It happened, when Abiathar the son of Ahimelech fled to David to Keilah, that he came down with an ephod in his hand.
"And David remained in the strongholds in the wilderness, in the hill country of the Wilderness of Ziph"  (1 Samuel 23:14).  John Rea writes that, "Ziph was a town in the hill country of Judah  (Joshua 15:55), located five miles south southeast of Hebron, sometimes identified as El Zif, which had a strategic position commanding the desert.  It was founded by Mesha, a son of Caleb  (1 Chronicles 2:42, NEB).  It was near this place that David twice hid from Saul; and the citizens of this place twice betrayed the secret of David's hiding place to Saul  (1 Samuel 23:19; 26:1)."[12]