David stayed in the desert strongholds and in the hills of the Desert of Ziph. Day after day Saul searched for him, but God did not give David into his hands. While David was at Horesh in the Desert of Ziph, he heard that Saul had come out to take his life.
Have a fresh look at the header picture that I've been using for this series. Based on the Zondervan NIV Atlas, that picture was taken south of the Desert of Ziph...looking north. A map plaque on the overlook we were on had a marker on it for 'Carmel'...which confused me and I asked about it. Once the guides understood my question, they replied that there is a small town named Carmel in the area; it certainly wasn't Mount Carmel, which is way, way, way off to the north and west. But...the atlas shows the town of Carmel on the boundary of the Desert of Ziph/ Desert of Maon/Negev of Caleb. So that picture was taken in the immediate area of David's desert wanderings, most certainly in what was considered the Desert of Maon, according to the maps.
David and his men could very easily have stood on that exact hilltop at some point.
It's an interesting read in the first thirteen verses of the chapter to get the context for why David was roaming the desert at this point. He had gone to the village of Keliah and fought off their Philistine attackers, on the word of the Lord. Saul heard he was there, gloated that David had holed up in a walled city, and called for his troops to go lay siege to the city. David got wind of it, inquired of God, who told him that the people of the city would certainly hand him over to Saul (grateful folks, no?). So David and his men became nomads again.
Look again at that photo. It would be impossible to find someone who was hiding in those hills. Not that Saul didn't try. Jonathan, however, somehow managed to find out where David was and went to see him while he was at Horesh (v. 16) He encouraged David, declaring that Saul would not succeed in killing him; that David would be the next king of Israel and he, Jonathan, would be second to him. And it was all good with Jonathan. But...Jonathan returned to his father's camp.
Had Jonathan stayed with David, he would have been in rebellion against his dad...but he would not have been in the battle at Gilboa, where he died, along with Saul. He could have stayed...but he didn't. That was the last time the two closer-than-brothers-friends saw each other.
Of course, the locals tried to win brownie points with Saul so they told him that David was near Horesh. Saul sent them out to track him down for him, and identify all the places he used as camps. (V. 22)
So they set out and went to Ziph ahead of Saul. Now David and his men were in the Desert of Maon, in the Arabah south of Jeshimon. Saul and his men began the search, and when David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Desert of Maon. When Saul heard this, he went into the Desert of Maon in pursuit of David (24-25)
So we have David and his men moving about in that crazy terrain, with Saul and his men trying to track them down. Verse 26 reports that the chase was getting desperate; David and his men were on one side of a mountain, with Saul and his men on the other side when suddenly a messenger came to Saul and reported that the Philistines were raiding the land...taking advantage of the preoccupation of the king, no doubt. So Saul broke off the pursuit to go deal with the Philistines and the place was nicknamed 'Sela Hammahlekoth' ('rock of parting', according to the marginal notes in my NIV). The NIV atlas says that the location of this place is not known, but it is 'probably E or SE of Maon'.
Then we read in 24:1
After Saul returned from pursuing the Philistines, he was told , "David is in the Desert of En Gedi."
There is a bit of a valley to the west of the hilly area where the header photo was taken; that's where the oasis is where we spent a night; I thought I had a blog post about the oasis but it's split into two bits. Here's a photo, taken from the bus after we had gone through Arad and were headed southeast...
Why is that significant? Well, I've a footnote in my Scofield that reads, "Desert of En Gedi: of the kid. The area west of the Dead Sea containing an oasis where David and his men took refuge while running from Saul."
Y'all. That was the oasis. Today, it's known as Kfar Hanokdim. But it HAS to be the place. Reading the maps and the list of places...David and his men traipsed over the hills on both sides of the valley and no doubt crossed it. I am pretty sure that the high spot on the horizon is Masada.
David was all over this area.
And one of the most famous encounters between Saul and David happened on the other side of that ridge behind the oasis.
See, there was a cave there, behind a waterfall at a spring.
Well, the cave, at that time, was really, really big (there has been something that has happened in the meantime...either there was a landslide that filled it in or it was deliberately sealed or maybe both. I am not remembering what our tour guide told us...). Like, big enough to hold 600 fugitives. But Saul didn't explore the cave...he was focused on what he needed to do. I think he must have taken off his robe and laid it over some rocks or something away from where he was occupied, because David crept up and cut a bit off the bottom of the robe without Saul noticing. (24:4)
After Saul had finished and walked back down, David went to the mouth of the cave and called down to Saul, showing him that he could have killed him but didn't. Saul, conscience-stricken, wept, apologized, and asked David to swear that he would not wipe out Saul's descendants. David gave his oath, and Saul headed home. Saul couldn't be trusted, but there was at least a respite in the chase. (24:22...and the 'stronghold' mentioned may well have been Masada).
Reading over this, I probably threw in way too many geographical references. But I can't begin to describe the awe of reading through this narrative and realizing...I was in that place. And I still carry the wonder of it. It was the event that put a desire to chase the desert through the scripture in my heart. The narrative speaks so lightly of David and his men moving from place to place...but that was no small trick. I can't imagine moving a company of 600 men...plus their families, possibly, plus some livestock, possibly, through such terrain. But it was their way of life; they were sojourners in the desert... for a season.
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