And David abode in the wilderness in strongholds, and remained in the mountains in the wilderness of Ziph. And Saul sought him every day, but God delivered him not into his hand.
Read Chapter 23
Bede
AD 735
“But David tarried in the strongholds of the desert and stayed in the hill country of the wilderness of Ziph.” After Christ dismisses those who had nominally accepted the faith, he tarries instead in the strongholds of the hearts of those who for the mighty and living God [exist] amid the aridness of this present age. He tarries with them when they come and appear before the face of God. He gladly remains in them whose heart, raised on high and removed from the allurements of the world and hidden in blessed solitude, rejoices in the unfailing budding and flowering of the virtues. For Ziph means “flower” or “bud.” - "Four Books on 1 Samuel 4.23"
Ziph, eight miles east of Hebron, (St. Jerome) towards the southern Carmel. (Eusebius)
Abdias (ver. 3) takes notice of the clefts of the rocks of Edom. St. Jerome says, this mountain was "dark and cloudy. "(Menochius)
