They told David, saying, Behold, the Philistines are fighting against Keilah, and are robbing the threshing floors.
At the time of this episode, the citizens of Keilah were harvesting their grain crops, which afforded the principal means of their livelihood. It seldom rained in the summer; and the threshing floors were loaded with the grain being threshed out by the people.  The Philistines, desiring to keep Israel in subjection by starvation, came up to rob the people of their grain, even bringing along their oxen and asses for the purpose of carrying away the loot.  "In the East, even today, the principal source of food supply remains - bread."[2]