Again the writer directed our attention back to Saul. Psalm 54 tells us what David was thinking and praying during this experience. He trusted in God.
Evidently the Ziphites thought that they would be better off if they informed Saul of David's presence in their area than if the king discovered that he was there. He might have blamed them for sheltering David and taken revenge on them as he had on the people of Nob.
Again Saul spoke piously (cf. v. 7) and praised the Ziphites for having compassion on him. Really it was David who was in need of compassion from these people, but he found none. Saul proceeded to seek human help in finding David from his allies ("go,""make more sure,""investigate,""see,""look,""learn;"vv. 22-23). However there is no mention of his seeking divine help in prayer (cf. vv. 2, 4, 11-12). He attributed cunning to David, but Saul was the really cunning hunter in this story.236The king was projecting his own deceitful behavior on David. Whereas God promised to go with David and deliver the Philistines into his hands (vv. 2, 4), Saul promised to go with the Ziphites to destroy David among the Judahites (v. 23).
