Bible Strands
1 Samuel 23:1
Now it was reported to David, “Look, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah and looting the threshing floors.”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Unnamed messengers report to David that Philistine forces are attacking Keilah and plundering its agricultural resources. This announcement arrives as David operates outside Saul’s immediate reach and prepares to seek divine direction for intervention.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַיַּגִּדוּ (va.yaggîdû) literally means “they told” or “they reported,” framing the verse as a narrative update rather than direct speech. The participle נִלְחָמִים (nilḥāmîm) translates to “are fighting,” emphasizing the continuous nature of the Philistine assault.
The thread — Keilah appears in Joshua 15:44 as part of the tribal allotment for Judah and is referenced in Nehemiah 3:17 as a district involved in post-exilic wall repairs. The theme of plundered harvests parallels the agricultural curses described in Micah 6:15.
Why it lands — The text presents a concrete military and economic crisis that requires immediate divine consultation before human action. It demands that readers recognize the necessity of verifying God’s will before intervening in complex situations.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors.
Cross-references
- Joshua 15:44 Keilah, Achzib, and Mareshah—nine cities, along with their villages.
- Nehemiah 3:17 Next to him, the Levites made repairs under Rehum son of Bani, and next to him, Hashabiah, ruler of a half-district of Keilah, made repairs for his district.
- Micah 6:15 You will sow but not reap; you will press olives but not anoint yourselves with oil; you will tread grapes but not drink the wine.
- Leviticus 26:16 then this is what I will do to you: I will bring upon you sudden terror, wasting disease, and fever that will destroy your sight and drain your life. You will sow your seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.
- Deuteronomy 28:33 A people you do not know will eat the produce of your land and of all your toil. All your days you will be oppressed and crushed.
- Deuteronomy 28:51 They will eat the offspring of your livestock and the produce of your land until you are destroyed. They will leave you no grain or new wine or oil, no calves of your herds or lambs of your flocks, until they have caused you to perish.
- Judges 6:4 encamping against them as far as Gaza and destroying the produce of the land. They left Israel with no sustenance, neither sheep nor oxen nor donkeys.
- Judges 6:11 Then the angel of the LORD came and sat down under the oak in Ophrah that belonged to Joash the Abiezrite, where his son Gideon was threshing wheat in a winepress to hide it from the Midianites.