Can These People Be Trusted?

David, having left the forest of Hareth, now enjoyed the hospitality of Keilah with trepidation. David knew this could not last, for Saul, who finally knew where David was, decided to immediately besiege the city and destroy his nemesis (1 Samuel 23:7, 8).

Prior to undertaking the defense of Keilah, David probably sought the counsel of Gad, the seer who had attached himself to David’s band, rather than Abiathar.

Abiathar, the only surviving member of the house of Eli, had brought the sacred ephod, worn by the high priest, to David, and he now asked the Lord whether the residents of Keilah would betray him to Saul. “The men of Keilah realized they would be forced to decide, on the one hand, between loyalty to Saul, with the retention of their status in Israel, and on the other hand, the implied rejection of Saul through their befriending of the outlawed David, with the consequent destruction of their city.” “Although a great deliverance had been wrought for Keilah, and the men of the city were very grateful to David and his men for the preservation of their lives, yet so fiendish had become the soul of the God-forsaken Saul, that he could demand from the men of Keilah that they yield up their deliverer to certain and unmerited death. Saul had determined that if they should offer any resistance they would suffer the bitter consequences of opposing the command of their king. The long-desired opportunity seemed to have come, and he determined to leave nothing undone in securing the arrest of his rival. . . . “. . . The inhabitants of the city did not for a moment think themselves capable of such an act of ingratitude and treachery; but David knew, from the light that God had given him, that they could not be trusted, that in the hour of need they would fail.” David, not wanting to incite a full-scale revolution, and taking into consideration the welfare of the people, chose to withdraw his six hundred men from the city. God still quickens our conscience to do those things that are right.