Week 14 1 Samuel
Ziph – in my bible map – is in Judah’s territory – latitude-wise at about the midway-point of the Dead Sea and maybe 15 kilometers to the west. That’s where David had run to: the hill country of Ziph.
The locals knew he was there and some of the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. They had to make what looks like a two-day trek – maybe 45-kilometres – to connect with Saul. The king was murderously happy with the news and was soon headed south.
In the end nothing much came of it. David had already left the region so the Ziph treachery didn’t pan-out. But Psalm 54 was written at (or about) that time (the subtitle says: ‘the time the Ziphites came and said to Saul, “We know where David is hiding”’).
As you’d expect in an on-the-run psalm David asked for help. But two other things stand out:
The first one is that David said two things about the Lord: God is my helper. The Lord keeps me alive!
The second one is a kind of confident sense that the Lord heard him and would help him: I will praise your name, O Lord, for it is good. For you have rescued me from my troubles.
Saying something true about the Lord seems like a wise & safe thing to do.
Predicting that the Lord had already intervened seems slightly overconfident. Like crawling out on a limb.
Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 23:14 19 & Psalm 54:1 4 6-7 (NLT)