The stories of the threshing floors of Scripture have a great way of sifting the grain from the chaff.
It was fortuitous that one priest, Abiathar, escaped Doeg’s slaughter and fled to David (1 Sam 22:20). He had the Urim and Thummim with which God’s will could be determined. It would be used several times in this story. You would think that the last thing on David’s mind, hiding out from Saul, would be to act on the king’s behalf and protect the border town of Keilah, three miles southeast of Adullam. But when news came that “the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and they are robbing the threshing floors” (23:1), David asked the Lord if this was a mission for his men. Yes, said the Lord. But his men weren’t so sure. “Look, we are afraid here in Judah,” they remonstrated. “How much more then if we go to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines?” (v 3). Rather than discounting their concern, wise leader that he was, David inquired again of the Lord, and received a confirming reply, “I will deliver the Philistines into your hand” (v 4). So down they went, and not only “struck them with a mighty blow” (v 5) to save the crops, but took the enemy’s cattle as well. Again, news reached Saul of David’s exploits, and his response? “God has delivered him into my hand, for he has shut himself in by entering a town that has gates and bars” (v 7). When David heard that a hit squad was coming, he inquired of the Lord if Saul would really do that! Yes, said the Lord. But will the men of Keilah turn me over? Sorry, David, they will. Perhaps the news of the priests’ slaughter was having its desired effect. Herein lies a great lesson. God not only knows what will happen, but all that may happen. Saul didn’t get him; the Keilites didn’t deliver him. Why? Because “David and his men…departed from Keilah” (v 13) to live and fight again.