Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn (Saul delusionally believed that God had "given him" into his hand, following the Greek and Targum Jonathan, in preference to the Masoretic Text, which renders it "made a stranger of him".) Saul mustered a big army as he did before, but instead of directing it against foreign attackers,[6] he misused "the armies of the living God" (17:26) for his own purpose (i.e., to capture David).Template:Sfn However, it is clear in the narrative that David had an advantage over Saul: David had access to YHWH, whereas Saul did not (1 Samuel 14:37).Template:SfnTemplate:Sfn

Verse 1

Then they told David, saying, "Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors."[7]

David in wilderness strongholds (23:14–29)

"Desert of the wanderings". Image from The Holy Land in Geography and in History [with maps and plans], by Maccoun, Townsend (1899)

David left Keilah with six hundred soldiers (up from 400 people in 1 Samuel 22) to move from place to place, avoiding Saul's pursuit.Template:Sfn When David was in Ziph, which was on the edge of the Judaean Desert, Jonathan met him to reaffirm the pact between them that Jonathan was content with being second to David, so now David has the priesthood and the house of Saul behind him.Template:Sfn However, as verses 19–23 show, David was still in constant danger, as the local people where he stayed with (the Ziphites) were willing to deliver him into Saul's hands and provided the necessary information. Template:Sfn Although David was acknowledged by Saul as "cunning" in escaping, he was eventually cornered when reaching "the wilderness of Maon" (verse 24), southwards of Hebron, as Saul and his troops were "closing in" on him from both sides.Template:Sfn David was saved when Saul, informed of a Philistine attack he had to face as king of Israel, abandoned his plan to capture David.Template:Sfn

Verse 28

Therefore Saul returned from pursuing David, and went against the Philistines; so they called that place the Rock of Escape.[8]

See also

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Notes

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References

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Sources

Commentaries on Samuel

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General

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Template:First Book of Samuel

  1. ↑ Template:Cite web
  2. ↑ Dead sea scrolls - 1 Samuel
  3. ↑ 4Q52 at the Leon Levy Dead Sea Scrolls Digital Library
  4. ↑ Template:Bibleverse
  5. ↑ Template:Bibleverse; set out more clearly in 4QSamTemplate:Sup than in the Masoretic Text
  6. ↑ Template:Bibleverse-nb
  7. ↑ Template:Bibleverse
  8. ↑ Template:Bibleverse
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