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1 Samuel 23:25

in 1 Samuel 23

and Saul and his men went to seek him. When David was told about it, he went down to the rock and stayed in the Wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard of this, he pursued David there.

BSB

The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾

ASV

And Saul and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down to the rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

KJV

Saul also and his men went to seek him. And they told David: wherefore he came down into a rock, and abode in the wilderness of Maon. And when Saul heard that, he pursued after David in the wilderness of Maon.

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This verse in 1 Samuel 23

Commentary

8 notes on this verse

A commentator

Adam Clarke

1762–1832

Commentary on the Bible · Written before 1832.

The wilderness of Maon - Maon was a mountainous district in the most southern parts of Judah. Calmet supposes it to be the city of Menois, which Eusebius places in the vicinity of Gaza; and the Maenaemi Castrum, which the Theodosian code places near to Beersheba.

This site's exposition

watch carefully where he goes and who has seen him there

on 1 Samuel 23:22-25

Saul's caution, wanting certainty of the place before he commits his men, costs him time, and David withdraws south into the Wilderness of Maon. Barnes and Jamieson, Fausset and Brown describe this tableland as broken sharply into ravines, which explains how David could vanish at the rock.

This site's exposition

he went down to the rock

Wesley takes the rock to mean a cave in it, where David first thought to hide. He moved on when Saul came near. The chase that follows runs along the two sides of one mountain in verse 26.

The record, by era

The Church Fathers1 voice

A commentator

Ephrem the Syrian

Homily - On Our Lord, 32 · Written before 373.

proposed

This is what happened to Paul. For the potency of the light suddenly surprised his feeble eyes and injured them. But the greatness of the voice brought low his strength and entered his ears and opened them. For they had been closed up by Jewish …

The Medieval Church1 voice

A commentator

Bede

Commentary on Samuel · Written before 735.

proposed

When Saul heard this, he pursued David, etc. These things specifically regard the Jewish persecutor, who, upon hearing of the faith and devotion of believers, persecutes them on earth, while they with the whole intention of their minds look towards the heavens, himself believing that …

The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices

A commentator

John Wesley

1703–1791

Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament (1765)

A rock - That is, into a cave which was in the rock; where at first he might think to hide himself, but upon farther consideration he removed from thence upon Saul's approach.
And Saul also and his men went to seek him,....

The Nineteenth Century1 voice

A commentator

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown

1802–1910

Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871)

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].

The words behind it

18 Hebrew words

Every Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.

  • וַיֵּ֨לֶךְand he went

    vaiyelekhH1980 →1546 times

  • שָׁא֣וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • וַאֲנָשָׁיו֮and men his

    vaanashavH582 →566 times

  • לְבַקֵּשׁ֒to seek [him]

    levakeshH1245 →225 times

  • וַיַּגִּ֣דוּand people told

    vaiyagiduH5046 →370 times

  • לְדָוִ֔דto David

    ledavidH1732 →999 times

  • וַיֵּ֣רֶדand he went down

    vaiyeredH3381 →381 times

  • הַסֶּ֔לַעthe rock

    hasela'H5553 →58 times

  • וַיֵּ֖שֶׁבand he remained

    vaiyeshevH3427 →1079 times

  • בְּמִדְבַּ֣רin [the] wilderness of

    bemidbarH4057 →270 times

  • מָע֑וֹןMaon

    maonH4584 →8 times

  • וַיִּשְׁמַ֣עand he heard

    vaiyishma'H8085 →1159 times

  • שָׁא֔וּלSaul

    shaulH7586 →402 times

  • וַיִּרְדֹּ֥ףand he pursued

    vaiyirdofH7291 →143 times

  • אַחֲרֵֽי־after

    ʾacharei-H310 →715 times

  • דָוִ֖דDavid

    davidH1732 →999 times

  • מִדְבַּ֥ר[the] wilderness of

    midbarH4057 →270 times

  • מָעֽוֹן׃Maon

    maonH4584 →8 times

A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.

Related verses

4 in all, six open

The walk

3 stops

Each card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.

  • Through

    Judges 15:8

    And he struck them ruthlessly with a great slaughter, and then went down and stayed in the cave at the rock of Etam.

    it leads to

    • Isaiah 25:10

      For the hand of the LORD will rest on this mountain. But Moab will be trampled in his place as straw is trodden into the dung pile.

    • Isaiah 63:3

      “I have trodden the winepress alone, and no one from the nations was with Me. I trampled them in My anger and trod them down in My fury; their blood spattered My garments, and…

    • Isaiah 63:6

      I trampled the nations in My anger; in My wrath I made them drunk and poured out their blood on the ground.”

Where this verse is studied

About 1 Samuel

Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
Anointing of David by Samuel, Félix-Joseph Barrias, 1842, Musée des Beaux-Arts de la ville de Paris. Public domain.
1 Samuel: the study guide →Read 1 Samuel 23 →

This page draws on Adam Clarke, Commentary on the Bible; Albert Barnes, Notes on the Old Testament; Bede, Commentary on Samuel; Ephrem the Syrian, Homily - On Our Lord, 32; Jamieson Fausset and Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; Jamieson, Fausset & Brown, Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763) and John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament.

Read on in 1 Samuel 23 →