Then they told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines fight against Keilah, and they rob the threshingfloors.

1 SAMUEL 23:1KJV
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1 Samuel 23:1 (KJV)

What does 1 Samuel 23:1 mean?

1 Samuel 23:1 reports that David received news of a Philistine attack on Keilah. The attackers were taking grain from the town’s threshing floors, so the report describes a threat to the people’s food supply as well as an attack on the town.

A threshing floor was a place where harvested grain was separated from its stalks. Grain gathered there would have been exposed and accessible to raiders. The verse begins with unnamed people bringing David the news, after the account of the killing of the priests at Nob.

The Hebrew behind 1 Samuel 23:1

  • “rob” — שָׁסָה (shasah): This word carries the sense of plundering or taking goods by force. It presents the taking of grain as part of the attack.
  • “threshingfloors” — גֹּרֶן (goren): This word refers to a place where grain was threshed. The plural points to the places where the harvest was being processed, rather than to fields where crops were still growing.

Why 1 Samuel 23:1 matters

  • The report sets up David’s next decision. After hearing that the Philistines “fight against Keilah,” David asks the Lord whether he should go and attack them (verse 2).
  • The danger includes loss of food, not only fighting. The phrase “they rob the threshingfloors” draws attention to the harvest the attackers were taking.
  • The situation also explains why David’s men have reason to be afraid of the proposed rescue. In verse 3, they point to their fear in Judah and the added danger of confronting Philistine forces at Keilah.

Where else these words appear

“rob” Hebrew H8154 · used in 12 verses

  • Judges 2:14 And the anger of the LORD was hot against Israel, and he delivered them into the hands of spoilers that spoiled them, and he sold them into the hands of their enemies round about, so that they could not any longer stand before their enemies.
  • 2 Kings 17:20 And the LORD rejected all the seed of Israel, and afflicted them, and delivered them into the hand of spoilers, until he had cast them out of his sight.
  • Isaiah 42:22 But this is a people robbed and spoiled; they are all of them snared in holes, and they are hid in prison houses: they are for a prey, and none delivereth; for a spoil, and none saith, Restore.

“Keilah” Hebrew H7084 · used in 16 verses

  • Joshua 15:44 And Keilah, and Achzib, and Mareshah; nine cities with their villages:
  • 1 Samuel 23:6 And it came to pass, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
  • 1 Samuel 23:12 Then said David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men into the hand of Saul? And the LORD said, They will deliver thee up.

“threshingfloors” Hebrew H1637 · used in 36 verses

  • Genesis 50:10 And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.
  • Ruth 3:14 And she lay at his feet until the morning: and she rose up before one could know another. And he said, Let it not be known that a woman came into the floor.
  • 1 Chronicles 21:22 Then David said to Ornan, Grant me the place of this threshingfloor, that I may build an altar therein unto the LORD: thou shalt grant it me for the full price: that the plague may be stayed from the people.