It’s easy, I suppose, to criticize the people of Keilah. After all, David had just saved them from the Philistines, and now they were going to hand him over to Saul?
There is something to note, however.
We have no hint that the people of Keilah had been talking to Saul like the people of Ziph did.
It is possible, of course, but there was no way that David rescuing Keilah from the Philistines would have escaped Saul’s notice, even if the people of Keilah had said nothing.
More likely what happened is that word came to Keilah that Saul was coming, and that David started hearing people whispering around him.
“What do we do? We can’t just hand David over can we? He just saved us from the Philistines.”
“Yeah, but did you hear what Saul did at Nob? He slaughtered over 80 priests because they had helped David. Priests!!!”
“Yeah, and we couldn’t protect ourselves from the Philistines. How could we protect David from Saul? He’d just kill us like he killed the priests and kill David anyway.”
And it was probably those whispers that led to David asking God, “Will they hand me over to Saul?”
When God said yes, David could have gotten angry at the people. He could have demanded the people of Keilah at least try to help him.
But instead, he left quietly.
He understood their weakness, and so he forgave them.
People will let us down. They are weak.
But then again, so are we. And yet Jesus still shows us grace every day.
So let us remember the words of Paul:
Therefore, as God’s chosen ones, holy and dearly loved, put on compassion, kindness, humility, gentleness, and patience, bearing with one another and forgiving one another if anyone has a grievance against another.
Just as the Lord has forgiven you, so you are also to forgive. (Colossians 3:12-13)
Moment to Moment (Bible blog) 