some men from Ziph

Week 15  1 Samuel 23 & 26

Here’s a story about some treacherous no-goods:
Now the men of Ziph went to Saul in Gibeah and betrayed David to him. “We know where David is hiding,” they said. “He is in the strongholds of Horesh on the hill of Hakilah, which is in the southern part of Jeshimon.”
So anyway now here’s another story:
Now some men from Ziph came to Saul at Gibeah to tell him, “David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah, which overlooks Jeshimon.”
I was thinking about how very very similar the two stories sound. Almost like the same story. I look for common details:
* There was a group of men from Ziph
* They hated David enough to betray him
* They travelled north to Gibeah
* They told Saul where David was
* David’s exact location was a hill named Hakilah – near Jeshimon.
It sounds like the same story to me.
I wondered about David. Why (in chapter-26) would he go back to the exact same location where Saul had almost nabbed him before (in chapter-23)?
I wondered whether the writer could be telling the same story twice – telling a “short” ending in 23 (Saul was called back home) but stretching it into a ‘long’ ending in 26 (David ghosted into the enemy camp).
I think that two stories that are this much alike stand the chance of confusing a reader.
I know these two stand the chance of confusing me.

Note: quotes from 1 Samuel 23:19 & 26:1 (NLT)