1 Samuel 26:3

3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he heard Saul had followed him,

1 Samuel 26:3 Meaning and Commentary

1 Samuel 26:3

And Saul pitched in the hill of Hachilah, which [is] before
Jeshimon, by the way
To the wilderness; the very same place where the Ziphites suggested David was:

but David abode in the wilderness;
not in the hill of Hachilah, but in the wilderness of Ziph itself:

and he saw that Saul came after him into the wilderness;
he understood, by some information he had, that Saul had set out from Gibeah, and was coming to seek for him in the wilderness of Ziph; perhaps Jonathan had given him intelligence; however, he was not quite certain, as appears by what follows.

1 Samuel 26:3 In-Context

1 The people of Ziph went to Saul at Gibeah and said to him, "David is hiding on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon."

2 So Saul went down to the Desert of Ziph with three thousand chosen men of Israel to look for David there.

3 Saul made his camp beside the road on the hill of Hakilah opposite Jeshimon, but David stayed in the desert. When he heard Saul had followed him,

4 he sent out spies and learned for certain that Saul had come to Hakilah.

5 Then David went to the place where Saul had camped. He saw where Saul and Abner son of Ner, the commander of Saul's army, were sleeping. Saul was sleeping in the middle of the camp with all the army around him.