They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.
The mention of "their cattle"  (1 Samuel 23:5) is supposed by some scholars to mean that the Philistine raiding party had also brought with them flocks of goats and sheep which they had probably robbed from others. In any case, it must indeed have been a tremendous shock to them when David suddenly fell upon them, slaughtered a great many of them and took charge of all they left behind.      "And they told David, "Behold the Philistines are fighting against Keilah"  (1 Samuel 23:1).  Nothing is said here about who told David this news, but it seems to have been the leaders of Keilah, hoping for assistance from David and his men.