1 Samuel 23:28
Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth. Wherefore Saul returned from pursuing after David, and went against the Philistines: therefore they called that place Sela-hammahlekoth.
The place called Sela-hammahlekoth marks a moment in the prolonged account of Saul pursuing David. In that history Saul's course is one of rashness, weakness, failure and rejection, ever downward, while David's career, though checkered, is ever rising. The history shows God's providence shaping and molding national events, and it throws light on the habits and customs of the people and the influence of surrounding nations, while through it all God remembered the promised Seed.
The surrounding chapter records that God foreknew that Saul would come down to Keilah and that the men of Keilah would deliver David into his hand. Because David left Keilah upon that warning, Saul did not come there, so what God foreknew did not come to pass. Divine foreknowledge therefore does not force events nor remove human responsibility.
The deliverance at Sela-hammahlekoth reflects David's refusal to take vengeance into his own hands while his enemy pursued him. Joined with Jonathan's unselfish friendship and with David's mercy and magnanimity toward Saul his enemy, it teaches that it is safe to leave one's cause in God's hand.