Worthy.Bible » BBE » 1 Samuel » Chapter 23 » Verse 17

1 Samuel 23:17 Bible in Basic English (BBE)

17 And said to him, Have no fear, for Saul my father will not get you into his power; and you will be king of Israel, and I will be by your side, and my father Saul is certain of this.

Cross Reference

1 Samuel 20:31 BBE

For while the son of Jesse is living on the earth, your position is unsafe and your kingdom is in danger. So make him come here to me, for it is certainly right for him to be put to death.

1 Samuel 24:20 BBE

If a man comes across his hater, will he let him get away safe? so may you be rewarded by the Lord for what you have done for me today.

Isaiah 54:17 BBE

No instrument of war which is formed against you will be of any use; and every tongue which says evil against you will be judged false. This is the heritage of the servants of the Lord, and their righteousness comes from me, says the Lord.

Hebrews 13:6 BBE

So that we say with a good heart, The Lord is my helper; I will have no fear: what is man able to do to me?

Job 5:11-15 BBE

Lifting up those who are low, and putting the sad in a safe place; Who makes the designs of the wise go wrong, so that they are unable to give effect to their purposes. He takes the wise in their secret designs, and the purposes of the twisted are cut off suddenly. In the daytime it becomes dark for them, and in the sunlight they go feeling about as if it was night. But he keeps safe from their sword those who have no father, and the poor from the power of the strong.

Psalms 27:1-3 BBE

<Of David.> The Lord is my light and my salvation; who is then a cause of fear to me? the Lord is the strength of my life; who is a danger to me? When evil-doers, even my haters, came on me to put an end to me, they were broken and put to shame. Even if an army came against me with its tents, my heart would have no fear: if war was made on me, my faith would not be moved.

Psalms 46:1-2 BBE

<To the chief music-maker. Of the sons of Korah; put to Alamoth. A Song.> God is our harbour and our strength, a very present help in trouble. For this cause we will have no fear, even though the earth is changed, and though the mountains are moved in the heart of the sea;

Psalms 91:1-2 BBE

Happy is he whose resting-place is in the secret of the Lord, and under the shade of the wings of the Most High; Who says of the Lord, He is my safe place and my tower of strength: he is my God, in whom is my hope.

Proverbs 14:26 BBE

For him in whose heart is the fear of the Lord there is strong hope: and his children will have a safe place.

Proverbs 19:21 BBE

A man's heart may be full of designs, but the purpose of the Lord is unchanging.

Isaiah 41:10 BBE

Have no fear, for I am with you; do not be looking about in trouble, for I am your God; I will give you strength, yes, I will be your helper; yes, my true right hand will be your support.

Isaiah 41:14 BBE

Have no fear, you worm Jacob, and you men of Israel; I will be your helper, says the Lord, even he who takes up your cause, the Holy One of Israel.

Luke 12:32 BBE

Have no fear, little flock, for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom.

Acts 5:39 BBE

But if it is of God, you will not be able to overcome them, and you are in danger of fighting against God.

Acts 28:16 BBE

And when we came into Rome, they let Paul have a house for himself and the armed man who kept watch over him.

Romans 15:24 BBE

Whenever I go to Spain (for it is my hope to see you on my way, and to be sent on there by you, if first I may in some measure have been comforted by your company)--

Commentary on 1 Samuel 23 Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible


CHAPTER 23

1Sa 23:1-6. David Rescues Keilah.

1. Then they told David—rather, "now they had told"; for this information had reached him previous to his hearing (1Sa 23:6) of the Nob tragedy.

Keilah—a city in the west of Judah (Jos 15:44), not far from the forest of Hareth.

and they rob the threshing-floors—These were commonly situated on the fields and were open to the wind (Jud 6:11; Ru 3:2).

2-5. David inquired of the Lord—most probably through Gad (2Sa 24:11; 1Ch 21:9), who was present in David's camp (1Sa 22:5), probably by the recommendation of Samuel. To repel unprovoked assaults on unoffending people who were engaged in their harvest operations, was a humane and benevolent service. But it was doubtful how far it was David's duty to go against a public enemy without the royal commission; and on that account he asked, and obtained, the divine counsel. A demur on the part of his men led David to renew the consultation for their satisfaction; after which, being fully assured of his duty, he encountered the aggressors and, by a signal victory, delivered the people of Keilah from further molestation.

6. an ephod—in which was the Urim and Thummim (Ex 28:30). It had, probably, been committed to his care, while Ahimelech and the other priests repaired to Gibeah, in obedience to the summons of Saul.

1Sa 23:7-13. Saul's Coming, and Treachery of the Keilites.

7. it was told Saul that David was come to Keilah—Saul imagined himself now certain of his victim, who would be hemmed within a fortified town. The wish was father to the thought. How wonderfully slow and unwilling to be convinced by all his experience, that the special protection of Providence shielded David from all his snares!

8. Saul called all the people together to war—not the united tribes of Israel, but the inhabitants of the adjoining districts. This force was raised, probably, on the ostensible pretext of opposing the Philistines, while, in reality, it was secretly to arouse mischief against David.

9. he said to Abiathar the priest, Bring hither the ephod—The consultation was made, and the prayer uttered, by means of the priest. The alternative conditions here described have often been referred to as illustrating the doctrine of God's foreknowledge and preordination of events.

1Sa 23:14-18. David Escapes to Ziph.

14, 15. David abode in the wilderness … of Ziph—A mountainous and sequestered region was generally called a wilderness, and took its name from some large town in the district. Two miles southeast of Hebron, and in the midst of a level plain, is Tell-ziph, an isolated and conical hillock, about a hundred feet high, probably the acropolis [Van De Velde], or the ruins [Robinson] of the ancient city of Ziph, from which the surrounding wilderness was called. It seems, anciently, to have been covered by an extensive woods. The country has for centuries lost its woods and forests, owing to the devastations caused by man.

16, 17. Jonathan went to David into the wood, and strengthened his hand in God—by the recollection of their mutual covenant. What a victory over natural feelings and lower considerations must the faith of Jonathan have won, before he could seek such an interview and give utterance to such sentiments! To talk with calm and assured confidence of himself and family being superseded by the man who was his friend by the bonds of a holy and solemn covenant, could only have been done by one who, superior to all views of worldly policy, looked at the course of things in the spirit and through the principles of that theocracy which acknowledged God as the only and supreme Sovereign of Israel. Neither history nor fiction depicts the movements of a friendship purer, nobler, and more self-denying than Jonathan's!

1Sa 23:19-29. Saul Pursues Him.

19-23. Then came up the Ziphites to Saul to Gibeah, saying, Doth not David hide himself with us?—From the tell of Ziph a panorama of the whole surrounding district is to be seen. No wonder, then, that the Ziphites saw David and his men passing to and fro in the mountains of the wilderness. Spying him at a distance when he ventured to show himself on the hill of Hachilah, "on the right hand of the wilderness," that is, the south side of Ziph, they sent in haste to Saul, to tell him of the lurking place of his enemy [Van De Velde].

25. David … came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon—Tell Main, the hillock on which was situated the ancient Maon (Jos 15:55), and from which the adjoining wilderness took its name, is one mile north, ten east from Carmel. The mountain plateau seems here to end. It is true the summit ridge of the southern hills runs out a long way further towards the southwest; but towards the southeast the ground sinks more and more down to a tableland of a lower level, which is called "the plain to the right hand [that is, to the south] of the wilderness" [Van De Velde].

29. David went up from thence, and dwelt in strong holds at En-gedi—that is, "the spring of the wild goats or gazelles"—a name given to it from the vast number of ibexes or Syrian chamois which inhabit these cliffs on the western shore of the Dead Sea (Jos 15:62). It is now called Ain Jiddy. On all sides the country is full of caverns, which might then serve as lurking places for David and his men, as they do for outlaws at the present day [Robinson].